Will the fondness of childhood ever truly go away?
I'd think not.
I mean, my best memories are of my early days with Addy and us growing up together.
We were playing Ring-Around-the-Rosy together. We were at a local park, with miles of woods and wildflower fields and no end in sight. That place was our haven, and we would beg our parents—please, let us go play at the park! They'd give in, and we'd imagine our days away.
That was before people decided that the park was a great spot for apartment complexes and an eight-level garage.
But anyway, Ring-Around-the-Rosy.
"Ring around the rosy..." I watched us sing, spinning in circles and holding hands. The grass tickled our ankles as we were barefoot in our outdoor dresses (which were apparently a thing to our moms).
The world seemed to...fog over. The clarity of the scene was fading, and the colors were becoming whitewashed; the greens, so vivid, became white noise. Wh-what was happening? I felt...so...dizzy...
"Pockets full of posy..."
The world was spinning. We twirled in and out of focus, warping like a funhouse mirror.
"Ashes...ashes..."
The faint smell of smoke filled my nostrils. The woods, in the distance, were burning. We would be caught in the flame within minutes, possibly.
"We all fall down...!"
And we all fell down, except I fell through the grass and into black.
~
"UH...HUMAN?"
I groaned, turning over and blearily blinking at the hazy white-and-blue blob in front of me that I currently wasn't very sure about identity-wise but not really caring because I was too tired.
"What?" I grumbled.
"UM..." The loud blob scratched the back of its head with a light blue appendage. "...THERE'S A FIRE."
My eyelashes fluttered for a moment.
Processing...
Processing...
Ding!
"What?!" I yelled, leaping up in my pajama shorts and too-big t-shirt and dashing out of my room, mostly navigating by instinct down the stairs and to the kitchen (as my eyes were still in sleepy morning mode).
I expected a heat wave to daze me, then I'd look up and see a roaring flame engulfing my kitchen, wherein I'd have to run because it's going to burn my home down.
But my eyes were instead met by...Ink, was his name? (yes, because of the ink splodge on his cheek)...dropping a cover (that didn't previously exist before, I was pretty sure) over a pan, with Error supervising cautiously, and Fell snoring on a counter nearby.
I warily glanced at them, then at the blob that now looked like Blue, standing beside me dumbfounded.
"SO...THAT'S HOW YOU GET RID OF A KITCHEN FIRE?"
"yes, blue, that is how you stop a kitchen fire," Error deadpanned.
However, there was a secret, underlying warmth in his voice that I hadn't heard him use when addressing anyone yesterday (which consisted of everyone pretty much avoiding each other, if I'm being really honest).
So Blue was the one skeleton he felt protective over. Gotcha.
"Now I'm awake," I grumbled, slinking over to a barstool and slumping over on the counter near Fell and in a position similar to his. "Ew. I hate being awake."
"WHY DON'T YOU LIKE BEING AWAKE?" Blue asked me with that big loud voice of his.
I gave him a bit of a glare. "Because then I have to deal with real life, and real life sucks."
"amen, sister," mumbled Fell, who was apparently also awake now.
"BUT...LIFE ISN'T ALL THAT BAD!" Blue tried to encourage. "THERE'S LOTS ABOUT IT THAT YOU CAN ENJOY! YOU CAN GO OUT WITH FRIENDS, IMPRESS PEOPLE WITH YOUR SUAVE SPEAKING, AND EAT SUGAR!"
I lifted a finger. "One. I don't have friends. Two. I don't talk to people. Three...actually, I don't have any complaints with number three."
He gave me the saddest expression I could imagine—the wide sockets and little frown were what really sold it—and I hated it. "BUT...WHY DON'T YOU LIKE PEOPLE?"
"Because they hurt you," I growled harshly. "Emotionally and mentally. And it's also none of your business."
Hurt spread across his face. His sockets were fully open and his gloved hand was reaching out towards me.
My eyes softened, and I gave a sigh. "I'm sorry, Berry-Werry. I get offensive when I'm upset—please don't take what I say to heart. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
I rolled my lips inward and bit down on them. I had a bad habit of pushing people away before they could even get close. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
Instantly he brightened, pinpricks flashing into stars. "OF COURSE THE MAGNIFICENT SANS FORGIVES YOU! I WOULD NOT BE SO MAGNIFICENT IF I WASN'T ABLE TO FORGIVE MY FRIENDS FOR THEIR MISTAKES!"
