Chapter 3 - For the main course, Stewbuscus
Getting to know the author - Once upon a time, my cousin let me borrow Shenmue for the Sega Dreamcast (I would pay good money for a Dreamcast 2 if it ever came to be). The game was 4 discs long and was supposed to take a few days to beat. However, I returned the game the very next day, having beaten it in one sitting. *Sigh* Not a proud moment for me. Anyway, back to the story you care about.
The trio, deciding it would be best to stick together, went west to find another door several feet in front of them and a hallway branching off to the left. They decided to check the near door first. It was a plain, dim room with a wicker basket containing one large teddy bear. There was also a note on the wall, which Tobuscus read.
"Bears in the basket." he read. "Silly note. There's only one in there. Can't you count?"
Gabuscus and Viola glared at him. "I think that's a hint, not a statement." said the girl.
"Yeah." Gabuscus began with a smile. "You've been through all this before, right?"
Viola nodded.
"Then solving all these puzzles should be cake!"
"I'm really sorry." Viola frowned. "My memory of all this was erased when I ran into you guys. This witch is pretty determined to kill me."
Gabuscus put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Viola. We won't let her hurt you. Let us worry about the puzzles and you can just relax."
Viola looked up at her new friend and smiled. "Thank you."
"So..." Tobuscus pondered. "I guess there's another teddy bear around here?"
The other two nodded, then the three went back out and down the hallway. There was another door to their right at the end. Through that door was a dim pink room with red carpet. In one corner stood a wood cabinet. Another corner was home to a pile of presents. Off center, near a window, was a desk with an unlit lamp and an open journal on top. The three split up and checked the room.
Gabuscus checked the cabinet. "Opens when the house returns to normal." he read "I wonder what that means. Viola?"
"I'm not sure, but we should leave it alone for now, I guess." she answered, checking the pile of presents. "Hey! I found another teddy bear!"
Her and Gabuscus went to walk over to the door when they noticed Tobuscus looking through the journal, labeled "Witch's Diary."
"I was sick, so no one played with me." he read. "My father and my mother didn't love me."
"Awww..." Gabuscus was being sarcastic. "It's very moving. I instantly forgive this witch for killing us multiple times."
"Hey!" Viola snapped, causing the men to give her weird looks. "She seemed like a very lonely girl when we were friends. She wasn't always evil, just all alone in a world where her time was short and her company was even shorter." Her head was tilted downward with a tear hitting the floor.
"She tried to kill you, and you're defending her?" Tobuscus chimed in. "Wow! Is she your sister?"
"We may as well have been sisters. I was the closest thing to family she had. When her parents died, I pretty much took care of her, unaware that she was a witch at the time. Doctors said she would die soon from her illness. That led to tonight."
"Wanting to make her final moments as comfortable as possible, I defied my father's orders and came here, but the house...changed somehow. Everything was darker, scarier, and wanted me dead. After several hours, I finally made it to Ellen's room. What I saw wasn't my friend, but a monster."
"Ellen had cut off her legs, took out her own eyes, and burned her throat. I was frozen in fear as this...thing was crawling toward me."
*About an hour ago*
What had remained of Ellen was slowly crawling its way toward a frozen Viola. Despite the incredible amount of pain this body was in, it appeared to be smiling.
"Hey, Viola." Ellen's voice called out from within the body. "I found a cure for my illness. Isn't that wonderful?"
Viola took a step back toward the door, shaking her head. "No! You're not Ellen! What the hell are you?"
"What are you talking about? It's still me. Sorry for keeping you in the dark like this." Ellen stopped advancing toward Viola. "I guess I should explain myself. I'm a witch. I became one out of loneliness and sorrow at the thought of a short pathetic life. I've been looking so hard to find a cure all these years. Now, thanks to you, I get to live." Ellen's smile widened and shortly broke into childlike laughter as she continued toward Viola.
"Me? How?" Viola's hand was on the door knob.
"Your body!" Ellen shouted as she lunged after her.
Viola screamed and ran as Ellen gave chase.
