WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?
"Ah, Creeper. How nice of you to drop in." Genie snickered quietly as if he had made some humorous joke. The sound of crunching glass pervaded the air, no doubt being Creeper walking further into the room. But from where?
Outside?! My brows furrowed deeply. Couldn't have been, could it? Nothing about it made any sense. Then again nothing made any fucking sense about these literal demons being in my house in the middle of the goddamn night, but here we are.
"Turns out your nose hasn't gone to shit after all. We found one of the family." Doll explained, which earned a snarl in return as if to reply. Maybe a monstrous rendition of 'I told you so'.
"Speakin' of which," The evil toy continued, a smile in his voice.
I could practically feel their gazes searching the room. Footsteps broke off into different directions. I couldn't help but flinch as the sound of boxes crashing to the floor came from all around. Each crash earned a flinch of its own.
"Oh Jennifer,"
"We just wanna play. We won't hurt'cha.."
"You can't hide forever."
"I wonder where she could be."
Different taunts crept around the attic, each one encouraging my heart to beat a terrible crescendo inside of my chest. With each crash of a teetering cardboard box tower, I had to fight an all new impulse to leap out of my skin. An internal desperate chant of pleasedon'tfindmepleasedon'tfindme ran a looping course inside my brain. Stupid me. Of course they were going to find me. I had nowhere else to go and they knew it.
When boxes to the right of me were viciously slung to the floor, it took everything in me to remain quiet. Too close. Someone's too close to me. My head having whirled to look, I stared wide-eyed in the direction. My lips trembled.
Suddenly a sniffing sound distracted the search party, which wasted no time growing into a snuffling series of inhales and exhales. The footsteps audibly slowed to a stop. Instantly I recognized it as Creeper trying to sniff me out. A low growl emerged from his throat, followed by a slow trailing of steps..
That were coming towards me.
The destruction of boxes ceased altogether. Laughter drifted about the darkened space and the doll was the most jovial of them as he praised; "Attaboy, Creeper! Attaboy." Other footsteps followed Creeper's. It was almost muffled by the massive volume of my blood racing in my ears. But it was undeniable, they were coming closer, closing in on where I hid all thanks to their demonic bloodhound. It was then that I could hear the inhuman breathing, the very same I had heard when I was hiding under my bed. That seemed so long ago now, but I knew I'd never forget its pattern.
I scooted backwards in my fear, sliding along the wall on my butt until I was pressed into the corner of my fort. I clung ever tighter to the pen in my hands while they shook, my knuckles turning bone white in my grip.
It can't end this way.
I thought to myself, staring helplessly at the brown packages in front of me. While it was a wall shielding me from the outside, I knew its material was weak. It would never hold and what was outside, would eventually come in.
Mom. Dad. Alysson. Max. I'm so sorry. I should've gone with you!
A sob nearly broke out through my quivering lips and I fought to keep it in. Despite my fight with my emotions, a single tear ran down my cheek. I shoved a few of my fingers after it to hastily wipe away the moisture.
I should have gone to Frankie's house with you and Alysson, Max. You begged and begged me to go, but I thought having the house to myself would be more exciting. If only I had gone! We'd be playing Twister and Yahtzee, watching the dumb historical documentaries that Frankie loves so much, eating her homemade spaghetti, complaining about how hot and stuffy it got around bedtime. I shouldn't be here! I should be with you! Not here! Not dying alone!
I squeezed my eyes shut, drawing my knees up to my chest to quake in the pity party I threw for myself. I'm so fucking sorry, Max.
What would they do with me afterwards? Dump my body? Leave me there to rot like a sick welcome home present for my family? Would they even have the decency to bury me? Or would they store me under the earth like a gerbil in a shoebox? Would they eat m-
A long, lingering sniff pressed itself from right behind the boxy barrier. Louder than ever, frighteningly close. The stream of intrusive thoughts went on the back burner. It occurred to me that the footsteps had stopped completely.
