Stuffed

Chapter 13

PLEASE READ: This is the last chapter that is available for free read! I am actually now at chapter 16 and that is the halfway mark for the most part. Stuffed will be getting published by October 31st either online, or on shelves! So I do very much hope you continue to read my book when it's out! All the chapters will be fully polished, and edited, along with the rest of the story which will be well worth the buy!

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His chest slowly rose and fell as he pinned himself against his lonely bed. It was not as comfortable as usual, and every thought seemed to bring him back to Isabelle. His head throbbed with a painful yearning, as if life wasn't already hard enough for him at the moment. Each breath he took seemed to suck the life away from his lungs, but yet it settled in an apathetic misery. Not even the soft sheets that wrapped around him was enough to ease his worries.

Closing his eyes he let out a single long sigh that swirled out of his mouth. In his mind he thought if maybe he'd stopped breathing, everything would finally be over; but then what kind of example would he be setting for Isabelle? Holding his breath he squeezed his fists together, trying to at least make sense of everything. Throughout Maurice's entire life he'd always been tortured, but because of it he wanted to help others. Now he wasn't even all that certain if that was what he really needed. Every day he saw Izzy, he saw the same suffering face he saw years ago in his own reflection. Everything in his life was coming down to what was most important, and not even himself came into the picture. All he could imagine was her.

Outside of his ears he could hear a whipping sound that resembled that of a whirlwind, but he would not address the noise. Instead he proceeded to keep his eyes shut tightly, and his fist clutched tightly together. As Mr. White could feel his lungs struggling from the lack of oxygen, but instead of focusing on the strain he began to feel at peace. His heart strained in an intense shock of pain, and finally he shot up from his bed heaving in deeply. If only today had never came, if only he could forget what the creature reminded him of.

White dots surrounded his vision which was accompanied by a plain red over screen of rushing blood. As Maurice gained a focus of his room once again he was able to make out fuzzy shapes of the common objects around him. However one unexpected thing had arrived as well, that horrid black shadow that had made him his choice of flavor in hosts. It stared at him quietly without speaking a word, as if it silently judged him. In rage Maurice White grabbed the closest thing he could find at tossed it at the creature with a frame full of agony. However it was only a pillow and it went right through the ghostly figure, hitting the wall lightly in the process.

"What do you want with me? Get out of my life!" Mr. White screamed at the top of his lungs.

The shadow narrowed its bright orange eyes, "I told you exactly what I want. What I don't know, is what the Hell you want?"

Maurice quieted down to an angered whisper, "I want you out of here, I want all of these things out of my life!"

"What, everything that spiraled out of control from when you first met Isabelle Johnson? The creatures,me, even her, it could all disappear if you just walk away and find a new job" The ghastly monster spoke in a condescending manner, "However I don't think that's what you want, do you? You're in love with Isabelle, and you're fighting with yourself as what's the right thing to do."

Mr. White scowled, "You don't know a thing about me!"

It made a swift movement raising its shadow into a huge size, "Should I remind you then? I could write a book on you, you have no idea what's out of your control! Your pitiful little life is nothing compared to what I've seen! You see those tiny stuffed animals and turn mad, I could show you things that would make all your nightmares seem like child's play!"

Maurice White being the better of almost ever issue decided to shut down his argument, it would only feed his ego. With a grumpy scowl Mr. White pulled the blankets over his head. He spent moments pushing out the voices that the creature attempted to insert into his mind, the distorted mumbles melted out into sweet nothings. Unfortunately however this did not sit well with his new 'friend', in a desperate cry for attention a sound of screeching boomed into Maurice's head. His skull vibrated in utter agony, the noise so terrible that it made a banshees cry seem like nothing.

"Stop, stop!" Maurice cried in pain, his fingers digging into his skull.

"Good, now pay attention" The shadow declared arrogantly, "I can fix all of this for you my dear friend, every pain and worry will disappear. All you have to do is a tiny little favor, and you can be with Isabelle for eternity. You help me, and I help you."

