twenty six | I want to disappear

[strike_you_out]

Day Of

It had started out as a day like any other, but as the sun reached its peak in the sky and began its slow descent, more and more strange things were beginning to happen and an atmosphere of panic had begun to spread. Having decided to check on his friend, Slugger left home in search of Pokey. On the way to 502 Ricardo, he spotted Pokey wandering the streets and skated up behind him. To his surprise he was greeted coldly and not in a playful sense. There was genuine hostility in Pokey's voice when he spoke.

"What do you want? Go away."

It was a bit jarring to hear Pokey speak this way. Slugger could only stare at him and wait for something to make sense.

"What are you, deaf? I said go away, you stupid jerkface! I don't want to talk to you. Freak."

Hopelessly confused, Slugger paused on the sidewalk and watched Pokey turn away after spitting that last insult over his shoulder. Even so, Slugger couldn't just let him leave, not without knowing what he'd done to make Pokey so angry. Again, he approached.

Pokey rounded viciously on him.

"What, do you honestly still think we're friends or something? We're not, okay! We never were." Slugger couldn't speak, couldn't respond. Pokey went on with a venomous sneer, "Don't look so surprised. Geez, you must really be a huge ignoramous. I'll spell it out for you, moron: I hate you! I was just using you to see if you were anything as powerful as the last stupid monster I used. And you're not. You're just worthless, so leave me alone!"

Taken completely aback, he searched Pokey's eyes for any signs that this may be an act, but there were none. So it was true? Their "friendship" had been a lie this whole time? Slugger's jaw tensed up and his face hardened. Then, as Pokey turned to leave once again, Slugger drove a fist hard into his back between the shoulder blades. But despite how angry and utterly betrayed he felt, he couldn't bring himself to do any worse damage than that. Pokey stumbled forward with an angry yelp and suffered a brief coughing spell before turning to fume and shout and throw his own weak punches, but Slugger quickly vanished. He couldn't bear the presence of his friend-- ex-friend --right now. It was too much. He left behind an empty street, not a soul in sight.

  *****
  
On the other side of town, several trashcans were violently obliterated as Slugger made his way up the street. Here, he was sure not to run into Pokey again. To hell with Pokey. To hell with this town. Slugger was about to bring down his bat upon a parked car in his sights when he saw a pale girl with long, straight black hair by the roadside. It was Enma Ai standing still as a post, her eyes gazing off 100 yards into the distance.

Lowering his bat, Slugger hesitantly approached her. A bad, sick feeling had risen inside him from his encounter with Pokey and it grew worse the closer he came to Ai, who had yet to acknowledge his presence.

"...Ai," he said.

No response.

"Ai?"

No response.

Could she not hear him? Was he invisible? Slugger reached toward her but as soon as he did so, she turned away and vanished. In the neighboring yard along the street, he spotted her again standing perfectly still with her back to him. And again he followed after her, trying to get her to notice him. But she wouldn't. The process repeated itself from yard to yard all the way up the block. (To any onlooker, there would be no girl, just a boy racing from one mailbox to another along the street looking frantic and confused.)

Finally, Ai acknowledged him. She rigidly extended an arm out to her side with the palm facing him and spoke two words, "Stay away."

If Slugger had a heart, it had leapt into his throat and was trying to claw its way out as he watched her fade and disappear once again. Too angry to heed her warning, he continued his pursuit and the next time she reappeared, Slugger wasted no time in catching her by the wrist and holding it tight. He was sick of playing games and wanted answers. But the moment he grabbed her, Ai turned suddenly toward him with an expression of horrific anguish. Her eyes were bulging and bloodshot. Deep stress lines fractured her delicate, doll-like features. Slugger jumped back in time to watch her turn completely gray and crumble to ash on the ground before him as if his touch were lethal.

Terrified, Slugger stepped away from the ash heap. He'd killed her!? Why was this happening? Was this real? Then, as if nature itself was conspiring against him, a punishing wind picked up Ai's ashes out of nowhere and blew them against him, hot and stinging.

*****

He returned home immediately, hoping to find some respite of sense in all of this madness. He could see Luke sitting on the front porch, happily toying with the enigma machine Edward had received from the post office. But he set it aside and stood up to block the front door as Slugger approached the porch.

"Pardon me but where do you think you're going?"

Slugger's fist tightened around the grip of his bat and his voice dropped to a dangerous tone, "Get out of my way."

"No! Don't you know it's impolite to barge into other people's homes uninvited?" Luke persisted in blocking the doorway with arms folded over his chest as if he actually stood a chance in keeping Slugger out. Slugger was about to step up and push him easily aside when the door opened.