I froze at the realization. My eyes snapped back open.
Staring, waiting, dreading-
When two boxes in the middle of the makeshift wall moved as if by their own accord. The both of them slid away from each other, creating a vertical peep hole. My back stiffened like a spooked feline as I watched the space widen generously. In the gap there was darkness and movement, a downward motion of someone lowering themselves eye level. My breath was sucked inwards at the sight of two hungry eyes finding mine.
Creeper.
And fucking creepy he was. The whites of his eyes were startlingly contrast to the darkness in the middle. They were akin to beams of light; Severe and unwavering. Pinned under his gaze of shock-white scleras, it was next to impossible to imagine anything else remotely as terrifying-
Until his lips parted into a wide smile.
My own eyes widened at the horrific sight of it. In a mouth set with an impossible amount of teeth, Creeper smiled at me. His teeth were slick with saliva, yellowed with age, and looked like the perfect tools for piercing and shredding flesh.
I had no choice but to watch those dreadful eyes slink up and down my frightened form. Never before had I felt so seen, so scrutinized. His gaze was enough to halt all and any thought. That awful gaze held mine for a moment longer while he inhaled the deepest that he ever had; Indulging in one final whiff before he struck. Was this what it felt like to be prey? Food?
With a swiftness that was striking, he knocked the entire wall over with a raging growl. As the pieces of my cover clamored to the floor all around me, burying my toes in miscellaneous debris, I shot quickly to my feet and held my pen outwards with both hands. The others were just as close as he was, standing around in a half-circle formation to successfully block off any means of escape.
"Stay back!" I squawked, jerking the measly 'weapon' to and fro; "O-Or else!"
I stumbled over my pathetic threat and my eyes caught on one unpleasant face from another. With every face I saw, the more my bravado faded. The majority of them were sneering at me, the farthest they could be from being intimidated. And with the humiliating sight of a fucking pen in my hands, how could they be? They knew they'd won the chase.
The doll let out a whistle, spreading his arms out as if to shield his cruel companions; "Watch out, fellas. She's armed and dangerous."
They traded bouts of guffaws, thoroughly amused while they eyed the pen in my shaking hands. My face flushed with how small their laughter made me feel. Creeper stepped forward to squash a box in his way and snatched the writing utensil out of my grip with ease. My hands retreated to the wall behind me to brace myself. Holding it up and observing it, he side-eyed me with a grin. There was a gruff noise that hissed out through his teeth like air venting through a grate, and it occurred to me that he was snickering. A broken chill slithered up my back at the sound.
He let it promptly drop and clatter to the floor, as if to emphasize how useless it was to me.
My eyes left the fallen pen. Instead I tried to seek out any means of escape, from the ceiling, the walls, the floor, but to no avail. There was no escape route, no answer to this question, no light to this darkness, no way out. I was cornered. I was done for.
"Now that that's out of the way, I've got a bone to pick with you, Jenny." Casper stepped forth threateningly, going to surpass Creeper. I winced at the action, but thankfully he never made it to me. Creeper had extended an arm to block his passage. The two gazed at each other.
"This is the part where you get out of my way." Creeper shook his head at him, his lips pursed in humor. "No? What do you mean, no? She and I have a score to settle!" As if to explain, Casper gestured down his front where I finally noticed a large water stain decorated his figure. In spite of myself, I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep myself from being visually smug.
"Now, now, we're all in a hurry to get to the good part." Genie stepped up alongside him, placing a gnarled hand on Casper's shoulder. "But first, we must figure out what to do with the girl."
Their eyes slid back to me, instantly seizing the moment of humor I had and replacing it with terror. My legs were back to their wobbling, almost promising to send me falling to the floor in a heap. With running and hiding out of the question, talking was the only option left unexhausted. But before I could speak, they were:
"There is nothing to figure out!" Casper hissed, smacking away Creeper's arm. Creeper bared his teeth at him in retaliation. Genie hastily retracted his hand before he could receive the same treatment. Casper was back to pointing his knife at me as he growled; "I saw the little bitch first. I got dibs."
