Max sat on the front step of his cabin. His eyes were directed to the calm blue sky above and his mind had long since drifted off into imagination. Oscar was beside him doing much the same thing. That is to say nothing at all, only the other boy would have his eyes shut as he hums out a tone Max had never heard before.
Today was the perfect moment for lodging around. It was beautiful out, a little hot too but the heat gives them an excuse to not move around so much in the first place. He and Oscar had been doing much talking since the day started though for some reason he didn't mind.
Max was perfectly content with Oscar by his side. He closes his eyes to better bask in the elephant's simi tone-deaf humming. The boy didn't for Max to love it.
"So... what kind of music do you like?" Max asked, his eyes still closed, and his head lifted to the sky. Spending the night with Oscar, twice at that, was probably the best thing that could have happened to him all summer. Yeah, pajamas did their absolute best to keep the boys separated when they were in bed, which Oscar insisted they sleep together. But other than having to put up with a pair of authoritarian pajamas, last night had been the best sleep he had gotten in a while.
Oscar stops his humming immediately. "Me? Oh, I don't really know actually." He scratched his chin. He's never actually given much thought to the kind of music he like listening to. "I usually just listen to wherever Hedgehog listens to. She usually has great taste."
Max's eyes shoot open, and he directs them to the boy sitting beside him. Max thinks he must be joking. Surely, he didn't also need Hedgehog to tell him what music he should be listing to? "Come on Oscar, are you serious?" Max stares at him and it starts to make him a little uncomfortable.
"Well, you know," Oscar says rubbing the back of his ear. "I don't really listen to a lot of music." He looks at the ground, too embarrassed to meet Max's judgmental gaze. "I just never really gave it much thought. Jeez does that make me a bad person?" Oscar's tone was now on the defensive.
"Oh, n-no, I mean-" Max stammers. "I just mean... you know." He looks forward, thinking he might have gone a little too hard on Oscar just then. "You should try finding something you'd like to listen to, instead of going off of what Hedgehog is listing too."
"Ohhh..." Oscar brings his eyes back around to Max. "Well, what do you listen to." The boy turns the question back on Max. Maybe the bat might have something he would like.
"I listen to a lot of things actually." He begins to pull a small device out from the pocket of his hoodie and press a button that lights up the little screen. "But it's rap and hip-hop mostly." He said handing Oscar the device with his headphones still attached.
He takes the device from Max and looks through the bat's choice of music. He scrolls down the catalog of some of Max's favorite songs, of which there was a litany. A little more than he'd liked to count anyway. Oscar would stop his incessant scrolling once he notices some of the weird names a lot of the artists had. He taps on a song that catches his eye, mostly for how colorful the album cover was.
"Hmm, okay..." Oscar smiles at Max. "A little too violent for me, unfortunately." Oscar came to the conclusion after listening to the four-minute song. "I think I'll stick to something a little less intense and more wholesome."
"Yeah, no I get it." Max chuckles. "It's just what I mostly listen to currently. Still kind of an acquired taste." Max said. He knew Oscar might not like the music but despite how the elephant felt, he still kept scrolling through the many songs housed on the music player.
"Yeah well..." Oscar takes one of the earbuds out of his ear. "Maybe eventually I'll acquire it." He hands the headphone bud he had taken out to Max and puts the playlist on shuffle. "Can I still keep looking? I really like these names."
"Oh yeah, Sure. No problem." He said, smiling at Oscar who was more focused on the screen of the device. Max had never seen him so interested in a single subject before. Then again, he only just started spending most of his time with Oscar.
"Thanks, Max," Oscar says as he continues to read out some of his favorites. Yung Chowda, Lil Timmy Turner, El Cameron, Adorabrat, tOh Eda, twig and Molly, YAW Finn, the? Twins lil dipper and Mabel the Star, and so on "There's a lot of funny names here." He chuckles as he continues to scroll down.
"Yeah." Max scratches at one of his arms. "I think it has something to do with wanting to stand out." He couldn't say he liked reading the names more than listening to the music. But even he had to admit, there were some really weird ones.
"Yeah, like look at these guys." Oscar gets closer to showing Max some of the upcoming names on the screen. "Yb flapjack, GatoCato, yums, argit. Just Argit by the looks of it."
Max scowls when he hears the last name. His face twists up into an annoyed frown before he speaks. "Uh, god. Argit is just the worst. He talks likes to talk tough. Go on about the most dangerous one in his gang, but when he finally gets arrested, he sells out everyone he was involved with so he can get away scot-free." Max was slightly fuming. He was Maybe a little too invested in the career of the wannabe musician. "Don't get me wrong. I don't condone gang stuff, but it's more about the principal. You know?"