*Present time*
"I was about to escape, but then you blew it by running into me!" Viola scolded, teary eyed. She then regained her composure. "She was my friend, and I feel terrible for her, but trying to kill me is where I cross the line. You're right. I shouldn't defend that evil, murderous monster. Let's go to her room and show her-"
"Fascinating story and all," Tobuscus interrupted. "But I got bored and decided to solve our bear problem."
"Really?" Gabuscus was surprised at his friend's ability to solve anything. "How?"
"Well, I got bored, so I took the bear from Viola while she was engrossed in her story. It was too big to fit in the basket, so I went into the other room out of curiosity. There were these scissors chained to this table, so I thought 'The note never specified the condition the other bear had to be in.' I cut off its limbs and then it fit perfectly. I also heard a clicking sound coming from somewhere, like a door unlocking."
"Well, that saves us a bit of time. Well done!" Viola praised.
Tobuscus smiled rather smugly as they walked back to the first room. They stopped as the candles went out. They all took a nervous step back.
"Oooooh!" they heard Gryphon taunt "Are the big bad humans afraid of the dark?"
"What? ...No!" was Tobuscus' rebuttal.
"A little, yeah." Viola answered.
Gabuscus stepped forward toward the near vase. "Nah. It's just startled m-" an unknown force knocked the vase off its stand. It shattered next to his feet. This caused him to make a high pitched scream and tackle Tobuscus. He then buried his head in his chest crying "Pleasedon'tletitgetme! Pleasedon'tletitgetme! Plea-hee-heese!"
"Wimp!" Gryphon taunted some more.
Gabuscus immediately stood back up in a rage. Walking toward Gryphon, he yelled "Listen, mutt! I'll have you know-"
Suddenly, giant killer teddy bear. It burst through the opposite door and chased after our heroes, who all screamed and ran back to the room with the desk.
Shaken with fear for about a minute, Gabuscus nervously opened the door. To his relief, the bear was nowhere to be found. the trio then walked up to the door to the first room. Viola called out to Gryphon. "Is it gone?"
"No." he called back.
They all sat down, defeated.
"Yes, he's gone."
Coming back in, Tobuscus ran toward Gryphon, crying "Save it! Save it! Save it! Save it! Save it! Save it! Save it!"
"Okay!" Gryphon snapped "Your progress has been- oogga boogga!"
Tobuscus, startled, fell backwards, much to Gryphon's delight. "It's been saved, fraidy cat."
The three walked by the shih tzu to the next room. Tobuscus glared at his dog as they moved on. "Not funny!" he scolded.
The next room was about as plain as Tobuscus described. Other than the workbench in a corner, there was an old broken dresser to their right. There were also to teddy bear limbs lying on the floor. Viola went to pick them up.
"Why?" Gabuscus asked.
Viola just shrugged. "You never know."
They all walked through the only other door, located next to the dresser. This appeared to be the dining room. The table and red rug under it were rather large, especially since there were only eight chairs surrounding it with plenty of room for more. There was a fireplace on the far long wall and two doors opposite one another on the far end. Tobuscus walked to the nearest chair and read the note in the table.
"Taste poison" he read, looking at the skull shaped bowl just off center with strange green liquid inside. "No. No taste poison." he shook his head.
"The cook is busy. Lend a hand." Gabuscus read from a note by the very far door. "This here must be the kitchen then."
"Ooooh! Cooking!" Tobuscus beamed. "I love cooking!" he then barged through the door.
The kitchen seemed like a plain, normal kitchen. There was another door to the right, which Viola found locked. The was a china case at the far wall and a table off to the right. To the left, there was a sink, a stove, a counter, a cutting board, an invisible ghost using a butcher knife on said cut...wait. That doesn't seem right.
Viola took a couple of nervous steps toward the ghost, then looked back at the men, whose teeth were chattering.
"Gh-gh-gh-gh-gh-gh-gh-gh-gh-gh-gh-gh..." they stammered. "Ghost!" yelled Tobuscus as he jumped into Gabuscus' arms.
Viola facepalmed. "How is he your friend again?"
"Ghost!" Gabuscus yelled as he jumped into Viola's arms. After holding them up for a few seconds, she sighed in frustration as she dropped them. She then smiled at the ghost.
"Hi!" she waved.
