During one of his travels down, the so-called monster hid near the trees that typically housed crows.

He hadn't realized it until then, but the crows were rather chatty, especially since they either didn't notice him, or simply didn't care that he was there.
But their talking made it difficult to hear the adults, causing him to hear mostly things he didn't care about instead.

…Of course, intelligent beings like the crows couldn't speak nonsense all the time, and, right when he was about to give up and leave…

"Ah, did you hear about that boy?
The duplighost?"

"Mmm, yes. That duplighost that lives in the abandoned steeple, you mean?"

Duplighost?
Were they talking about him?

"That's the one! Though, I can't seem to recall his name…
Gladys said she saw him sneaking around the houses the other day!"

Gladys? Was that another crow?

"Oh? I wonder what he was up to…"

"I'm sure he was just looking for someone to play with!
That poor child…He must feel lonely without any family or friends…"

He had half a mind to chase those birds away now, though he never did.
There was something else gnawing at him…

Excuse me? Miss crows?
What's a duplighost?

They were surprised to see him, not that he expected any less.
Much to his own surprise, however, they did not immediately accuse him of eavesdropping; at least, not on purpose.

"A duplighost is a type of creature that can take the form of anyone they see."

And how do you know I'm one?

"Why, because you look like one of course!"

Then…how do I transform…?

…They couldn't answer that one. If their word was to be believed, they didn't know.
However…he had a sinking feeling that he was being lied to, even if he wouldn't dare act on it, right now.

With his head full of questions, he slunk away from the birds and back "home", heading straight up to his room.

The first, and only, things he found himself doing after that was grab the star gem he was still keeping around, then flopping onto his chair.
He didn't even know why he decided to hold the gem like this. It just…made everything feel less confusing, somehow.
…Without realizing it, he had fallen asleep like that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_ _ _ _ woke up the next morning to the echoes of the Steeple door being pounded on.
But that was ridiculous, he told himself. No one was around to do so, and no one would ever be…

…However, just when he started drifting back off into sleep…

CRASH!

Something collided with his head, making him yelp at the sudden, sharp pain.
He sat up, rubbing the injured spot, and glancing around for the offending object.

In all honestly, he expected it to be a very confused bird; nothing else could make it all the way up to where he slept, after all…right?

It seemed he had a habit of assuming wrongly, as he spotted a rock he knew for a fact hadn't been there before innocently sitting on the floor, having bounced off of his head.

Looking back towards the window, he immediately noticed it was broken, and the shards were everywhere.
…That meant someone had to have thrown the rock in, didn't it? But how on earth had they managed to get it all the way up here?

Uncaringly stepping on the glass shards, he poked his head out the new hole in the window—just in time for another rock to barely graze his cheek as it sailed into his room.
Of course, where the baby boulder failed, the glass did not, lodging itself into his face.

Hissing in pain, he yanked it out, tossing it aside to be dealt with later.
Behind him (or, well, below), his assailants appeared to have finally realized they had his attention.

_ _ _ _!

He cringed, fighting down the urge to vomit.
It had been a long time since anyone had called him by his name, thus it was affecting him again.
In all honesty, he thought no one even remembered it…

Finally! We've been trying to get in for over an hour!
Why'd you lock your door?

…Ah, yes, now that he was thinking a bit more, he remembered that voice.
His old friends had come to see him…though, he didn't know how or why.
Either way, he stuck his head out the hole again, figuring it was safer this time.

Shouldn't you guys be back in town? I thought you weren't allowed to ever see me again?

We're not!
We managed to convince our parents to let us wander again!
…
Can you come down here to talk, though?

Sighing, he headed down and unlocked the door, spending the entire trip mentally preparing himself for when the adults inevitably came rushing in again.
Then he'd get in even more trouble…

…Miraculously, that didn't happen at all.
The first fifteen minutes of their visit was spent with the kids (one of them holding a homemade slingshot) telling him all about the things he missed, the tasks they had to do to earn their parents' trust back…completely without a single sign of anyone coming to ruin the moment.

Of course, outsiders weren't really needed to ruin it this time.
Though unintentional, and he knew they meant well, the children did that just fine on their own.

Everyone's been calling you a monster lately…they keep saying things like you 'were going to feed us' to whatever they think lives here…
Some of them are convinced you're the dangerous thing that lives here…

Him? Dangerous?
What nonsense! Both he and the kids knew perfectly well that he hadn't harmed a fly since he got here.
For all anyone knew about him, he wasn't dangerous in the least…

…Of course, the crows knew otherwise, didn't they…? And now, the duplighost, himself, knew too…
Even if he was unsure of how…

That's our fault, isn't it?
Sorry, _ _ _ _! We swear we didn't mean for this to happen!

…It's fine…

...No...it wasn't fine.
The empty feeling inside of him had grown bigger over the days…and bigger still, as he thought about it.
He had spent his days in boredom and misery…not that he'd tell them that.

…Listen…
I think I remembered something about myself…

Dare he…?

Asking that proved unnecessary, as, a moment later, he was shifting his form into each of his friends, one by one, much to their amazement.
They clapped for him, told him how cool he was, and how awesome it was he could do that…

…That was a feeling he enjoyed greatly.
It felt like he was something special, someone important.
With such an interesting ability, he was definitely worthy of praise, wasn't he?

Letting his head swell, pride he never even realized he had easily getting the better of him, the monster transformed into whatever his friends wanted and pranced around like that for a little while, until they implored him to try something else.

Eventually, the sun started peeking over the horizon, signaling it was time for the kids to go home.
And, much happier than he had been for a long time, an exhausted _ _ _ _ headed back inside, to sleep until they returned…