Lost In Purple

Chapter 86: Aqua's End

Melanie's POV

The somewhat small auditorium that holds a standard grade Scare Simulator sits in front of several rows of red velvet seats as if it's a theater on Broadway. The seats are glazed in near darkness. The only light comes from the spotlights above, illuminating the creepy replica of a child's living space. Unfortunately, the seats of the theatre only ever hold a handful of monsters at a time; There are usually only boring proctors that occupy the seats, and they're only concerns are the clipboards holding grading papers for the souls who find themselves lucky enough to enter.

"One last thing before you head up there, Ronan," Professor King says as Johnny's grandfather talks to the Scare try-out proctors, "There is no holding back anymore."

Dad considers himself lucky, but at the cost of his composure. He's been quiet these last few days, but he's gotten even more quieter since we entered the factory. The nerves that have been dormant for decades have finally returned and are consuming any and all happiness that still remained within him.

"Yes sir," He replies grasping onto arms of his seat.

We're sitting to the far right of the auditorium so that all we have to do is stand up and head to the fake closet door. After that, we're basically asking to be enclosed with a hyperrealistic human child mannequin that screams just like a real one. It isn't just some flimsy dummy this time, it's the real deal.

Professor King, looking down from the row behind us, sighs loud enough for my dad and I to look behind us. "Be proud of who you are. It takes more than guts to go through what you did and make it out alive. I would also be proud of your persistence. Of conforming to society rather than continuing to pursue rebellion."

I find myself throwing my arms around my dad, pulling him so close that my cheek squishes against him. I was expecting him to grunt in utter annoyance, but he instead exhales with a little bit of relief. He's likely still scared about how I feel about him but felt like he could relax a little bit more after getting this affection from me.

"I can also guarantee that everything will change for the better after this," Professor King adds.

"…It will?" Dad questions.

Professor King takes a seat and leans closer towards our ears. "Yeah. You and Melanie have what it takes. No matter what happens, the Worthington's won't be able to deny that for even a second."

"And what makes you so confident that they won't reject us?" Dad continues.

"Because you two are the first monsters that they've ever been scared of…Johnny included. They've trained themselves to be perfect, but finally found out that their perfection has flaws," Professor King explains.

Dad lets go of the arms of his chair so he can place his head within his hands. "Ugh… I wish I could believe you."

"Only you can choose whether you do, but you'll be the first monsters to show how important valiance and tenacity are within this field. That's something I've come to know about all three of those men over there. They may be genuinely perfect Scarers when you look at their diverse range of knowledge in the field, but they could never understand the workings of staying calm in the presence of a human who isn't scared of them. They've mastered using their ego to hide their imperfections… but that can be easily broken when the process they rely on doesn't work. That's what makes you and Melanie uniquely different. You've lived through the worst, and adapt and persist for years on end. You can't be controlled by either humans nor monsters… which is something that no other monster can happily or validly claim."

Dad doesn't say anything and lets the soft echoes from Johnny, his father, and grandfather drown out the silence.

Controlling this conversation, Professor King gives one final lecture. "I'm going to say this one last time, Ronan…you did nothing wrong nor are you a bad person. You aren't alone either…so ask those you love for help," Professor King states further, "And for you Melanie…you ARE scary. It's not because you're adequately mimicking the process every other Scarer enacts, it's because you have the innate ability to get into another persons head differently. You use that ability to create your own horror, and therefore, bring something unknown to the Scaring world. So, embrace the Carina Kennedy within you and be different."

I feel more weight be pushed into me when my dad chooses to no longer fight against the Professor. Those dark eyes of his wander to the dusty floor before they emotionlessly droop to a level that makes it look as if he's about to fall asleep. I can't tell if he's taken that to heart or if he's done with the world as a whole, but at least we've reached the point where the life he wanted is within his grasp.

"It looks like they're ready. You're first, Ronan."