Oscar doesn't say anything at first. He stares at Max with a smirk on his face "Wow, you're kinda passionate about this huh?" Oscar says, his eyes shifting between the player and Max. He struggles to hold back his laughter, taking some sort of pleasure from the bat's frustration. He might even say it was kind of cute.
"But Oscar, you don't get how lame he is." Max tries his best to convince Oscar amidst his ranting. All he received in return was a smile and Oscar suddenly resting his head on His shoulder while using the rest of his body weight to lean up against Max's side. The bat's face flushes over, red. He wasn't expecting Oscar to do that. It came so far out of nowhere that he almost forgets what it was he had been complaining about for a split second. "Whatever... why should I care right."
"Yeah, why should you?" Oscar says, cuddling up to Max in a position not too dissimilar from how they had been last night. Only now there was no horror movie prompting the boy to lean on Max. He was doing it on his own volition. Like always Max didn't know whether to take that as a sign of something or if it was just Oscar being himself. "Let's read some more, okay?"
Max chokes down an audible gulp. "Uh-yeah... okay. Yeah." A familiar warm sensation begins to arise in him once again. Just when he thought he had it under control, Oscar always found new ways to catch him off guard. The day was already a hot one. The sudden heat he was feeling didn't help that in the slightest.
"Right... what about this one, with KND in front of their name." Oscar practically shoves the player into Max's face. "I've seen like five of them so far." He said taping on the song just to see what the album cover might look like. "They look really cool."
Max's eyes move toward the screen when the music starts playing. He was burning up so bad, worst than any fever he's had. He leans slightly away from Oscar, hoping that the other boy couldn't feel the heat emitting from his face, and tilts his head to the side to avoid any unwanted worry.
"Oh-uh yeah, they're a group. Their music is really good. They go off to make their own music sometimes, but they mostly sing together." He said keeping his face distant from Oscar's. Max swears the elephant knew exactly what he's doing sometimes. "The one in the front is kinda like the leader." He points to the one in front of the group of five he was wearing sunglasses and a red sweatshirt. Oscar thought it was obvious he was in charge; he was the coolest looking one from a group that looked cool from the start. To him he just had an air of confidence that seemed to engulf the group, someone others could rally behind.
"His name is uhh..." Max pauses for a moment trying to remember the name of the musician who was more interchangeable to the rest. The KND in front of their names didn't really help with that. "KND n1gel, like Nigel, I think. I haven't really listened to their stuff in a while." He scratches in between the border of his nose and his forehead in what was somewhat of an attempt to remember the names of the rest of the group. "And the one on his right is KND hoa2ia, he really likes to joke around a lot, the one behind him is KND kuk3, she's sorta weird you know." Oscar moves his eyes between the two members the jokester looking more out of place than the rest but still managing the give off a feeling of structure. As if the group wouldn't be able to function properly without him. The weird one however came off as more of a wild card to him it looked as if you'd never know what she would do next.
"Oh okay, I see. They're like one big softball team." Max cringes at Oscar's analogy immediately thinking back to last night and the day before but quickly realizing that Michael and the other two were getting what they deserve at this very moment.
"Yeah, I guess it kinda is." He says before continuing to explain the remainder of the group. "Right so the one in the middle is KND w4lly, he's kinda crazy, likes to start fights, and he sorta has a thing for kuk3." He points to the one in the orange hoodie, the bangs of his blond hair covering his eyes so he couldn't make them out. Oscar thinks that this one looks like he doesn't like following the rules and that he might bump heads with their leader from time to time but never lets the team down. "And that's KND abi5ail. She's like second in command." Just like before Oscar could tell by the way she presented herself that she would be their leader go too. She probably even put him in his place sometimes.
"Humm." Oscar hums at him. "That's a great memory for a guy who hasn't listened to the group in a while, huh?" Was Oscar being sarcastic? Max didn't think the boy had it in him to joke like that.
"I swear It's been a while." Max laughed, mostly at himself. He guesses he did put himself on the spot like that.
"Oh, I'm sure." Oscar chuckle. "This was all actually really cool Max, I'm glad you showed me." He leans more into Max now. The constant contact makes him blush even harder. Between himself and the sun shining down on them, he felt like his face was being baked in an oven at four hundred degrees.
