Chapter Text
Now, Wemmbu wouldn't call himself the smartest boy in the world, but he though he was pretty smart for his age.
At just six years old, Wemmbu could both cook and clean for himself. Well- okay he could only really make toast and heat things up in the microwave… but still! That's more than most kids his age could do! At least he's pretty sure, he'd never actually met other kids his age.
His Mommy and Daddy didn't really like him enough to take him to parks and he didn't know how to get to a park himself. He's also never been to school, but he heard Mommy mention making him go when they move!
Oh- and they're moving today!
A new house in a new town. Apparently, Daddy wasn't really liked at work and had to leave and Mommy got a job in a new town so she could 'pay the bills'! Or something like that…
Daddy complained that the new house was too small, just two bedrooms and one bathroom, a big downgrade from their old house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Wemmbu wondered where he was going to sleep because he knew his Mommy and Daddy couldn't sleep in the same room or they'd be upset and Wemmbu doesn't like it when his parents were upset!
They were more mean than normal.
Mommy had told Daddy to stop complaining and focus on getting a job so she didn't have to work so much.
"If we just left the brat behind," Daddy grumbled from the drivers seat of the old car, his grip tight on the steering wheel, "we'd have a lot more money!"
Wemmbu stayed quiet, hugging his stuffed kitty close to his chest. It used to be white, but had taken on more of a gray tone over the years and only had one big blue eye. Wemmbu was also pretty sure he should be in a car seat, but Mommy said he was too big for it so maybe not.
Mommy scoffed, filing her sharp nails into more of a point (they hurt), "Told you we should of gotten rid of it when I was pregnant, but nooooooo-! 'We're ready for kids!' Now look at us!"
It was an argument they had a lot, Wemmbu didn't like to think about what it meant. So he did what he did best (according to his parents)! Sit there silently, like he didn't even exist.
~
His new room was in the basement.
Mommy and Daddy took the rooms upstairs and dumped all of his stuff in the dark and cold room under the house. But that was okay! Wemmbu could make it work!
The little boy opened a box that had some cleaning supplies in it. He had taken some of the half empty bottles from the cleaning cabinet in the old house when his parents weren't looking and stuffed them in one of his boxes. Stealing is bad but Wemmbu wasn't really stealing! He was still using it for their house! And Daddy was going to throw it out anyway!
Wemmbu began to wipe down the dusty walls, working in the dim and flickering light on the single light bulb in the room. It took a few hours of balancing on his tiptoes and using his chair, but eventually the space was clean enough for Wemmbu to start rearranging his furniture.
He shoved his mattress (only a mattress, he couldn't get on the bed with the base when he was younger and his parents got sick of having to assist him every night that they just took it away) into the cleanest corner before pulling out his bedding and making his bed. It was cold down here, so he made sure to put on all his blankets!
Next, he dragged his desk into the corner of the room that got the most light. There was a small window at the top of the wall that he could open if he climbed onto his chair (that he had also dragged over) and then stood on his desk. He kept it closed though, he could see that the sun had set and he didn't want the cold night air to make his new room even more cold!
A rug would be nice…
Deciding he had done enough tonight, Wemmbu left most of his boxes still packed and his set of drawers stayed where it was in the middle of the room. The only thing he pulled out was his wall clock. Most kids his age couldn't read this kind of clock, but Wemmbu was smart!
(He had to learn it quick, his parents told him times for when he wasn't allowed to bother them and he had to know them or else he could make his Mommy and Daddy angry. Mommy and Daddy were very mean when they were angry at him.)
He leaned the clock on the ground next to his bed and took note that it was nine at night, meaning he was finally allowed to go up to the kitchen! Good, he was getting hungry from all the work!
He started to walk up the stairs, gripping the handrail tightly with both hands. It was a habit he had picked up after he tripped over his Daddy's foot and fell down the stairs at his old house. Daddy had laughed and told him he needed to be more careful on the stairs. Wemmbu was in a lot of pain back then but he was just happy he made his Daddy happy!
Wemmbu carefully and slowly opened the basement door, peaking out to make sure the coast was clear. The lights were off all around and there were takeout boxes all over the dining table. Mommy and Daddy must be asleep!
The boy tiptoed into the kitchen, moving slowly and silently through the dark and grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl resting on the kitchen counter. He had to climb up the drawers, but he had done this same thing at the old house, so he was an expert!
Once he claimed his prize he turned to go back to his new room but saw a figure at the top of the stairs that lead up to his parents rooms and froze. It was big. Very big, with wide and muscular shoulders and what might have been hair surrounding him in a large and fluffy mane - like a lion! It was tall and a shadow swayed behind it like the kitty he had seen on TV once.
When Wemmbu blinked, the figure was gone, but a light was on and heavy footsteps started getting closer. His Daddy probably needed the bathroom! Wemmbu quickly went back to his room and shut the door. He could wait until morning to use the bathroom himself.
For now, he'll turn of the light and make his way to his bed in the dark. He'll munch on his orange, placing the peels in a pile next to the bed to put in the bin in the morning and then he'll cuddle his kitty toy and snuggle into the blankets, pretending he wasn't shivering from the everlasting chill of the basement.
~
At the top of the basement stairs, a lion man frowned.
Every time a new homeowner moved in, he and the other monsters inhabiting the house would target them, frustrating or scaring them until they finally moved out and gave them peace. Until the cycle starting again with a new owner. This house belonged to the monsters after all.
This was supposed to be the same old routine. Mane was to start terrorizing the family tonight, move some of their things, make strange noises, appear randomly in the house. He would start with the child, they always scared easily.
But this child was different. At first, Mane didn't think there even was a child. The two rooms had a man and a woman in them separately, and there was no place left to put another person. But then he had felt the air in the kitchen shift and went down to see the child picking up an orange.
He followed the child into the basement and took it the sight before him. The cold and dark room was cleaner than it had been in years, with the smell of cleaning solutions in the air. There was a bed and desk set up, with drawers and boxes in the middle of the room, not yet sorted out.
Orange peels lay on the ground next to the bed where the child lay shivering in his sleep. Mane felt a pang in his heart. He may not like it when people moved into the house he shared with his family of monsters, but he could see the actions of real monsters at work.
He pulled off his coat, something that was altered by Parrot - a harpy-like monster - to fit his large frame. It was a faded orange colour, the hems line with his own fur from his mane. It was also warm from hid body heat.
He knelt down next to the bed - of you could even call it that - and laid the coat over the boy, watching the shivering come to a stop. He went to leave before something caught his eye.
The 'toy' cat the boy was holding glared at Mane menacingly with a single eye.
"Oh?" Mane's deep voice rang through the room as a hiss was heard from the 'toy', "Hello there. Maybe you could fill me in?"