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A voice spoke from the darkness, one which was much to familiar too them yet it came from a place different from their mouth.
"Half way mark has been attained?"
They froze in their bed as a sharp terror gripped their heart. Was it speaking? Why is it speaking? It has never spoken prior—what does this mea—
"Half way….half way…hehehe" an odd giggle followed, almost childlike but too…wrong to come from one. The voice was strange…stranger than usual, like many speaking yet at the same time only one. It made Kris's hair stand on end
They slowly, ever so slowly shifted in their sheets and poked their head outwards to get a better view of the things cage where a soft red glow gently pushed the darkness away. To some of their relief, the creature was soundly in place, not outside, not in some strange pixel body but where it should be.
Without a body it was a helpless thing, no hands, no mouth, no eyes, nothing at all. It Could only haplessly float about, it didn't scare Kris much when it was like that. It didn't scare Kris much at all usually until—
A memory flashed of that pixelated mimicry of their form as it walked outside of the screen and towards them slowly—sword in hand and their pulse quickened. It never spoke, not outside the dialogue options, not outside their body. It was hardly frightening but now they heard a voice—its voice outside of them talking and giggling.
At least, atleast it remained caged. What did it mean…halfway?
"So scared so scared? Why scared of we who is caged?"
A voice(s?) rung out from that dimly lit corner once again. This time directed towards them.
They felt their heart stop and they clenched their sheets, staring daggers at the cage waiting for it to make a move—any move.
It floated there behind its bars idly, seemingly without a care in the world. Clearly it made itself comfortable in there. Not at all minding its own situation. Kris was unsure whether that made them more bitter at it or themselves.
Naturally the child didn't respond.
"Child..child..sweet child you are" it giggled again, it seemed in an awfully good mood. A bit of the fear had begun to wane as other than the creature talking nothing else had changed. They frowned as they were unsure wether that thing was being genuine or mocking them. It's tone made it difficult to tell, too high, too sweet, too cold?, too sing-song like, too much that odd eyed freak from the dark.
They did not like it.
Kris had always been wary of the creature, this "SOUL" they were forced to host in themself. Although now that wariness had faded a little, it had done nothing in particular except be kind and helpful towards others. Not at all akin to what they were warned it could be like. Now however their guard had risen again. What was this thing talking about earlier? Half way? What half way point? Why did it almost sound like it was responding to someone—no something else.
"Suzy"
Their heart stopped at the utterance of that name.
"Suzy…Suzy, hehehe. He was right He was right"
"So kind so kind so bright, wonderful indeed. HE has never lied to us so makes sense". It chuckled again to something only it understood. Kris reached for their knife and squeezed it in their palms. It helped them calm down. Who was he? The way it said her name was off too, Suzy and not Susie.
"People can be so cruel, why else then has no one seen her, seen how she can shine, give her the chance to shine, can they not see what she is? What she could become?" Now that was something they could agree with, they had always liked Susie even back when she had picked on them and called them names. Why wouldn't they? She was an outcast too, one that nobody liked, a freak that didn't fit and she didn't seem to care about that being the case. She was right then about them anyway.
"He said we should be friends, could be friends, could meet, would meet—soon. Did you know?" How the hell were they supposed to know that. Plus Susie was their friend not its. It's something they told themselves often and dared not think of how Susie barely knew what Kris's voice was truly like.
"Then, one day brought us here" At this their curiosity finally reached a breaking point.
"..Who is "He"?" They mumbled in their usual manner, trying not to let it know that they were nervous.
Their voice was quiet but that was hardly a problem for the SOUL in this form. "He is….hmm"
It hummed and appeared to struggle—as much as a featureless heart-shaped object could appear to struggle—to form the words… .
"Someone who was forgotten, someone who can't be remembered. One day you see, he fell into his creation and was scattered across time and space"
"No one remembers him, not even he himself remembers him"
"No one except us anyway, we even know HIS name!"
Kris once again frowned, it was a story that was vague and hard to understand and even harder to believe were it to come from anyone else other than this accursed thing. However there was something about that description bothered them, a forgotten man? It bore an eerie similarity to the description they often heard when gathering shadow crystals. That they met a stranger and that stranger told them things. Most peculiar of all was that no one could remember that certain stranger.
"...what is his name?" They felt a sudden need to know, perhaps that if they knew the name of this stranger they could put the missing pieces of the puzzle together themsleves and figure a way out of this terrible circumstance that trapped them.
