Chapter 86: A Rest, For Now
Warning: This chapter contains mentions of SA. Please read at your own risk.
CatNap meanwhile was at his apartment, looking at his reflection in his bathroom while still having a meltdown over what he just found out.
"What the fuck is happening to me?!" He shouted with tears in his eyes, "I'm a fucking monster…"
CatNap was breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating.
"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" He shouted, "WHO WOULD DO THIS TO ME?! And what did Icky say about me in this world?! FUCK! I NEED ANSWERS!"
DogDay meanwhile was running back home to try and talk to CatNap.
"I gotta think about what to say to CatNap in order to help him." He said, still emotional after his recent encounter with CraftyCorn and Bobby, "But what?"
Then, DogDay was stopped by someone and was pushed into an alleyway. DogDay was pinned to a wall by Allister Gator.
"YOU!" Allister shouted with rage, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"H-Hey!" DogDay shouted, "Let me go!"
"I would, if you didn't stuff your nose onto Baba's name! And not only her life was in the shitter because of you, but also she's missing!"
"I'm sorry! I was stupid, ok?! Please, let me go!"
Allister clenched his left fist.
"Sure, I'll let you go, after I do this!" He shouted as he raised a fist up,
Allister was stopped by Touille.
"Dude, that's enough!" He shouted at him, "He said he was sorry!"
"3 years late!" Allister shouted,
"Doesn't matter! This is a serious time we're all in! Just drop your fist, man!"
Allister sighed heavily after looking at Touille and let DogDay go.
"Fine." He said as he raised his arms up,
DogDay sighed in relief.
"Thank you…" He said,
Allister then punched DogDay in the face without hesitation, knocking him down to the ground.
"Come on!" Touille said,
"I just wanted to feel better!" Allister shouted,
"By unleashing your anger onto me?!" DogDay said as he had tears in his eyes and opened his arms out, "You know what? Fine! Kill me! I've been through something like this before, and I might as well get used to it!"
Allister looked at DogDay and was surprised to see what he is. Allister sighed as he got him back up.
"I'm sorry." He said to DogDay, "I shouldn't have used my anger on you, but… You sorta deserved what you got after what you put us through."
"I know…" DogDay said as he sniffed, "I'm very sorry for what I have said to you guys and to Baba… I was a piece of crap in high school who always believed that being happy-go-lucky every day was the way to a successful life… Even after I moved out from a mentally and emotionally manipulative mother and after the sacrifice of a best friend, I tried to hide my pain, but… I just end up unleashing pain onto others without realizing…"
"...Shit… Sorry to hear… I guess I know how that feels…"
"Really?"
Allister sighed.
"While I was in high school, I was always falling behind in classes due to my sleep issues…" He said, "I tried to ask a teacher for extra credit, but she ended up giving me something I never had the consent to tell her… She touched me around parts of me that I never wanted her to do and she made very fucking uncomfortable… Tried to escape her classroom, but the door was locked before that session of her's was done…"
DogDay gasped.
"Was it… Miss BatBite?" He asked him,
"Yup…" Allister replied, disgusted, "After all of that, I never wanted to associate myself with her again. There are some other dudes in the school that went through the same shit under Miss BatBite… We all told the principal about her sexual behavior towards us since we were still young back then, and he fired her on the spot…"
"I'm sorry to hear…"
"Yeah… We both had shit on our hands… But… The results were different. I never wanted to have a sexual or romantic relationship with anyone again. What that bitch did to me, I'll never forgive her for… And to hear her say that she was part of an apocalyptic hour that almost occurred disgusted me more…"
DogDay sighed.
"We never had good security at our own high school…" He said, "All we need is to have our voices be heard, which is the only legitimate reason to make a change."
"That's true…" Allister said,
"Anyways, about Baba… You seem to be very protective towards her… From what just happened…"
"Yeah… Don't laugh at me for this, but…"
Allister sighed in embarrassment.
"I somehow view Baba as a little sister that I never had." He said, "And it was her idea, ok?"
DogDay was surprised.
"Wow…" He said, "I didn't you also do that sorta thing."
"Hmm?" Allister wondered,
"Huh?" Touille wondered, "Sorry if I was silent, I was listening through the whole thing."
"No worries." DogDay said, "And yes… I also do this spiritual sibling thing. It was CraftyCorn's idea, the same best friend of mine who sacrificed herself to save us 2 years ago… It was her idea that she viewed me and CatNap as her big brothers…"
Allister chuckled.
"Glad I'm not alone on this one." He said,
"Is it just you and Baba, or is there another one of your friends that you view as a spiritual sibling?" DogDay asked him,
"Unfortunately, yes, but she's currently one of those four critters kidnapped twice and may or may not be associated with Baba's disappearance. Her name is Maggie Mako and Baba wanted a big sister…"
"Maggie huh? She was one of four critters kidnapped twice, yes?"
