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The scent of pure love filled their entire house. Its walls painted yellow, color of the remnants of an apple pie that once was.
On the dining table, a man with sunglasses, a lady with her hair on a bun and a young man were sitting.
"Holy gazpachos, Rafe!" The man with the cool shades exclaimed, "Dear, next time you might wanna make two of those 'cause Mr. Voidgut right here can't control himself!" Looking at his wife, the lady with the bun.
And indeed, it was Rafe. The orange colored stains around his mouth and his rounded cheeks incriminated him. He was the most adorable delinquent, wanted for his pie-eating deeds. Rafe was satisfied, simply ignoring whatever his dad said. His arms extended behind his head, leaning on his chair like he was the king.
"Might have to, in that case." The lady giggled. Mind you, she was the accomplice. "I might need you to go and pick more apples then." The man's eyes rolled, with a small smile on his face. "Weren't you on a diet, anyway?" The lady stood up and picked up the plate the pie was served in, "It's good you ate only one slice." She also picked up the glasses, and put them on the plate.
"Sure, sure..." He turned his eyes to his son. "How 'bout you?" He nodded his head toward him.
Rafe was patting his head a little. "Huh... Ah. I'm fine." He does a gesture with his hand, as if saying that it was nothing to him. "A little bloated is all."
"Of course you are. I'd be damned if you ate all of that and didn't feel a thing after." He playfully slapped Rafe's shoulder.
"I'm pretty strong." He crossed his arms, his expression noting smugness. "You didn't raise a coward."
"Remember when we had a roach invasion?" The lady intervened. She left the plates and glasses in the sink to be washed later.
Rafe's eyes widened, his mom just unlocked a memory. "I was a young lad at that moment..." He got into a more normal, less smug demeanor. He put one of his hands on his stomach, it was starting to feel a little weird.
The man with the cool shades chuckled. He stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Yeah, I punched them all individually with my fists." The question of how do you punch a cockroach is for a later occassion. Rafe and his mom eyed each other, internally giggling at his sillyness. "Anywho. Family, I'm leaving. Gonna stretch for a bit." The man with the shades turned around, lifting his finger. "Those roaches ain't punching themselves!" And so he did, he left to his room, leaving his dear wife and son in the kitchen.
"So, you'll be helping me with the cleaning." The lady nodded her head to Rafe, who was starting to feel a bit light headed.
"Always!" Rafe will always be loyal to his duties in the house. Even if the weird feeling in his stomach grew, even if his mouth was starting to feel warmer than usual.
"You'll do the dishes, I'll clean the table and the floor." The lady moved away from the sink, her walking directed toward a drawer with some cleaning appliances. Rafe stood up his seat, his body feeling heavier. He didn't mind this, it's normal to feel heavy after eating a good meal.
The moment he was standing in front of the sink, his mouth began to salivate, way too much. Rafe started to feel deeply ill, the feeling in his stomach becoming sharp, along his vision turning blurry. He rushed outside.
The result was obvious. Rafe spilled all the apple pie his mom baked on the floor. He was panting all the way, and not like he felt any better after. He stayed on his vomiting spot for a little, before lifting his face and seeing that all around him, was a pitch black void.
His mind wasn't all that clear as of that moment, the lingering sick feeling after puking wasn't letting him think. Once he could, though, his eyes went round. His behavior changing to a panicked one. Where was his house? Where were his parents? Where was he?
Rafe's body decided it needed to empty itself a little bit more. Some tears were running down his cheeks, as it hurt to do. Rafe looked at the puddle he did, why was it black and gooey? He could even see himself on it, what a freaky situation.
He could heard some footsteps coming from afar, he turned his head to wherever the noises were coming. It was his mom! She was running toward him, her arms extended. She looked hurried and worried. Rafe began to run toward her too, to his last hope for comfort.
"Mom!" Rafe called for her. There was a thread of black goo running down his mouth.
"Rafe!" She answered. Her speech sounded weird. "My baby!" Her face shifting the closer she got to him. Her skin as pale as death, her flesh stretching and fighting itself. The noises that her body was emitting, those of meat being pulled, teared apart, like a body being mauled. Teeth protuding out of every place they could appear in.
