BREAKING THE FANTASY
Written by Gwendolyn Frost.
A few hours later, Amity made her way inside the arcade to meet up with Willow, Hunter and Gus who were still hanging out there by this time. The place was just as lively as yesterday. Filled with the crowds of people all over the area playing those noisy arcades in every corner of the building.
Once Amity was able to spot Gus and Hunter she moved through the sea of people moving in all sorts of directions in her way. Gus and Hunter seemed to be talking among themselves, Gus was holding what appeared to be an old fashioned camera that flashed Hunter's face which made the blonde shut his eyes up for a few seconds before scolding Gus for not warning him about it.
"Hey, guys!" Amity raised her voice amongst the crowd gathered around that specific section.
"Oh, hey!" Hunter said as he rubbed his eyes some more, still somewhat blinded by the flashing of the camera.
"Smile!" Gus said while he proceeded to do to Amity what he just did to Hunter, take a picture of her and instantly blind her in the process which caused her to stumble against a tall long blonde haired teen playing in front of the arcade machine in front of Gus and Hunter.
"Whoa there!" The blonde human girl exclaimed as she was pushed forward towards the machine which made a sudden 'thump' noise when the younger witch crashed against the human.
"Sh-shoot! Gus! Why did you do that?" Amity exclaimed before she took a step back when the blonde girl turned around to face her. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to do t-that!"
The blonde girl chuckled softly and shook her head. "Hey, no worries. Just be careful." The girl said as she flipped her black cap around her head before going back to her game.
"Gus, why?" Amity said with a huge blush burning her face still.
"Oh, sorry about that! I was excited to test this puppy out!" Gus said while chuckling softly and waving a square-shaped piece of plastic on his right hand.
"What is that, anyway?" Hunter asked.
"This old thing?" Gus said with a grin before explaining. "I'm not sure what's the official name of this thing, but it is a camera. An instant camera, to be precise. You take a picture, like I just did. Then the camera expels these squares like this one…" He showed Hunter and Amity the squared piece of plastic he held and waved around which at this time had a black square within. "You wait for the chemicals to dry and… the picture should be showing up riiiiight… now!" Now Gus proudly showed them both the instant in which he caught Amity's picture with the camera a minute ago.
Amity was still not happy about it but seemed less upset by now. The picture wasn't helping, however. In the picture, she was frowning, her left eye was semi-closed, her mouth was somewhat open when she yelped in surprise when the camera flashed on her face. It was not a good picture. "Ugh… that's not my best angle. Please delete it."
"That's the beauty of these cameras!" Gus said with a soft chuckle. "You can't delete these pictures. They print themselves. Humans are pretty clever, don't you think-"
"Shhh!" Both Hunter and Amity shushed Gus as soon as he finished his sentence. Thankfully, the arcade had drowned their voices, and no Human was able to hear what he just said.
"Oops, sorry…" Gus whispered while rubbing the back of his head.
Hunter glanced at the blonde human teen still focused on her game and sighed. "Ok, I believe the coast is clear."
"Sorry again." Gus chuckled some more. "By the way, where is Luz?" Gus asked Amity.
"Oh, she's ordering some pizzas from the joint next to the arcade. I offered myself to get you guys, we should be meeting with her in a few minutes." The pink haired said before looking around the place trying to spot a certain missing witch. "Where is Willow?"
"She is right there, playing on that arcade machine with the teen you crashed into earlier." Hunter pointed at the machine in question. They were a few feet away, and the girl was taller than any of them, which prevented Amity from seeing Willow on the other side.
"Oh, alright." Amity said.
Suddenly, the human girl moved inches away from the machine and finally Willow was in view. The human was raising her voice among the crowd and the noisy arcade cabinets around so that Willow could hear her, which in turn allowed the witches to hear what they were saying.
"Good games, are you sure that you just started playing a few days ago?" The human asked.
Willow nodded and bashfully rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah."