"Yup, the three of us had a big friendship before shit went down with me and before Baba's idea went into place, but without one of us on our side, it weakened our moods…"
"Shit… You had it worse than what me and CatNap went through without CraftyCorn… Ok, you know what? It's actually as bad as we went through. We had 2 friends that were acting like jerks to us until we had to make one of them go through an apocalyptic hour with us to have them understand their errors…"
"Ok, that was worse than us. We've been through The Hour Of Joy together, and after that, it was the double kidnappings that got to us…"
"Yeah, but still, we both have been through troubled times…"
Allister sighed again.
"Question, do you still view CatNap as a brother?" He asked DogDay,
"Yeah…" DogDay replied, "We've recently got into a fight, but we've made up. Now he's going through a mental breakdown…"
"Why is that?"
"...Icky told him that he was the source of the red smoke…"
Allister and Touille were shocked.
"Red smoke?" Allister wondered,
"Isn't that the same stuff used to help people fall asleep?" Touille wondered,
"Seems likely… But… Why on CatNap?"
"And why did Icky of all people tell him about it?"
"I… I don't know… Icky also said something about CatNap being another CatNap that can do that in this world or something, I don't know, it's weird!"
Allister and Touille were confused as much as DogDay.
"Fuck…" Allister said, "Icky, what the fuck has gotten to him?"
"I don't know what's gotten to him, but before finding out, CatNap believed that him, Simon, Maggie and Rabie are probably mind controlled." DogDay said,
"Oh, now we got another false prediction coming from one of you guys, huh?" Touille wondered,
"Dude." Allister said,
"Sorry."
"And you know what? This one I can believe. Four of our friends got kidnapped twice and those kidnappings might have been behind this "mind controlling" stuff CatNap believed."
"So what are we gonna do? We are gonna help DogDay, right? I'm down."
"Might as well."
"Before we do anything, I gotta go talk to CatNap." DogDay said,
"Yeah you better. It is getting late. The sun is about to go down any minute now."
"Alright, thanks, and again, I'm sorry for everything."
"You're fine, for now."
DogDay walked away, leaving Allister and Touille to think for a bit.
"Mind controlled while kidnapped twice…" Touille said, "What the fuck does that even mean?"
"I have no clue, man…" Allister replied, "But… If this new false prediction turns out to be true, I'm gonna be as surprised as the next person…"
Later, the sun went down. CatNap was in his room, still saddened over what he had become.
"Why?" He said to himself, "Why me? Why did this have to happen to me? What is going on?"
CatNap then heard someone playing the guitar. Curious, he got up and left the room to hear the guitar louder. It was coming from DogDay's room. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.
"Come in!" DogDay said from the other room,
CatNap went inside to see DogDay sitting on the side of his bed playing with his guitar.
"Do you wanna talk?" DogDay asked him, "I know we've been through hell together, but… I think I can help you with what's going on."
"Sure." CatNap replied, softly as he sat the side of the bed next to DogDay,
DogDay started to play some of his guitar and sang the following:
"Come take a rest.
You've had such a long day.
And you deserve it."
Stopping his melody, DogDay turned to CatNap.
"My Dad used to sing me this little melody he came up with when I was a kid." He said to him,
"What does this have to do with anything I'm in?" CatNap wondered,
"Well, whenever I was in a really bad mood after a long day, for example, a bad day in school, my Dad would sing me this song to calm me down. Or to help me have a goodnight sleep."
"...Goodnight sleep…"
"Yeah… It's not really a full song, but it is something to calm another critter down."
CatNap got up.
"I have an idea." He said, "I'm gonna use the red smoke to put myself to sleep."
"Is that even possible?" DogDay wondered, "You are the source of it, and your sleep is messy…"
"It's worth a try. I think I need to visit something in my dreams… I don't know what's going on, but something is telling me that I have to use the red smoke to help me face my nightmares…"
CatNap was surprised.
"That's it!" He said, "The nightmares! I forgot about them!"
DogDay was surprised as well.
"...Are you sure?" He asked him, "At first. you had a mental breakdown all evening about it, and now your're–"
"--I may be a monster, but I'm not the one to hurt his lifelong friends." CatNap said,
"...We hurt each other though…"
"...Do you still wanna have this argument? What happened to you apologizing to me about it, huh?"
DogDay sighed as he put his guitar aside.
"I… I need to be alone." He said,
"...Fine, have it your way." CatNap said as he got up and left DogDay room,
DogDay sighed heavily.
"God damn it…" He said, "What will this mean to our friendship?"