The Call Of Zalgo

Hey everyone, it's-a me. Welcome to The Call Of Zalgo, a delightfully disturbing tale of friendship, death, political corruption, love, depression, a really messed-up group of people, and the end of the world as we know it!

For more information, read the registration topic. There's still room for more people to join! Anyway, I've been really excited for this one, so without further ado, let us begin!

Here's some music to listen to while reading this, if you want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi23DZ0_eZ8&feature=related

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THE CALL OF ZALGO

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Date: August (The exact day looks to have been scribbled out furiously.) 1986

Dear Diary,

There's an overused phrase. "Dear Diary," I mean. Oh well, how could you know? You're just a little blank book I bought in a dollar store so I could have something to pour my bottled-up feelings into.

I assume since this is true, could you by chance spare a minute? I would think so, since you don't have free will. Well, maybe you do. You can't move, or speak, but you can listen. If you have free will, I imagine you wouldn't want to listen to some angsty kid b*Navi*h and moan into your pages. Nevertheless, you really don't have a choice, do you?

Ugh, listen to me ramble on. It's what I do best, or so I'm told, anyway. I'll just stop wasting page space and get to my entry, as any normal diary owner would do.

Here's another overused phrase just for you. I hate my life.

If I were a cartoon character, that would be my catchphrase. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry you got stuck listening to "that one kid." What would you expect me to write about? Love? Fun? Friendship? Not me.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jacob (Scribbled out.) I'm a fifteen-year-old whiner moving from the city to the country. I guess this explains how my writing is a little jagged right now. I'm sitting in the back seat of my family's old, worn-out station wagon, watching the iconic buildings I've memorized for years pass on by, never to be seen by me for most likely years to come. Watching the rain come down over the windows. Watching the almost completely dark sky, even though it's a little before noon.

My father, Brian, is driving, as usual. He hasn't drank yet today. Nothing short of a miracle. My mother, Leslie, is chatting about all the "fun" things we'd do once we get to our destination.

Where exactly are we going?

It's a little, out-of-the-way shithole known as Lavender, (State scribbled out.) Why we're going there, of all places, is completely beyond me. Don't get me wrong, people still talk about it. But not for the reasons you would expect.

You see, back in the forties, there was this mysterious incident that happened there. The details were never explained, but here's what I've figured out. Supposedly, the steel mill, the source of the town's prosperity, started spewing out toxic gas for God knows what reason. It completely covered the town in a matter of minutes, and most of the citizens died.

Ever since then, what's left of the town is definitely nothing to put at the very end of a midnight news broadcast. There's only a couple hundred people left, compared to the thousands who were there during the town's resort days.

My question is, why the hell are we moving to this place? I don't think anyone would really want to move to a place where such a terrible disaster had happened. What if it happens again? Besides, I think we're the only family to be headed there from the outside in years.

I guess it's the only thing we can afford, really. It's not too far, at least, I think it isn't.

Still, I'm worried. What will it be like for me there? Will I finally make some friends? Will I create some real memories? Will I make my youth worthwhile?

No, probably not. That's my answer to those last three questions.

The first one, however, is a different story. I'm sure it'll be an okay place scenery-wise. I do enjoy talking walks, and I hear the forests are very big and spacious. Still, is it worth it?

Thanks to the bad economy, I imagine the businesses there are all either closed, scraping by, or nothing special. The only businesses I could think of that could possibly stay open in such a place are gas stations, bars, banks, or fast food restaurants.

Oh wait, there's one more thing. The school.

My parents had a discussion with me a couple weeks ago. Apparently, Lavender has only one school. It's known as Saint Helen Of The Blessed Shroud Academy. That's right, a Catholic school. Whoop de freakin' doo.

But that's not the worst part.

That thing I'm most afraid of? Those damned stories.

Lavender has a, to say the least, sketchy reputation. Despite being such a small town, it's got a lot of legends surrounding it, especially about whatever caused that disaster in that factory.

They say there's some strange creatures living in those forests. There's even rumors of a serial killer who lives somewhere in the area.

Now, granted, I am not a very superstitious person. That explains my anxiety towards going to a religious school. I don't believe in all of that stuff. I'm a proud atheist.

And yet, I'm still a little freaked out. Don't my parents care about that? I mean, really. If you were given the choice to live in a fabulous city, despite being a little expensive, or a terrible, half-destroyed town that feels like it's in a third world country where someone disappears every few weeks, never to be seen again, what would you do? I don't think I have to answer that question for you.

I don't know. I always judge things before I have the chance to experience them for myself. I can't help that. I'm paranoid. I probably have some really bad disorders up there in my head. It's a contribution to where I am now. No friends, depressed, suicidal, and no faith in anything. It's better to be safe than sorry for most things.

But maybe, I should treat this as a new beginning. It will certainly suck, but, oh well. At least I can experience country life, any kind of change of pace should be good for me. I haven't even seen this place yet. I'm not expecting much, but I'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, that's my entry for now. Sorry you had to listen to me vent. Maybe I'll write again tomorrow. I don't know. Maybe I just had to get some bad feelings out for now.

Whatever the case, I just know that things are going to be quite different from here on out.

Until next time.

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Well, there's the first post. Not all of them will be in first-person. Just diary entries, if I decide to make any more. Let me know if I should or not.

Just to clarify, this was just an introduction post. How my character will experience things will be adjusted according to the character posts made after mine, by all of you.

Feel free to post now, have fun, and let the nightmares begin!

"God, this sucks." A purple-haired woman, kicking a rock on the ground. "Just where the hell are we, anyway?" She asked. The man with her shook his head.

"I don't know. Astra doesn't know either."

"Damn that Suffering! He had to send us to a place where we'd suffer, and he sure did a great job." She looked at the sign ahead. "Lavender Town?" She said. "Well, any place is better than no place. Let's go, Garrett." She said.

"Yes, Vadia." He said, defeated. A little black silhouette of a creature appeared next to him. The only things that were visible were shiny silver chains, which wrapped around its body, and white eyes.

"Do you think that's a good idea? We have to find Suffering's portal or else your friends are going to just get slaughtered." the voice was female. Garrett sighed.

"Suffering's portal closed so we're going to have to do something to open it. I'm sure if we can get enough rocks and stuff to make a new portal, a purification attack will open it. Of course, we'll need something to conduct the energy..." The creature nodded.

Without another word, Garrett and his companion walked into Lavender Town.

Mina sat on the edge of the well that rested in the middle of the town. She had her legs crossed and a book in front of her face. She looked up at the dreary dark sky and giggled. “Heehee…another glorious day in Lavender. I wonder if anything good will happen today. I’m getting bored shooting rats.” She said, patting the pistol that hung from her side.

Qinn flew towards Mina and circled around her head as she cried. “Shaa! Shaa! Shaa!”

Mina held out her hand and caught the little ghost creature’s head. “Hey, hey, where’s the fire?”

Qinn floated away from her hand. “Shaa! Shaa shaa shaa! Shaa!!”

Mina smiled and closed the book. “New faces eh? I wonder why they would come here…of all places…”

“Shaa? Shaa shaa.”

“Suffering? Astra? Vadia? Garrett? And what do you mean you don’t think they come from this world?”