Not the best feeling in the world to say the least. He both loved and hated the things Oscar was doing to him and the feelings the other boy was giving him constantly. But he didn't want to say anything. He couldn't pull himself to say anything.
"Y-yeah dude, uh-no problem" He was barely able to choke out the words when he spoke. He was honestly more surprised Oscar didn't notice anything was wrong or that Max was more comparable to a radiator with the amount of heat he was generating.
"Max, are you feeling, okay?" Oscar asked and Max thinks he spoke too soon. the other boy looks at him with a worried look. He gives a quick nod followed by a thumbs up assuring Oscar that he definitely wasn't dying from heat stroke. "Oh alright, it's just you look a little...hot right now." Oscar brought a handout to Max's head. His concern didn't do much but make the bat even hotter.
"Really, I'm fine Oscar." He gently removes the hand from his forehead and takes a few short breaths before flashing a smile at Oscar. He had to settle down and start playing it cool like he usually would. "See I'm alright."
"Okay." Oscar gives another curious glance. "Should we go back to reading?" Max nods and Oscar turns his attention back to the screen. "These names are crazy like this on-" He stops halfway through his sentence. He squints at the player and even brings it in close to make sure he hadn't been misreading the name. "Black... Susie." He mutters under his breath. Surely it wasn't who he was thinking of. It is a common name, no need to jump to conclusions. But even then, he felt like it was way too weird. The only way to really find out was to see the album cover, chances are that the artist was most likely on it.
He lightly presses his thumb against the button of the music player, selecting the song. Once the cover of the artist's album pops up, Oscar almost couldn't believe his eyes. A mixture of confusion and amusement washes over him. "Uhhh, Max!"
"What, what happened?" He asks hearing the concern in Oscar's voice.
"Look who it is." He shoves the device back in Max's face. He desperately urges Max to see what he had been seeing.
Max stares at the player and lifts a brow at the album cover. "Yeah? That's black Susie. what about her?" He hadn't seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.
"What!?" He looks at the screen and shoves it back into Max's face. "Look it's Susie. Like the actual Susie." He points out that their camp counselor used to be a rapper. Oscar wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he was at least ninety percent sure that was her.
"Oh...? Wait..." He looks at the cover again, closely this time. "Ohhh, wait what?" He looks at the pink-haired cat on the album cover except she was noticeably less witchy with baggy clothes, full tattoo sleeves, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth with no pointy witch hat covering up her pink hair. She was holding a handout in front of her with her fingers formed into a gun. Aiming at the would-be listeners with that all too familiar devious smirk on her lips it was almost too much to take in. "How did I not notice that!?"
Oscar separates from Max and gets up from his spot. He continued to look in between the bat and the music player to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. "Should we go to her? Let's go to her. Can we go to her Max?" Oscar was excited. He just had to know if what he was seeing was real and not a trick cooked up by the head witch somehow.
Max was unsure at first. If anything, he was afraid that bringing the topic up might strike a chord with Susie. He didn't know what might happen after that but her being her, she might turn them into something undesirable. On the other hand, his curiosity was getting the better of him. "Uhh," Max considers, weighing his options before making a decision. "Yeah... yeah let's do that."
He gets up and steps near Oscar. He had to admit he wanted to know just as bad as the other boy did. The worst thing that could happen to them was they got yelled at by the witch, so they'd take the gamble.
The two take a moment to stretch out their lambs, slowly waking the arms and legs up one by one before starting their trip to the witch's cabin. Along the way, it hadn't taken them long to run into Hedgehog and surprisingly she was alone at the moment.
"Hey guys, what's the rush?" She stops in front of the two boys who had practically been running. Their rush probably wasn't advisable with the intense heat of the day, but they were desperate for answers.
"We just found out something crazy about Susie Hedgehog. Wanna come with? You're literally gonna freak out!" Oscar asked his best friend barely able to contain his excitement.
"Yeah, sure. Oliver's busy with something so I'm not doing anything." She gives them her answer nonchalantly, wondering what kind of dirt they dug up on Susie exactly.
They make their way over to Susie's, something they seem to be doing a lot lately. When they reached, they find Alice outside of her cabin lining up the three assailants from the previous night side by side with brooms in each of their hands.
It looked like their punishment was being enacted right now. They had somewhere to be at the moment but seeing the other boys lined up Alice causes them to stop in their tracks. The group just has to know what kind of punishment the witch had in mind.