"You're pretty good, you have potential." The human blonde said with a soft laugh. "Do you have a Discourse?"
"A what now?" Willow asked in confusion.
"A Discourse account, y'know… the chatting app for gamers? You've never heard of Discourse?" The blonde human raised her eyebrow while chuckling.
"Oh, yeah! Right, yeah, I know what a Discourse is… I just don't have one…" Willow said nervously.
"Well, if you get to make one, you could add me, and I could invite you to some servers dedicated to this game and several of its kind. The community is pretty small, and these games might be a little niché still, but the great thing about it is that people are very friendly, open and willing to help newcomers get into these games. I'm sure you will find all the tech you need to improve there."
"Whoa, really?! That sounds amazing!" Willow said excitedly while displaying a hint of blushing on her face which caught the attention of Hunter who moved a few steps forward trying to listen closely to Willow and the Human.
This made both Gus and Amity take notice and the both of them looked at each other with a smirk on their faces.
"Yeah." The Human said with a large smile.
"Well, I'll create one…" Willow said with a smile.
"Great! I'll see you next week?" The human blonde asked before holding her fist up for Willow to fist-bump with.
Hunter's expression changed completely as she watched Willow fist-bump the stranger and replied with a nod and an excited tone in her voice. "For sure!"
"Nice, I'll see you then!" The blonde grinned before walking away, but not before she and Amity crossed eyes. Without saying a word to the pink haired witch, she smiled and waved at her in a friendly manner, which made Amity to smile back and give her a wave back, but not before blushing again for crashing into her.
"What was that?!" Hunter exclaimed, while all three witches looked in his direction.
Willow could tell that Hunter was talking to her since he was looking at her. "What do you mean?" She asked while raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"W-who is that? What is all this about seeing them next week?!" Hunter exclaimed, trying to not sound upset but failing to do so.
"Why do you care?" Willow asked while trying to read Hunter's face. "Are you upset?"
"Wh-what?! NO!" Hunter's expression suddenly changed to a forced smile. "I'm just worried…"
"Worried about what?" Willow asked while crossing her arms. "Are you jealous or something?"
"NO!" Hunter exclaimed once more. "I'm not jealous, why would I be jealous?!"
Gus and Amity were watching the whole drama from behind Hunter. "Oh, he jelly." Gus whispered to Amity which got a soft laugh from the pink-haired witch who replied shortly.
"So jelly…" They laughed some more before Hunter glared at the two of them before whistling innocently.
"Ugh! Ok, Hunter. If you really must know, this is someone I made friends with when I was watching a tournament at the back of the arcade." Willow said with an upset tone in her voice.
"Oh. Ohhhhh!" Hunter blushed heavily before smiling nervously. "A friend… yeah, that's cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool."
"Why are you acting so weird?" Willow asked.
"Oh, I was just… and well you see…" Hunter was stalling with his mumbling while trying to come up with something to say to no avail. Which made Gus and Amity look at each other.
"Ok, I think I'm going to save him or else he'll dig himself into a deeper hole." Amity whispered at Gus who nodded at her.
"Good call."
"Hey, Willow!" Amity exclaimed, which got the green-haired witch to look at her. "What's this tournament you mentioned?"
Willow's expression completely changed when Amity changed the subject, now displaying a wide smile on her face. "Oh, they run gaming tournaments in the back of the arcade. There's a few cabinets, but people mostly play on consoles like the one in Luz's home."
"Oh, that's where I got the TV from." Gus added.
"Yeah, there's some games that can only be played in those big boxes." Willow said with a soft chuckle.
"Nice." Amity said while smiling.
"Y'know, I think I've found my human thing." Willow said with a grin.
"What do you mean?" Amity asked in confusion. "Playing video games?"
Willow laughed softly. "Well, when you say it like that it doesn't sound so exciting. But what I meant was… competitive gaming."
"Why would you call it your human thing?" Gus asked with a soft chuckle.