“Shaa shaa shaa.”

“Hmmm…I see. Well then…” She jumped off the well and put away her book. “How about we give these people a proper greeting?” With that she and her little companion went to the entrance to see the newbies.

As soon as they saw the new faces Mina hid behind a large dumpster as Qinn disappeared into thin air.

Moments later Garrett and his friends were near the dumpster. Suddenly Qinn appeared right in front of Garrett’s face and did the scariest face she could make while shrieking, “SCHRAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

Mina laughed as she jumped over the dumpster and walked towards Garrett. Qinn flew over to her side.

“Heeheeheeheeheehee. Welcome to Lavender.” She said with a deep bow. “My name is Mina. You’ve already met Qinn.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYw7eJYadco

PROLOGUE: THE NOBLE PURPLE TOWN

The scratchy-sounding hum of the engine of Jacob's family's old station wagon was interrupted by a pothole, jolting Jacob awake immediately.

"Ugh..." Jacob let out his trademark stressful groan as he adjusted his glasses. "Maybe I should have convinced Dad to spend the moving money on a new car, then we wouldn't be in this mess, and we'd have a safer way to get around, to boot." he said to himself.

"Well, sounds like someone's finally awake!" Jacob's father Brian looked away from the road for a second to flash a bearded grin.

Jacob sighed as he rubbed his eyes, noticing that they were still driving. "Dad, these roads aren't that safe to drive over on such a cloudy day. Shouldn't we stop at a motel or something?"

"It's only a little past noon. Besides, we can all see just fine!" His father responded, even though both Jacob and his mother could clearly see fog just outside the windows. "You're probably still used to the summer weather. It's probably gonna be a dreary fall this year."

Jacob had spent virtually the entire summer indoors, so it didn't make a difference to him. But then he remembered. As fall was on its way, school would start less than a week after they would arrive. He grimaced at that thought.

Jacob's mother, Leslie, lit yet another cigarette, as her own way of telling her husband "I told you so." Unfortunately, the smoke drifted towards the back seat, causing Jacob to have a coughing fit.

He swatted the smoke away, and decided to stare out the window yet again. They were the only ones driving on the road currently, for some strange reason. The entire unpaved strip of concrete was surrounded by thick forests as far as the eye could see. Dead reddish leaves littered the ground, and some were most likely falling on the car's roof, which would most likely be yet another cause of his mother's infamous hissy fits. Combined with the rain, it would create quite a mess.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jacob thought he saw...something...between some of the trees. The car was moving so fast, it was impossible to tell, and it was hidden pretty deep, but still, a disturbing presence could be felt by anyone staring out into the woods. It sent shivers up Jacob's spine. Little did he know, his mother and father felt them, as well.

However, they all shook it off fairly easily. But the thoughts still lingered in Jacob's famously analytical mind.

"I sure as hell am not sleeping tonight." He thought.

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Finally, after about another half hour or so, the small group's old worn-out Wagon Queen Family Truckster reached the main entrance to the small town that would be their new home.

"Here we are!" Brian said, trying and failing to lift the obviously gloomy mood they all shared. "Lavender, The Noble Purple Town!" He read the title and terrible slogan off of a rather large, old, and downright unwelcoming sign.

The sign was in desperate need of repair, but as hardly anyone who had lived here cared about it, it remained as it was. Notably, the sign looked as if it was built during the resort period the town had gone through, as a faded picture of a cliched forties-style family adorned the sign's bottom half. Sad, to say the least.

Soon, the station wagon approached the main gate. However, they were not prepared for what they were about to see.

"What the...?" Brian muttered. The entire entrance area was filled with police officers, barricades, police cars, and investigative tools. Sirens sounded loudly from the cars, and a lot of loud chatter was heard. The gates were locked up tight.

Most of the officers didn't even notice the car pull up. One, however, had quite a surprised and confused look on his face as he approached the van.

"Is there a problem, folks?" The officer asked Brian as he rolled down the window. He had to shout to be heard over the sirens, even at such a close range.

"Yeah, what's the hold-up here? My family and I need to get into town!" Brian responded, just as confused as the cop.

"You...want to get through here?" The cop hesitated, puzzled a bit.

"Yeah! Would you mind opening up the gates?" Brian asked, a little impatiently. Jacob put his face in his hands, just knowing his dad would start yet another arguement.

The cop noticed all the luggage inside the car, and those tied to the roof. "You folks wouldn't happen to be...moving here...are you?" He asked.

"Yes, we are. Now could you please open the gates for us?" Brian's smile was gone by now, clearly annoyed. He had always hated cops.

The cop finally decided it was now or never, so he decided to explain the situation. "I'm very sorry, but we can't let you by. We're from the police department over in Celadon, as Lavender doesn't have their own police force, and we're in the middle of an investigation right now, sir."

"An investigation? What for?" Brian pressed, his anger starting to get the better of him.

"We can't reveal the details to the public, but..." The cop clearly looked flustered, so Brian calmed down slightly.

"We got a report that someone found something floating in the lake underneath the bridge into town. It was a body." The officer whispered.

All three family members were quite shocked. A body? Here? Jacob and Leslie both knew this town was awful, but even they certainly were not expecting that.

The cop had no choice but to break the uncomfortable silence. "...Look, there's a place you can stay right up the road from here, I'll even pay for it if you need me to!" He sounded like he was practically begging this family to stay away. Unfortunately, Brian did not get the message.

"You don't understand. We're all set to move in today. You sure there's no way we can get in?"

The cop thought for a moment. "Well, there are tons of roads leading into town, but this one right here is the only safe one. However, there is a backroad you could take nearby. Just turn through that break in the trees over there." He pointed towards a dark entrance into the forest. "Just be careful. It's very narrow, so try and stay on the path. Don't say I didn't warn you, though. There's some...pretty odd stuff in this town."

The family had no clue what the officer ment, but Brian thanked the man, and the station wagon drove off into the trees.

"May God have mercy on them." The officer said, putting his hat over his heart.

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Jacob immediately knew that this was all one big mistake. He tried to convince his father to turn back, but he had not even paid attention.

To say the forest was creepy would be an understatement. They had to turn on the headlights just to see the path. Somehow, they could feel the cold air right through the doors. However, Brian didn't seem to notice. This was not too strange, as he had worked in an auto body shop for years, so he was used to the cold. Too used to the cold, according to his family.

Jacob knew he was seeing things by now. The leaves in the trees were all blowing, and there was no way the wind could have reached them this deep. The scariest part, however, was that the car's radio turned into static for a few seconds.

"Damn thing's broken..." Brian muttered, trying to convince himself that nothing was wrong. This was a major problem he had. He never listened to warnings.

However, soon enough, they were through the forest and into town. It actually looked a little quaint. They each looked to see the various buildings.

First, they passed a Shell gas station. Notably, someone had torn the S on the sign off. Jacob couldn't help but snicker at that. He loved irony and sarcasm, as one could tell from most of the words out of his mouth.

There was a small grocery store, as well, along with a bank, a bar, a hotel, a traditional restaurant, and a Wendy's burger joint. Jacob again snickered, noticing he was right about the four businesses he noted in his diary being the only ones that looked like they were making any money.