"Highly impolite." Susan, along with the rest of the family, stepped out onto the porch and arranged themselves around Luke as if posing for a family photo. "I believe two children are enough for me if we're not to include Edward and the horse in that category. There's really no conceivable need for a third, especially when Luke and Euphemia are such exemplary children."

Slugger stared up at Susan and was about to question her when Edward cut him off.

"I completely agree with my beautiful wife. This family has already been blessed with the perfect son. In short time he's become the apple of my eye! See, Luke has something you sorely lack: a brain, intelligence. Need I even mention he's an adorable little gentleman who can solve any riddle he happens upon?" Edward ruffled the boy's hair affectionately, leading to a sickeningly saccharine smile from Luke. As Edward turned his attention away from his prized child, his voice became drastically less friendly.

"You, on the other hand, are a rotten little demon who's been nothing but a nuisance. And to make matters worse, you couldn't solve a riddle above the preschool level if it bit you on the nose." He tisked. "Pitiful. You've been the rotten apple of this family for too long. Do you know what we do with the rotten apples to keep them from spoiling the rest? Hmm? This isn't a riddle, Slugger, it's a straightforward question so you should be able to come up with the answer all on your own."

Luke eagerly raised his hand to which Edward responded, "Yes, Luke, I know you know the answer, but let's see if the little monster can guess what it is for a change. So then, Slugger, what do we do with things that are rotten?"

He didn't have to guess. He knew the answer, but he didn't want to say it. If he said it, it meant it would happen that much sooner. But Edward stared relentlessly down his nose at him, waiting expectantly for the answer and growing all the more impatient as time passed with no response. Under that gaze, Slugger felt himself begin to tremble. A knot had swelled up in his throat so hard that it was painful to swallow. He shook his head with what small defiance he still had left, refusing to answer, "Don't... I--"

"You throw it away, Father," Euphemia spoke for the first time. Her pleasant voice and smile contrasted sharply with the hard stare in her narrowed eyes.

"That's right, Euphemia," nodded Edward. "Rotten things go in the trash."

Slugger looked pleadingly to Susan for support but she offered nothing but cruel indifference, her cold gaze slicing through him like a knife. At the sight of it, his vision blurred and a strange moisture threatened to spill down his cheeks. He placed a hand on his forehead beneath his cap and whispered aloud to himself, "No... It isn't real."

"I'm afraid that's incorrect," Susan chided. "The only thing here that isn't real is you." Edward seemed pleased with this and proudly placed a hand on her and Luke's shoulders.

Suddenly dizzy, Slugger backed away from the base of the porch. He hadn't thought he could be any more shocked until Susan spoke those words without a single care. He glanced hopelessly from one to the other and then finally to Pinkie Pie.

"Silly monster, you don't deserve friends or family!" Pinkie exclaimed, cheerful as ever.

"There, now don't you see, Slugger?" spoke Susan. "Monsters like you have no place in this family or in any other. Kindly go seat yourself behind the waste receptacles and wait for trash pick-up."

Luke giggled, "That's a good one, Mother." Edward followed suit and soon the rest of the "family" joined in on the laughter.

They all stood there on the porch laughing, laughing at the way Susan had so wittily made light of this. Laughing at him. Laughing as a family. Laughing. Laughing. Laughing. Laughing. It was making him feel sick to his stomach.

The bat escaped his grasp and fell to the ground leaving both hands free to press shakily against either side of his head over his ears. Unsteady on his feet, he sank to his knees beside the bat and knelt doubled over himself with eyes shut tight.

"I... I hate you." His voice was so weak he could barely hear himself. Slugger sucked in a breath while drops of water landed in the grass at his knees. It hurt so much to say those words.

"I hate you... I hate you... I hate you!" He grew louder and louder until, finally, his voice roared over their laughter, drowning it out. Then came the sound of a slammed door and all was silent. Reluctantly, Slugger lifted his head to find that they'd all gone inside and he was alone. An unbreakable silence fell over the house, the yard, the entire neighborhood as Slugger stared up at the house from his knees.

...

Did they really think they could keep him out?

Suddenly, a black substance with the consistency of molten lava erupted from his face and the front of his torso. The rest of his body soon became apart of the growing mass of unidentifiable substance. At alarming speeds, it leapt straight through the front door of the house, smashing it down with the force of a bulldozer. From there, it proceeded to fill up the first floor followed instantly by the second, all in a matter of seconds. No one inside had had a chance to escape. Now, the house bulged ominously, its windows blown out from the inside, and with a massive crack, the walls bowed and broke. After a moment's deliberation, the mass pours into the streets like a tidal wave.