"Remember how Luz got into our Realm and wanted to be a witch? This is like the one thing in the Human Realm that I wouldn't mind getting into, granted that I cannot practice real sports because of…" Willow said while pointing at those braids covering her pointy ears. "I really love the thrill of competing."
"Oh, I see." Gus nodded. "Haven't found out my human thing yet, but whenever I watch Ducktective, I get sort of nostalgic for my dad when he worked in the news."
"Ducktective, seriously?" Amity asked with a soft chuckle.
"Hey, the show has a lot of depth." Gus said in a defensive stance. "It sort of reminds me of the detective-like work that my dad used to do. Our home was full of murder boards. I wouldn't mind doing some journalism while I'm in the Human Realm, I just need my own case." Gus said while turning to face Hunter. "What about you, H?"
By now, Hunter's emotional hiccup was long forgotten, so he safely replied to the question. "Uh, I'm a little busy right now figuring out what kind of person I want to be. I haven't even figured out a name replacement yet. So… pass. Amity?"
Amity watched as all three of her friends turned to face her, which made her a tad nervous. "You promise you won't laugh?"
"Well, that really just depends on how funny your answer is." Willow said with a grin.
Amity smiled and laughed a bit before sighing. "I found out what my human thing is a few days ago. And today… I did something about it. I talked to the librarian and she's arranging a meeting with some people who run a daycare in Gravesfield to see if I can land a job with them."
There was a short period of silence between all parties, everyone but Amity was in shock.
"Are you for real?" Willow asked.
"You're… working for humans?" Gus said.
"Maybe…" Amity said while nervously munching on her lower lip. "I just want to feel useful… I asked for a job at the library, but the librarian kindly rejected me but was friendly enough to help me work somewhere else."
"That is awesome." Willow said with a large grin on her face. "Why would we be laughing at you? This is a classic Amity move."
"Yeah, I agree." Gus said with a soft chuckle before asking. "What did Luz say?"
When hearing Luz's name, Amity frowned slightly and nervously munched on her lip yet again. "I… have not told her yet."
Now the shock on the three friends increased.
"You haven't told Luz?" Willow asked with her eyes wide open.
"Your own girlfriend?" Gus asked just as surprised.
"How dare you!" Hunter said almost jokingly, which made everyone laugh it off, even Amity.
"Shut up!" Amity exclaimed. "I know… I know that I should tell her, but Luz has been… a little distracted with the whole wandering into the woods looking for a way back to the Boiling Isles. I appreciate that she's looking for answers, and I want to get back home too. But… we don't know how long we are going to be here. And to be honest… I don't think she's conscious of all the work that Mrs Noceda is doing for us."
"You raise a good point." Willow sighed before pointing out. "She's been taking extra shifts in the Animal Hospital. We rarely see her anymore and whenever we do she's so exhausted."
"Yeah." Amity said while scratching the left side of her face. "Not sure if I can get the job, but if I do, I would like to help her out."
"Wait… does that mean we should all be getting jobs now?" Hunter asked with a worried look on his face.
"I mean… not counting Vee, who's in human school now, we're sort of the freeloaders in that house, dude." Willow said while chuckling some.
"Oof, way to bum me out, Willow." Gus said.
"You're welcome." Willow laughed. "I don't know, maybe down the line I should look for a job too. I'm good at gardening, so I'll focus on that."
Gus thought for a moment before grinning at the camera he was holding. "Well, I think I'll try to be a photographer like the Incredible Bug-Man."
"Yeah, minus the superhero thing." Hunter said while laughing softly.
"Oh, you think you can do better, huh?"
Hunter's laughter came to a stop before he shrugged nervously. "I mean, I had a job as second in command in the Emperor's Coven, I have no idea how I'll live up to that."
"Show off." Willow coughed before everyone, but Hunter laughed at her joke.
"I'm serious…" Hunter sighed. "I don't know what I'm good for if all I ever did was follow orders."