They soon passed the school, and this caused Jacob to jump back in fright. The building was easily the largest in town. It was a pale white, slightly brownish due to the paint peeling. A large cross adorned the steeple, as one would expect. However, it looked as if it were to fall off at any moment. Yet more irony, no?

There was a courtyard-like area in the front, complete with old lion statues, most likely used by students for socializing. Huge letter above the door said "SAINT HELEN OF THE BLESSED SHROUD ACADEMY CHURCH AND ORPHANAGE". Surprisingly, the letters were the least dilapidated part of the building. All in all, the whole place seemed deeply foreboding.

Brian, whom had calmed down and was back to his cheerful self, looked back at Jacob for a second. "You're starting school in a few days, Jake! Excited?"

"First off, I prefer "Jacob," and secondly, no."

His father just laughed, used to his son's melancholic demeanor. "C'mon. You never know, you may look back on all of this one day and realize that you miss this place."

"I'm already looking back on all the days I wasted, and the only thing I miss is the time I could have spent hanging out with friends, but I guess things just don't work out that way." Jacob scoffed, no emotion in his voice.

"Now, Jake, don't start." His mother said, slightly annoyed. "You always have to bring everyone down. You're like Eeyore or something. Could you think of this as a good thing for a change?"

"Believe me, I'm trying." Jacob shot back. "And my name is Jacob, not Jake."

Neither of his parents thought that saying anything back would be any use. Eventually, they reached the residential area. Surprisingly, the houses were all generally large, and many looked occupied, if a little shaken up.

Finally, they reached their new home. It was...exciting, to put it nicely.

The place was rather large, but not nearly as big as some of the other houses they've seen. It was painted black, and was up on a small hill. The windows were all rather large, but some were cracked or even broken outright. Shingles were missing, the paint was coming off, the driveway was full of cracks, you name it.

Jacob knew saying anything about this place would be futile, so he keeped quiet, trying to find something to think about that could be used as an outlet for his moodiness. They unpacked the little belongings they had, and the whole place was settled rather quickly. Nevertheless, it was far from a home.

"Well, now that were all set, why don't you go take a walk to get to know the neighborhood? Who knows, maybe you'll find someone to hang out with." Brian suggested to his son.

"Well, alright. I could use a walk..." Jacob was soon on his way. The rain and fog was not nearly as strong in the town itself, but the sky was very cloudy. How there was any sunlight at all was a mystery to the fifteen-year-old. He walked past the town's lake. The murky water could be enough to provide the town its name, if not for the swirls of purplish gas high in the sky.

Soon, he reached another section of the forest that surrounded the small town. This part was a lot more open and spacious, but there were some weird things in it. A chain link fence, some old abandoned trucks, a locked shed, what looked to be an abandoned bath house with no toilets or baths, a cement tunnel, many oddly shaped trees, and some old metal tanks that were covered in rust. (Yes, EXACTLY like the forest in Slender.)

He didn't exactly feel safe in this area. He felt oddly calm, but he soon found an excuse to leave.

“SCHRAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

"What in the hell was that?!" Jacob said out loud, speed-walking towards the sound, which apparently was coming from a nearby alleyway. He decided to stay hidden amongst the trees, however.

Little did he know, he was being watched.

Perched on the top of a very high branch, completely out of sight to all, was what appeared to be a boy around his age, who was wearing an old white hooded sweatshirt and black dress pants, with boots. His skin was extremely pale, and his hair reached all the way down his neck. It was pitch black, and almost looked greasy. An old knife could be seen, tucked into his boot, if one were to look closely.

"Well, then. Looks like we've got some new friends, eh Smile?" He ruffled what little fur his companion had left.

It was disgusting, to say the least. It looked like some type of reddish dog. Its teeth were crooked in a very unsettling way, most likely how this abomination got its name.

The dog-like creature woofed cheerfully whilst smacking its lips. The two then vanished into the trees, headed towards what looked to be an old factory...

Garrett flinched when he saw the ghost appear in front of him. Instinctively, his Astra turned into a sledgehammer (though to the two, it looked like it appeared out of thin air), but when he saw Mina walking out of the shadows, he hit the hammer head on the ground and used it as something to lean on. "You might want to be careful. You never know who you're sneaking up on." He said before straightening out. The sledgehammer disappeared. "My name is Garrett, and my friend is Vadia. It's nice to meet you." he said, holding out his hand for a handshake. Vadia put her hands on her hips.

"You're gonna have to try harder to scare me." she said, before holding her hand out as well.

Mina giggled. “At least I got a reaction out of you.” She said before she stared at their hands. “Umm…” She stared at their opened hands with a puzzled look before grabbing their hands and shook them. Qinn, in turn, licked them, covering their hands in sticky saliva.

“So, what are you two doing in a place like this? Surely you’ve heard the rumors of the monsters roaming around here. AND the pale-skinned psychotic killer. Oh, and the story of how this town became what it is today. Beautiful day out, no?”

Qinn suddenly nugged Mina’s arm. “Shaa! Shaa!”

“What is it?”

“Shaa shaa shaa shaa.”

“Oh? Another new face? Well let’s make him feel welcomed.” Mina said before turning to Garrett and

Vadia. “Excuse me but there seems to be another new face we must greet.” She said before she ran after Qinn.

Mina peered around the corner of the alleyway and saw a shape of a person peering out from behind a tree. “It doesn’t look like a monster…”

“Shaa shaa.”

“Of course I don’t doubt your judgment. I just like to state the obvious.”

She kept herself hidden in the shadows as she made her way to Jacob. She ran behind trees and other debree lying here and there until she was a few feet away from his back.

She slowly walked towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders. “A little lamb like you shouldn’t be wandering out in the open in a place like this.”

"OHSIIII-!" Jacob jumped about three feet in the air as he noticed Mina. It could have been her creepiness that scared him, but it was mostly his social awkwardness. He ended up falling down and getting dirt all over his clothes.

He lifted his head and adjusted his glasses. His eyes grew wide as he saw Qinn, for he had never seen something quite like her.

Somewhere in the back of his head, a voice said "Oh lord, I knew I would see some freaky crap sooner or later in this town."

He attempted to speak as best as he could to the girl. "W-what do you want?" He said, stammering.

Garrett wiped his hands on his pants and looked over at Vadia. She had a sour look on her face. "I hate this place. If Suffering did this just to make us suffer, then he did one hell of a job." She said, before kicking a can out in the street.

"Misery probably had something to do with it." Garrett said. "Since we defeated the 7 sources of evil but tried to save Sloth, she was pretty angry at us. Before she almost killed my mom she said 'there's no room in this house for dogs'." Vadia crossed her arms.

"Great, now our friends have to deal with Misery and Suffering without us. We should have kept Lust alive. If we killed everyone other than...it, then that odd couple wouldn't have revived." She kicked a rock.

"All what we need to do is find the rocks and something to conduct the energy through them. We aren't finished yet." Said Vadia's Astra. "Sledge is strong enough with his purification attack to get the portal open. That's all."