Mr. White mumbled from his aching head, "I do not owe you any favor, and my answer remains spoken. No."

"Fine, you will come around. When you finally realize the trouble you're actually in" The beast of darkness scoffed while dissipating into the night air.

With the shadowy ghost finally gone Maurice was able to throw his head back onto the pillows once more. The comfort of the soft sheets enveloped him inside its warm embrace. Even though it was the best he had at the moment, it still felt empty and barely did anything to ease his conscience. Once again he found he was surrounded by thoughts of Isabelle, and each tiny moment they shared together seemed like so much more than it really was. Somehow he found comfort within these thoughts, his brain began to slow down into a fuzzy stage of half-sleep, and soon into a full slumber.

******

The world is so cold, like a frozen plant. Maurice opened his eyes to see he was deep inside the ocean, surrounded by blankets of beautiful white sand. Regardless of the atmosphere he found himself to be in such murky waters, barely anything was visible from more than a few inches. Feeling very frightened by the lack of visibility in the water he decided to seek out a way to swim up to the surface. However as he began to paddle upwards he saw a darker shadow circling around him. It was a huge figure roaming around freely in the water with such ease, in comparison to Maurice's struggle in the water he was nothing more than a sitting duck.

Taking a sharp turn the unknown animal sent a firm bump to his side and swiftly swam off again. Maurice knew this sign, it meant that whatever was in the ocean with him was testing his weight. Indeed that beast was two times the size of him, and it would most certainly decided that it was big enough to eat Maurice. In a panic Mr. White pushed with all his force upwards to get out of the murky sea. Yet regardless of his efforts the animal was much faster than him in this swampy pool and quickly caught up with him. Below rising from the bottom of the ocean was a distorted dark blue shark with multiple fins and huge teeth, the only thing Maurice could believe it was related to was a prehistoric shark.

Maurice knew though that this was not a living creature he had ever seen before, still thriving, or extinct. As it thrust with force towards him, Mr. White caught a glimpse of two huge black disks for eyes that were completely devoid of sympathy. With the only action that came to mind, he shifted swiftly to the right side as fast as his body could push. Luckily the strange shark missed just barely as it took a daring dive out of the ocean and flipping back in. This gave him little time to escape but he didn't hesitate to wait one last second, with every muscle in his body he pushed against the thick waves.

In a burst of luck he reached a shore before the beast was able to catch up to him, it gave up pursuit and swam off into the deep unknown. While taking a few moments to regain his composure he observed his now new surroundings, and it was suddenly obvious as to why it was so freezing. He climbed up into what seemed to be frozen forest. Not a single thing blew in the wind as it seemed preserved like some sort of museum. Blindly he took a single step forward that crunched into a hardened icy snow blanket. As he proceeded around him it seemed to be even more frozen than the last few trees before it. The pines drooping large sized icicles that were frozen in time.

Traveling what seemed like ages Maurice reached the mouth of a mountainous cave that curved over the frozen wasteland. Stalking inside he was weary of what might be hiding in the darkness of the cavern. The complete darkness was overwhelming, but it was suddenly lit up with a looming blue light in the distance. Slowly he approached the glowing light, and on the ground scampered small rodents of many kinds. A few brightly colored white mice peered up at him as if to smile in a peaceful way. Over the rocks he climbed, and more rodents shifted near him; even a pure white rat set its cold feet upon his back sending Maurice into a slight shudder.

Finally reaching the blue glow, it bursted into a wide variety of wonderful colors and suddenly it was a living forest thriving with life. The grass swayed in the tickle of a breeze, and glowing pollen floated around in a magical way. In the middle of this green collection of trees sat a girl dressed in a pure white dress. Her light brown hair swayed gently in the wind, and her skin was pale white like the moon. She appeared to be fairly young, but reaching into her adulthood as well. Each strand of hair was long past her back but above her head was a set of straight cut bangs.

"Hello, Maurice. How do you enjoy my sanctuary?" The girl asked shyly revealing two large blue eyes.

