Author's Note: I love how this match turned out. Facebook saves once again came to the rescue. A couple of pictures later and boom! However, there is a bit of a problem. I feel that I am hitting a wall with the Tea Leaves series. I think I am reaching the end of this storyline here. I haven't figured out what I am doing next season. I could either do a time skip or change the focus of the story. I don't know yet. I will have to see. But what I do know is that we will check in on Kiku, Sena, and their 2P!counterparts next week. For now, enjoy this week's match.
Match Thirty-Two: Lost Tree:
Shhh! Alfred's been invited to watch a movie. It started when he heard a faint show in the distance. The American man strained his ears for a listen. Steve already had his little ears perked up.
"You heard that too, dude?" Alfred asked. He looked down the narrow path. There were lights flickering in the distance. The American man had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Should we go catch it out?" he asked. Steve gave off a small growl in his arms. Alfred should have taken that as a warning. But his curiosity got the better of him.
"We can just take a quick look and then we will leave, okay?" the American man offered. His furry friend growled again. It was like Steve warning him otherwise. He still kept walking forward. It's almost like the folly of man in a horror film is calling him.
Alfred tried to walk down the path as quietly as possible. Except for the faint clicking noise in the distance, there were no other sounds in the darkness. Abandon all hope ye who enter here. Alfred couldn't help but to think that.
The clicking sounds grew louder as he walked further down the path. Alfred could see the lights through the thick fog. Now, he could make out the clicking noise. He tilted his head to the side.
"Is that a… projector?" he asked. Alfred just had to go and look. Through the fog, he could make out a sea of chairs. They all faced a giant screen. From what he was seeing, this was an outdoor theater. A small number of people sat in the chairs. Alfred picked up the pace as he got closer. He found an empty seat near the back.
"What's everybody watching?" Alfred whispered.
"Shhh!" was the only answer he got. The American man quickly quieted down and settled into place.
Vague images flashed on the screen. Alfred tried to adjust his glasses for a better look. At first, he saw the body of a young boy lying underground in the middle of a forest. Alfred watched as the child's body decayed into nothing. Flowers grew out from the other side in the end. Tears ran down his cheeks. He felt like he had seen this before. The American man just couldn't place where. Maybe it was the boy. Or maybe…
The images started to change.
Now, he was staring at the ocean. Nothing but dark waving crashing upon itself. But there was something unsettling about them. Alfred sat on the edge of his seat. He waited for the next thing to come. He knew that he shouldn't be sitting here among the blank crowd. However, Alfred had to know what was coming next. The sound played softly under the sound of the projector. So soft that Alfred thought he heard a voice talking to him.
Not here.
Huh? What did that mean? Alfred didn't get time to think about that when the image changed to people covered in white sheets crawling across a barren wasteland. Their moans flooded through the speakers. The American man could've let his mind wander off if he hadn't heard those two words again.
Not here.
Alfred looked around. Nobody reacted. Was he the only one hearing this? The American man blinked behind his mask. Was he losing his mind? Was that part of the movie and no one picked up on it? Steve whimpered in his arms.
"I don't think I like this either," the American man whispered.
"Shhh!" someone said. Alfred quickly closed his mouth. Suddenly, the screen went dark. The projector went silent. The American man looked confused.
"Huh? Is that it?" he asked.
"Shhh!"
"Sorry." But why was he still here? He should be trying to get up and look for a way out of this house. No one was stopping him. They were too busy staring at a blank screen. Alfred could just take his dog and walk away. No one would be any wiser.
Then another image came up on the screen. Alfred had to look at the screen again. What he saw made his stomach drop.
He was looking at a battle on the beach. The footage looked grainy. But Alfred could still make out the helmets on the soldiers' heads. They were all charging toward the waves. The sound was down. Alfred could feel a tight pain in his chest. He wanted to scream out. He wanted to cry. The American man could feel it building up in his throat. Steve's whimpers made it that much worse.
Text appeared on the screen. At first, it was all in German. No subtitles were present. Part of him wished that Ludwig was here. Then he heard those words again.
Not here.
The scene cut back to the soldiers. This time, they were in clearer focus. Something about them looked off. Alfred squinted behind his glasses. The soldiers on the screen were rotting. Some of the flesh was already falling off. Most of them were just bones in their uniforms. Alfred blinked several times. The soldiers looked normal again. He couldn't tell what he was looking at. What is this? That's when he looked around at the audience.
Most of them were skeletons staring at the screen. A couple of them were missing their heads. It wasn't just skeletons in the audience either. Some of them were corpses. Corpses that were rotting away slowly. Only about three of them were still fresh. Alfred blinked as the images swam before his eyes. He couldn't make out what he was seeing. The American man had seen so much in this house. This was about to push him over the edge.
A loud scream drew his attention back to the screen. Alfred was looking at swirls of red. Fire was consuming an undisclosed village. Houses were so bright that they nearly blinded the American man. Faceless figures were running for their lives. Some of them tumbled onto the ground and were trampled on. He couldn't see their faces but he could feel their pain. Alfred felt a lump in his throat.
What the hell is this?
Suddenly, one person stopped running in the middle of all the chaos. They held out their arms like they were Jesus nailed on a cross. The figure started floating above the fiery inferno. Alfred could've sworn he heard them laughing over the screams and fire. Fear seized his body. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
That's when he heard those words again.
Not here.
A hand rested on his shoulder. Alfred let his eyes trail behind him. But there was nothing there. Only a hand on his shoulder. The American man gulped.
"What do you mean?" he whispered.
Not here.
"What does that mean? Why not here?" he asked.
"Shhh," another voice whispered. Alfred clicked his tongue.
"Go away! You're not real! You're dead!"
Not here.
"Where?" Alfred whispered. The voice said something different now.
Just wait.
The American man turned back to the screen in time to hear a woman screaming as a plane crashed into a tall building. Red, black, and white flashed on the screen. Finally, some text in English popped up against a black backdrop.
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
The phrase appeared in several different languages around the English words. And then the projector ran out of film. Everything went silent. There wasn't even any wind blowing. Alfred tried to adjust his vision as another wave of fog rolled in. By now, he was too much in shock to figure up from down. Steve whimpered in his arms as he struggled to get out. The poor dog nipped at the flesh to get free.
When the fogged clear, Alfred snapped out of it. The chairs were all empty in front of that giant screen. The sun was slowly coming up. The American man didn't move at first. He slowly caught his breath. When Alfred got his mind back, he took a look around him.
He found himself sitting in the middle of a graveyard.