"Hello, there." the ghost answered in a surprisingly pleasant voice, causing the guys to stand up and keep their cool. "Could you guys lend a hand over here? I'm just overwhelmed in here today."
"A ghost..." Gabuscus began. "...wants a hand...in a house...that wants to kill us...and succeeded...I think he literally...yep...not to be trusted."
"I'll lend a hand!" Tobuscus sounded all to happy to help.
Gabuscus' and Viola's jaws dropped simultaneously. "Um...Tobuscus?" the blonde called out.
"What?" Tobuscus answered. "I'm just trying to be a nice guy."
The ghost took a firm grip of Tobuscus' wrist and placed it on the cutting board.
"Ow! Hey! No need to be so pushy! I said I'd help, didn't I?" asked the new helper. "Now, what do you need?"
"A hand." the ghost replied flatly.
"I know, and I'm giving you one." a frustrated Tobuscus argued "What would you like me to do?"
"Hey. Tobuscus?" said Gabuscus.
"What? What is it? Can't you see I'm trying to help this guy cook whatever disgusting smelling thing he-"
"Knife!"
And with that, the knife sliced through Tobuscus' wrist like butter. Blood gushed out as he screamed and writhed on the ground in agony. He eventually calmed down. "Oh! I see what you did there. Lend a 'hand'. You funny little dead guy." he chuckled just before he died.
"Yep. Saw that coming." said Gabuscus.
The ghost threw the hand into whatever he thought passed for stew. After stirring the foul mixture for a second, he looked over at the other two. "Next!" he called out in a more demonic voice.
Gabuscus began to step back. Viola ran up and presented the teddy bear limbs. "Here! Will these work?" she asked, shaking fearfully.
Much to her surprise, the ghost took the limbs. "Hmmm...perfect!" he said, his pleasant voice returning. "This will be plenty! I've no more need for hands. Here, little girl. I don't need this key. Maybe you'll have use for it." he then handed her a silver key.
"Wow!" Gabuscus was amazed. "I guess she was right."
Viola turned back and smiled at him. "Shall we?"
Before Gabuscus could answer, they heard the sound of someone choking and collapsing in the dining room. They heard Tobuscus' voice call out.
"Poison...tastes...awful. Kinda like antifreeze mixed...with...coffee beans and...raw sewage."
"How does he know what those taste like?" Gabuscus, Viola, and the ghost all said at once.
"Also, I think I'm dying...again. I was right...no taste...poi..so..." he passed, again.
Shaking her head, Viola tried to unlock the door, but the key didn't fit.
"Why don't we check this book over here." Gabuscus suggested. "'The Dining of Aristocrats'. This may give us some insight on this key puzzle dealie."
Viola agreed and joined him in looking through the book, setting the key on the table. Tobuscus then come bursting into the kitchen.
"Hey! What did I miss? Are any of you missing a hand? Is that murder cook done using people's hands for ingredients? Guess what you missed? I ate some of that poison and guess what? I died! I'm actually staring to get used to it. Hey, are you listening to me?"
They weren't. This caused Tobuscus to grab the key from the table in anger. They went after him as he stormed into the dining room.
"Oh! You don't care if good ol' Tobuscus dies, do you!?" he yelled "Well, what if your new best friend, Keybuscus, tastes the poison instead, huh!?" he then dropped it in.
"No!" they both shouted as they tackled him. Just before they could kill him again, they heard a loud clicking noise from the kitchen. They all stood up, optimistic. To their relief, their hopes were realized as the locked door in the kitchen was now open. After apologizing to Tobuscus, Viola led the way in.
"Yes!" Tobuscus cheered. "Stairs!"
Viola looked puzzled. "Are you really that excited ab-"
"Yes!" Gabuscus cut her off. "Progress!"
Viola couldn't deny that it was nice that things were finally moving along. She smiled as the trio ascended to the next floor.
"Wheew!" Tobuscus shouted his battle cry and led the way.
What surprises and horrors await our friends as they face the second floor? Will they see that ghost again? What about Gryphon? Will someone other than Tobuscus meet their untimely, inconsequential death? Find out next chapter, unless you've seen or played the Witch's House. Then you'll already know the answers to the first two questions.