3 Months Before Current Storyline
Roger was gone.
Maurice had been out and must have forgotten to lock Roger's door, because now it was wide open and nobody was inside except the kitten that Maurice had just gotten to keep Roger company while he was at school.
"Shit," Maurice muttered. He sprinted up the stairs and exited the house, shivering a little. It was starting to get cold. Roger would probably be in his t-shirt, and he wasn't stupid, so he'd probably be inside a building. Somewhere. He couldn't have gotten far; Maurice had been gone for twenty minutes at the most.
He'd have to look around in the shops. Now that Roger had cleaned up and gained some weight, he looked just like any other teenage boy. Sure, his hair was kind of long, and sometimes he would start going psycho, but other than that, he was just a normal teenage boy, for the most part.
Maybe he was in the candy shop. Maurice could try there. And maybe he could buy some candy to perhaps draw Roger out. He ran to the candy shop, nearly getting run over three times and tripping five times. He ignored people from school that called out greetings; they didn't matter, he needed to find Roger and get him back before someone who recognized him as the escaped mental patient found him.
He made it to the candy shop and flung open the door. It was completely empty; not even a worker. Maurice grabbed a handful of hard candy, stuck it in his pocket, and ran out again. What next? Bookstore? Bookstore. Roger had spoken of wanting some books to read while Maurice was at school, maybe he was taking matters into his own hands because Maurice really didn't believe that Roger wanted to read anything.
The bookstore wasn't empty, and it was harder to search as well. Maurice ducked past people, muttering 'sorry' and nearly tripping again.
Roger wasn't here either. Maurice bit his lip and set off again, popping one of the hard candies into his mouth and sucking on it as he ran, trying to think. Maybe clothes? What would Roger want with clothes? A church?
That was just ridiculous…
But Roger probably thought that Maurice would never look there.
He was probably in the church.
Maurice changed direction quickly and, running across the road and nearly getting hit by a car again, went toward the church. There were a few people there; Maurice wasn't sure why but, then again, he never went to church. He believed in God, he supposed, he just always had better things to do. Such as look after his insane friend.
Though he hadn't gone to church in a while – apart from what they had to do at school, but Maurice mostly messed around then – he slowed down before entering the building. Yes, there was Roger. Just standing there, glaring at someone… who looked extremely like Ralph.
Shit.
The Ralph lookalike glanced up and met Roger's eyes. Ralph lookalike's eyes widened, and he crumpled to the ground. Maurice took the temporary confusion to sneak up behind Roger and grab him. "C'mon," he muttered, dragging Roger away. Roger twisted. "It's just me, it's just Maurice."
Roger kept twisting as Maurice drug him down the church steps. They nearly fell a few times, but Maurice managed to get Roger back to his room without too much trouble. Apart from the bite marks on his arms and many odd looks from classmates.
He set Roger down in his room. Roger glared at him, and Maurice took the hard candies out of his pocket and dropped them all on Roger's newly acquired desk. "I'm going to go get you some actual food," Maurice said slowly. The kitten padded out into view. "That's your new kitten."
He'd been gone for five minutes at most. Maybe ten. Yes, about ten minutes, because he'd had to work to find the bread, because he hadn't put it away last time and it was now under the sink for some reason. He'd made Roger a sandwich and filled a cup with water. Ten minutes at most.
When he got back, the first thing he saw was the kitten dead right in front of the door. Maurice bit back a shriek and put the food down on the floor. Roger was sitting crosslegged on his bed, just watching him.
The kitten wasn't just dead. It was mutilated. Its neck was broken – that's what had killed it, probably, it had been running around and annoyed Roger and he'd probably just snapped its neck. Somehow its stomach had been cut open and internal organs were strewn all over the room like Christmas decorations. Maurice closed his eyes. Alright. He would be fine. This wasn't happening.
He opened his eyes again and noticed that a pencil was stabbed into the neck, like Roger was planning on cutting off the head and putting it on the pencil but hadn't had the time. Maurice pressed a hand over his mouth, trying to stay sane.
"What's wrong?" Roger asked. He was smirking a little.
"What's wrong? Think about it!" Maurice said, his voice higher than usual. Roger just looked at him. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm insane," Roger said. "Didn't you know that?"
"You need a hobby," Maurice said, trying to diffuse the tension a bit. Roger stood up and, after kicking what looked like the heart to the other side of the room (Maurice gagged at this) pulled open a desk drawer. It was full of dead bugs. Bugs that looked like they'd been tortured to death – flies, beetles, even a few of what looked like they had been moths.
"I do have a hobby," Roger said. He dumped them all on the floor and began to laugh. "You made a mistake, Maurice!"
Maurice fought the impulse to look at the cat – or any part of the cat, though it was kind of hard – and crossed the room. Wincing as he stepped on several dead bugs and what felt like part of the cat, he eventually made it to Roger.
He hugged Roger. Roger stiffened.
"What are you-"
"Shut up," Maurice muttered. "You're insane, and you scare me, but I still like you." Maurice grinned at him. "You're interesting."
And here we go.
I'm debating on whether I should have a Jack POV or not. What do you think?
