The Broken Toy

11/01/2016

Kitten had questioned Anti. Once. And he would never do it again.

It had been a fairly normal day of staring into the void when Kitten was struck with a thought. Now most thoughts glanced off of his glazed mind, but for some reason this one stuck. And it was just one word. Marvin. That word. That name. It felt strangely familiar. In that way a song on the radio is familiar even though you swear you've never heard it before. Marvin.

Kitten pondered the word, and as he thought the name evolved. Morphing from a single word to a sentence. A sentence that spun around and around his mind like a broken record. My name is Marvin. The additional words caused the phrase to make even less sense than before. His name was Kitten. Wasn't it?

My name is Marvin. My Name Is Marvin. MY NAME IS MARVIN.

The more he repeated it, the more it felt right. And maybe it was. Marvin could barley stop a grin from spreading across his face. Pale cheeks flushed slightly. Eyes shone. He felt contented. That hardly ever happened. Marvin hoped with all his heart that today was a good day. He wanted to tell Anti what he had remembered.

That was a mistake. In all of Marvin's luck, that particular day was a good one. As soon as he heard the tapping footsteps he lifted his head from the wall. Watching the door intently, as usual. The door was opened softly. That was the first cue. If he was angry it would have flown open and clanged against the wall. The static was quiet. That was the second cue. And he was grinning. Today was definitely a good day.

As much as he wanted to jump up and proclaim his news. Marvin held his tongue and stood up quietly. Ducking his head to Anti. His hair was already getting long and faded green strands hung in front of his eyes.

"Hello pet," Anti smiled at him as he closed the door with a foot. He leaned his back against the far wall. Waiting for Marvin's reply.

"Hello Anti." There was a pause. The room went completely silent, save for the soft static buzz. After he had determined that Anti wasn't going to speak right away, Marvin made his move.

"I just- I just remembered my name!" He burst out. The words tumbling over each other and squishing together in a combination of excitement and fear.

The moment the words where out of his mouth, Marvin clamped his jaw shut. The realization of what he had just done settled in quickly. Before, anticipation had clouded his judgment, but now everything was starkly clear. Anti had always said his name was Kitten. And Marvin had just contradicted him.

Terror shot through him as he watched Anti's grin fade. His eyes narrowed in anger and the static buzzed loudly. Filling the room with his presence. Filling the room with his wrath.

Anti was across the room in seconds. His sharp fingers wrapping around Marvin's neck.

"W̻̒h̪͝a͇̎t̺͛ ̜̅d͜͝ḯ̪d͎͝ ͍̐y̝͊o̡͑u̠͂ ̠̏j̣͘u̻̽s̠̀ṭ̚ ̧̓s̯͆a͙̕y͉̽?̣̑" Marvin was shaking. His eyes wide with fear.

"I- I didn't- I didn't mean to-" His voice trembled. Nearly as much as his body. Why, oh why, had he opened his mouth.

"Ö͜h͔͊,͎͆ ̚͜p̨̄ẽ̡t̙̉.̨̀" His voice was so low the static almost drowned it out completely. "T̮͒e̞͐l̦̈́l̞̕ ͔́m͈̔ḙ̍.̜̽ ͛͜W͕̉ḧ̥a͖̓t͕́'̨̂s͕̍ ̭̔ẙ͔o͔͗u͇͒r̲̀ ̹̄n̪̑a͇̓m͇̀e͚͛?̺́"

"M-Marvin." He whimpered as Anti's long nails dug deeper into his skin. "My- my name is Marvin."

His head hit the wall. Hard.

"T̳̚ř̹ý̹ ̛̺a̩̋g͔̔å͉i͕͂n̛̠.̫͒"

"My name is- my name is Kitten." Another thud. Marvin could already feel a bruise forming.

"A̝̒ğ̤a̠͐i̢̽n̮͝!̈͜"

"My name is Kitten." Thud.

"A̝̒ğ̤a̠͐i̢̽n̮͝!̈͜"

"My name is Kitten." Thud

"Ă̱G̣͝Ạ̏Ḯ͜Ṉ̇!̫͆"

"My name is Kitten." He was seeing spots.

"My name is Kitten." Everything was blurry.

"My name is Kitten." Why had this started?

"My name is Kitten." He couldn't remember.

My name is Kitten. My name is Kitten. My name is Kitten.

The room spun wildly as Anti released his throat. Black fuzz was quickly filling his vision. He heard the door clang shut and everything faded from existence.

My name is Kitten.

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And it's done! Whooo! The dates are in month/day/year format, in case you weren't sure. Ooooh, Anti is way too much fun to write. So is Marvin though. I'm enjoying this story a lot. Have a great rest of your day!

- Silver