"Says who?" All heads turned to look down at the doll. "Who died and put you in charge?"
"What? You think this is a democracy? Who sees it, gets it. I," Casper held the tip of the blade to his chest; "Saw it," Then he returned the point of the blade to once again gesture towards me; "I get it."
"Let us not be hasty. This could end up in all sorts of intriguing possibilities." Argued Genie, his eyes seeking to implore the rest of the group.
Casper boldly stepped forward to face Genie. Genie didn't seem all that impressed by the gesture, merely raising his chin level with the other intruder. The white plastic of the mask was so close to the other, Genie's reflection in it was almost discernable. Casper's voice was low yet audible for any to hear, including myself; "She's mine.."
It seemed as though his heart was still stubbornly set on Option Two.
"Oh I dunno," Began Doll, managing to obtain everyone's focus in the room. "She's kinda cute. It'd be such a waste if you had all the fun." To my abject horror, some of the fiends were nodding in apparent agreement, eyeing me like meat. Creeper in particular inhaled deeply at the suggestion and his eyes lit with an eerie delight.
By how fast my heart was beating, it seemed more like a frightened rabbit than the organ that pumped blood throughout my body. Casper's warning echoed in my head:
'You don't want to know what they would do once they got their hands on a cute little thing like you.'
"Looks like someone's gotten a little too greedy," Challenged a new voice, causing heads to turn. Red and Green chuckled, wagging a blade in a lecturing manner at Casper. Though nonetheless a smirk snuck onto his face as his eyes slid to mine, successfully startling me; "Can't say I blame ya. I never did like to share my toys.." His gaze wandered over me in thought with his bladed hand resting over his heart, the smirk still in place. A shiver wanted to rip my back in half. I barely resisted the urge to. Disgusting.
In spite of my revulsion he continued; "You thought you were gonna have her aall to yourself, huh? Thought we'd be none the wiser." While his tone conveyed some measure of being entertained by the failed murder attempt, his top lip said that he wasn't thrilled by the notion. Others echoed this displeasure in their expressions. Some slim ounce of their attention now fixed onto the ghost.
Casper crossed his arms to look over at Red and Green; "Nooo,"
Yeees.
Taking further note of their growing suspicion and distaste, he turned every so often to look at them while he spoke; "Oh come on. I would never. We're a team unit, aren't we? I was going to bring her to you-"
Doll tossed a look up to Casper, the smaller of the two planting his hands on his hips almost sassily; "Yeah? Then why didn't you?"
Because he DID want me all to himself.
Casper gazed at them. His arms slipped out of their crossed state to turn to me. The sudden motion of his swivel paired with his rising voice had me convinced that he was baffled by the redirection of their frustration; "I-She attacked me!"
"And you didn't think to be the one to do that first?"
"I did!" Doll took the moment to look me over before turning back to look up at him; "Well she looks fine to me," He had a point. Fear and soon-to-be-death aside, I was perfectly fine. There wasn't so much as a scratch on me. The grip on my hair had been unpleasant, but other than that.. It seemed as though Casper was about to speak, but Doll lifted a hand; "Ah, ah, wait. Don't tell me. Lemme guess…You slipped and fell on a banana peel? No. Hold on, I got it. You fell and stabbed yourself, is that it?" Those around found this just as amusing as he did. Meanwhile Casper wasn't amused at all. Wow…Was he known for his clumsiness?
Casper thrust his knife at me to gesture with every word as he glared down at the toy; "She. Hit. Me. With. A. Bat."
Genie's eyelids lifted into a dramatic show of shock while one of his hands momentarily hovered in front of his mouth; "My, that does sound terrible," His eyelids lowered and he asked the others in an unconcerned drawl; "Shall we call for an ambulance?" I felt only a teensy bit better to hear that their cruel laughter was now aimed at Casper and not me.
