Arc 1: Dead to Writes

Chapter 1: The Book of the World

Poke.

Flippy shifted in his sleep.

Poke nudge poke.

He blindly swatted a hand. It felt like a giant moth was hovering around his head, poking him like a bear. When he opened his eyes he saw it wasn't a giant facehugger, though. It was a floating book.

It was an average sized hardcover, ivory in color with a hundred golden pages. It was entitled The Book of the World: The New Millennial Addition, and was authored by a Mr. A. Human.

Not that he cared. Flippy turned over in the leather chair and closed his eyes. The book didn't like being rejected. It careened off his head and then as he was reeling, plunked itself onto his chest. The bear wheezed and flung the thing off him. The book barely flew a foot before it ricocheted back towards him, quivering with excitement.

"What?" Flippy asked grouchily, rubbing his eyes. He wasn't done with his food coma.

The book bopped him on the head twice. It attached itself to the chair and began spinning it, increasing torque with every revolution. Flippy held on, but the longer this went on he realized he may've messed up.

WHAM!

Sooner than later he was colliding with a wall. He slid down and onto the couch, groaning. Here he was, wherever he was, and it was one thing after another. The last thing he remembered before passing was eating so many donuts his bandoliers were strained taut, and now he was being harassed by some book of sorcery.

Speaking of sorcery, the lights suddenly dimmed and turned rosy. As a bubbly luminescence appeared on the wall, a slow jazz song started playing from somewhere.

Flippy sat up on the couch, horrified. The Book of the World was advancing on him, zestily swinging from side to side. It got up into the bear's face and nuzzled him on the cheek. He scooted back, laughing a little awkwardly.

The book took several more goes at him, unsuccessfully trying to get into his hands. It shuddered agitatedly and flung its pages open to reveal a message.

You're slow. What part of 'I want you to hold me tight and not let go' do you not see?

The book flipped a page.

Make it worth my time and I'll make it worth your time. I promise.

Flippy was 100% certain he didn't want to find out what that meant. It sounded a lot like the fanmail he got in his mailbox (not that he knew why he had fans or where they came from), and from that he learned there were some really sus folk in the world.

It did finally sink in that the book was floating. Flippy threw a finger skyward, asking the most obvious question. The Book of the World shifted to follow where he was pointing, then 'looked' at him again. It flipped another page.

Oh. Right. You want to go back home.

Sorry. I should've realized sooner. I'm not myself when I'm lonely.

"Can you help?"

Yes. Easy. I can take you. What I want hasn't changed, so you'd better do it. Now you have no choice…it's how it's written!

So grab ahold and hang on tight. I'll try to be gentle, Sugar Bear.

Flippy raised a brow as he took the book in his hands. He'd never thought he'd see the day where an inanimate object was being a freak towards him.

"AAAGGGHHHHHH!"

The Book of the World rocketed sky-high, blowing the whole ceiling apart as it hauled him with it. They were in the white abyss and Flippy couldn't gauge how fast they were going, but it felt like he was blazing down the interstate with a busted windshield.

Already he could see something fading into view. It was the darkness of his basement coming closer and closer!

But they were coming back in way too fast. He shut his eyes tight, expecting to explode into a million pieces.

WHAM!

It hurt when he hit the roof of his basement. That at least meant he wasn't dead, though he did lose consciousness for a few hours.

Flippy sat up with a groan, lolling his head. There was a new knot the size of his fist behind his ears.

He patted around in the darkness dazedly, scrabbling for his flashlight. When he switched it on he swung the beam around drunkenly, trying to find where he'd fallen and ascended through reality. There was nothing. He put a hand to his mouth, wondering if he'd somehow had an accident and had another trauma-induced nightmare. He'd still take the norm over the bizarre.

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned, immediately tripping over something. He almost jolted out of his fur when he saw it: The Book of the World, innocently lying on the ground. He cautiously returned a favor and poked it from every angle, but it didn't budge or react. His head was spinning and aching with a rich mix of pain, confusion and anxiety.

He finally picked the book up with a bad feeling in his gut. He just knew he was about to get into something he wouldn't like.

Soon, he was sitting at his desk with the book and a cup of tea. He glanced outside into the night, thankful for being back home and simply able to see color again.

When he looked back down he jolted, clutching his chest. The book had silently opened up on its own. He took a sip from his mug, but not even a second later Flippy quickly turned his head and spattered his wall with tea. He flipped page after page, discovering something horrifying.

There were sections in the book reserved under certain names, names he recognized as his friends and acquaintances. The very first section made of many pages belonged to Cuddles and the subsequent one, which was nearly as long, was for Toothy. Then Giggles, then Lumpy…what was going on?

Each section had many written lines of text. Some of the initial details Flippy picked out were the individual's sex, species, where they lived, their favorite things to do after dark…he held his breath, reading a little further down on one particular page.

Looks like someone's gotten hung up!

That was the first entry on Flaky's section. He went past her part, and an unimaginably nasty bolt of paranoia and terror ran through his blood when he saw his own name. Flippy fell into a deep shock, rigid as he read his own information down to the last detail. He bit down on a shaking knuckle. The book actually knew what he liked to do after dark.

But he was always in his bathroom with the door shut when he flexed in the mirror! How could anyone have found out about that?

His eyes settled on one of the later entries on his page: Failed to look both ways!

Flippy stood abruptly and slammed the book shut. By now a sweat had broken out on every inch of his body. He hunched over the table, looking in every single possible direction and in all corners of the room. He felt a strong sense of déjà vu. For quite some time he stayed frozen, listening and looking around his office. He exhaled but couldn't sit back down. He decided to start over from the first page just to reconfirm it all.

