Max glared at the house as they drove up, the light pink walls and white trim so out of place in the forest, the once bright colors muted from sun exposure. God he hated this so fucking much. Turning he glared at the back of the driver's seat. David was still happily humming away, the farmers almanac play lowly over the speakers. Max had given up bothering David hours ago, the redhead's never ending optimism way too much when Max couldn't get away. So here he was, after an eight hours drive, and an even longer one the day before, at the Pink Palace Apartments.
Max huffed, sinking lower into his seat, Mr. Honeynuts tucked carefully into his side. David parked the car, the moving van backing in behind them. David jumped out to help the movers, all bright smiles and cheer. Max slowly pulled himself from the car, grumpily trudging up into the house.
The house was old, the wood creaking under the 10 year old's feet. He stood in the doorway looking around. All the colors were dulled from age, some of the paint flaking off of the walls. A dusty carpet was on the floor, leading down the hall. Max pulled a face, gross.
Hearing David's voice nearby, Max ran up the stairs. There was no fucking way he was getting roped into the moving boxes in.
The upstairs wasn't much better, dull colors and dusty floors. Goddamn this place was so bleak and boring.
There was a hallway with three doors branching off of it, all of which were open. The first one was across the hall from the stairs, a smallish bedroom, just the bed frame and mattress in the room. The next was at the end of the hallway to the right of the stairs, another bedroom. This one was a bit bigger and had its own bathroom, a few pieces of furniture already moved in.
The last room was another bedroom, this one bigger than the others and at the opposite end of the hall than the others and around a corner, all by itself. There were windows across the walls, looking out over the nonexistent front garden. The only furniture was the built in shelves and a bed frame. It was nice, well as nice as this shitty old house could be, placed right on the corner of the house, and it looked like if Max really wanted he could get out onto the roof from the windows.
Grinning Max turning and ran down the stairs, nearly crashing into the moving guys, who were busy attempting to move a mattress up the stairs. He looked around, spotting David by the car before running out to him.
"Hey, Dad," Max yelled, getting David to look up at him, "Can I have the corner room?" David smiled, nodding his head.
"Of course you can, Max." David's cheery grin from earlier back in place as he handed Max his backpack and suitcase from the car.
"Fuck yes!" Max yelled, running back into the house and up to the room, but not before he heard David yell "Language!" from behind him. Max threw his backpack up onto the bed, gently placing Mr. Honeynuts next to it, and put his suitcase at the end of his bed. He had more furniture but he didn't know if the movers would actually carry all of the stuff upstairs.
Max lay down on the bed, frown up at the cracked ceiling. Of fucking course, god this house was so damn old. Why the fuck did they have to move to the middle of nowhere Oregon?
Max waited until the movers left before emerging from his room. He was right, the movers didn't put anything else in the rooms besides the bed frames and mattresses. Although they did move the boxes label for the rooms upstairs, which now lined the hallway.
He made his way down the stairs, peeking into the dining room before continuing into the kitchen. David was in there, looking over some of the boxes and moving them according to the label.
"Oh hey there Max!" David smiled as he noticed Max in the room, turning to face him. "What do ya think of the new house?" David had that stupidly bright smile of his face again, green eyes shining.
"It's ok, I guess." Truth be told, Max hated it. He didn't want to move out here and David knew that too. But this was the happiest he'd seen David since the move started. Hell, for weeks he had been stressing about packing, then driving for hours to get here. Max couldn't ruin this for him. At least not right now.
"You should explore, maybe check out the garden? There are acres of woods out there, and probably countless trails. Oh we should go hiking once we're unpacked! I think the landlord mentioned something about an old well?" David mused, grabbing a box cutter and starting to go through the boxes.
Max groaned. Seriously? It had been raining all fucking day! He didn't want to go out there. Then again... the only other option seemed to be helping unpack. Like fuck he was gonna do that. And there was no fucking way he was gonna go back upstairs and stare at the wall again. He needed something to do.
"Fiiiiine. But only because I don't wanna fucking get roped into unpacking all of this shit." Max gestured around the room as he walked out to find his rain boots.
"Language, Max!" David's voice carried over, causing Max to roll his eyes.
It took a bit of trial and error but eventually Max found his rainboots, pulling them on before grabbing his yellow messenger bag. Max passed through the kitchen again, giving David a little wave as he left through the side door.
The rain had slowed, just barely a drizzle now, not enough to justify Max putting on his hood. Max looked around from his spot on the porch. To his left, the porch wrapped around to the front of the house; he could see David's car from where he was standing. To his right, the porch ended, stairs leading out to what Max guessed was supposed to be the garden. Not that anything was growing out there.