"I'm sure you'll find something to do." Willow said with a wink, which made Hunter blush. "What about Luz?"
"Oh, shoot! Luz is probably waiting for us outside!" Amity exclaimed. "We should go."
"Well, at least we can wash up all those depressing thoughts about having to grow up quickly by eating some tasty pizza." Gus said while everyone followed Amity's lead out of the arcade.
THE LOOKING GLASS
Chapter: Chased
The gang came back home a few minutes later. Luz and Amity have decided not to brief the rest about their findings. Choosing to do so in the morning, allowing Amity some time to try and see if she can perform Oracle Magic like she did the day before.
They met with Camila back home, who was happy about not having to cook that night. They all ate the pizzas that Luz and Vee ordered while they relaxed watching another old-timey movie on the CRT-TV in the basement.
When it was time to sleep, Amity brought the sunflower that Flor had given them earlier in the day.
The girls all slept in Luz's room. Amity and Willow shared the top-side of the bunk bed while Luz and Vee slept on the lower bed. Amity tried her best to fall asleep as she held onto the sunflower with her hands as if she was a corpse resting on her deathbed. However… every now and then she would hear with those pointy ears the sound of creaking of the bed when Luz moved up to spy on her.
"I cannot fall asleep if you keep waking me up like this…" The pink haired said with a sigh.
"Have you seen anything yet…?" Luz asked, which caused Amity to give her a little bit of a glare.
"You asked me that like five minutes ago, Luz. The answer is still no. These things do not work like this!"
"Luz, go to sleep." Willow said.
"Ok, ok. I'll go. I'll be down here if you need anything, ok?" Luz said, which got a sigh out of Amity.
"Thanks, and sorry."
"It's ok, sweet potato. Sweet dreams." Luz said while blowing her a kiss before she got back in bed next to Vee.
Amity tried her best to go back to sleep, her eyes were shut. Luz did not go back to spy on her for the rest of the night. But not long after, the pink-haired witch heard some noises that were scaring the sleep out of her once more. At first, she thought that Luz was watching videos on her phone. So when she was about to confront her about it, she was surprised when she realized that… Luz was not even awake.
The witch looked around and noticed that a breeze was opening the door to Luz's room slightly, making those sounds even louder than before. She now thought that it must be Gus and Hunter still watching some movies downstairs.
Amity walked out of the room and moved a few steps with her naked feet over to the basement door which was also slightly open. Now, she was able to confirm it was indeed the TV.
"Guys?" Amity whispered while peeking her head past the doorway.
'Try out the new chicken burger at Burger Queen!'
"Guys, could you please lower the volume?"
'What time is it? It's Playtime Co!'
"Ugh…" Amity placed the sunflower she held on her hand on a small table nearby before she walked down into the basement, trying her best not to stumble in the pitch-black darkness, guiding herself by the only light in the room; the TV. "Guys!" She raised her voice a little more as she moved down onto the last step and peeked into the room.
The voices from the ads that Amity was hearing during her trip died down and what was left was the unnerving sound of white noise filling the room. It was then that she realized that the TV in which they've all been watching a movie earlier was turned off. But the one that Gus brought from the arcade was the one making all that noise.
"Not this again…" Amity whispered to herself before she walked up to the TV in the darkness. She could see Gus and Hunter's silhouettes sleeping in their sleeping bags in front of the other TV as she walked closely to the one sitting on the floor on the far right corner. "You and I know this isn't me." Amity said to the TV. "My Oracle Magic is terrible. So, this isn't me. Whoever you are… why are you doing this?"
Just as she thought, she was given an answer by the TV. Which confirmed what she feared, there was a spirit within it. The TV replied with a familiar voice, the one that belongs to Odahlia speaking those same words from that memory she saw in her last dream.
"Whatzzzz do you zzzzeee, Amity?"