Nothing had changed. All of the invasive things he'd discovered were still there in ink and it made him sick. He flipped mindlessly until he came to the last section, which belonged to Lamby. Unlike him, she was relatively new to the block. But like him and a handful of others, she only had a single dedicated to her. It was even barer than his.

It was strange. Cuddles and Lumpy had the most going on with their sections, so the next thing he wanted to do was find out why.

Flippy focused on the first entry under Cuddles' section. The handwriting was very small. He squinted as he leaned over, placing a finger on the page to keep track of his reading.

Looks like someone got shredded up for rabbit stew!

He didn't get it, even if rabbit stew sounded good at the moment. He just so happened to put more pressure on the page. The book shuddered and giggled. Flippy gasped sharply and seized as disassociation slammed him out of nowhere; he may've well been hit by lightning. Moving colors and images formed in his eyes, weaving into a very kind scene gone wrong.

Cuddles was cheerfully skipping hand in hand with his friends—Toothy, Giggles, and Lumpy.

Then he was on a carousel, laughing and having fun.

In a flash, things had changed and he was screaming in terror, flagging like a streamer in the wind as he held onto the bar for dear life. He loses his hands—or actually, his hands lose him.

His body flew into a conveniently placed jet turbine, and everything turned red with his blood.

Flippy came to, swaying. The world was hazy and growing darker by the moment. It felt like something very, very bad was about to happen.

In a wink he found himself nearly breaking his bathroom door off the hinges, throwing himself at his sink. He almost snapped the tap off and started splashing palmfuls of water on his face, trying to stay grounded. For the next thirty minutes he gagged and coughed over the sink, trying to steady himself.

Cuddles was alright, at least from what he'd seen or heard last. Flippy had only seen him a few days ago at the park, being loaded into in an ambulance after an extreme skateboard stunt had gone wrong. But he was still alive and definitely not shredded into a million bloody pieces.

Then what had he just witnessed? Flippy felt convinced that what he'd seen was as real as can be.

Ding dong!

The sound startled him and he jolted his head up, doing his best Mime-in-headlights impression. He didn't recognize the sound as his own doorbell until it rang again.

Ding dong!

And again.

Ding dong! Dingdong dingdong dingdong dingdong!

…and again, and again. Flippy sighed, rubbing his face. Now he was a little pissed that someone may've been trying play a prank, but at least it was a distraction. He was drenched and burning up. He shook himself off, splattering water all over the bathroom, and wore a blank expression as he drifted into the hall. The doorbell kept ringing. His hands wouldn't stop twitching.

Flippy stopped on the threshold, slapping the sides of his head repeatedly to kick his disorientation. He slouched up to the door and put an ear to it. He heard giggling, but it wasn't Giggles. Flippy glared through the peephole and saw a sunny, beaming face.

Cuddles giggled mischievously with his hands over his mouth. He was ready to ring the bell again when the front door hurtled open.

"Hi!" the rabbit started. "How're..."

He screamed as Flippy leapt at him with his hands going for the rabbit's neck. It was only to hug him, though. Cuddles gagged and his eyes went bloodshot as they bulged out of his head. On a bad day, his head probably would've popped off his shoulders.

Meanwhile Flippy was choked up and sobbing, just happy to see that one of his friends was safe and not dead. "Come in, come in!" he exclaimed, pulling the rabbit in his house.

Grimacing, Flippy stuck his head out of his house, scanning the night to make sure no one was out prowling. He even felt like he had to look at the sky in case something insanely wild happened, like a helicopter suddenly falling out of the sky and wrecking into his house or something. It was impossible to miss that Lumpy had something going on in his yard, which was lit up like a college football stadium on game night.

"Um—!" Cuddles spoke up.

Flippy faced him. The rabbit now looked very coy and nervous, holding his arms behind his back and shuffling his feet.

"What is it?" Flippy asked urgently.

"I, uh…love—"

Cuddles idly glanced over at Flippy's massive flat screen. "Uh, your TV!" he finished. "Wanna watch a movie?"

Without even waiting for an answer Cuddles initiated his own suggestion, pulling the bear over to his collection of movies. Flippy stood there, blankly watching his friend dig around for something to watch.

It felt like two different realities were clashing together and neither of them made more sense than the other. That unfortunately wasn't a foreign feeling to him, but could also mean he had terribly misinterpreted something. He could at least reprocess what he'd seen earlier without feeling like he was about to lose his mind.

Maybe that book had induced some sort of weird vision or daydream? He rationalized he would've remembered if one of his friends died and came back to life. A nasty feeling of doubt weighed in his chest.

He studied Cuddles for any concerns. The rabbit's coat was a hearty yellow, there was a healthy swing to his ears, and he had the boundless energy that only rabbits could channel. Yep, definitely not dead.

Cuddles faced around and almost came nose-to-nose with Flippy. The rabbit giggled, waving a romance movie in the air. He wasn't a ghost either, since ghosts couldn't hold things.

Flippy chuckled awkwardly. Cuddles slammed the movie into the VCR and drug his host to the couch, bouncing on the cushions while the pre-movie reels rolled. Flippy sat stiffly, wide-eyed. He couldn't stop glancing sideways to make sure Cuddles was fine. He felt that if he took his eyes off the rabbit for too long, something would happen and he'd regret it.

The bear inched closer to Cuddles. One inch became several more, until...

Cuddles finally got out his energy and settled back into the couch. When he reached for the remote his hand fell on top of Flippy's since they had both gone for it at the same time. Now there was hardly less than an inch of space between them.

"Hey-hey!" Cuddles cried, hooking an arm around Flippy's neck and pulling their bodies flush. He always liked sharing his space with his man-pals! It was going to be a fun night.