Garrett's Astra shook her head and her chains rustled. "We're opening a portal, remember? Vadia's going to have to attack at least half of it. Garrett's too slow to send a shockwave fast enough to send the pure energy through a ring big enough to get them both through." The two Astra continued talking, their hosts unaware that they were having a conversation with each other. Garrett heard Jacob scream.

"What are those two doing, going around and scaring everyone?" He asked, before running off in the direction of the scream. Vadia followed.

"You two are going to give him a heart attack! Why don't you go ahead and scram already?!" Vadia said, when she saw Jacob on the floor and covered in dirt. She held her non-slobbered hand to help him up.

(I color-coded the Astras because they're both named Astra and I don't want to confuse anyone)

“Well excuse me for being born this way.” Mina said with a huff going out of her way and hooking her arms under Jacob to help him stand up. “If you don’t like it then you shouldn’t have come to my home town.” She added, looking at Vadia.

Mina turned back to Jacob and giggled. “I just wanted to welcome you to Lavender.” She took his hand without asking and shook it. “My name is Mina. This little ghost here is Qinn.”

“Shaa!”

“So, new kid. What the heck are you doing in this place anyway? Don’t you know that it has a reputation of…well…dangerous?”

Jacob uncomfortably pushed himself away from the small group that had gathered around him. He tried not to make it obvious, but he was quite a paranoid kid.

He brushed the dirt off of his clothes. "For your information, me and my family were forced to move here because of the terrible economy. I don't need anyone to remind me of that, so I think I'll just excuse myself. Besides, none of you really look like the type I'd be near. Why don't you take that ghost thing with you and leave me alone?" He walked away in a huff, muttering to himself.

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The strange pale-skinned boy from earlier had made it to the abandoned industrial part of town, near the old Lavender Steel Mill. He hummed to himself as he held a clipboard in front of him. On it was a list of names, many of them crossed out.

"Say Smile," the boy finally said, "You didn't happen to catch those kids' names, didja?"

His faithful companion only tilted its head and ears, and wimpered a bit.

"Aw, hey..." he said, petting his little comrade. "Don't worry, little buddy! I always get to them sooner or later!" The boy grinned eerily, lifting the dog's spirits.

"Alright! Now let's go, we've only got..." he paused, checking his wristwatch. "...FIVE MINUTES! Oh shit, c'mon Smile, we gotta hurry and get to the meeting!"

The dog nodded, and the disturbing duo ran as fast at they could towards the ominous factory looming overhead.

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The room was silent, despite being almost completely filled. Filled with disturbing monsters, even. However, they knew better than to speak.

The barren old room featured not much besides many chairs and one long table. The creatures surrounding it were quite worried, some more so than others. For they knew if their leader's called a meeting, chances are all is not well.

However, that was the least of their problems now, for the table had two empty chairs. One slightly more lavish one at the very front, for their leader of course, and one simple one near the middle, breaking up the pattern of creatures lined up.

The gap worried them, for they knew that the boss was already in a bad mood, like always, but having a member missing from a meeting, especially a fairly high-ranked one, would certainly cause the leader to give them all an earful.

One of the most freaked-out was a creature that resembled a young boy wearing a tunic and strange floppy hat. He would look rather innocent, if not for his creepy-looking eyes.

The boy whispered to the creature next to him. "Have you seen him?" he asked, in a shaky voice.

"Not today, I'm afraid." the monster replied. This one looked a bit like a Furby toy, except for his almost ridiculously large mouth. "Quiet down, I think I hear him coming."

The monsters all felt their stomachs, or whatever they had, lurch. They sat as straight as they could, some with difficulty, as they heard the familiar creak of the doorway.

In stepped a man. Well, not exactly "stepped", more like "crawled." He was too tall to even fit through the door frame. He dwarfed all of the sitting creatures in height. The creatures stared in silence as their leader approached.

He had no face to speak of, not even ears. Only a blank slate, sort of like a mannequin. His bald head complimented his face, which because visible as the man hung his fancy fedora hat on an abormally tall coat rack near the door, reserved for him and him only. The hat was peculiar as well. A strange symbol, one like a circle with an X drawn through, was stitched rather poorly onto it with white string, contrasting with the hat's pitch-blackness.

His suit was just as black, appearing as if he just stepped out of the dry cleaner's. The man walked calmly towards the table, and sat down in the fancy chair at the end. A small, cat-like creature, similar to a certain dog-like one, climbed up onto the armrest. The tall, thin man tapped the cat's head a few times indifferently, and looked towards the creatures.

They all stared back, until they remembered the routine.

"Good afternoon, sir." they all said at once. It sounded like this simple line had been rehearsed.

"Good afternoon." the man grumbled, not caring to add any sort of honorific. He cleared his throat, folded his hands on the table, and began to speak.

"As you are all hopefully aware, we're hit a sort of low streak in the recent years. Can anyone tell me why?"

None of the monsters dared to raise their hands.

This annoyed the man, who now spoke louder. "Because," he drew out, "you have all clearly forgotten our goals."

The creatures looked at each other, unsure. The man groaned, and stood. He walked around the table, looking over the backs of all of the monsters' heads.

"We haven't found a single Holder in over a century. Since then, the humans have advanced beyond what even I had thought possible. And why is this?"

No answer, yet again. Again, this angered the leader, but he minded his manners, as they were of utmost importance to him, despite his work. He hadn't even expected to be answered by now, anyway.

"Because you all seem to have lost faith in our goals. Despite us picking up new members over the centuries, you all can't seem to work efficiently, even in numbers. I believe this is most evident in our newest member."

The man turned towards the creature he pointed out.

Only to find that his chair was empty.

The monsters all gulped. The leader felt his blood boil. "Where...is...he?" he said simply, turning towards his frightened subjects.

"Oh, c'mon Slendy! If you work yourself up like this any more, you'll drive yourself insane!"

The tall man turned swiftly. "Who dares to speak out of turn!?" he shouted, starting to consider abandoning his manners.

"Over here, O great leader." the voice said sarcastically.

Standing in the doorway was the boy. He grinned mischieviously, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. His dog wagged its tail happily.

"You're late, Jeffrey. Again."

"I know, I know." The boy known as Jeffrey, or simply Jeff as he prefered, grumbled as he took his seat, Smile following behind cheerily.

"I was just out and about looking for some new people to stalk, Slendy. I've found quite a few if I do say so myself." Jeff beamed.

"That's "Slenderman" or "sir" to you, boy." the man said, annoyed at his newest student's reckless behavior. "Killing may be important, but finding the Holders is the first priority. And of your entire half-century-long career here, you've yet to find one."

"So? I think I'm better at planning and attacking, not searching." Jeff said, not worried in the slightest at his master's mood. He put his hands behind his head, and his feet rested on the table.

The other creatures stared in shock. The tall man warped himself right over to Jeff's side, and pointed his finger right where the boy's nose would have been on a normal human.

"Listen here, boy." he spat, "You are not to question my authority. I am clearly the only one in existance capable of running this organization. If I had a mind to, I'd take away your immortality and have you sacrified."

"But..." Slenderman continued, "You seem to perform your day job quite well, and I respect that. So, I think I'll make you a deal."

"I'm listening." The boy said eagerly.

Suddenly, large black tentacles wrapped around Jeff and pulled him up from his chair. He shrieked, but his mouth was quickly covered.