Max jumped off the porch, purposely landing in a puddle and knowing full well that David could see him from the kitchen. Grinning, Max splashed a bit in the puddles. David always warned Max to be careful in puddles, the ground around them often slippery. Not that Max cared. If he fell, he fell. It was his own damn fault. But he didn't fall, he knew how to take care of himself. It didn't help that Max often tracked mud through the house, and then refused to clean it up afterwards.
He stopped at the gate leading into the garden, the cobblestone path branching off after the gate. Looking down to his right, Max saw a bush, most of its leaves missing thanks to the rain, allowing him to see a Y-shaped branch deep in the bush. Max remembered what David said about an old well, as well as David's camp on dowsing from a year or two ago. That was a weird day, but whatever, that weird witchy camper had insisted on having a day spent solely on dowsing, saying that it would come in handy one day. Guess she was right.
Max reached down and grabbed the branch, pulling off the remaining leaves before grabbing the handles, closing his eyes and spinning in a circle before stopping. Opening his eyes he was pointed into the garden again, the stick aimed out towards the trees on the far side. With a shrug he walked through the gate, keeping the stick in front of him and just following wherever it pointed.
He made his way through the garden, the cobblestone slick from the rain, leaves sticking to the path and bridge in the middle, some even sticking to the walls of the garden. Max ran through the flowerbeds to get out the other side. Nothing was growing here yet, he didn't have to be fucking careful.
The trees were clustered together, most missing leaves. A small path breached through the trees, disappearing into the woods. Max stared at it for a minute before shrugging, walking down the path with the dowsing rod out front. The path took him up and up and up before clearing the tree line. From up here he could see the Pink Palace in the distance, a cliff face between him and it.
The thought that this would be the perfect place for a murder popped into his head, causing him to pause. It really was. He was far enough away that if anything happened he wouldn't get back in time. Hell, David probably wouldn't even hear him calling for help, the idiot probably listening to the damn farmers almanac again.
Shaking his head he continued along the ridge, a bit more careful this time. A loud snap caused him to turn, looking further up the hill. There was a cluster of rocks just about where he was currently standing, what every was behind them completely blocked from sight.
"Hello? Who's there?" Max called out, receiving no answer. Narrowing his eyes, he reached down and picked up a stone, tossing it slightly.
"Hey, who the fuck is there?" Still no response. With a huff Max threw the rock, watching it as it bounced lightly off the cluster and disappeared behind it, a loud MUACK sounding from the other side. Oh fuck no. Not fucking with whatever the fuck that is today.
Max turned and walked away, following the path further along the ridge. It seemed to be going downhill now, the trees spaced out like an apple orchard. There was even a old cart with a missing wheel and a wooden basket on it, although both looked rotted.
Max picked up his pace a bit, he didn't particularly want to come face to face with whatever made that noise. Although, he'd probably just whack it with his dowsing rod. Max slowed as he reached a clearing, the path ending. He looked down at the downing rod with a frown. Where was he now? After the incident at the rocks Max had stopped using the rod, just following the path.
Looking around, he realized that he was even further away from the Pink Palace, the clearing giving a full view of the house and surrounding areas. Everything was so dull and gray. Hearing another snap, Max turned to look at the noise, finding nothing before a loud MUACK sounded from behind him, making him straighten and turn around.
The animal in question, a platypus Max realized, was sitting on the stump behind him. Max put his hands of his hips, watching as the platypus jumped up on its tail, hissing loudly. Max just rolled his eyes with a sigh before turning away. Now back to the mission at hand: the well. Where the fuck was it? He had probably passed it when he wasn't paying attention. God that would just be his luck wouldn't it? Or maybe he went the entirely wrong direction. Fuck, this was annoying.
"Chhh," Max paused, turning to give the platypus a weird look. Animals can't talk, so where the fuck did that come from. It sounded like someone imitating the static of a radio.
"Mission control, we have reached land. Over, chh." Max saw a kid emerge from the tree line behind the stump. The kid was wearing what looked like a fish bowl over his head, a yellow blanket tied around his neck like a cape. He had what looked like a vest made of cardboard around his chest, held together with duct tape and a striped gray long sleeve shirt on under that, making his arms look almost robotic. He had gray sweatpants on with underwear on the outside and to top it all off, matching blue rain boots and gloves.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me." The kid turning to face Max, looking surprised to see him there before grinning widely.