Rafe's expression gradually changed from a delighted, to a disgusted, and ultimately a horrified one. His breathing becoming frantic, his running ceasing, and his heartbeat going a hundred per second. Rafe's eyes watered, quickly forming actual tears. He felt something on his shoulder, a hand. Rafe turned around frightened, only to face his dad.
"Why are you running away? I didn't raise a coward." Rafe's dad's expression was a blank one, nothing on the other side of those shades. He was taking small steps toward Rafe.
Rafe answered by hastily removing his dad's hand off him. His natural fight or flight responses alerted him to get away as soon as possible.
The void he was in really was infinite. No horizon, no sunlight, no directions. Just pure nothingness, it was eerie. Rafe was sitting down, gasping for air, his mouth still feeling warm.
He spilled his contents on the floor once again, the same black goo as earlier. He was getting tired of this, so tired, but at this point, it was the only activity he could do in this infinite black room before he went insane.
The black goo began to... move? Some bubbles coming from it. It began to piece itself, to stand up, to have a body. Rafe's legs were readying themselves to run another marathon.
"Aren't you tired?" A familiar voice made Rafe's entire body tremble, his heartbeat once again quickening. "Your miserable attempts at escaping make me laugh." Jacko took a step, a tentacle coming out of under his robe.
Rafe stood up as quickly as possible, only to be stopped by a thick black tendril. He fell to the floor, his nose hitting it first. "I could just crush your little toothpick legs." And indeed, his grip on Rafe's leg was so tight he could snap it. Rafe kicked his legs, moving them everywhere, in an attempt to flee himself. Nothing worked. Is this how it ends? ...Not really.
Jacko just stayed there, like a statue. His white pupils nailed on Rafe. Rafe decided to stop fighting. He wasn't giving up, it's because he noticed Jacko was cracking like an old vase.
The tentacle on Rafe's leg felt rusty and old all of a sudden. So, in a better chance, Rafe kicked his trapped leg and it easily came out, the tentacle becoming sand. Rafe stood up with the upmost precaution, and looked at Jacko. Still nothing.
Rafe hyped himself up by rubbing his fist, to then aim it directly to Jacko's face. The pumpkin's head and body becoming sand as well. Our question on how do you punch a cockroach has been answered.
Something else changed, as the sand that was once Jacko's whole being was floating. Everything was floating really.
Rafe got a bit dizzy, and what would he know, he was underwater. He felt how his lungs were aching for oxygen, and his sight became blurry again. He did his absolute best to swim up the surface, and once he reached it, his eyes hurt. It was the first time in this whole time he's felt the sunlight on his face. His toothpick limbs were keeping him afloat. He was searching everywhere for land, at least a little island for him to be on.
As if not enough happened already, the water started to bash against him, pushing him. Something was coming, and it was big. Rafe had no choice but to go wherever the water wanted him to go. No use in fighting against the forces of nature.
The water was roaring, or more like something was making it roar. A huge ship was coming toward our protagonist, and promptly, it hit his head. Rafe got hit harshly, a bit more of liquid coming out of his mouth.
Everything went black.
"He's alive!" Sticlafluier announced with passion, as his dear mate Rafe seemed to be waking up. The crew around them celebrating. Ahoy eyed Bottle Bass, grinning and extending his hand to him. Bottle Bass rolled his eyes, annoyed. He handed Ahoy a total of 3 doubloons. "Ayyy!" Sticlafluier grabbed Rafe's shoulders, completely excited.
Rafe woke up panicked, immediately coughing water. He looked around, his eyes searching for answers. All he could feel was that he was soaked, a puddle surrounding him and his lips tingling. Once he realised he was on Capitan's ship, he felt a bit more relieved.
"Mate! You walked the wrong fucking plank!" Sticlafluier giggled.
Rafe's head was still spinning with whatever happened in that nightmare. Trails of water coming out of his mouth, his lungs emptying still.
His limbs were tingling, and everyone seemed not to notice his panic. There was no apple pie or roaches to punch, were there? Was it all just a bad dream from accidentally falling and breathing water in?
He didn't know. He didn't want to know.