The tentacles surrounded the young killer, until only his eyes were visible inside of the mass of limbs. Slenderman countered the creepy eyes with his own eyeless gaze.

"We only have eight more Holders to find before our plan is complete." He spoke loud enough so the other creatures could hear. "You need to realize the importance of that, Jeffrey."

"So," the leader continued. "I have an idea that should make us both happy. To help you realize how being a leader is not all fun and games, and to aid us in our goals, I'll propose this one little idea."

Jeff attempted to nod, but had difficulty, being in Slenderman's death grip and all.

"You are to search this town for a human that has given up on their own life. One that wouldn't mind helping our cause in the slightest. Preferably, a smart one. They should be no older than you, but mature all the same. You are to act as a mentor towards them, showing them our ways. You would be similar to a..."brother," I believe they're called.

"In return for this, you shall hopefully learn a lesson, and I shall purchase for you one gift if I believe you've done well and shaped up.

Slenderman lowered Jeff down, until he stood normally on the floor, in control of himself once more.

Jeff thought for a second, before coming to the conclusion that a certain outcasted human he had seen that day would make a perfect candidate.

"You've got a deal." Jeff flashed his familiar grin.

HONK HONK :0)
...

HONK HONK!

Ashley waited a bit more in her car.

HONK HONK!

Now she was irritated. The car in front of her wouldn't seem to move. Ashley angrily drummed on the steering wheel to "It's a Long Way to the Top (If you Wanna Rock N' Roll)" by ACDC in her Sky Blue Oldsmobile Cutlass.

Finally the car in front of her started up and her song faded out. "That was 'It's a Long way to the Top', if you wanna rock n' roll by who else, but ACDC! We'll return to your music, but first an interview with-"

Ashley turned off the radio, and put in a tape. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" By Cyndi Lauper played, something she preferred. She kept her eye out for an area to explore for her paranormal studying, a hobby of hers when she was off from college, like now.

After a bit, she gave up, again. No place in sight. Or at least for a while.

Mina looked at Qinn. “Think we came on a little too strong?”

“Shaa. Shaa shaa.”

“Oh please. Since he’s gonna be living we might as well get to know him.” Mina said before she and Qinn followed Jacob.

“Hey, new kid, you seem to be the type that’s quick to judge.” Mina said, arms folded behind her back. “I’m curious to get to know you better. And no matter what you do I’ll still hang around you. So we might as well be friends.” She said with a smile.

Qinn added a cheery giggle as she floated by Jacob’s shoulder.

He had to admit, this girl worried him somehow, but still, Jacob could use some help getting to know this place. She most certainly had some kind of use to him, and besides, there are probably much worse things around here than her and her little ghost friend.

"Alright, fine." he said, knowing that arguing probably wouldn't work. "My name's Jacob. If what you're saying is true, I imagine this place is probably a giant hellhole. So I guess I'll need someone to show me around. Do you go to the school here, or...?"

Garrett and Vadia followed Mina and Quinn, though the both of them were starting to get very annoyed with the entire situation they were in. "WE WERE FORCED HERE BY MATTERS BEYOND OUR CONTROL, THANK YOU!" Vadia screeched at Mina. Her Astra sat on her shoulder.

"Getting mad isn't going to help you know, Vadia." She said. Vadia mumbled under her breath and her Astra shut up. Garrett's Astra then stood on alert.

"Soul read! Something's coming!" She said and Garrett stood at attention. A rift opened up on the ground, and something in all black came out, screeching like a banshee. Garrett could see the flash of a scythe and instinctively, his Astra became his sledgehammer. There was a glint of the steel of this person's blade, and Garrett brought his weapon up. Instead of going for the weapon, he jammed the hammerhead into the body of the assailant. It wasn't a fatal hit; it was designed more for knockback instead of being an offensive attack.

"Wah!" The person cried out. It was definitely a woman but she sounded very inhuman. Her scythe fell to the floor and turned into a beautiful bracelet. "Well, well. It looks like there are some humans still around that can carry their own weight against someone like me. Well done." She said, before picking up her bracelet. "I'm Mortalitas, grim reaper appointed by Lucifer yadda yadda yadda I hate giving this speech argh." She walked around Garrett. "I heard that stuff was happening here so I came without Lucifer's consent ehehehe. He won't be mad." She said. "Sorry for almost lopping off your head. I would have stopped." She held out her hand, but it was covered by her robe.

"A reaper doing things for fun? Shouldn't you be harvesting souls?" He asked before taking the reaper's hand and shaking it. Much to his surprise, it was only bone. "Bone hands? I felt the resistance of flesh when I hit you with my sledgehammer." He said. Mortalitas nodded.

"Some parts of me have flesh, others have bone. When I catch a certain little Angel of Sacrifice, then I'll be beautiful. Let's just leave it at that." She said before looking around at the others. "Well well, what do we have here? Lots of fresh little souls I see...Ha! Don't worry, none of you are on my list. You're ok. Anyway, I'll be hanging around for a little bit. Reapers are supposed to be impartial, but rules were meant to be broken. This town...interests me."

Mina nodded her head. “Yup! I’m a student there. …Who lives there.” She added, scratching the back of her head. She perked up her head when she heard Qinn hiss. “Huh? What is it Qinn?”

“Shaa!”

Mina looked over in the direction of where Qinn was looking and saw Mortalitas. “Well that’s a new one.” She said. “I’d ask you if you were working with the local monsters but seeing how you didn’t kill Garrett on the spot must mean that you’re not.” She put her hand to her chin. “Well…whatever you are…welcome to my humble town of Lavender.” She gave a bow.

(Guys, I am SO, SO sorry I wasn't here to post for a few days. Normally, I can be at the library every day, since it's only a short bike ride away, but all last weekend, I had to help with decorating and shopping for Christmas, PLUS my cousin's college graduation party. Don't worry though, I promise not to let this RP die. Again, sorry. I'll try not to let this happen again.)

Jacob at first sighed a sigh of relief, glad to know someone would help him. Maybe if he had a guide, this place wouldn't be so bad after all.

However, he began to doubt himself when he noticed Mortalitas rise up from the ground, and Garrett pull out a sledgehammer out of nowhere.

He watched the skirmish with eyes as wide as saucers, realizing at that moment that this town was simply intolerable by normal humans. Well, those who value their sanity anyway.

When the fight ended, despite it ending on okay terms, Jacob regained his composure, adjusted his glasses, and spoke up so all of the members of the group that now surrounded him could hear.

"Okay, that's enough!" he shouted, losing a lot of confidence as soon as those words left him. "I don't know where you all came from...or what the hell some of you even are...but this can't be normal! Where I come from, people don't rise up from holes in the ground, they can't summon weapons out of thin air, and they certainly don't travel with little ghost-things!"

He panted, now realizing that they were probably all staring at him, wondering about the many peculiarities of modern mortal humans.

Jacob sunk to the ground, defeated, not caring about any more dirt getting all over his knees. "Oh my God, I've finally lost it..."

"You're all probably just figments of my warped imagination. I must have finally snapped from all of the pressure. Moving, getting bullied, all the loneliness...it must have finally got to me."