Action
[In reality, Slugger hasn't destroyed his house. However, the shed and fence belonging to a drone family has been mutilated beyond repair. A shapeless mass of darkness the size of a house rolls up the street like a muddy tsunami, tumbling cars and completely enveloping anything in its path. Cars, bicycles, trash bins, even drone pedestrians, all are carried along for a short time before they are deposited on the ground further up the street.

In his mind, he's much bigger than he actually is, large enough devour the entire town of Mayfield. And such is his goal in hopes of causing enough damage to prompt a permanent droning. Without suicide as an available option, it's the only escape he has.]

[ooc note] The "blob" is sentient (Slugger can still "see" and "hear" things) and will leave behind no residue or mess. Getting caught in it will lead most likely to minor injury or possible unconsciousness. Madame Foster will be the one to ultimately end Slugger's brief rampage.


Day After

[The hallucinogens have worn off and all has returned to it's former state. Knowing this, Slugger remains apprehensive. It's difficult to shake the experiences of yesterday out of his mind considering how devastating they'd been and how real they'd felt. In an effort to put his thoughts back in order, he's decided to take a walk. For an hour he drifts in circles around town with no destination in mind and an unfocused look in his eyes. One hour turns into two, and two hours into three, until he's passed his house at least four times. And each time he passes by, he stops at the end of the driveway to stare uncertainly up at the house.

The truth is he's afraid to go in. Not everything that happened yesterday may have been real, but what if parts of it were? And if so, he couldn't bear to relive it. He's gathered that "reality" is unreliable and not to be trusted. So, turning away his distant gaze, Slugger prepares to continue his walk.]

Comments

Day After

[miss-enma-ai.livejournal.com]

[Yeah....she saw that yesterday. She's not sure what happened, but she hadn't been able to help.

Ai appears next to him.]

....what happened?

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[He's a bit quieter than usual when he answers.]

You saw me?

[miss-enma-ai.livejournal.com]

[She nods. ....and can't hide her worry for once.]

Did someone do something?

Day After

[geassedmassacre.livejournal.com]

[The fourth time he passes the house, a worried -- and very exhausted herself -- Euphie is standing on the porch. She's not entirely sure what is happening, having been too lost in her own delusions the day before to have truly comprehended or appreciated his. But she has an idea. She can pick up on other people's emotions and after a lingering silence she calls out to him.]

...Slugger. Where are you going?

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[At the sound of her voice, Slugger pauses and shrugs but he doesn't look up.]

Around...

Day After

[bread_goes_bip]

[Death has become quite accustomed to reading Slugger. Enough to be concerned. She approaches him softly.]

Hey Slugger.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

Hey.

[Slugger nods and briefly glances at her before staring once more at the house. At least his delusions hadn't gotten so far to include Didi. It makes things a little easier. He doesn't want to imagine what kinds of things she would have said to him yesterday.]

[bread_goes_bip]

Something happened, didn't it?

Day After

[likescats.livejournal.com]

[Death is walking over with Rincewind the kitty on his shoulder when he see's Slugger standing there.]

GREAT-GRAND SON.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Somehow, Death's voice together with the way he addresses Slugger are instantly comforting. Slugger turns to peer up at the reaper and his cat looking suddenly less numb.]

Great-granddad. [His gaze lands on the house again.] Think they're home?

[likescats.livejournal.com]

I HOPE SO. I WAS GOING TO SEE IF SUSAN WAS.

ARE YOU WAITING OUT HERE FOR A REASON?

Day After

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[He saw you. Pokey saw the way Slugger looked when he was walking, circling. Adrift. That's the way Pokey would put it. He'd felt it a lot of times in this town. Hell. For a while, really. But he never thought Slugger would look that way, look lost. Seastuck, unsure where to go. So Pokey didn't approach him, not the first time. There were some things he had to get.

He came back, to find Slugger circling the same area, but armed this time. He had the pack of cigarrettes he'd first bought in July, and then stashed away, in his pocket. He had one of them resting between his lips, although unlit this time. To be quite honest, Pokey thought it made him look like a badass, although he suspected it actually made him look like a tool. He hoped this would, in some way, at least seem funny to Slugger.

In his other hand, he had two chocolate bars. One for him, the other for Slugger. He couldn't find pudding cups, so that was a no go, so he'd hope Slugger'd just like pudding instead. Finally fully armed, he heads towards Slugger, holding out one of the bars.]

Hey ugly. Got something for ya.

[It's softer than his usual tone. Not scared, but...cautious. Like he's afraid he could hurt Slugger.

God. He feels like he's drifting, in a dream. How'd he get like this? How'd he start to even care?

