Chapter Text
The sky was still dark and it was serene, calm and quiet, and the cloth, soft, it was very soft. After a long day of work, everything felt like something one can sleep on. On the soft mattress covered in a thin white cloth, under a thick warm blanket in the comfort of home was a dream-come-true for this overworked single mother and life had never been so generous Alas, all good things must end.
*ring* A ring from a phone woke up the woman in her bed. She let out a mumble and hugged the pillow she slept on closer, as she continued to ignore the call. *ring* The chants of the phone continued "Ugh!" The woman exclaimed, without even opening her eyes, she grabbed the ringing phone on the nightstand beside her bed and answered it.
"H-hello?" She answered, with the best you-definitely-didn't-wake-me-up voice she can manage.
"Oh– oh hi Barb, look, there was an accident on 5th street and most of the doctors are occupied, were kinda running low on staff here and—" The caller from the other side of the phone stated.
"Just tell me, Wanda" Barbara had cut the caller off, she was finally sitting down massaging the bridge of her nose.
"What I need to tell you is, we kinda need you here A-S-A-P." Wanda said, not in a demanding tone, but a rather considerate one. A quick silence, then a long sigh was heard from the caller "Look, Barb, we know you just worked a late-shift last night but—"
"I'll go. You need me, so I'll go." Barbara cut her off again, before ending the call.
She stood up from bed and looked at her attire in the mirror, I haven't even changed from last night's shift! She was still in her scrubs from the night prior. She took a quick shower then went off to work. As she was exiting the upstairs hallway, she saw her son's room and took a quick peak, he was still asleep. Everything she had ever done was for her little boy, — which is currently her not-so-little boy — she smiled with relief, knowing that she's doing it for him, she's doing it all for him.
She closed the room of the door and headed downstairs, she looked outside the window as she took her car keys. It wasn't even the break of dawn yet. She hurried outside and got to her car, started the engine and then drove off.
So far it was a smooth trip on the way to work, but then, fate decided that her car should break down mid-way. It was the break of dawn, her car had slowed down near the canal bridge. She sighed and she managed to get the car aside before it stopped working entirely. Barbara tried to start the engine once more, it briefly cranked, but didn't start. "Fuck." She quietly whispered to herself in annoyance, as she let her head rest against the steering wheel and her hands holding it tightly.
Barbara raised her head and took a deep breath and got out of the car, she slammed the door harder than she would've done normally, but at this point, who could blame her?
She went to the front of the car and opened its hood to check if there was anything wrong with the engine. "Everything seems to be fine..." She said to herself, as she peaked through the hood of the car. She went back in the car and once again tried to start the engine, it cranked again, but didn't start. The realization hit her after a few moments of glaring at the car keys, "The batteries!" She exclaimed to herself "Ugh! The car batteries are dead!" She let out a sigh and rested her head on her arms as she held on to the steering wheel. She looked at her phone and tried to see if she could call anybody at this point, but as it turns out, her car's batteries weren't the only ones dead. There was a moment of silence, then there was aloud bang, it sounded like crashing stone coming from under the bridge. She looked up warily, waiting for a few moments after the noise occurred. Barbara looked out the window to see the light of day, but not an explanation for what she heard. She stepped out of the car cautiously, and looked around — there was a pile of stone just below the bridge, she left to check it and glanced back at her car, I don't think that that is going anywhere she thought.
She glanced down at the pile of stone from on top of the bridge before she made her way down.
When she got down, she stayed a few feet away from it looking from under the bridge itself, where could that have fallen from? she asked to herself, the whole scene seemed... odd. Then, there was something glowing. The bright blue glow illuminated through the pile of stone, which drew her closer to it, whatever it was. Then, the unimaginable happened.
"Barbara Lake"
It. Called. Her.
Her eyes widened, her mouth couldn't move but inside her head... Shit! I'm dead, am I!? It called her again.
"Barbara Lake"
no, no, no, no, no! An inanimate object can't possibly call her! Her breathing became unsteady, and she was looking around her. is this some sort of prank? . When she saw nothing, she moved towards the glowing object warily, not letting her guard down. She inched closer and closer to the glowing object calling her name, "okay," she whispered, and exhaled, "okay."
Barbara reached her hand out to grab the glowing blue object from the rubble. The light from it reflected against her glasses. She took it, what... is this? she thought to herself as she held the object in her hand an amulet? . "Uh... Hello?" Nothing. "Great, I'm talking to an inanimate object!" She sighed, "this has to be caused by sleep deprivation... Yeah."
Left in utter confusion, she looked at her watch to see that she was running a little late and put the amulet in her pocket.
