Chapters

People ate food. Between the stuffing of it down throats to the slow methodical process of savouring the taste; people ate. From roast beef to bread, there was this single constant to everyone; food. Otto bit through a piece of what Tom called Torret Kod, but to Otto is was beef jerky. Salty, dry, and somewhat tasty if the person eating it liked the taste.

There was a glass of water, pristine water, on a desk near his bed.

Ater hogged the bed, even in the cat version of himself, refusing to stick to the side as everyone was forced to choose a bed to share between each other. Ade was sleeping right on the edge, something worrying for Otto. William was sleeping in a handmade hammock somewhere else, refusing to sleep with anyone as it was strange for him. Everyone dismissed it as him being sixteen.

Klaus was somewhere else, on the other bed with Adrian. It was a joke to everyone at first, watching them as they stared at how their feet poked out of the covers. Hiro had also refused to sleep beside anyone, saying that he was used to sleeping on the floor, although Ater and Otto tried to dissuade him from it, saying it would be bad for his health.

Tom had offered two rooms, one with two huge, but old creaky beds and another with a single one that was in slightly better quality. Rhys offered to string up beds using some weird spell, but everyone declined it, afraid that once he fell asleep the strings would snap.

"I don't feel comfortable near William," Elizabeth had said, "He'll do something weird." William stuck out his tongue Elizabeth, uncaring to whether or not it was an immature move for him to do. He was the second youngest, perhaps he was entitled to some of it.

"I don't feel comfortable sleeping next to any of you," William crossed his arms, "You all are probably unhygienic. I'd rather sleep on the floor than sleep next to any of you." Klaus had thrown a stray sheet at him, forcing him to hang it by two posts. There was little disagreement after on it.

William was swinging silently, with Klaus, who was mumbling, and Adrian, the quietest. Klaus mumbled something strange, incomprehensible before he turned to face the mattress. Otto pushed Ater over, pulling Ade closer as one side of him had been uncovered. Ater opened an eye and got up slowly before he moved closer to the bottom of the bed.

It was quiet.

Otto patted Ade on the head before sleep over the covers. The ceiling was slightly mouldy, but there wasn't any smell, possibly because of the weather. There was a mere crescent moon and the stars were outshining it already, littering the sky. There was a giggle and a laugh from the other room as Ater lazily lifted his head to stare at the girl's room.

"What in the world are they doing?" His voice sounded sleazy as he grinned, "It's very late."

Otto ignored the snub comment before he stared up at the ceiling. This was one of the better houses, one not so burned down through wear and tear. There was a long whiny sigh from Ater that Otto continued to ignore. They had a long trip ahead of them was what Rhys warned them of. He said that the road was actually a huge monster that preyed on wandering people so while farms were safe, they were not.

Lykke was the name of some old ghost that liked peace and quiet, enjoying itself most when pleased. When it wasn't it would try to ruin the traveller's paths through its skill; Sakushi. It created optical illusions sometimes so convoluted that they took some people years to see through. While not lethal, it would sometimes starve travellers if they weren't properly prepared.

There was the 'shaa' of some water downstairs as Tom scrubbed a stain out of an old oak table. He had refused any help with the cleaning; the visitors were to do nothing. Everyone thought it was him just enjoying the job, but Otto was sure that he wanted them to leave as soon as possible. There was a mutual distrust of the people who had come.

"Stop thinking so hard about nothing and go to sleep," Ater grumbled, "I can't sleep with that stupid look on your face." Otto tried to kick Ater off the bed, but his legs were too short. It was something rather frustrating as Ater smugly moved away from his foot. Ade made some small noise as he turned towards Ater, his eyes wide open.

"Great you woke him up," Ater whined as Ade stared at Ater, "What are you looking at?"

"Du hast ein sehr gut aussehendes Fell."

"Yeah, no, I'm not talking to you," Ater faced Otto, "So, what were you thinking about?"

"No one here likes us," Otto answered, whispering to not wake up the others.

There was a pause.

"What are you? Four? What kind of fucking worry is that?" Ater asked, disgust apparent as he looked at Otto.

"They don't like us though?" Otto replied, "And I'm twenty-six, far from four." Ater snorted as he muttered something beneath his breath.

"Anyway, other than that really stupid point, what are you thinking about?" Ater rolled around, stretching, "Share with me, I'm bored."

"That's a horrible way to start a conversation," Otto replied, nonchalantly, "… How old are you?" Ater scoffed and rolled around again, fur falling onto the mattress. His large yellow eyes were disturbing to look at for long so Otto faced away, uncomfortable. They weren't a bright neon yellow, but a sickly pale yellow that seemed to glow in the dark.

"I'm about as old as I am," Ater answered, "Don't really care how old I am." Ade shifted again, turning to stare at Otto, who patted him on the head again. He didn't know how to deal with some kid, much less a kid who probably committed a crime. Were they made or were they unregretful? He didn't know and didn't bother to care; he didn't have time or at least he didn't he did.

"Alright, then are you a cat? Or a person?"

"I'm a cat person."

"Do you like cat food?"

"No. Ew."

"How do we leave this place?"

"By finishing the game."

"Do you like the taste of warm watermelon?"

"Do you?" Ater huffed before rolling to stuff himself into a pillow, "Just go to sleep already." Ater pretended to snore, making huge exaggerated sounds as he buried himself under the covers. Otto sighed and stared up at the rotten ceiling. It wasn't rotten, it was okay, but to him, it looked rotten. There wasn't much mould, just really dark wood with saggy contents. There wasn't anything dripping but everything looked like it might.

