The House

The Nursery

Here was Red's favourite room- the nursery. Like the rest of the house thus far, the once-brightly-coloured walls were peeling and faded. There were bare patches in the carpet, revealing rotting patches of wood- one of which had maggots crawling out of it.

A niggling worry in Shadow's mind vaguely reminded him of once having stepped on said maggot-patch despite the boy having never seen Red's house in this state.

He very carefully stepped around and over the sad remains of old wooden trains and cracked figurines towards what Shadow knew to be the way to Red's garden. He was hardly surprised to see that door taped shut as well. The glass of the door's window was mostly clear and a note was taped on the other side- its message could be seen through the glass.

'There is a broken window in Red's attic. It's too small to leave from but I may be able to help you from there- grab the globe on the way out.
~Vio.'

Shadow felt a small twinge of hope. If anyone could help explain this mess, it was Vio.

The shelf in this room was mostly empty and in surprisingly good condition. On it was a... switch? That was what Shadow's head was telling him it was, yet his eyes saw only an old fairy figurine.

"I'm coming, dear Shadow. Are you cornered there? How fun!"

Upon hearing Red's (terrifying) voice from the doorway, Shadow jumped and yanked on the switch/fairy figurine. A trapdoor on the floor opened and a large-ish table covered by a white cloth came out of it- in a split second decision, Shadow slid underneath the cloth and started making loud growling noises.

Red, who was at the doorway, gulped at the sound.

"RAHHHH!" Roared Shadow from under the table.

"Eeek!" Squeaked Red, turning tail and dashing off somewhere else. Strangely enough, that had been the most normal thing the small boy had done all day. Or even since that cursed party, perhaps.

Shadow crawled out from under the table and saw that the nursery curling was now covered in glowing stars and planets, all coming from the Star Globe Lamp shining from on the table- plugged into a mains electricity socket attached to the table.

However, Shadow had a sense of something ethereal being attached to the globe as well.

He went over to unplug it and take it out with him as Vio's note had instructed, but the moment he touched it he was overcome with a vision- no... someone else's memory.

It was his birthday. His father, mother, aunt and himself were in the nursery, his favourite room, celebrating his birthday with a present... and a cake!

"Happy birthday, Red!" Said his father, a smiling mechanic who had helped fix up the whole house, once.
"I fixed this up for you- and showed my boss a thing or two doing it, hah!"

The present was a Star Lamp Globe- he switched it on, and the already bright room was made brighter with the ceiling covered with stars.

His father was such a cheerful man. He kept the whole house together, both the family and the structure itself. Unlike his father's sister.

A flash of black...

Now he was the father, in a darkened place. His breathing was shallow, and he felt a dull sense of pain in his chest that had once been.

Standing above him was a small figure smiling down at him and holding the Star Globe Lamp in his arms.

"Your gift to me, my gift to you."

A flash of white...

...and Shadow was back to reality, wondering what had just happened and why that had felt so familiar. Had he just seen through a past Red's (and Red's father's?!) eyes? It seemed the list of things to ask Vio was ever growing.

Shadow thought it was high time he grabbed the globe and got out of there as fast as possible.