A Battle of Watts

Chapter 3: Who's That Singing?

Chapter 3: Who's That Singing?

It was exactly midnight in the basement. Phil had just turned off his light and fell asleep, occasionally sleep talking about toasters and thanking a famous golden-goose neck lamp he met thirty years ago. Other than this, the dark basement was as still as could be.

Fannie was asleep in her felt filled shoebox behind the mirror in the far back corner. She found it shady back there, although a basement like Ellie's would be dimly lit anywhere. Potter was snoring inside his floor cabinet. Since the day he moved in, Potter spent a massive amount of time decorating it to suit his needs, filling it with a small cushion and spare 'hats,' also known as the common thimble. Everyone else was either sleeping on the shelves or on pillows, with the exception of Rover due to his size and Wattson. Because he had been bedridden for a few days from his illness and recent operation, Wattson had grown attached to the soft mattress. Ellie figured since she would no longer allow human visitors to sleep in the guest room, with the exception of Elizabeth or a 'human radio,' Ellie decided to give the room to Wattson as a gift.

Poppi kept tossing and turning on her pillow. She was crying in her sleep again from a nightmare. For the past few days at midnight, Poppi had been suffering from terrible dreams about the blue light, making her wake up and scream. Thankfully, Ellie would take Poppi into her room and allow her to spend the night, putting her nightmares to a halt. A simple hug from Ellie was enough to calm the little popper down.

"No!" she cried. "Don't hurt my friends! Please stop!"

Sketch woke up and looked at Poppi. Seeing his 'little sister' crying in her sleep again, Sketch hopped off the shelf onto a cushion and nudged her to wake up. This normally stopped Poppi from screaming if she woke up on her own.

"Poppi." he whispered. "Poppi."

Poppi woke up from her terrible dream completely exhausted. Her eyes filled with tears when she spotted Sketch and hugged him with her cord, crying quietly on him.

"That blue light was haunting me again..." she whimpered. "It was trying to hurt everyone. It tried to take you away..."

Sketch hugged Poppi and she began crying a little louder, causing Waffles to grumble in his sleep. He was very grouchy if anyone woke him up and wouldn't hesitate to make a fuss about it.

All of a sudden, the voice of the red light was heard again, this time singing in a hypnotic sounding soprano voice. She sounded very, very close by this time as if she was somewhere in the basement!

"They asked me how I knew, my true love was true..."

Poppi and Sketch relaxed at the sound of her voice, as if they were put into a trance. Vinyl occasionally played that song on one of his records, but he too was fast asleep. Yet faint music was strangely heard along with the singing.

"Ohhh! I of course replied... Something here inside... Cannot be denied..."

There was also a chorus in the background singing along with her. They sung in high pitched voices, yet in perfect harmony.

"Wow..." Sketch was swaying to the music. "I've always loved this song..."

Something hit Poppi and her little beady black eyes grew large. She quickly hopped to the guest room, wanting to tell Wattson that the voice he was looking for was singing very close by.

"Wait for me!" Sketch hopped after Poppi into the guest room.

Poppi peeped her head into the guest room. Wattson was fast asleep in the twin bed, happily mumbling something from a dream in his sleep.

"Hold on..." he murmured. "You might wake the others... Waffles gets grouchy when he wakes up early..."

Poppi and Sketch climbed up near him. Sketch didn't want to wake Wattson up. He wasn't as cranky as Waffles, but hated being woken up just as much. Without hesitation, Poppi poked him with her orange plug.

"Wattson?" she whispered.

Wattson continued to sleep talk and giggled amused instead.

"Heehee! You're embarrassing me!"

Sketch and Poppi exchanged perplexing looks with one another. Poppi poked Wattson again.

"Wattson!" Poppi said a little louder. Wattson was still fast asleep.

"Phil will blow a fuse if he hears it was you..." he murmured happily.

Poppi didn't want Wattson to miss the red light again. She narrowed her eyes, squealed, "Wattson!" loudly, and he shrieked. Wattson looked at Poppi and Sketch half asleep.

"Was that necessary, Poppi?" Wattson grumbled coldly. "Why are you waking me up? Ellie's room is the other..."

Poppi shushed Wattson so he could listen to the singing, making him wide awake at the sound of the red light's voice.

"Yet today, my love has flown away. I am without my love..."

Eager to find the voice at last, Wattson hopped out of the bed and back into the main basement. Poppi and Sketch tagged along behind Wattson as he was listening to the location of the singing. Of all the places the voice was heard had to be the washroom. The creepy laundry machines or the spooky atmosphere didn't matter to Wattson now, so he turned on his light and trudged inside.

"Now, laughing friends deride, tears I cannot hide... Ohhh!"

There was a faint red glow coming from the storm cellar in the back. It made sense the light was hiding there the whole time. Nobody ever went inside that pitch-black door, not even Ellie. The voice continued to sing as Wattson grabbed the storm cellar's handle with his cord, similar to a whip.

Down the storm cellar steps, a bunch of tiny red lights fluttered like fairies in mid-air. They looked like Christmas lights! The little lights each had a pair of itty bitty pink wings and small, hair-withed-limbs. Their faces were either too hard to see or they didn't have one to begin with. None of them stopped singing the chorus as Wattson approached the lead on a box: The Red Light herself!

"So I smile and say, 'when a lovely flame dies, smoke gets in your eyes...'"

It turned out the red light was an actual lamp like Wattson! They looked very similar in appearance, only this lamp was a copper color and had hazel eyes. Instead of a round bulb like Wattson's, hers was pointed in the shape of a large Christmas bulb. She was also a little shorter, thinner, and her 'nose switch' was round and white as opposed to his. Her cord was white and had a copper plug at the end.

The red light spotted Wattson, who was bug eyed and slack jawed with infatuation, and smiled at him. It was as if she expected Wattson to visit her the whole time.

"Smoke... gets... in... your... eyes!"