"Hmm, where.." Began Red and Green as he looked down at himself and started to pat his clothes. Everyone shifted to watch while he proceeded to feel down the front and sides of his sweater and pants. "Where'd I put it..?" His ungloved hand checked one trouser pocket and then the other; "Ahaha. There it is. Here we go." He pulled whatever he had been searching for out of his pocket, but to me it looked as though there was nothing. Pinching at the air by his ear, the scarred pads of his left-hand fingers rubbed back and forth.
Casper audibly scowled; "What the fuck are y-"
"Ya hear that?" Red and Green smiled wide; "It's the world's tiniest violin."
Casper's masked head rolled and fell to rest on his shoulder. Genie chuckled heartily; "Such an impressive feat. I have never seen an instrument so small. You must tell me how it works." This time Red and Green chuckled; "Well ya see-" Having had enough of this shared joke, the adult ghost growled to Genie; "Go fall off a magic carpet." Genie let out an unsatisfied growl of his own, but it was Doll that stole the show again; "So you were gonna bring her to us?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"Oh so you were gonna share with the rest of us?" Share? The word made my mouth dry. How were they going to decide this? 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'? How old were they? Five? This was ridiculous! And gross! AND I DID NOT WANT TO BE SHARED AND PASSED AROUND AMONGST THE EIGHT OF THEM!
"Hey, I didn't say that-"
"Sharin' is carin', right? I mean, there's enough to go around. You can break me off a piece of that, can'tcha?" Doll grinned my way, his eyes seeming to appreciate what he saw. An awkward blush rose in my neck. I wasn't entirely certain if I should be flattered or horrified. Likely both.
"Only thing I care to share," Casper leaned down towards Doll, bringing his knife up between the both of them. "Is my knife through your thick skull, you little shit. We do this my way, that way it's fair."
"Fair?" Red and Green crossed his arms, looking amused. He lifted two of his bladed fingers; "You think I give two shits about what's fair?"
Creeper snorted out a noise of potential agreement.
"Her fate will be better decided when we're all accounted for. Besides," Genie extended a single index finger in a repeated tapping movement to point downstairs; "The cenobite would find it quite disorderly to kill her now."
Cenobite? Yet another question to add to my already long list.
Casper looked at me and back at Genie, his freehand balling into a fist. Then he let out an exasperated sigh as his head fell to the side. "What a pain in my ass." He mumbled, pocketing his knife somewhere deep within his garments.
With the debate on brief pause, now was the time I decided to try my luck. Now or never.
"Well while you go and um, fi-figure that out, if you could just let me, uh, go to my r-room," I began nervously sliding to the right along the wall. My feet clumsily shuffled through the upturned contents on the floor. Their heads creepily turned to follow. "I'd be mu-much obliged." I stammered feebly, following it up with an attempt to slip past them along the wall. I jumped a mile as a hand connected on the wall I was sliding along, halting me dead in my tracks.
A hand fitted with long, curving blades of steel.
Oh..
My eyes traveled along the familiar sight of the glove, to the striped sweater sleeve, up along the shoulder, and up into the face of Red and Green himself. His dark eyes stilled me in place, leaving me temporarily forgetful about escape. I couldn't help but swallow anxiously as I now had the distinct feeling that I was a mouse with a clawed paw holding down my tail.
Fuck.
"Going somewhere?" At his own leisure, he let his arm fall back to his side before turning his body to lean against the wall itself. His ungloved hand slid up along the surface to lean on it while his gloved hand hung by his hip.