"Ah, you must be one of the native lifeforms of this new planet." The kid said happily. Max just stared at him in disbelief. What the everloving fuck was going on?
"Fucking, excuse me?" Max placed his hands in the pocket of his hoodie.
"Ah, my apologies, I am training to be an astronaut. You have to be prepared for anything, even meeting new lifeforms." The space kid seemed pleased with himself, still smiling.
"Riiiight," Max frowned before looking around the area again.
"Look, I'm looking for an old well, know where it is?" Max asked, turning to face the kid once again, stomping his foot impatiently.
"Oh, if you stomp too hard you'll fall in." Space Kid said, still smiling.
"Huh?" Looking down Max saw the ring of mushrooms, and the way the mud was raised slightly in comparison to the rest of the ground. Carefully, Max took a step backwards, off the well. He hovered on the safer side of the fungi, watching as Space Kid came over and pushed off some of the mud, revealing old wood.
"See." The kid smiled up at Max, carefully lifting the wood to make the mud roll off, hauling it to the side.
Max looked down. Sure enough, there was the well. Carefully, Max bent down, touching the cobblestone walling the well. He grimaced at the feel of the slippery, mossy rocks, pulling back and wiping his hand on his jeans.
"They say it's so deep that if you fell down and looked up, even in the middle of the day, you would see a sky full of stars." Max raised his eyebrows at this.
"Well, space case, you wanna get to space and see the stars? I think I may have a shortcut for you." He replied dryly.
The kid just laughed, waving his hand before moving to recover the well. For a moment, Max was tempted to just, push him in. No one would know. But he resisted the urge, watching as the gaping hole was covered once again and Space Kid stood up, giving Max a once over.
"Oh, a witch?" Max pulled a face, giving the kid a look. "You're a water witch." This time Space Kid gestures to the dowsing rod. Max glanced down at it before replying.
"It's a dowsing rod! And I don't like being stalked. Not by psycho nerds, or their platypi." Max tilted his head, looking over at the platypus.
"Oh, he's not mine, he's feral. Although, I do feed him every night and sometimes he brings me little presents. My great uncle would freak out if I brought him in the house." Space Kid patted the platypus' head before turning back to Max.
"So, did you move into the Pink Palace?" Space Kid asked, looking over out towards the apartments. Max turned to look at the apartments again as well.
"Yeah, why?"
"My great uncle, he owns the Pink Palace. He won't rent to families with kids." Max turned to space kid with a frown.
"Why's that?"
"He doesn't talk about it a lot. Something about a kid going missing. I dunno." Max just hummed in response, turning his attention back towards the apartment. A kid going missing? David had said that there was no issues with the two of them moving in. In fact it had sounded like the landlord was more than happy to have them move in sooner rather than later.
"Well anyways, I'm Neil, Neil Armstrong." Max turned towards the kid with a frown.
"Neil Armstrong?" Was this kid serious, what the hell was his issue?
"Yep. I'm named after my great grandpa!" Space Kid explained happily.
"Yeah, sure Space Kid." Max rolled his eyes. Unbelievable.
"And you are?" Space Kid prompted, smiling up at Max.
"Oh, I'm Max."
"Well it's nice to meet ya, Max the water witch." In the distance Max thought he heard someone shout something, sounding suspiciously like Neil.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Space Kid asked, voice muffled by his 'helmet' as he turned back to petting the platypus. The shout happened again, this time louder, definitely saying Neil.
"Oh, I definitely fucking hear someone calling for you, Space Kid." Max put his hands of his hips, glaring at the other.
"Ah, must be my great uncle. I gotta go." Space Kid was still smiling, god this kid was fucking annoying.
"Oh, but next time I would wear gloves if I was you." Space Kid wiggled his fingers as he talked, showing off his gloves.
"Why the fuck would I do that?" Max grumbled out.
"Oh, cause that branch you're holding? It's poison oak." With a final smile, Space Kid turned and ran off into the woods. Cursing, Max dropped the stick, before turning where Space Kid ran off, flipping off the general direction he disappeared to.
Max turned back towards the stump, noticing that the platypus was gone as well. His eyes landed on the well again, god he should have fucking pushed Space Kid in, oh well, missed opportunities.
Max picked up a pebble from the ground, walking over to the well and kneeling down besides it, uncaring of the mud now covering his legs. He leaned down, dropping the pebble down one of the holes in the wood as he listened carefully, counting under his breath.
"One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand..." He trailed off, mentally counting to try and listen for the splash at the end. Four-one thousand, five-one thousand, six-one thousa-
SPLASH.