Barbara went back up on the bridge to see her car and remembered, "Oh yeah... That." She said to herself in an annoyed manner. She took off her glasses with a hand and massaged the bridge of her nose with the other. She opened the door, got into the driver's seat and shut it loudly. An annoyed groan escaped her, then a sigh, she couldn't do anything but to let her head rest.
Without noticing, another car stopped just behind her's. A man stepped out and walked towards the side of her car right beside of the driver's seat where she sat, with her window opened.
"Good morning, Madam. Do you need any assistance?" A soft British voice coming from outside put Barbara's frustration at ease. "I assumed you needed one since your hood was up and– I just noticed." He explained.
She looked up to see a man in a turtleneck sweater tucked under a brown jacket, with salt and pepper hair, as well as emerald green eyes looking back at her. A little blush of embarrassment was painted on her face, "Oh– I– um– Yes!... please." She said thankfully, seemingly at a loss for words with her first attempt.
He smiled back at her, and she tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. "Well then, what seems to be the problem?" He asked as he gestured his hands towards the car's open hood.
"The um– the batteries, I think they're uh..." She stated, though the sentence was incomplete, she hoped that he got the point what what she was trying to convey to him
"Ah," He glanced at the opened hood of the car. "I may be able to help you with that, yes" He smiled at her and went back to his own car to fetch something, as Barbara went out of her own car.
The man went to look for something at the compartment of his car, after a few minutes he comes back with a jumper cables, which was exactly what she needed to see at the moment. He opened the hood of his own vehicle and attached the corresponding cables to their proper places, afterwards, he started the engine of his own car and let it be for a few minutes.
"There," he stated "I think you should go ahead and try starting your car, dear madam."
Barbara quickly entered her car, she turned on the engine, it works. "Thank you!" She exclaimed, "I don't know what to say, I– oh!" She looked at the watch and got out of the car to remove the jumper cables and fix the hood. "Thank you very much, Mr...?"
"Strickler, Walter Strickler" He smiled.
"Thank you, Mr. Strickler" Barbara smiled back at him.
"Oh dear, you sound like my students." He grinned.
a teacher, eh? she thought.
"Please, call me Walt" putting his hand out for a quick shake.
"Thank you, Walt" , she looked at the sky Shit! The sun's high. "I-I have to go, thank you, really." She rushed in the car and drove off without looking back.
As she was driving away, a realization came to her mind "shit, I forgot to introduce myself."
The man — Strickler — stayed behind to fix the jumper cables back to his car. As he was doing so, he saw two of his students just down in the canal. One of them is trying to help the other up, while the other one was flat of the ground. "Teenagers." He mumbled, as he rolled his eyes. He finished off with packing his stuff back in the car and drove off.
"C'mon Tobes!" Jim told his friend— who is flat on the floor, as he helped him.
"Why did we even take the canal, Jimbo?" said Toby as Jim helped him back on his feet, "we didn't even need to! It's like 7 AM, seven!" He exclaimed, "why are we even so early anyway?"
"It's for the school study session." Jim mumbled.
"School what?" Toby raised a brow at Jim.
"School study session, Tobes." Jim firmly stated.
"Since when did we–? Wait– Claire's gonna be there, isn't she?!" Toby gasped, "you little–"
"Father?"
Toby was cut off with a noise, like someone or something calling out. This made both the boys stop for a moment, then they looked around to see where it came from.
The two boys fell silent, listening for it again.
"Father?"
Jim looked at where the sound originated from, somewhere under the bridge. "Uh... Hello?" Jim asked as he crept into the darkness under the bridge, as Toby stayed behind watch over their bikes.
"Bushigal!" the voice exclaimed in a language Jim didn't quite comprehend.
Jim drew closer to the voice, there was a pair of eyes that slightly glowed against the darkness. As he approached the creature, he was... Tall... Inhuman... It— he didn't even look like any kind of animal, it was blue... And it had these spike-like things that are coming out of its back... And horns, it had horns. Jim's eyes widened at the scene, looking at this– this creature. It wasn't just Jim whose eyes widened, but the creature's eyes as well. They both were seemingly startled by the situation.
Jim was shaking and so was his voice, "T-Toby... I-I think we're gonna miss the s-study session..." He stammered, as he took a few wary steps back from the creature. Toby followed behind Jim and had the same reaction when he reached him. There was a moment of silence from both sides, until Toby decided that it was too quiet.
"AAHHH!" A scream escaped Toby, which in return alarmed the creature that stood before them.
The creature grabbed the two boys before they could run away, opening a portal under a bridge using a glowing dagger-like key. He mumbled to himself as he dragged the two boys into the portal.
"Vendel's going to be very mad."