"I-Um.." I sputtered, breathing with distracted difficulty now. "A-Apparently not." I squeaked. An unsettling grin took control of his mouth and revealed distorted teeth. He went to lean in down towards my face when-
"Frederick,"
A look of annoyance swept over Frederick's face, the both of us looking over to Genie. "We'll have time for that later. Come along." Genie waved him back with clawed fingertips. Reluctantly, Frederick slinked away from the wall, but not before giving me one last penetrating stare. I tore my eyes away to avert them to the floor. I kept my gaze fixed to the cluttered ground, their stares making my face warm.
I heard Genie absentmindedly wonder; "You do not suppose she is alone?"
I wish I wasn't, but it's good that I am. Still didn't feel great though..
Doll answered; "If she is, we'll find out," From my peripheral vision his red sneakers began to walk away from the group. My eyes crept up at the same time his voice ordered; "Jay, Mike. Pick her up and let's go."
Jay and Mike? 'Hockey Stick' and Mike? Also..Pick her up? PICK HER UP?! The back of my head stupidly thumped against the wall behind me in alarm, but I let the pain go unnoticed. Instead my attention solely went in the direction of two other intruders, both of which had been standing a bit away from the gathered group. They had both been unnervingly quiet the entire confrontation. If the doll hadn't brought my attention to the pair then I surely would have forgotten all about them, but now that I looked at them...Jay seemed entirely unreadable and Mike..Judging by how his masked head had hung back to stare at the ceiling with a jut of his hip; He hadn't appeared particularly keen on the previous discussion and how long they had taken to come to a decision. Come to think of it, Creeper and the two of them had yet to utter a single word. I wasn't sure if I appreciated their silence or if their silence was scarier in comparison to all of the jeers I had received tonight. Now however, the two looked far more mentally present. The duo approached me wordlessly. In only a few strides they were upon me.
I tried to foolishly step back only to be met with wall. I shook my head instead, pleading with them; "Please, no! Wait! Y-You don't have to do this! Stop, please! DON'T!" It was no use. It was as if my cries had fallen on deaf ears. In close unison Jay and Mike grabbed my arms, easily lifting me from the ground as if I weighed nothing. "PUT ME DOWN, PLEASE!"
"Give it a rest already, kid!" Laughed Doll. "You're gonna wear yourself out before it's even started!"
Before what's started! In my mind I wailed. I didn't want to know the answer to that question. Surely nothing good could come out of it. But I wasn't going to give in, not just yet.
However no matter how hard I flailed and thrashed, their grasps never relented. My kicks whether they connected or not, and my writhing body went absolutely unnoticed by the both of them. I might as well have been a stuffed animal. These brutes, these giants, they were simply too powerful. Nonetheless I continued to jerk about in every direction, desperately trying to slip from their hold. "LET GO OF ME!"
My yelled pleas continued as we became a strange band of characters, marching out of the attic, down the stairs, down the hallway, down those stairs, through the foyer, and finally into the living room. At the very entrance stood a lone figure, immediately recognizable by the pins sticking out from his head. I realized he hadn't been part of the chase. For some unknown reason he had chosen to stay behind. Maybe because he knew I wouldn't have made it out. Either way Pinhead simply stood, his obsidian gaze ever observant. His pale face was unreadable, but he didn't look thrilled nor did he look displeased. He merely watched as the group passed him and fully entered the living space.
The tv still rambled on with the liveliness of its televised sport. Genie gave a wave of his hand and the device obediently shut off in a single motion. Everyone chose a spot to stand and sit for the oncoming confrontation. While the living room wasn't my intended focus, even I noticed through my fear that it was disheveled. The doll's backpack rested on the floor by the tv stand and the dark shapes of beer bottles collected at different spots.
Jay and Mike stalled at the couch. At long last they let me go.
I landed onto the sofa, bouncing once on its cushions. I scooted as far back as the end of the couch would allow me and tucked both of my knees to my chest. Wrapping my arms protectively around them, I let myself get my breathing back under control. I watched as Pinhead entered the room, evenly striding forward until he stood in front of the now dark tv screen.
It seemed whatever was going to happen was about to begin.