"Alright." She paces back and forth in front of the boys. "This ought to teach you, boys, a thing or two about respecting the property of others." She snaps at them in her usual polite pleasant tone that was also somehow cold and menacing. Only Alice could have a voice so nice and also so intimidating at the same time. It was the reason half of the camp feared her more than Susie sometimes. She could be nice to you one moment and then in the next, you wind up as something cute in her cabin.
"Hey, Alice. You're starting already?" Hedgehog walks up to Alice with a smile on her face. She was only happy that Michael and Aubrey were finally getting what they deserve. Although she thought Jason wasn't bad. He was caught up with the wrong crowd that's all.
"Ah, yes." Alice turns to the young girl. "They're going to be cleaning all of the counselor's cabins today." She begins to explain. "I'm hoping this little task should help the boys improve their manners."
"Cap, this is cap." Aubrye blurts suddenly. "Why are we in trouble when they started it. She kicked me in my balls dude." The wolf whines to Alice, almost begging her to let them go instead of doing the time for their crime.
"Oh yeah? Why don't you explain why I did it, pervert." Hedgehog confronts him for his actions the other day.
"Alright, alright please." Alice raises her voice to the two groups. "I hope you three aren't here just to provoke them." Alice intervenes." The last thing I want is for you to start an argument. Then I'd be forced to discipline you three as well." She looks over Hedgehogs shoulder and at Oscar.
"N-no, no. we just came to talk to Susie." Oscar jumps in between his friend and the peaceful, intimidating witch. "We'll get out of your hair now," Oscar says grabbing Hedgehog by the arm and guiding her away from Aubrey. Somehow, he manages to defuse the tension and slowly but surely claiming his friend down.
"Yeah, we did," Hedgehog growls through her clenched teeth. She most likely would have kicked him in the groin again if it weren't for Oscar holding her back. She would have taken the punishment from Alice. She didn't care.
"Well okay..." Alice watches the second group carefully. "Good luck with her." She said before turning back to the boys and resuming their lesson while Oscar, Max, and Hedgehog had over to Susie's cabin.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Again!?" Susie exclaims as she turns the knob on the kitchen sink. Like earlier with the water in her bathtub, being replaced by bird feathers. Thick black ooze slowly seeped out of the sink faucet. She didn't know what it was, but it stunk and that was enough for her to be upset.
This kind of thing only happened to her when Ramona was in distress and was trying to warn Susie about something awful. "Come on girl, what are you trying to tell me." She whispers to herself before hearing a knock at the door. "Ughh what is now?" She groans and begins stomping over to the front in frustration. How was it that everyone kept finding their way to her door? She thought she'd made it obvious that she didn't want to be bothered. She never wanted to be bothered "Okay wha- oh... you three." She pauses once she opens the door. "What is it this time?"
"Susie did you use to do hip-hop!?" Oscar blurted his inquiry out loudly with all the patients of a hungry cat.
"What!? No... what!?" She was confused and in shock. She had made sure no one knew anything about her. "How'd you even find that out?"
"Show her Max, show her." Oscar taps on his arm and Max reaches into his pocket and the show's her the music player, Oscar bouncing up and down in excitement the whole time.
Susie leans in, squinting her eyes at the device. It was definitely her old look for a time. "Huh? They kept the music up. Hey, wait a minute." She leans away from the screen. "How come I haven't been getting paid for any of this. Ugh, I got some calls to make."
"So... how did something like this even happen anyway?" Hedgehog steps forward with her arms folded over her chest and an eyebrow raised. "I just have to know."
Susie sighs and throws her head back. "Okay, come on in. It's a... weird story." She steps to the side and invites the group into her home. "Alright take a seat or stand I don't really care." She sits on her sofa and leans forward, a sign that she was now focused on recalling the story she was about to tell. "So this actually too long ago, back when gangsta rap was just blowing up right." She adjusts herself on the couch. "I had just left this group called the dark masons an-"
"I'm sorry, dark masons?" Hedgehog cuts into the witches' story with a new question on hand. "What's even that? Like a group or something?"
Susie sighs again. She thought she was telling the story of her previous career. Not her whole life. "Look, it's a whole thing I rather not get into okay." She says with a frustrated huff. "Like I was saying I had just left this group. Well technically I left them a hundred years prior and I had been running the camp for so long by then. I decided I needed something more. I wanted to do something that wasn't magic, not traditional magic anyway. So, I left for a while." She gets up from her spot and walks over to one of her bookcases. She reaches in and retrievers an old vinyl from one of the shelves. "And that's really where the name comes from. You can say my nickname in that group was Black Susie."