He stood up, a slightly freaked-out expression on his face. "I need help." He attempted to walk back the way he came, through the trees.

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Somewhere, up in the top of an abnormally tall tree in the very center of the woods, a certain boy-and-dog pair were laughing their asses off.

"Oh my Zalgo, is this kid a riot, or what!?" Jeff shouted, rubbing a creepy-looking eye on his sleeve. "He doesn't know about half of the crap that flies around here!"

Smile woofed happily, apparently laughing as well despite being a creature who normally couldn't.

Jeff soon got over that kid's little outburst, and put his eyes back to his binoculars, watching him leave the group of his hopefully future victims.

"I do believe it'll be quite easy to capture this target we've got here today, Smile! And when we're done, Slendy will surely give us the perfect reward."

Smile watched Jeff, his eyes asking what the gift could be.

"Why, the most perfect reward anyone could get! C'mon, you've gotta remember!"

Smile whimpered a bit.

"It was a couple of days ago, remember? We passed by that store while in our Illusion Forms...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About one week prior, Jeff and Smile had been exploring town. Jeff notably had rather poorly inserted eyelids, and his mouth was reduced to normal size. It didn't make him look any less creepy. Smile had taken the form of a husky pup, and was clearly more experienced at changing.

"Boy, there sure are a lot of nice shops here, my perfectly normal dog!" Jeff said loudly, causing passerby to stare. Smile woofed back, unsettling them even more so.

The duo soon came to a video game store. "Well, look at this! This store looks like it has a lot of new things to look at, eh, my faithful companion?" Jeff said, yelling again. He was definitely not used to walking amongst the humans.

They both approached the window, where a large poster caught their eyes.

THE BRAND-NEW NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM!

NOW YOU'RE PLAYING WITH POWER!

"Woooow..." Jeff said, awestruck.

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"...and he'll surely buy us a load of games to play, too! Still, a lot of those games aren't really that good. I heard about this new one coming out soon, "The Legend of Zelda", I think it's called. That one sounds like crap, it'll never catch on!"

Smile tilted his head to the side again, his bark ending in an upward inflection, indicating it was a question.

"Easy!" Jeff grinned. "All we gotta to do is wait 'til nightfall, accidently break into that kid's house, bag him up, take him to HQ, and we'll be living large! Piece of flesh-cake!"

Smile growled.

"What? Flesh-cake isn't one of my better lines, huh?" he asked, completely ignoring Smile's doubts towards this plan.

The two continued watching, out of sight to all.

Ashley came across an old home in the woods just outside of the town Jacob was in. She seemed thrilled and got out her recording devices, cameras, and other things she would need.



First she examined the safety of the house. Then she finally entered. "Hello?" She began. "Is anyone in here?" She turned on one device that amplified white noise and would make ghost's voices audible.

Jacob facepalmed. He was sure he looked like a complete spaz to all of the colorful characters near him. He looked to Mina. "Alright, fine. You seem to be the most sane out of anyone I've met here, anyway. I just need to get out of this forest...it doesn't feel right. Not at all." He speedwalked through the trees, just slow enough for Mina to follow if she chose so.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is going on over there? Where's he goin'!?" Jeff spied Jacob leave the forest. "Ugh, there is NO WAY I am leaving this tree! Well, might as well check out the others. It's not like he's going anywhere."

He glanced over to the edge of the forest, where he noticed a sky-blue colored sedan parked outside an abandoned house, which, strangely, had some strange pieces of equipment surrounding it.

"Oh, hell..." Jeff grumbled. Smile looked over his shoulder, trying to peek over.

"It looks like we got one of those amateur Ghostbusters here again." He put his binoculars in the strange hammerspace inside of his hoodie where he stored a multitude of weapons. "Come on, Smile. We'd better deal with this little meddler before anything related to us gets leaked to the public."

The two hopped down off of the tree as they walked calmly towards the car. "It's a good thing normal humans haven't invented some sort of way to store all of the world's information in one network where our organization could be revealed to the outside world, eh Smile?"

Smile growled.

"What do you mean that's the second time today I've said something that ends up being a joke to people in the future who can use all of that stuff?"

Smile woofed, and Jeff decided to shut himself up.

They both had creeped inside of the house via a broken window. They kept as quiet as mice as they followed the telltale sound of white noise coming from downstairs. Jeff smirked, as he readied his knife when he would be found, and Smile waited to pounce. They both loved being found by humans rather than locating humans themselves. They waited excitedly, yet patiently, as Ashley explored the house.

Garrett and Vadia followed Jacob and Mina. Mortalitas chuckled to herself before ultimately following them as well.

"Come on Garrett, pick up the pace or else I'll boot you in the ass." Vadia said. She was annoyed because she got stuck behind Garrett in the narrow path the trees were creating, and the uneven terrain was taking a toll on Garrett's slightly overweight body. He was already struggling to keep up with Mina, who was quickly getting out of sight.

"Sh-shut up Vadia..." Garrett said between breaths.

"Why don't you become Sledge?" She asked.

"Do you want me to...destroy the whole forest?"

"All right, you win. But seriously go faster or I will poke you with Steel."

"I think you just want me to die..."

"You can do it, Garrett. I believe in you. If you need some help you can just carry my sledgehammer." Astra said. Garrett sighed, defeated. His Astra became a sledgehammer and he was able to breathe again, enough to catch up with Mina.

"Much better." Vadia said.

"You're going to drive that poor guy straight into his grave. You should feel bad about that." Astra scolded. Vadia just made a face.

Jacob kept his pace up as best as he could, not even really bothering to make sure his new...um...friends, I guess...were caught up in anything.

"Just let them follow behind, Jacob...Don't bother them..." he muttered to himself.

He decided it would be best to stick around the more civilized areas of town. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt as if he was being watched in that forest.

And as it turns out, he was being watched now. However, who was doing the watching was certainly not a threat.

"You kids findin' yer way around here?"

Jacob turned towards whoever called to him.

It was an elderly man, who was resting on a bench. He looked to be quite over the hill. He was a little overweight, and his voice sounded like a scratched record, not to mention his wrinkled face, which had been scrunched up even more so into a little smile.

He wore an old brown cap that Jacob was not aware was even made today. He had a faded blue button-up shirt, and brown slacks. Most notably, however, he had a rather large walker leaning beside him near the bench. He clearly had much trouble walking. Overall, this man was most likely not a threat.

"Um...sort of." Jacob said, unsure of how to respond to the strange man.

"Why don'tcha come on over and pop a squat? The weather's decent today, fer a change." The man chuckled.

Jacob decided to walk over and sit next to the man, annoyed how he was meeting so many disturbing people that day, and more than a little confused at the man's use of the awkward "pop a squat' idiom.

"Haven't seen yer face 'round here before. You new in town?" The man looked on over, attempting conversation.

"Um, yeah. My family and I are still just getting settled." Jacob replied, discomfort obvious in his voice. The old man didn't seem to notice.

"Well, shoot! I can't fer the life o' me remember the last time someone moved 'ere, of all places!" The man laughed again. Jacob moved back in his seat a bit.