Johnny's POV

I've always wondered what it's like to scare and feel nothing at the same time. Ever since I first saw my father scare, I've had this carnal desire to scare that always ends up giving me this unexplainable rush. It's been like that for every other monster aspiring to be a Scarer too, but for Ronan, it's as if it's another normal day. Seeing the nothingness reside in eyes as he steps up behind the door is scary in of itself. There's always that thought in the back of your head that's blaring, saying that if you mess up or somehow come into contact with a human, you're screwed. Obviously he won't actually experience that since this is a simulation, but there has never been a moment of absolutely no hesitation. Maybe this is what it's like to be him, to be someone who can't ever let their guard down or feel like they're truly safe. He's become so numb to it that even becoming a Scarer doesn't compare to the feeling of hopelessness or feeling lost within a hell of loneliness. Here's to hoping that he'll get what he wants: To conform. If he's able to do this, then it means that Melanie will be able to be happy with who she is and know exactly where she's going to end up.

Once the simulator closes its retractable wall, Ronan stares at the door, causing my grandfather to clear his throat and speak firmly. "Mr. Everett, please scare a child that lives in the farmlands of Idaho, United States and has Astroxenophobia. Show us that you cannot and will not be seen by the child while also making your presence known within the bedroom."

Oh man. I tried my best to have my grandfather go a little easy on him, but he must want Ronan to break all expectations he has. This level of scare similar to paranormal scares in that it's so complex, requires so much patience, and requires the Scarer to have certain capabilities that many don't possess. It was a type of scare that everyone in college never hoped to be put up against. It's a prompt that doesn't even give enough information to go off of. What kind of scare would you use? How would you go about it? What kind of alien characteristic is it that we're talking about here? It's just not specific enough for a monster to deduce the most perfect scare, but it's open enough for there to be a seemingly infinite number of scares that could work.

My grandfather, father, and I sit behind the simulator console as one of the simulator supervisors makes sure everything is working properly. I can tell that my father is surprised by the expectation that Ronan has been given, and stares intently at him as his silhouette remains behind the door motionlessly. Hopefully he can at least give Ronan some praise for knowing what he's doing…even if he's not doing anything currently…

"Mr. Everett, please, I do not have any more time to give you!" My grandfather hollers.

"SSSHHH!" Professor King hushes from the other side of the auditorium.

I'm grateful that he did that. Any normal Scarer would know that performing such a complex scare cannot be rushed. You either do it right or you do it wrong. It makes me think if my grandfather did that on purpose to make him slip up and fail. Luckily, Ronan's nerves don't seem to be getting to him. The rickety door opens and closes with no creaking and without a thump, which means that Ronan now has to deal with a carpeted floor filled to the brim with toys. With the inside cameras displaying on the large monitors outside the simulator, we see many wooden blocks, bouncy balls, action figures, race cars, and stuffed animals that have littered the rugs and lay atop the wooden floor boards. Even though it's extremely dark, that fake moonlight makes it so that all of it is slightly visible to the monster eye.

Ronan's silhouette seemingly hovers from the closet door over to the far side of the bed that the hyperrealistic child lays upon. It's too dark to tell if Ronan even bent his legs as he moved, and it's the same for when he lowers behind the bed without a worry in the world. He could be on the ground, staring at the ceiling and making sure he didn't wake up the child. He could also be kneeling or clinging onto the side of the bed, but we'll never know. Those blankets are blocking our sight of the other side.

Silence envelops the auditorium, leaving the four of us confused behind the simulator console. Is this a part of his scare? Any other Scarer would have been done with this by now, yet here we are.

Suddenly, a…noise…echoes within the simulator room. Yeah…it's just a noise…I can't tell if it's a click, hum, vibration, or something else. It's high-pitched, and reminiscent of a cicada and hyena at the same time. It's…brilliant. That's not a sound I, or any organism for that matter, have heard before. It's definitely coming from Ronan, and it definitely taps into a xenophobia that I never even thought I had. That noise is then followed by Ronan raising his arm onto the bed at a sluggish speed. That arm of his looks like it came straight out of a coffin that hasn't been opened in hundreds of years, which means he must have transformed without a flash of light somehow. Does he have that much control over himself? Is that flash of light just a way for him to make a grander entrance?