The witch sighed. "You want me to see, what?" She got no response this time, only white noise. "Here goes nothing…" Amity whispered to herself and then moved closer to the TV and just like before, she pushed through it with her hands as if it was a portal which brought her… to Herlock Woods.
It was the middle of the night, the darkness had swallowed Herlock Woods completely. It was hard for her to see, but she could hear something that gradually increased in volume. Someone was approaching her. This someone… was a young Flor. She was a teen, a bit older than her at the time of this vision. She wore a white dress and her hair was still just as pink but barely reaching her shoulders. She was panting heavily as if she had been running all night.
"Wait!" Amity exclaimed, but Flor did not stop. Amity had to run after her, it seemed that she's not able to interact with her since she's not a spirit.
The witch was closing in on Flor. Who had stopped behind a tree a few minutes after. The young Flor was pressing her hands against her chest, trying her best to shut down the panting, the exhaustion. It was then that Amity realized when she stopped next to Flor… that there was something else approaching their location.
The two could not see the thing, only hear it. 'Fu fu fu fu.' It made that sound. Flor was covering her mouth, a look of dread in her face, terrified about whatever it had been following her this whole time. Amity knew that whatever it was, it might not be able to interact with her. But even so, she was a bit horrified at looking at it. All she could see was a big silhouette that was moving through the bushes, climbing one tree before moving to another. Leaves and branches breaking. 'Fu fu fu fu.'
Tears were running down Flor's face, she didn't even dare to whisper. Hardly, was Amity able to hear any noise coming from her. In silence, the poor pink-haired human hoped for it to go away in the unsettling silence that thing brought after.
It didn't left. It was still there. 'Fu fu fu fu.' Hopes were crushed once they heard it again. It knew… Flor was there. It dropped from the tree it was sitting on, a heavy sound echoed through the woods before a voice pierced through the dense forest.
"Why do you keep running, flower?" The voice asked. It was sweet and worrying. It sounded old, like a grandfather, perhaps… Flor's grandfather.
There was no response from Flor. She held her mouth shut with all her might while her tears kept flowing. Amity remembered she said that it came to her using a familiar voice. So she assumed that this voice belonged to someone she knew was no longer… alive.
"Don't you want to come back with me?" It asked once more.
She shook her head in silence while shutting her eyes completely.
Out of curiosity, Amity moved away from Flor and began to walk forward into the pitch-black darkness towards that voice. 'Fu fu fu fu.' It was hard to see what it was. But what she could see was the shape of a man standing about 15 feet away from Flor. It was so unnervingly close. It could get to her rather easily, but why wasn't it?
"You know…" The voice spoke once more, with that sweet and worrying tone it had expressed before but then… it broke character. "Of all the people in your group, you are my favorite." The voice was now breaking, distorted even. It was probably communicating all those emotions that made Flor so scared of it. And even if Amity's Oracle Magic was terrible as she said… it was rather easier to read someone's intentions when they sounded as sinister as this. "So full of potential, so full of character… you are a special one, flower. So delicate… graceful, energetic, helpful… so innocent."
But before Amity was able to react, Flor had made the run for it. "No." Amity whispered to herself as she turned around to see which direction Flor took off to, barely to make it out in this darkness. But she wasn't the only one. That thing got rid of something on the floor. The human shape completely dissolved and instead a huge shapeless thing was rushing through the trees past Amity.
"No, no, no, no!" Amity exclaimed as she followed the both of them. For several minutes they all moved through the forest until the witch was able to spot a lone shack next to some rock formations piled against each other that the Moonlight shined on.
Flor's screams were heard as she was confronted by the thing inside the shack and in one last attempt to escape from it, she cried for help as that monster was dragging her inside that wooden place.
"Leave her alone!" Amity screamed as she rushed towards the door closing on her face and…
She opened her eyes to see that she woke up the next day safely in bed. With the haunting screams of Flor still echoing in her mind. Before she knew it, she was startled by the sound of an eager Luz asking her:
"Did you see something?"
End of the chapter.