Otto rolled over, ignoring a slight poke from Ade as his arms stretched out in his sleep. Some people when sleeping didn't have much spatial awareness anyway.

…

Mei-wan opened her eyes. It was wrong. Everything felt wrong. The bed was too hard, the blanket was too light, and it felt like someone was sleeping next to her. She turned and saw Hai-rong's face stuck up close to hers. This was wrong. She sat up, straight and breathed in before looking around to the small shack-like apartment. There was nothing except the small shack-like apartment and disappointment.

She woke up at dawn, as usual, there was no escaping it. It was habitual to wake up at such a time. It was probably somewhere around five am since that was when she would usually get up. On Earth. It was weird and felt strange.

Everything was still, too still.

It was still dark, but she pulled out of the covers. Next to her was Hai-rong, who she would've expected to be up, but they were busy before it so was fine. There was a small crack in the wall as she walked around, the floorboards creaking. Elizabeth was sleeping somewhere in the corner, on a smaller bed with her legs bent.

She gave a small sniff before she pushed at the small door that led into the room. There were no lights, or anything, although there were several small flower lamps that glowed dully – barely enough to be considered lights. Her eyes squinted as she saw a figure in the background. A flash of black entering and exiting the apartment. She could've sworn it was a person, but she was still groggy, eyes heavy-lidded.

There was another creak, a small push of the door as a pair of startling familiar eyes peered out. Ater walked out, hair mussed up and eyes still closed. He yawned and looked over at Mei-wan, who was on full alert. Every alarm in her head was blaring, like some automated response to a computer virus. He smiled half-heartedly before waving and dropping his hand mid-wave. He didn't really want to talk to Mei-wan.

"I'm going down to see if anyone's awake," He said, voice sort of quivering as he recovered from his yawn. His slumped figure trotted down a creaky flight of stairs as Mei-wan was left alone again. In the dark. There was a small ray of sunlight flashing down on her as she walked around, bits and pieces of wood opening cracks.

There was a bang downstairs followed by a soft 'ow' as she heard Ater hit something with his foot. There was another shuffle, Ade strolled out with his head up and shoulders straight. He walked past Mei-wan, paying no mind before he skipped down the stairs to Ater. Otto followed soon after, unable to stay awake with the ruckus as he blinked a couple times before hobbling slowly.

She looked around again, it was quiet once more. There were windows, but they looked more like holes in the walls, towels for curtains. There was a screech as Hai-rong ran out of bed, sprinting towards Mei-wan as if she was late for a class. Her hair flying wild and arms going all over as she made her way, rumbling through the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Mei-wan asked, leaning against the wall, "You're not late for anything."

Hai-rong faltered before slowly looking up at Mei-wan, cheeks turning pink, "I thought…"

"I know."

"But–"

"It's them," Mei-wan waved dismissively.

"Them?"

"Ater, Otto, and Ade," Mei-wan winced as another crash followed by shouts, "It's always them."

"We haven't even been–"

"–with them for a while?" Mei-wan completed, "Yeah, I know. But I saw them go down. It'll be a reoccurring event… Probably."

"You sure?"

"Yep," Mei-wan answered with a pop as Klaus walked out, furious, "Hi."

"Is that… Otto and Ater?" He asked, eying downstairs, "It's really early. Why the hell are they arguing."

"Ade's down there too," Hai-rong answered, "And not sure," Klaus grumbled before he quickly stepped down, the stairs creaking again for the third time as he went to look at the damage. Mei-wan turned to Hai-rong, staring at her.

"What?" Hai-rong yawned, "What time is it?" Mei-wan shrugged and made her way down, steps going down so silent they were barely audible on the extremely creaky stairs.

Tom was down there, along with Klaus and the aforementioned three. There didn't seem to be anything wrong except that the room was lighter than Mei-wan expected it to be. Otto looked over at her before looking back at Ater, who seemed to be in some pain.

"It's really dark downstairs," Tom warned, "You have to be careful since Julia sometimes leaves things out."

"Like, I don't know, a stone slab?" Ater asked, sarcasm dripping off his words, "Yes, we should all be careful of the stone sla–"

"We'll stay careful," Otto answered, "Really sorry for the disturbance. It seems a bit too early for you to be up? We can take care of ourselves, get some rest." Tom stared at Otto, unsure as to whether or not he should leave the group to themselves. He nodded and left, the light once again fading as he drifted off. There was a puff and then Otto began laughing.

"What's so funny, Bettering?" Klaus asked, clearly in a foul mood due to waking up too early.

"Y-you hit your toe, what four times?" Otto asked Ater, ignoring Klaus, "I get it's dark, but don't you have – I don't know – cat senses?"

"No. Obviously," Ater said coolly, "It was really dark and I couldn't see so my foot hit this stupid stone thing on the ground. Ade came down (like a little creep) and I fell before Otto came. He tried to push me before he tried it again and we both fell." Mei-wan nodded slowly, still in her morning daze.

"You fell, what was I supposed to do?" Otto asked, "It was dark and I thought it was an intruder or something." Ater scoffed at his response.

"Can't you recognize my voice by now?"

"I can't remember your squeamish voice as it yelled out," Otto crossed his arms, "It was funny."

"It really wasn't," Klaus growled, "You woke everyone except Adrian. It's only what?" Klaus looked around, there wasn't a clock. Mei-wan was still blinking away her morning-ness and Ade was still.

"Five?" Hai-rong offered, "It hasn't been long since you've been awake." Hai-rong directed at Mei-wan as she nodded sternly.

"Five am?" Klaus said, "That's early, for me at least."

"I think it's early for everyone," William called from the top of the stairs, "What're all of you doin' in the very early morning?"