He paused for a second, then looked back at me. "WE...ARE FRIENDS, RIGHT?" There was a twinge of nervousness in his tone.
I smiled genuinely. I didn't already ruin the chance Destiny gave me. "Of course, Berry."
He grinned, then 'MWEH-HEH-HEH'ed his way into the living room.
I didn't notice the reactions the other skeletons had during the exchange, not all of which were very positive (especially when I snapped at Blue).
I just smacked my head into the countertop, still not wanting the day to have started.
It was five AM, for Pete's sake.
••••••••••
\(^ v ^)/
••••••••••
"feed meh."
I looked up from a half-sleep and scowled at Horror, who was giving me a glowering gaze, as well.
When I didn't respond, he barked, red eye glowing dangerously, "are ya deaf, lady?"
"No," I replied flatly. "I'm just ignoring your impoliteness."
"to (heck) with ma 'impoliteness!' i haven' ea'en in foreva, and i'm askin' fer some food!"
I gave a start at that, my mother goose instinct deciding to kick in, for whatever unfathomable or incomprehensible reason. "When was the last time you ate?"
"ten months ago," he said annoyedly, tapping his phalanges on the marble top. "now give meh ya food or i'll take it maself!"
I was frozen for a second, still trying to understand the number he just told me, before diving over the countertop and into the kitchen.
Horror jerked back. "what the—"
Pots and pans were suddenly clattering against each other as he watched me fumble with the cabinets, searching for a source of food I knew was in one of them...
"Got it!" I exclaimed, pulling out a family-size variety pack of grits that I'd been saving for a while for no particular reason.
He raised a...bone-brow. "what's...that?"
I wasn't a huge fan of his tone, but I pushed past it for the greater good. "It's grits. They're...probably good for you. They have enough carbohydrates and proteins to sustain you, anyway."
I pulled a glass bowl from the bottom cupboard and dumped the entire box and an unknown amount of water in it, then shoved the concoction into the microwave and set it on a random timer.
I turned to him and grinned randomly. His face was a mixture of hunger and pure confusion.
We stood like that awkwardly and silently—my weird smile beginning to get forced and my anxieties starting to gnaw at my brain tissue—until the annoying beep every microwave has interrupted.
"Oh! Here!"
Getting out some hot-pads and taking the grits out of the microwave, I set it on the bar counter and put a spoon next to it.
As I turned back to Horror, I said, "It's hot, so it's probably not a good idea to—"
My eyes bugged out of my face at seeing him lapping up an already half-gone, steaming, family-size sixteen pack of assorted grits.
"...eat it while it's hot. Or, you know, do. It's not like my opinion matters or anything."
Horror moaned, scooping another spoonful into his mouth. "have ya ever tasted sumpthin' so good in yer entire life?"
Usually, I wouldn't consider my terrible cooking good.
"Uh...sure."
He experienced acute starvation at home. But he also had to provide for a family member, likely a sibling. There was conflict over low food resources, so much and over so little food that they may have had to...
I blanched. That was probably why his greeting was so strange.
They may have had to resort to cannibalism.
"Are you..." I began softly, easing into a chair next to him, "...always this hungry?"
He glanced unemotionally at me. "well, yeah."
Okay, wrong tactic. "Um...did you not have a lot of food back in your...um...wherever you came from?"
He gave me a cold stare this time. "look, kid, where i came from was basically (heck). it's nun of ya business what i had or didn't have. just stay outtuv it."
With that, he pushed away his (now empty) bowl and slunk away.
My face devolved into defeat, and I slumped in my seat. I don't know why I expected that to go well.
But my eyes squinted, a tiny flame bursting into existence within me.
I would stay DETERMINED to get to know them, even if was the last thing I did.
('Ello! Lunar here!
How you guys doing?
At the time of my posting this, we are currently 9 hours into my day of translucency. Hope you guys are enjoying my weirdness! XD
Anyway! Segueing into the next topic!
Today we focused on Blue and Horror! Hope you enjoyed this two-sectioned chapter!
Love you guys to the multiverse and back.
Ciao, Lunarlings!
Lunar, signing off.)