With an amazed gaze he replied,"It's beautiful!"

"I hoped you would like it, I'm sorry if my pets scared you. I love all living things they're so precious" She sang while picking up a huge rat into her hands, "I'm Barbra, my gift to Isabelle is the most creative, the one that loves to see the heart in everyone."

Mr. White sat down in the marsh mellow soft grass, "This is far nicer than the rest of the places I've been... Asides from the rats, and the mutant sharks."

"I was known for having a huge heart Maurice, that's important. Isabelle has the most heart than I've ever known so I hope you can understand why she does what she does" Barbra continued with lit up eyes, "I hope more people become like her, I'm just so sensitive... Life is so important but I took my own."

Maurice asked with intent to listen, "Why did you hurt yourself?"

"I died as a teenager, I was only seventeen. Of course that's when most people go through their most difficult years, the most suicides..." She closed her eyes holding back tears, "I regret to this day, and await the day when I will be reunited with my loving parents. I was bullied wherever I went and was afraid, I didn't see another way out and I threw myself in the river... How much pain I must have brought them..."

"I'm certain if they loved you then they still love you now" He consoled her with a soft voice.

Barbra's pink lips split into a smile, "You don't know how much I needed to hear that. I only wished I hadn't been so scared, I only wish that the words and beatings at school didn't hurt so much. Maybe then I could have made things different... Remember Maurice, all life is precious and beautiful, and Isabelle sees you in such a light. Make her see the world in the beauty that I see."

"I promise" Maurice answered as the warmth began to take him in.

The angelic young woman began to cry and a beautiful bright blue heart was released into the air turning everything back into the blue glow. As the glowing began to fade away so did the world around him, and he could feel himself sinking deep into an ocean of lovely aqua shades. Caressing his torso into what seemed to feel like cold ribbons against his skin he was sent away from such a wonderful dream.

******

Suddenly he flung awake, such a vivid but wonderful dream tired him but also sent him courage. Each detail of the waters and land lingered in his head long through the majority of his routine, and he found himself in a particularly lovely mood. His mind taunted him with hope of things to come, and wishes of what he really wanted. He knew that he desired to have Isabelle by his side regardless of the consequence. Perhaps even if it meant more time sneaking her out. The plan flowed through his mind like clear liquid, nothing is more certain than the way he felt right now.

Slamming the door to his truck he strutted out into the parking lot of the place he works, the same common doorway reminded him of all the memories he gathered. Focusing on all of the pleasant memories he flung the door open and approached the punch clock. He held a wide grin on his face, and all of his co-workers seemed astounded by the change in tune. Maurice hadn't been the most enjoyable fellow to be around these few months, but things just seemed right today.

With a few gleeful strides he landed into his office, gently closing the door behind him and getting ready for success. His expression however quickly faded as he was followed by the infamous Mrs. Mort. Everything about her demeanor and self was disgusting to him, he could barely look her in the eyes. As usual she held a scowl on her mug, and squinted her eyes as if she was in anger of something. Her being in his office again could only mean bad things, it was never happy news from this horrid woman. Maurice bit down on his lip to avoid saying anything rude or outlandish, as his patience was clearly wearing thin with her.

"I see you're rather gleeful today" She claimed while glaring at him, "I just came to tell you that those reports you filed this time came back excellent."

Maurice couldn't believe his ears he quickly perked up again, "Why thank you, I am very pleased to hear that I'm doing satisfactory in my line of work!"

"Don't think this means you get whatever privileges you please!" Mrs. Mort snapped at him, "You're still an employee, and I better not see anymore slacking going on or I won't hesitate to cut you off! Good day Mr. White."

With that snarky statement she was off as soon as she had arrived. Maurice was left speechless at the end of his desk, he could barely explain what emotions were flowing through his body. He was still in complete disbelief that Mrs. Mort complimented him on his work, and that enough was an enormous anomaly. Deciding that he didn't want to jinx it he simply went back to what he was doing, this time with a mischievous smirk across his face.