"Oh lordy, lordy. This here town's hasn't never had many people even drop by for visits n' such, even during my day. I could always remember everyone's faces, and names...until they all...left." The man paused awkwardly just then, coughing a bit. Jacob felt a shiver go up his spine.

All of a sudden, the man was back to his playful, talkative self. "Oh, 'nough 'bout that! My name's Randy, what's yers?" The man called Randy shook Jacob's hand without asking. For a crippled elder, he sure had one hell of a grip.

"Ugh..Jacob, sir." Jacob said, recovering from being shaken up.

"Well, it sure is nice to meet ya, Jacob. You look ta be a city boy. You may not be used to seein' locals like me everyday, but we'll prob'ly get on well just the same!"

"Oh, he will. By the time I'm done with him, at least."

The two looked to the side to spot a woman walking up. She was wearing a nun outfit, so Jacob guessed she worked at the academy.

This woman's face was even more unpleasant than Randy's. She was a little younger, but an overall sense of anger crept out through every indention on her skin. Her nose was long and crooked, her eyes as sharp as a hawk's. She looked over Jacob, and each and every kid following him.

However, she seemed to walk with a limp. When Jacob looked down, he noticed that one of her legs was fake, scaring him quite a bit. An eyepatch covered her left eye, making her seem all the more freaky, but even more pirate-like, humorously. The scariest part, however, had to be the fact that she was carrying a ruler, most likely for use in "disciplining" the students she taught. The end even seemed to be sharpened a bit.

"Good afternoon, Sister." Randy said, in a calmer voice, tipping his hat a bit.

"Hello, Randall." the woman practically spat.

She stared right at Jacob, cocking her head a bit to be close to his line of sight.

"You must be new here." the woman sighed. "I am Sister Maggie Asumpta. It appears I shall be your teacher at Saint Helen's Academy."

Jacob just knew he had the perfect sarcastic comment for this old hag, but he kept quiet for now. After all, nuns were one of his personal fears. Especially ones of the "Nun Too Holy" type.

"I imagine you think your streets smarts will get you by in my class. Quite the opposite, in fact. I believe precious children such as you could use some, er..."churching up." Especially you.' The woman stared at Vadia, Garret, and Mortalitas.

"I have no clue what sort of fashion you seem to be following..." the woman said, completely ignoring the fact that Mortalitas was clearly not a being of this world. "But if the Good Lord still has faith in us, you can be saved, with me as your guide." She stressed the word "if" in that sentence. She then turned to Mina, but she simply glared at her, not bothering to say anything to a student she already heard of.

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, I do believe I must be heading on my way back to the academy. Mustn't get behind when the year is starting in only a few weeks, you know." She seemed to cackle a bit as she walked away.

Jacob was stumped. Not even he judged people that much. This woman would clearly be a problem with living here.

Moreover, how did neither Randy nor that old bag not notice the clearly...more unique parts of the others? They must be really off their rockers. It's true what they say, adults are useless.

"Oh, don't you listen to that witch." Randy, who was once again upbeat, told Jacob. "She doesn't know a thing 'bout no one, I tell ya. People like that really get my blood pressure goin', but she means well, trust me. She's just a lil'...outside of some circles, that's all."

Randy checked his watch. "Oh, well then! Looks like I'm about to miss tonight's game on the telly! Best be goin'. I'll see y'all around then!"

Randy, with some difficulty, managed to get into his walker, and he shuffled slowly down the sidewalk, huffing and puffing as he went. He really needed that old walker, he was as slow as a turtle. Now it made sense how he was leaving, even though the football game wouldn't even start for two hours.

"Hey, by the way...?" Jacob asked as Randy turned.

"Uh-huh?" The man said, attempting to turn his old head.

"How come you depend on that walker so much?"

Randy's smile faded. "Oh...well, truth be told, I've had a walker since I was about yer age. I had sort of an...accident one day. It involved some weird kid...can't remember much 'bout him though. It don't matter, though! I have to get goin', g'bye!"

As the man shuffled away a bit faster, Jacob couldn't help but notice a slight look of fear cross the man's worn face.

Jacob buryed his face in his hands. "Well, it sure is going to be fun living here." he scoffed.

Mina smiled as she waved at Randy. “See you later Mr. Randy!”

“Shaa!” Qinn added as she bobbed up and down.

Mina sat next to Jacob and turned to him. “So, my little lamb, what do you think about Sister Maggie?” She crossed her arms. “I’m not too fond of her myself. Whenever I speak out of turn or do anything that is apparantly wrong, whap! Down comes the ruler. My hands hurt just thinking about it….” She then started to speak in a hushed tone. “She calls herself a good nun and all that stuff. But I think she’s evil.”

She straightened back up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “So, little lamb. Where do you want to go next?" She giggled

Garrett's sledgehammer disappeared as it reverted to Astra. He looked at the nun as she walked by. He waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke. "I'm already baptized, thank you very much." he said, before sitting on the bench. Even though he wasn't breathing heavy anymore, he still looked a little winded. Vadia looked cross.

"I hope I don't see that nun ever again." She said. "She doesn't have a right judging people in the name of God. Only He can do that and nobody else." She kicked a rock.

"Who are you referring to, God, or the Grand Astra?" Astra asked. Vadia just made another face.

"We shouldn't just sit around. Nothing gets accomplished like this. Since we're all here, we might as well explore or something. Anything's better than just sitting here." She said.

"I just don't know anymore." Jacob sighed. "I've got a headache, I'm tired, and I'm a little unsettled right about now. I think I just want to go home and take a nap or something..." He got up from the bench. "I probably have to go to the store with my parents to get some dinner for tonight, anyway. I guess I'll...um, see you later?" Jacob shook his head, and rushed home, eager to be with people he knew well, for once.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff and Smile continued their stalkinga attempts on Ashley.

Come on, don't you people get the urge to look behind you at times like this? he thought.

He decided to take a break from stalking, as even he got tired of it eventually. He and Smile exited through the window they came through, running back towards the trees.

"Maybe we should just focus on the task at hand, right little buddy?" he looked down to his ever-grinning friend.

Smile, however, didn't seem to notice. He looked through the trees and towards the sidewalk, growling.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked, taking a look for himself. What he saw made his jaw drop.

It was simply old man Randy, walking home, humming to himself.

As Jeff spotted the man, he got lost in thought, remembering an earlier time in his life.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MANY YEARS AGO...





"Come on, Jeff! We'll be late for school!"

Jeff chuckled a little, following his older brother to the bus stop.

It was a simpler time. Back when he was...well, normal, per se. Jeff was the youngest child in a loving family. His family had recently moved to Lavender, then a bustling resort town.

Jeff, of course, lost the race towards the bus stop. He simply couldn't beat his beloved older brother.

Liu was his name. He was quite popular at their old school, well-liked by pretty much every other student. He had long, light-brown hair, and charming green eyes. He was quite tall and thin, and despite being a little older than his brother, they were close as could be.

Jeff hurried over, panting. In those days, Jeff looked completely different. He shared his brother's long bronzeish hair, however, he had his mother's blue eyes. The most surprising part, though, was that Jeff was the more gentle and sensitive one of the two.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be too gentle for long.