"…Now that we can't say…you see it causes him strain and pain to remember what he was before... And it's rude to talk about someone when they're listening"
They felt their blood run cold, they turned their head whipped their head around peering into the shadows in a panic—was he here? If not then where is he? Not once at any point had they noticed another presence nor did they see anything amiss in their room.
"Aww don't worry Kris! HE is not your "FRIEND."
Their hair on the back of their neck raised sharp as needles at its mention, "what is your relation to this thing" they growled. They hated how it could sense what they were feeling—what they were thinking and most of all how it went only one way.
"Your "Friend"? That one kidnapped us as we talked to him and put us in you" it replied languidly.
"No. The other" they hissed through gritted teeth, this was a part of the story they weren't unaware of.
"Oh! He is ….our collaborator? Our connector? Friend maybe?, he is our…" there was a pause as it appeared to recall a memory they could not see
"Something".
"???" Kris opened and closed their mouth, unsure what to make of that response.
"He is also not "here" but HE is everywhere! Lost in the darkest of dark". They could barely understand what this thing meant. Yet regardless they felt thoroughly unsettled. "Is..that who you were…" they mumbled before trailing off.
"Yes! You know Kris…you have met him before too, The Man Behind the Tree"
They felt their hand, which was still stained with graphite, twitch a little. Their red pupils narrowed, those strange and creepy places that were nowhere that this creature often took them too they remembered—and the egg that often came along with it as well as the odd tree but…there never a man behind it.
"Hmm you always forget indeed" it chuckled then which made Kris a little angry. It was as much as the thing said, they tried hard to recall but they could not remember anyone or anything at all behind that tree. Each and every time.
Hatefully, the SOUL was right. They couldn't help but deflate a little. For a moment they truly believed they might've discovered a secret they could use, anything that works with the SOUL couldn't be trusted but they were at this moment desperate for a way out. Tomorrow would be the day Susie and they would look for clues to the bunker. How much longer could they hide it from her? They hated that they had to hide anything from her at all and there was nothing more they feared the most than Susie discovering that they were lying and not telling her important things too. Except far worse than Raslei—since unlike him they were working with their enemies.
They bit their lip hard.
"How peculiar, you expect to get answers through us? We know so much less than you….. As for him..maybe he knows, maybe he doesn't. Maybe he no longer remember. He is in many pieces, one that speaks strange and concise, the other quite friendly! But knows nothing at all….and…."
Before Kris could so much as think about what it said the thing continued.
"...yes stranger than us too!"
"…"
"So…even if you could remember him you might not get what you want.."
If this was the creature's way to comfort it did a poor job indeed. Kris no longer wanted to so much as look at that being and buried their head in their sheets. There was little point in trying to sleep now, they had returned late from where they had gone and this little "conversation" with the SOUL had only helped hasten the sunrise.
Yet they didn't care.
There was a silence then that stretched between them that grew deep as canyons. Kris thought that it was finally done with having its fun with talking and closed their eyes. A dread crept up on their back, like a snake coiling itself around its prey. They curled in on themselves in an subconscious effort to ward of that chill that had gripped their heart since the night before. The child was too listless to sleep, they had turned off their phone but that hardly ever mattered and too much had happened for exhaustion to take hold.
Just then that selfsame self-amused laughter echoed throughout the room,
"Is that a cut on your face, or part of your eye? The gash weaves down as if you cry. The pain itself is the reason why.",
The timber of its voice faded as quick as it came, they lifted themselves up and brought themsleves to look at it once last time. They stared at it, their expression unreadable—hidden behind the length of their hair. They waited and stared and waited some more. There was no response or continuum. Not this time—as though it was well and truly done.
They clenched at their pillow and launched it at the now still cage in a fit of sudden rage. It slammed against the wall then losing its balance—upon the wagons back. There was no response, no cry, nothing at all from the heart shaped creature at being suddenly attacked.
Morning light had begun to filter through their windows, unbidden by the blinds they had not bothered to lower. This time it was well and truly quiet now, nothing except their own thoughts to eat at them. They grabbed the knife from pocket and dragged themselves out of bed and climbed out the window. They would have to return soon but right now they just needed to get away, away from the heart, away from whatever it was talking to, away from those eyes in the dark—away from everything. Just for a little more time before they had to face them all again by themselves.