That's not necessarily important though. That arm of his is literal nightmare fuel. The monitor shows us the pronation of his arm and opening of his hand. It makes us think those joints of his have been under the effect of rigor mortis for centuries. You can see each individual muscle wrap around each other, and each digit tendon rest atop the bones of his hands. This must be the petrifying part of having hands that look like they're withered.

After his hand opens far enough, he cautiously moves it upwards towards the end of the blanket, wraps his index finger around it and begins to pull it down at a snails pace. With each inch, the fake child is exposed to the hypothetical frigid air of the bedroom, forcing him to awake from its peaceful slumber, moving its eyes from left to right. Its head twitches once it realizes that it's hearing that unidentifiable high-pitched sound. It raises from the bed to get a better look around the room, but finds nothing until it looks down onto the blankets. The fake robot child jumps, but the simulator for some reason doesn't count that. Ronan stops moving as that happens.

I didn't even know that these simulators could do that. In college they've always said that any sort of attempt at scaring it, even when at a bed-wetter setting, will set it off. However, that must not have been entirely true. I look over to see my father and grandfather baffled alongside me. Is this a hidden tactic within simulators, or even humans all together, that Ronan knows about? Holy shit, what is going on? Why is this try-out so captivating?

The fake child stares at Ronan's hand, waiting for it to move, but it never does. That bony index finger of his continues grasping onto the blanket, letting the mannequin get an even better look at his knuckles. About fifteen seconds go by before the fake child attempts to reach out towards Ronan's hand, but when it does it's met with him popping up from under the bed and letting out an ear piercing shriek that sounds like a infinitely more natural version of an Aztec death whistle. Ronan's body turns black and doesn't just move with natural flow, it moves in sudden jerking motions, looking like his joints lock in place. Those peacock eye patterns on his body expose themselves and that flash of light turns into a strobe light, blinding the child. It's also worth mentioning the spore-like breath that possesses aqua-blue bioluminescent light when he twitches.

The scream lasts for a few seconds before the entire simulator glitches and stutters, looping the scream until sparks fly out of the mechanics in the bed. The fake child then slumps down as the power drains from its artificial body, losing control of its jaw. It falls and hangs just as loosely as its' arms. Ronan was so scary that he broke the simulator…and he doesn't look like he cares. He put everything behind that scare, and only cares to lower his arms calmly to stare at the fake child in confusion

"Uh, I apologize Mr. Worthington sir, I don't know what happened," The meek monster behind the simulator console spouts.

My grandfather watches as the monster tinkers with relatively everything on the machine. Neither he, my father, or I have any clue what he's trying to do, especially since the simulator looks to have up and died. He's not fixing it by just pressing a big red button.

"Stop, stop stop stop," He grunts while moving from his seat and up beside the console, "We'll need a mechanic for this one. Are you able to open the retractable wall so we can at least make it easier for maintenance?"

"Yes sir," The monster replies before typing away and opening the simulator.

Considering that this simulator was made at the same time the ones at MU were made, the retractable wall slides open at a pace so slow that we could all fall asleep before it opens. That's of course an exaggeration, but it takes a long while before we can see Ronan fiddling with the wiring underneath the bed. Some clinks and clanks come from underneath the bed and it causes the three of us to worry about his safety.

"Mr. Everett! Get out from under there, we need a licensed mechanic to fix that!" My grandfather yells while abandoning us and trotting down the center aisle.

While a bit muffled, Ronan replies, "I am a licensed mechanic! Have been for over a decade! It's an easy fix considering that I unintentionally pulled out some wires with my foot while trying to stand up! I did cut two wires though, so yeah, you'll have to replace them!"

My grandfather stops right at the edge of the stage. Melanie and Professor King join him and look at Ronan tinker away with his bare hands.

"You didn't hurt yourself or anything, right?" Melanie worries.

Everyone in the auditorium can hear him sigh. "I'm fine, Moondrop. Don't worry about me."

"But you're always doing these thing that make us worry," Melanie pouts.

