He reached over the bed to his side table and turned on the lamp. Beneath it was a small aspirin bottle and a glass of water. Dox unscrewed the cap and tossed two of the capsules into his hand. Throwing them into his mouth and taking a sip of the water, he awaited the relief of the medicine.
Sitting up in bed, Dox started thinking about Home. Things had been going pretty well here. But recently he had noticed a number of odd things. Mesay's waking dreams, Chewie's encounter with Help3r, Zero's disappearances from the group and most recently the event with Avi. These were all problems they were going to have to deal with. But they seemed to be escalating without any real solution. And in a strange way, everything felt connected. Dox continued to be lost in thought for the better part of an hour before he finally decided to get up and fix some coffee.
In his room Dox had a mini kitchen. P erfect for late night snacks or morning
wake ups. The entire space was the s ize of a large pantry. On one wall was
a countertop about the size of a kitch en sink. Beneath was a built in mini frid
ge. It housed any number of cold drin ks and treats that he could enjoy whene
ver he liked. Above was an equally s mall cabinet. Being able to manifest any
thing one could desire had its benefits . Dox, still a bit sleepy, reached a hand i
nside the cabinet expecting to grab a bag of coffee. He became puzzled when
his hand came up empty. He found Nothing Surprised he figured this was just the par
adoxal humor of his chosen living sp ace so he decided to check the fridge. H
e was surprised to still find not a sing le thing inside. In fact the fridge didn't eve
n feel cold. Dox decided to shrug this off and take it as a message that he neede
d to get out of his room for breakfast. It had been some time since he had enjoy
ed the company of his fellow butterflie s. And frankly with all the thoughts in his h
ead, he wouldn't mind the company. He put on his long leather coat, tied on so
me shoes and walked out into the spir al staircase.
Dox exited his room and started to descend the staircase. He had hoped that the staircase was in a mood to get him to the Mess Hall fairly quickly. As he walked he noticed the stairway itself looked a little darker. It was welcome though. The aspirin seemed to have done nothing to ease the headache. Dox was pretty sure it was getting worse. He put a hand to his head and started to gently rub his temple. Trying to ease the pain a bit. The staircase was taking its time getting him to his destination but he didn't mind. Suddenly he found himself tripping over his feet. At first he figu red it was his tiredness or the pressing pain on his brain. But when he looked d own he realized that it had nothing to do with him. The stairs themselves see med to be changing in height. Randomly, almost as if he was being deliberately meant to slip. The next step he took he actually fell a few feet. Catching him self on the stair he started to get disoriented. Something was wrong. The staircase never acted like this before. And it seemed to be getting darker again. Dox knelt down and felt for the next step. He couldn't find one. A sharp pain jabbed at his head and he turned to lean up against the adjoining wall. When it receded he used his other hand to find the stairs back up. Going back to his ro om seemed like a good idea. But that too was hard to find. Dox couldn't unde rstand what was going on. There was a difference between the odd way he got around Home and this. Why wasn't his headache going away? The pain now peaked and Dox grabbed his head in agony. Eventually he fell to one side and off the stair.
Falling
It got darker and darker.
He couldn't see or
even think.
Suddenly everything went .
"Dox!", Sage yelled.
Sage had been hiding in his room for quite some time. He hardly ventured out for fear of getting lost again in Home but his boredom allowed him some courage to wander. He hadn't realized that he walked right into the entry for Dox's staircase. Probably because it didn't look as dark as it actually was. Not to him. Sage didn't realize it yet but his eye site was better than most everyone else's. He could see through or into anything on the physical plane. So the pitch black room seemed clear as day. And as he looked up he saw Dox plummeting to the floor.113
113 This part was really hard to try and pull off. You see the beginning there, where Dox is trying to find his coffee? Yeah, that took about 20 minutes of my life away. I didn't even know it was failing until I had finished it the first time. It took two more times to get it right. I was going for it to look like a box which might resemble a cabinet. Until the bloger format fucked it up and I had to explain it here. Really though this is just a rant to let off some steam about the formatting. Honestly, I'm just trying to impress my friends here and make them have a fun time reading it.
I find myself trying to end this thing. I only intended it to last as a three part story but it just keeps getting bigger. This is an attempt to finish it. But it may just keep going. It seems to have a mind of its own at this point. Though I'm finding this whole task of including everyone to be pretty arduous. Not like I have to. Really this is just for fun. It's pretty much consumed my life. Seriously I wake up thinking of plot. I find myself at work, sort of risking getting in trouble so I can write. Then when I get home I spend most of my time writing. My legs have been going numb from letting the cats sleep on them.
Anyway this is some important plot stuff going on here so you may want to pay attention. Or not. Really it's up to you. The fact that you're read this far is pretty impressive. Back to the story.
Dox heard his name and in a split second realized that he was falling. He quickly spread his wings and tried to suspend himself if only for a second to gain his bearings. The wings only seemed to slow his fall slightly before he smacked into the floor. Sage stood there in shock. Trying to figure out what to do. Then he called out in his head, HELP!
It wasn't long before Chewie and Banana showed up. They saw Dox lying on the floor. His wings splayed over his body. He was breathing but not moving.
"Blue! We need you at the stairway right away!", Chewie called.
"I...can't.", Blue answered.
Dox started to move. He tried to pull himself up but slipped and fell again. Banana and Chewie tried to maneuver his wings so they could get under his arms and help him up. Eventually they situated themselves under him and lifted. He was almost twice as heavy with the wings extended. Banana called out to the butterflies.
"Guys we need help. Anyone available needs to come to the Mess Hall. Now!"