"No fair, Liu! You always start before I'm ready!" Jeff pouting, but still laughing a bit. His voice was also quite different. He sounded much more innocent, and above all, sane.

"You snooze, you lose." Liu chuckled, ruffling his brother's hair.

The two decided to sit down on the curb, enjoying the warm weather. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing. It was quite hard to believe that this was Lavender back in the day.

Out of the corner of his eye, Liu spotted someone moving fast towards them. The two brothers had no time to react, as a kid on a skateboard soaring right over their laps.

"Hey, what the hell?" Liu yelled towards the kid. The kid just laughed. He turned, kicking his board into the air and catching it. He wore an old shirt and ripped jeans.

The kid walked over towards the two boys, inspecting them. "Well, well, well. It looks like we got some new meat." The kid *racist term* annoyingly.

Suddenly, he was joined by two other kids, who looked to be stereotypical bulling henchmen. One was skinny, the other fat.

"Well, since you're new here, I'd like to introduce ourselves. Over there is Keith." The kid motioned towards the skinny one. He looked rather dopey, his face resembling the kind you would expect to see on a sidekick. "And he's Troy." The kid continued, pointing towards the fat one.

"And I..." the kid said, trying to pause for dramatic effect, "...am Randy."

The two brothers had no clue what these pests wanted with them, but they decided to keep quiet, in case they'd go away.

As it turns out, they wanted something from them.

Randy spoke up. "Now, for all the kids in this neighborhood, there is a small price for bus fare, if you catch my drift." The three kids surrounded the two of them, all snickering.

Liu had just about enough of them. He stood, knowing he could take all of these kids, as he was clearly the oldest of the five present. However, this plan was foiled quite early, when Randy pulled out a knife.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Randy laughed. "I had hoped you would be more cooperative, but it seems we must do this the hard way!"

Liu, too shocked to move, had no choice but to let Randy take his wallet right out of his pocket. The three kids whooped as they excitedly pulled out all of Liu's money, of which he had quite a bit.

Jeff felt his blood boil, but he couldn't bring himself to defend his brother. However, this wouldn't be a problem very soon.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeff spotted a man. A very tall, very thin man. With no face, and a hat.

Jeff was happy to see this strange being. He had thought of this strange man as a sort of genie who lived in his house and would grant wishes. The man would follow him, and only he knew about him. He felt like the luckiest kid in the world.

Jeff's eyes told the man what was wrong.

The man's faceless head nodded knowingly.

A stream of thick, lavender-colored smoke washed out from behind the man. As he raised a series of many tentacles behind him, it headed straight for Jeff, disappearing as it entered his head through his mouth.

At that moment, Jeff found strength. His gentle, innocent self was gone for now. He smiled widely. It looked pretty sinister to see such a face on a child.

The urge to stop these kids had become a burning sensation, and Jeff now had more than enough power to do it.

Jeff stood up calmly.

"Jeff, don't!" Liu warned. "You'll only get hurt!" He shouted at his brother, but his pleas went unnoticed.

Jeff's smile was even larger as he walked towards the bullies. They laughed as Jeff approached, knowing that such a small kid could never hope to stop them. At least, a normal small kid couldn't.

"Listen here, you little punk." Jeff spat, pointing threateningly at Randy. "Give back my bro's wallet...or else." He was satisfied with that remark, even though it wasn't thought out very well.

The bullies laughed louder now. Randy stared right at Jeff, a smile almost as sick as his twisting his face.

"Oh? And what will you do?"

No sooner then when Randy finished that sentence, Jeff punched him hard, right in the nose. Blood poured out instantly. It was most likely broken. Randy, now looking a bit crazy himself, reached towards Jeff's face, ready for his turn.

His hand didn't make it far, as Jeff used his new and improved reflexes to grab it right out of the air. He twisted it until he heard it snap. His wrist was definitely broken.

Randy screamed in shock, dropping his knife. Jeff eyed the knife eerily. Troy and Keith rushed him, but Jeff was too quick.

Using Randy's stomach as a platform, he dodged Keith's lashing, stabbing him in the arm. Troy was so pathetic, Jeff didn't even need to stab him. He simply walloped him right in his fat stomach, and he went down hard. It was such a hard blow, Troy ended up vomiting all over the ground.

Jeff smiled proudly, praising himself for his handiwork. He decided to keep Randy's knife if he may need it.

"I think I'll call you "Sweetness."" Jeff whispered to the bloody weapon, putting it in the pocket of his then brand-new white hoodie.

Liu couldn't believe what he had just seen. His sensitive, happy-go-lucky little brother managed to take down three armed, bigger kids. To him, it was both amazing to see that Jeff was stronger than he looked, but depressing as well, seeing how all the bullying must have finally gotten to his head.

Jeff was much less popular in school. He was bullied almost all his life. And every time it happened, he felt an abnormal pressure take over his mind. He was able to ignore it. Until now.

"Jeff...h-how'd you...?" Liu couldn't even bring himself to finish that sentence. All of a sudden, Jeff felt his anger fade, and he was back to normal.

He gagged when he realized what he had done. There was no way they would be let off for something as brutal as this.

"What have I done..." Jeff whispered, starting to cry.

Jeff and Liu had no choice but to run to school now. If the bus driver figured out what had happened, they would be sent to a juvenile detention center.

By the end of that day, the two had recovered. They didn't think anyone would find out what really happened. Liu decided Jeff was simply able to defend himself, and didn't think of him as some sort of cruel, insane kid. Jeff, once he had managed to stop crying, had felt oddly happy. The rest of the day felt great to him. He just felt...calm.

Little did the two brothers know, Randy and his gang would get their revenge very soon. And it would change the both of them forever.

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Jeff watched the old man finally pass. He realized he must have done that to him...that day. He was the reason Randy couldn't walk, and the reason why Keith and Troy were...gone.

Jeff didn't like to think about those days. He had accepted his new life with open arms. He knew it was for him now. After all, there was no turning back.

Back every once in a while, Jeff would look back. To that day. The party. The fire. And his family.

Jeff shook his head, sighing. He definitely didn't feel like stalking now.

"Come on Smile. Let's go back home and wait until nighttime, I guess..."

Smile tilted his head. He never knew why Jeff was like this sometimes, but he never asked. Not that he could ask, anyway.

Jeff, who didn't have the energy to climb trees right now, simply pulled up his hood and walked down the forest paths.

It had started to rain by now. Another storm would probably be moving in tonight.

About halfway towards the factory, Jeff spotted something.

It was an old cemetary. No one had been buryed there for years, and most people forgot about it,

One particular tomb stood out. It was bigger than the otherrs, as if it were ment for more than one person.

Jeff shook it off, and ran back to the steel mill, trying to forget.

Mina giggled as she waved goodbye. “Hee-hee! See you later Jacob!”

Since Qinn didn’t have any arms to wave she just moved her head from side to side. “Shaa! Shaa!”

“I’ve never had a friend like him before. We’re going to have so much fun together!” Mina cried happily.

“Shaa!”

Mina then turned to the others that were following behind. “So it looks like you’ll be staying here for a while. I guess I could show you to the motel...if it’s still in business that is. I don’t know. I never bothered to check it out. But it couldn’t hurt to look, right?”