Chapter Text
Lila was sat on her front porch, staring at whatever crossed her eye that was mildly interesting: a flock of birds, a stray cat, the occasional person taking a late night walk, and the even more occasional car that rolled down the street. The usual things to watch for in a suburb.
The night was cold, dark, and a little damp. It had just rained, and the wet air had yet to clear out. The wind was stagnant. Looks like the dampness would be around for a while.
Fortunately, this was just the kind of weather that Lila liked. Sunny days were overrated. Plus, no one ever sees them anymore anyways. There hasn’t been a clear sighting of the sun in about three years, but that’s only one small instance compared to the near thirty years of faux-nighttime before that. May as well “embrace the darkness” as her husband liked to joke.
Speaking of her husband: Lila was currently waiting for him to return home. He had gone out earlier today because of… something something Ignacio(?) She wasn’t really sure. She didn’t need to be sure, or so she thought. As long as he wasn’t cheating on her, she didn’t care.
She needed to talk to him, though, about his behavior.
He’d been growing increasingly emotionally distant from her and their son, and that beginning to snowball into a problem.
Lila sighed, looking at her phone. He was taking a while… and a little bit of her wondered what was keeping him. Maybe she’d ask him about that, too. What he does, and all. This clearly wasn’t a work related issue.
A light wind began to blow, causing Lila to shiver. Of course. Of course it gets exponentially colder while she’s waiting.
She wrapped her arms around herself, getting up as she began to head toward the front door. No way she was going to sit out here and get sick.
She casted a glance to the sky, staring at the clouds, watching them shift.
It was… interesting. There were always two particularly bright stars up there, no matter the time of day. It was almost like they were watching, or something.
Lila stood there, looking up at the stars, and they stared back. She tilted her head.
…Did one of them just wink at her?
That’s… odd…
She shrugged it off, simply dismissing it as her eyes playing tricks on her. She was ready to go inside and go to sleep. She’d talk to her husband tomorrow.
Yawning, Lila entered the house.
She had hardly gotten past the front door before her head started throbbing. She leaned on the wall for support as she walked to the couch going to lay down.
Closing her eyes, Lila sighed, adjusting herself. She tried not to fall asleep, but oh… the couch was so comfortable and she was so tired… how could she resist?
She… couldn’t.
Unintentional, of course, but it was inevitable.
Lila slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes.
“Oh, Jesus… what time is it..?” Lila asked, reaching for her phone.
She couldn’t grab it.
“What?-” She muttered, making repeated attempts to physically hold her phone. Whenever she thought she had it, it’d slip from her grasp, back on the couch, like it was glued.
“Okay… weird…” Lila spoke to herself as she stood up from the couch. “Ultra mega levels of weird…”
She made her way to her son’s room, just to check on him.
And he was there, alright, sleeping soundly.
That was good, at least.
It didn’t… look like her husband was home.
She wandered a moment, before remembering what she had originally gotten up for: the time.
11:49.
Oh.
So she really hasn’t been asleep for too long.
She could go back to sleep, maybe in her own bed this time, but there was… something. Ushering her outside, almost calling her.
And who was she to say no?
Grabbing her coat and putting on her boots, Lila made her way to the front patio, looking up at the sky.
It was.. different. Clearer. No clouds, millions of stars.
A truly beautiful sight to behold.
When looked upon closer, many stars seemed to be… forming a line, of some sorts. Pointing into the direction of the forest.
Ominous. But she was far past that stage already.
Nothing left to do but to follow.
She never wandered into the forest often, unlike her husband and her son, who couldn’t seem to get enough of this place.
Until now, she hadn’t ever wondered what was out here that was so interesting. May as well find out for herself.
The forest was dark, almost suffocatingly so, and Lila didn’t have a flashlight or anything. Oddly enough, she didn’t need one. She was finding her way around just fine, like she was being guided.
After maybe… ten minutes or so, Lila came across a clearing. It was.. bright. Lila had to shield her eyes from the sudden teal light.
Blinking, she looked at the source.
A tree.
A tall, tall, twisted, almost screaming tree.
Lila looked around the area in confusion, wondering if she should even be here in the first place.
She knew it was too late to turn back when the tree started moving.
Instinctively, Lila backed up, trying to get out of the trees arm length (branch length?) as she stared.
There was a rumbling as it spoke.
“卄乇ㄥㄥㄖ, 千ㄥ乇丂卄. 丨 卂爪 卩ㄥ乇卂丂乇ᗪ ㄚㄖㄩ 匚ㄖㄩㄥᗪ 爪卂Ҝ乇丨ㄒ.”
Lila remained silent, not wanting to anger… whatever this is. Its voice almost hurt to listen to, voices upon screams upon whispers, layers on top of one another blended into a voice-smoothie.
It was what Lila would’ve imagined the splitting of an atom would sound like.
“山卄ㄚ ᗪㄖ ㄚㄖㄩ 几ㄖㄒ 山丨丂卄 ㄒㄖ 丂卩乇卂Ҝ, 千ㄥ乇丂卄? 卂爪 丨 几ㄖㄒ Ҝ几ㄖ山几 ㄒㄖ ㄚㄖㄩ?”
Nervously, Lila shook her head. She had no idea what this thing was going on about.
“ㄒ乇ㄥㄥ 爪乇 ㄚㄖㄩ尺 几卂爪乇, 千ㄥ乇丂卄.”
Lila’s mouth suddenly became dry as soon as she began to speak. “Um… Lila.”
“丨 卄卂ᐯ乇 卄乇卂尺ᗪ ㄖ千 ㄚㄖㄩ. ㄚㄖㄩ尺 卄ㄩ丂乃卂几ᗪ 丂卩乇卂Ҝ丂 ㄖ千 ㄚㄖㄩ Ҝ丨几ᗪㄥㄚ.”
…What?
Atticus… knew this thing? How?
“That’s… that’s nice…?” Lila managed to spit out. Her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out what the hell this thing was talking about.
She may as well ask.
“Um.. excuse me.. sir.”
“山卄卂ㄒ丨丂 丨ㄒ, 千ㄥ乇丂卄?”
“I.. uh.. I just wanna ask…” She cleared her throat again. “How does my husband know you?”
“卄乇 卄卂ᗪ 丂ㄒㄩ爪卩ㄥ乇ᗪ ㄩ卩ㄖ几 爪乇 乃ㄚ 匚卄卂几匚乇. 卄乇 山卂丂 山卂ㄥҜ丨几Ꮆ ㄒ卄乇ᐯ乇尺ㄚ 丂卂爪乇 卩卂ㄒ卄 ㄒ卄卂ㄒ ㄚㄖㄩ 卄卂ᗪ 乃乇乇几.”
“Oh. Okay.” Lila nodded. “…What am I doing here?”
“ㄒ卄卂ㄒ丨丂 丂丨爪卩ㄥ乇. 丨乃尺ㄖㄩᎶ卄ㄒ ㄚㄖㄩ 卄乇尺乇.”
“Why…?”
“丨 乃乇ㄥ丨乇ᐯ乇 ㄒ卄卂ㄒ ㄚㄖㄩ 匚ㄖㄩㄥᗪ 卂丂丂丨丂ㄒ 爪乇.”
Lila tilted her head. “..How?”
“ㄚㄖㄩ 山丨ㄥㄥ ㄩ几ᗪ乇尺丂ㄒ卂几ᗪ 丂ㄖㄖ几, ㄥ丨ㄥ卂.”