I guess this is a better time than any to head down there myself. I trust Ronan enough to hold his own when messing with machines, but I don't trust Melanie to deal with her worries alone. She'll spiral down into something unnecessarily nihilistic if she continues arguing with her father like that.

With very little passion, Ronan escapes from underneath the simulator bed before giving the monster monitoring the simulator console a signal. The monster gives us all a thumbs up and returns to his own little world where he smacks every button he sees.

Ronan then turns to me. "Could you test it for me, Jonathan?" He asks.

Huh? Why am I being put on the spot like this? I thought I was over this stage of my life. All those moments where I had to pull luck out of my gigantic body in order to impress others are supposed to be nothing more than a mere memory.

"Test? Is it not broken?" I question in response.

"Won't know until we try. Melody still has to be tested after all, and I would rather not wait yet another week to get this over and done with," Ronan replies looking like he's already over this whole conversation. He then inhales deeply. "Daemonophobia please!"

The monster behind the simulator console lets out a 'yes sir' before messing with all those buttons once again.

"It doesn't have to be drawn-out or flashy unless you want it to be. This is a moment to show your grandfather here what you've learned though. Same with your…uh…father," Ronan adds.

Hmm…yeah he has a point there. Neither of them have actually seen me scare before. Like he said, this is my chance to change that and show them that all those expectations they had for me meant nothing. I was going to be an amazing Scarer regardless.

I look up to the monster behind the console and see him give me an uncertain smile, letting me know that he believes to have finished resetting everything. With that, I decide to do something not so impressive yet something that will hopefully get the job done. I rocket toward the back wall at full speed, launch myself upwards and kick off the wall. While in the air, I twist my body to the right, barrel rolling within the limited space I have and land on the blankets that Ronan pulled back a few minutes ago. After channeling some force within my larynx, I emit a classical demon screech that could be compared to a a screech in a deathcore song or a movie containing some sort of demonic entity within the underworld. The mannequin that lay lifelessly dormant doesn't move an inch but plays the scream that it originally did, showing us that everything but the realistic movement of the mannequin is working.

"Hm…damn, Jonathan, a full canister with barely any atmospheric buildup. Well done!" My grandfather smiles as he takes a few steps towards the bed.

I hop down and say, "Thanks, it's natural at this point. Has been since high school."

My grandfather laughs to himself. It's as if he always knew that I was nothing to worry about, and that he single handedly proved my whole family wrong. "Well if that's the case, then you'll make a name out of yourself in no time, just like I did when I was your age."

"That sounds great and all, but I won't get to that point unless Ronan gets the same chance. He and I are both tired of being swept under the rug like we're nothing special," I respond while rolling my eyes.

"Jonathan, you've always been special. I was sure we taught you that when you were younger," My grandfather says in shock, "As for you Mr. Everett, I would be honored to have you employed here. However, I don't know if it's healthy for the company to deal with any backlash regarding your story. I'm sure the media would be all over you and I'm not sure I want that to happen to you."

Professor King jumps in, hoping to put an end to all these worries. "Mr. Worthington, it's either you take him, or you don't. No more excuses, no more secrets, no more letting problems fester into something disastrous."

My grandfather's eyes close when he begins scrunching his face. A growl escapes from him, and the gears within his head slowly start to stop when he reminds himself of the crossroads he's come to. Does he risk possible backlash or does he create a monster among monsters?

"…Young man?!" My grandfather yells at the monster behind the simulator console, "What was Mr. Everett's result?!"

The poor guy is struggling up there. The simulator breaks down suddenly and he's supposed to know exactly what happened but he doesn't. He's also supposed to keep track of the performance that Ronan put on, all while doing that in front of the CEO's and licensed Scarers. I wouldn't be surprised if he's thinking that he will be fired for this.

"Full canister, sir!" The monster responds.

All the attention my grandfather gave him vanishes and he returns to Ronan. "You're hired."