"I mean..." Oscar sat up. "The name doesn't exactly sound cool, does it? It is just your name with a word in front of it."
Susie stares at the boy with an unimpressed look painting her expression. "Well, that's because it's not the full name and it's an English bozo." She rolls her eyes. "The full thing sounded way cooler in Latin..." Susie mutters and rubs her chin.
"Anyway, I decided to keep the name, cutting out some of the more... unpleasant parts of course. As cool as it was, it probably wouldn't have worked." She handed the album to Hedgehog. "My stuff was super experimental, kinda ahead of its time, didn't really catch on then. So I changed it up. You can go ahead and keep that by the way."
"Uhh...no thanks. But go off I guess." Hedgehog said, passing the album to Oscar, who In turn passed it to Max, who holds on to it for the time being.
"I was kind of a big deal at the time, even brushed shoulders with some big names." She sets back on her couch, leaning back with her arms behind her head. She was more relaxed, almost like she needed to get her past career off her chest. "But I was really humble you know. Yeah, I enjoyed the occasional cheeseburger and diamond-encrusted Porsche. But I never really did much with the money. Didn't need to."
They sit and listen in wonder and intrigue. They had no idea Susie had a life off of the island. They didn't even know she was allowed to leave in the first place. "Oh man, then what happened? Why'd you quit and come back." Max asked her. Out of the three of them, he was the most surprised to her that she had just quiet one day. He didn't understand why she would choose a life like this over a life like that, especially scenes she didn't seem to like where she was now all that much.
"Had to, once I felt myself slipping I..." Her words mutter off and stop as she slowly brings her fingers to rest over her mouth. She didn't mean for that to come out.
"Slipping?" Hedgehog said. "Like the fame was starting to get to you."
"Uhh... not really..." She refocuses on the group before here. "I had a responsibility to the camp. I couldn't just stay away. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn't." Her tone turns somber after mentioning her blight. These three were the last people in the world she thought she'd be pouring her heart out to. "But it's the life I choose, and I must live with it." She shook her head from side to side. "So, you happy? Gonna leave me alone now or what?"
"Right, right... thanks for the story anyway, Susie." Hedgehog said, standing up. For obvious reasons, she wanted to be the first one to leave.
"You know, you should perform at the blood drive. It would be so cool." Oscar said helping Max up to his feet.
"God Oscar you are so..." She pauses again. This time a small blush forms on her cheeks. "Yeah, whatever. please go now." They exit and she thinks to herself that maybe Oscar was on to something. "Hmm, perform huh." She muttered to herself before she was snapped out of her thoughts by the familiar ring of her mirror. Finally, time for some answers.
She walks over to the noisy mirror and hastily holds a handout to it. Even amidst the annoying ringing, she considers for a moment if she actually wanted to answer. It's always been like that since basically decided to abandon her and all for what. To save magic. She could do without it if it meant she'd still be with her friend. "Ughh." Susie laments, pushes her thoughts aside, and answers the mirror. "Ramona! why've you been messing with my utilities!?" She begins to comfort her old friend, who was currently flipping her lid.
"Susie! It's terrible, something is very wrong! You felt it too haven't you!?" Ramona says in sporadic rambling. Barley breathing between her ranting and raving.
"Hold up, Ramona calm down." Susie attempts to settle her. Susie feared that if the witch kept going as fast as she did that, she might hurt herself in her old age. "What are you on about?"
"The elves, Susie the elves! Something is wrong with the elves." She spoke in a whisper, getting uncomfortably close to the mirror. At least she was more relaxed now, if not a little on edge. "It could be her Susie. She might be manipulating them in some way. Somehow."
Susie shutters at what Ramona says. She started to feel an ever-creeping tension arising in her room. This couldn't be. Ramona was just being paranoid. "Come on Ramona, she was banished to the nether a long time ago. I made sure of it. Trust me she's not coming back." Susie wanted her statement to be true, it had to be. It would be impossible for her to return.
"Just keep an eye out and an ear to the ground. Anything could happen at this point. Stay safe." The call ends before Susie had the chance to respond.
She scoffs at the mirror and at her old friend. What were the chances that the witch could get back by using the elves? They seemed alright to her. Though a thought still lingers at the back of Susie's mind. Could Ramona be right? Could Elizabeth have found a way to escape? "No, she couldn't have," Susie tells herself. It just wasn't possible everything was fine or so she tells herself.