***
After a while a good chunk of the butterflies responded. Dox was taking up a couch on the far wall. Conscious but still very disoriented. Mesay was with Blue, bandaging up her burnt hand while Paul looked on worried. Sunni ran in with just about every pet in Home, save Tex the horse. She made sure she got all of them to come. Then again, Sunni made any excuse to talk to the animals. Since she was the only one who could.
"Oh my god! Is Dox okay? Did he die?", Sunni started. Her eyes found Dox and she rushed over to him. Chewie stopped her mid tackle.
"Hold on there Sunni. Give him some space okay?", Chewie warned. He lowered his arm and she continued her run stopping just short of him. Dox had his eyes closed for most of the time. He heard a lot of commotion around him but couldn't figure out what was going on. When he opened his eyes he was startled at the site of Sunni not quite a foot away from his face.
"Dox? Dox are you XXXX?", Sunni asked.
Dox looked at her oddly. The headache was gone but clearly he was still suffering side effects. "What did you say Sunni?", he asked.
"XXXXXXXXXXX okay?", she responded.
"Dox?", Chewie started. "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
The look on Dox's face was starting to worry Chewie. He looked like a mix of being scared and complete confusion. This brought Mesay's attention who was now done taking care of Blue. She walked over to them and looked at Chewie for an answer. Chewie just shrugged. Mesay looked at Dox.
"XXX. What is going XX?", She asked him. "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX?"
Dox was now fixated on the various sets of eyes watching him with concern.
Okay Dox. Let's figure out what is going on here. He said to himself.
"Mesay? Could you say that again?", He asked.
"XXXXXXXX understand XXXXXX", she repeated.
Suddenly a flash of inspiration came across Dox's face. He rose up quickly, stumbling a bit from dizziness as he did, and rushed to the kitchen. There he grabbed a clipboard with a list of the meals for the next week. He turned it over and used the attached pen. Scribbling a few things down he then turned back to the group and yelled. "Yes! Now I can!"
"What the hell is wrong with him?", Sunni asked.
Dox scribbled a few more things down then finally stumbled back to the group. "Okay guys, this is going to sound really weird but hear me out. You're talking in Roivas code." Dox held up the clipboard with his new cheat sheet.
Now everyone was confused.
"You're going to have to speak very slowly so I can understand you.", he slowly spoke.
"You don't have to talk like that to us. We can hear you fine.", Banana remarked.
Dox looked like he was doing complicated math in his head writing things down until he got it and responded, "Oh...."
"We're talking in code? When did that start?", Blue asked.
"Blue, your eyes are really....well blue. Supernatural blue. It's kinda creepy. All of your eyes are kinda creeping me out a bit.", Dox continued. "Are you all mad or something?"
"Wait, wait wait.", Mesay started. "So Sage finds Dox falling from his room, and now he can't understand any of us? Something happened to him."
They all stood thinking for a few minutes. Dox finally finished figuring out what Mesay had said when he thought about the event with Avi.
"Hey!", Dox yelled. "We need to talk with Avi." He explained what had happened a few days ago.
"What!", Sunni bursted. "I swear if Avi did anything to hurt Dox I'll...."
"Relax Sunni!", Chewie calmed. "Let's at least give her a chance to speak." They decided that a small group of people should go and talk to Avi. "Are you coming Mesay?", Chewie asked.
"If it's all the same to you guys I'd rather stay here with Dox. I don't think he should be left alone.", Mesay offered.
"I can stay with Dox too!", Sunni exclaimed.
"We both can.", Mesay turned to Blue. "If your up to it Blue, you should stay here too and make sure Dox is alright."
"Okay.", Blue agreed.
Chewie, Banana, and Paul went to find Avi and talk to her.
***
Avi was in her room staring at a book. Not really reading so much as trying to forget what had happened with Help3r. Her worry was not for her Mom. She knew that Help3r was good to his word when it came to promising something. Bad or good. But the fact that she had been used so well was troubling. And what did Help3r want with Dox's blood? Clearly he had to get a butterfly to collect it, since he couldn't seem to penetrate Home's defenses. Why go after Dox specifically? What was he looking for? Just then there was a knock on her door. When she answered it there were the three butterflies.
"Avi? Can we talk to you for a second.", Chewie started.
"Uh..sure...come in.", Avi moved to the side and let the others through. She sat down on her bed while the others occupied a table with three chairs nearby.
"Avi, you need to tell us what you did to Dox.", Chewie pressed.
Avi was caught off guard. Dox must of told them. Deep down she knew it was only a matter of time. But she figured she would of had more time to make it right. Right now though none of that seemed to matter. She heard everything through the hivemind that had happened. Dox was in trouble and she may have been the cause.
"Help3r made me promise not to tell anyone. Or he was going to hurt my Mom.", Avi confessed. "He had her captive guys. I....I had to do it."
Avi told them everything that happened. The three listened intently. All trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
"So Help3r must of done something to Dox?", Avi finished.
"He said he needed a sample.", Paul theorized. "What if he's trying to study us?"
"That makes sense but why him specifically?", Banana offered. "It's not like he hasn't had the chance to collect samples from all of us. Almost everyone has been outside of Home for one reason or another."
"Unless Dox has something that nobody else does.", Chewie continued.
"Like his wings?", Avi said.
"Maybe, or his experiences.", Chewie countered.
"What are you talking about?", Paul said.
"Has Mesay told anyone about that dream she had?", Chewie asked.
"She hasn't told me.", Banana answered.
"I doubt she's told anyone. She hasn't really been pushed to. And Mesay isn't the sort of person to talk about problems unless asked. I think it's time she told us.", Chewie concluded.
All four of them were in agreement. They would have to talk to Mesay. Push for her to talk about what happened. See if they could put the pieces together. To find out what was happening to Dox. To find out what Help3r was planning.
No comments:
Post a Comment