Chapter Text
The beggining, also known as the prologue
If the sky is set aflame and falls, will all the stars come down with it? I think, if we all are to die one day, death by star fire would be the most wondrous way to do so.
-A memory, from a long, long time ago…
Everything burned.
His cheek, and the muscles on his backside, arms and legs. For how long had he ran? How far? He hadn’t got a clue, nor did he care as long as it was far, far away.
He just wanted everything to end; for things to reset. To go back to the time he didn’t have to wonder whether he and his little brother would have something edible to eat that night. Whether he wouldn’t have a broken finger, leg, hand, or toe that month; nor worry if his sibling would be able to live one day without shaking constantly and jumping out of fear for every little thing.
Back to the time the mere sight of his smile didn’t meant sleeping in the streets; to have the reek of alcohol and rottennes invading his senses even in his daydreams. He often wondered why this was supposed to be reality; and if so, why did it had to be theirs? What had they even done to deserve this? They were kids! Kids weren’t supposed to be terrified of going back to their own house, were they?
Why was everything so unfair? So awful? He only wanted to have more fun days in the sun; endless moments full of joy and wonder, like most children his and his lil’ bro’s age surely had.
Bill took a deep breath, feeling the sting from the cut on his cheek pulse as if it was being opened all over again.
This time had been different; scarier, deadlier.
For the past three years, Bill thought he had managed to cope. He had always possessed a tendency to push his problems to the back of his mind; his first line of defense a mouth full of quick, witty remarks in order to handle his peers and teachers alike. No one dared to question the ‘Mad King’ nor messed with his brother; he had no real friends, and that was fine by him. None of them would understand, anyway.
At what-used-to-be-his-home, his sharp sense of humor usually earned him a slap to the face and an empty stomach. Worst case scenario, he would smile. That would surely earn him a night with Mr. box; but it was all worth it as long as Will remained unscathed.
That wasn’t the case this time.
Will was a small, timid boy; constitution weaker than it should be thanks to their house’s ever meager food supplies. His twin was certainly no match for that monster, much less if he looked at it with those big, soft cerulean eyes; for they, very much like Bill’s grin, were a trigger. Ever since that first… incident, and even though Bill loved his little brother eyes, he made sure Will always wore contacts on the house.
[His screams still reverberated in his ears, like a cacophony muffled by Bill’s own panicked thoughts]
[ohgodpleasenopleasenonothimIbegyouIswearIsweargoddamnit-!]
There was no one else to blame for the monster’s wrath but Bill himself; after all, Will had been trying to protect him after the first trigger fired. He, who was the eldest, and therefore the responsible of providing the comfort the adults in their lives couldn’t or wouldn’t give them… it certainly must had been his fault. Paycheck this month hadn’t come on time, and thus Bill hadn’t been able to buy new ones before they ran out.
He was pretty sure, if he dared to look, Will’s throat was by now a violet shade. A hand mark engraved on the ivory skin of his neck…
What truly surprised Bill was how easily they had managed to get away.
It had been a silly plan, really; practically made on the spot on that gray, fuzzy day. It felt now like it all had happened a lifetime ago; even though a mere few years had went by. None of them, of course, expected it would all end like this. Always hoping everything would get better; that they would return to what used to be normal.
But today's incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. The decision was taken without any verbal confirmation; it wasn't necessary.
They both knew a line had been crossed; what little remained had been broken. There was, now for real, nothing left in that place for them.
They had backpacks full with all the indispensable, stuffed into the farthest corner of their closet. Wanda’s monthly allowance was safely tucked away in the wallet his father had gave him on his 9th birthday.
It was a little depressing, really; everything Bill and Will held dear could now fit in two middle sized backpacks.
Double checking everything was in place, they went down half expecting the back door to be locked; the only spare key on its lair. It wasn’t, and Bill suspected its companion of the month had left it open. Or who knows? Maybe it had been hoping it would come to this.
Not wanting to thank their lucky stars just yet, Bill took his brother’s hand and ran out of the door.
He never looked back, not even once. Since he didn’t want to become salt or be turned into stone, the boy kept himself in check and forced his legs to go forward.
Always forward.
When the bus station came into view, Bill finally allowed himself to let go; and his chest hurt so much from running, but also from grieving. Tears, each one filled with bittersweet memories, streamed from the eyes he hated so much
And as he cried for the past that was gone and the future that was taken, Bill couldn't stop thinking, over and over again, the next few words:
"Reality is nothing but a cruel, useless illusion"
He hated it.
And he had come to learn; what one hates, one seeks to destroy.
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.
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Will idolized his brother; even if he was a little twisted, he wouldn’t have him be any other way.
Yet, as they boarded the bus for a place with a name Bill hadn’t bothered to get right, Will had to stop and look.
His brother almost never smiled; he couldn’t, not with how… how ‘it’, as Bill dubbed him, reacted upon it. But Will really loved his big brother’s smile; dimpled and full of mischief, and as blindingly bright as his sun colored hair.
But Bill’s expression as they took their seats and started drifting off to dreamland set off alarm bells in his head.
It wasn’t the usual slightly cocky mask he wore at school, nor the mocking one that sometimes slipped at the house, nor his almost extinct delighted grin. No, the line in Bill’s mouth just now was more… crooked; mad, as if he was now truly living up to his “Mad King” title.
But even when his better judgement told him not to, Will tucked his concern and buried it in the farthest of his mind. After all, Bill would never do something to harm him; that was the only truth of Will’s existence.
Convinced he was most likely just overthinking again, Will finally allowed himself to doze off completely.
He didn’t wake up, nor did his brother, even after the large sign that read “Welcome to Zero Gravity, Oregon” flashed through the window pane the day after they ran away.
They didn’t notice, as the bus sailed through the dark looking woods, the eyes shining in the reflection of the window; even though they were the only passengers left on the vehicle.
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Next up: Chapter I “The world’s most boring, uneventful town newest gossip; or the restless souls of the not so haunted cabin.”