...He doesn't mind it. Not really.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[His vision obscured by his cap, the first thing Slugger sees is the candy bar being offered. He'd been so lost in thought, he hadn't noticed when Pokey approached, until now. At the sound of Pokey's voice, Slugger freezes and his head jerks up quickly. There's a brief moment in which the panic is visible in his eyes as if he expects something horrible to happen. Payback for that punch, perhaps?

But the look on Pokey's face is anything but hostile. It's the face of his best friend, not the enemy from yesterday. Glancing down at the chocolate bar, Slugger lets out his breath and finally reaches out to take it.]

...Thanks.

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[...What was that? If the idea of Slugger being adrift bothered him, seeing that panicked look terrified Pokey. And that, in a way, was odd. Pokey had used to love it, still did somewhat he thought, if he could scare people. If he could make them panic, at the sight of him. But it was...different, with Slugger. He didn't like it. At all. It almost stung a little.

But he relaxed as Slugger took the candy bar. Yes. That was a good sign, right? Had to be.

Pokey pockets the cigarette that had been hanging from his mouth to open his own candy bar.]

So is there a reason you're going around in circles, or did you just not notice you're acting like a moron?

[Action]

[guitarslaying.livejournal.com]

[Since the blob can hear, feel free to hear a pink-haired woman running as fast as she can towards the blob, another bass in hands after the first one broke from an earlier fight, intending to...well. Haruko supposes she intends to hit the shapeless blob until it relents. Gives up. Perishes.

In her mind, the blob is a bit shinier. Blazing, almost, with energy. She's pissed she doesn't have her actual guitar with her and thus can capture you, "Atomsk", but if that's the hand? She'll just kill you instead.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[The ground ceases rumbling as the the ooze, in an eerie display of sentience, pauses and twists around to "face" its attacker. It waits until Haruko draws closer with her raised weapon, then sprouts an arm-like projection with which it uses to take a swat at her.]

[guitarslaying.livejournal.com]

[The tentacle hits, knocking Haruko back into a couple of trash cans on the street. She lays there for a few seconds before growling and scrambling back to her feet.]

Oh no you don't!

[This girl is incorrigible, and just charges again.]

Action - If this isn't okay let me know! Also minor injury is ok

[hintcoinplz.livejournal.com]

[Conveniently Slugger has found a Luke, who is currently staring down a crack in the sidewalk. It almost looks like he's afraid to step on it, but for the moment he's not moving.]

RUN LUKE RUN

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[As Luke contemplates the crack, he will no doubt feel the ground begin to rumble beneath his feet. Ahead of him, the black ooze has spilled around a street corner and is charging up the street in Luke's direction.

Slugger, in his current state of mind, can't distinguish Luke from a drone or from anyone else and if the boy doesn't move, he'll soon find himself engulfed in darkness.]

Action

[battymadam.livejournal.com]

[What's this giant blob suddenly creeping up on the streets where non-drones actually live? Well, Madame Foster believes she knows: an imaginary monster, created for destruction, known in her world as an "extremosaurus." She's caged plenty of them in her day... she doesn't have a cage right now, but she'll be buggered if she can't at least put a stop to it. So Slugger-blob better look out - cause there's a miniature senior citizen charging right toward him with nothing but her cane, but she clearly means business. Intimidating, I know.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Little old lady versus wall of darkness--place your bets here.

Slugger spots her and charges right back in what looks like a soon-to-be head on collision. The street ahead of Foster is rapidly filling with darkness as it closes in, moving with a constant low hiss. Beneath its fast-approaching mass radiates a tremor through the earth that grows stronger and stronger. It, too, seems to specialize in the art of intimidation.]

[ACTION - Minor Injury OK, may do a Day After reply as well]

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

[First Susan, then Euphemia. And from the look of it, there are others in town as well who appear to be suffering from these bizarre hallucinations. Edward has a hypothesis, to be sure, but...

Wait. What on earth is that shapeless blob?!]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[What's black as an oil spill, made of nightmares, and is currently violating every traffic regulation? Give up?

The thing, part fluid and part creature in appearance, isn't coming Edward's way. Not yet. If he sticks around to watch, he'll see it snake across a street engulfing anything in its path.]

Day After

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

[Slugger will, naturally, turn away and take one step right into Susan.]

Ah-hem.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[At which point he will be snapped visibly from his thoughts and back into reality. Slugger takes a panicked step back, staring up at Susan with a look of absolute terror in his eyes. But it isn't the kind of fear she would expect to see there. It's a defeated, pleading sort of fear. The look of a wounded animal about to be slaughtered.

For a moment he is certain that everything he saw yesterday was true and that she is going to banish him from the premise for good.]