Melanie moves from beside the Professor all the way into Ronan's personal space. Her invasion causes him to be wrapped up in a hug, a trap even, that keeps him from backing up or breathing for that matter. It's a wish that was twenty plus years in the making and it was finally granted because of someone with adequate authority that possessed a level head. Seeing this small gesture unfold before me helps me realize that I actually did a good thing for once in my life. I was always that one monster that others said to not get involved with, that I wouldn't only ever become acquainted with them unless I selfishly got something out of it. While I may have been a bit untamable throughout high school and college, I only ever acted that way in hopes of meeting the expectations given to me…and I feel like I finally did. I've proved myself to everybody around me and even pulled others along with me because…because I wanted to. I feel like this is the first time that I can say that I'm truly proud of myself…I did something not for myself, but for others.

"GAH…OK, MELODY…I-I CAN'T…BREATHE…" Ronan gasps as Melanie's grip gets increasingly more tight, "PLEASE…YOU STILL…GUH…HAVE TO DO YOUR TEST."

Oh, right! I think we all nearly forgot about that.

"Actually, I don't think an official one is required in her case," My grandfather states with a smile.

"HU-HUH?" Ronan gasps once again while aggressively trying to throw Melanie off of him, "MELODY WOULD YOU PLEASE!"

"No!" She says swiftly before sticking out her tongue and being swung around the place as if she were a piece of tape that was stuck on your finger and won't come off.

"MELODY! I GET THAT YOU'RE HAPPY FOR ME BUT THIS IS NOT HOW WE ACT IN PUBLIC!" Ronan growls.

"No!" She responds while doing the exact same thing.

Professor King has to grab ahold of Ronan and keep him from twirling around any further. He also pulls back Melanie's arms a little so that Ronan doesn't suffocate.

"Please realize that Melanie is only doing this because she's relieved to see you in this position. She only ever went to college in hopes of giving you a better life too," The Professor interjects.

Ronan growls but relaxes, making Melanie relax and go limp.

"Heh, she really is ambitious and lovely to be around," My grandfather adds, "And that's one part of my reasoning behind my decision. The others are that she has been vouched for plenty of times, and to be frank, I've actually already seen her in action."

This sends me in utter confusion.

"You have?!" I exclaim.

"Heh, it's really funny how not a single soul notices who's around them during the Scare Games at MU. Your father was going on and on and on about them, and about how they're pointless for someone like you, Jonathan. I had to go see what exactly made them so bad, especially since I never participated in them when I went to college," Grandfather responds.

"The mighty Jonathan Worthington The First didn't participate in the Scare Games?" Professor King asks.

"Nope. I instead found solace in studying and attending my business clubs, which proved beneficial in the long run, but I digress. The day I went to see these Scare Games was the day they were having the, uh, Don't Scare the Librarian event or whatever it was called. I actually filled in for one of those Scaring Scouts that Fear Co sent out, and I just reported back saying that I didn't see anything worth noting. However, that was a lie. Seeing Melanie fly through that library without making a sound and diverting that librarians attention away to that troublemaker…gave me chills. Once I got back from the university, I made sure to keep an eye on Melanie and watch her academic performance which suspiciously stopped during the Spring. Even then, I was still shocked to see such a high score on her first final exam. A score like that is only achieved by the greats such as Frank McCay, Carla Benitez, and Jerry Jablonski. Even her Professor, Derek Knight, had a score as high as that when he was in college," My grandfather explains.

"S-so because of that, you…don't want to see Melanie in the simulator?" Ronan questions.

"No," my grandfather says shaking his head, "I'd rather have our staff work with her to create something new and fresh. We'll teach her slowly about the Carina Kennedy approach over "The Ghost" approach. I think it's even beneficial for this to mark the beginning of a new kind of program here at Fear Co. Every year we'll see if we can take someone off the street and teach them everything there is to know about scaring. This also gives those poor monsters who didn't make the cut another opportunity, although the chances are slim."

"A-are you sure?" Ronan asks.

"Oh yeah, no problem. We've already established that she's an assistant first, Scarer second. I also wouldn't dare expect her to be thrown into a job that she technically barely knows how to do, so we'll be patient with her," My grandfather replies.

I can see a faint smile forming upon Ronan's face. It's just like I said to Melanie many times before… everything will be okay.