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[DRYH] Return to Sender (07)
Benny,
Moments ago, you were walking out of the Wax King's chamber to meet another Awake, one who had sworn allegiance to the King "a long time ago".The King said his name was Caul, mentioned you'd like him.
Then, the world shifted. The waxy ground underneath you opened up, and you were falling. Falling in a yawning chasm, looking up to see the startled face of the Wax King shrinking as you fell further down into the abyss.
You landed on the soft green grass of someone's backyard. At night.
A quick look around to see a fire pit, an over-sized storage shed, a snazzy two-seater sportscar under a canvas. You're in the backyard of the Andrews home. Nobody is up. Dawn is just now cracking.
Moments ago, you were walking out of the Wax King's chamber to meet another Awake, one who had sworn allegiance to the King "a long time ago".The King said his name was Caul, mentioned you'd like him.
Then, the world shifted. The waxy ground underneath you opened up, and you were falling. Falling in a yawning chasm, looking up to see the startled face of the Wax King shrinking as you fell further down into the abyss.
You landed on the soft green grass of someone's backyard. At night.
A quick look around to see a fire pit, an over-sized storage shed, a snazzy two-seater sportscar under a canvas. You're in the backyard of the Andrews home. Nobody is up. Dawn is just now cracking.
Comments
I look around for Bianca once I get up to my room. It's just the same as last night, right? She's somewhere around?
You hear the shower start up. Heather's begun her morning routine. Your dad will be getting on the elliptical any minute now. Your mom will be up before long to make breakfast and send you off to school.
I plug the GoPro in to the laptop, download the footage. Not even a little tempted to review it right now... I don't want to relive the subway fights at all. I strip out of my dirty, stained clothes and put them at the back of the closet. I'll wash them myself when I get a chance. I put a bathrobe on, settle in my chair and wait for Heather to finish her routine so I can grab a shower.
The last look on the Wax King's face troubles me. That he should be surprised, of all... people, is disturbing.
Soon after, the bathroom door opens, closes, your sister heads downstairs to eat breakfast, leaving the bathroom to you. I assume you head down the hall in your robe and slip into the bathroom to clean up?
The bathroom is steamy and the mirror is covered with condensation. A quick wipe off the mirror shows your face. Your eyes are worn, Benny. You look tired, from the draw on the corners of your mouth to the bags under your eyes. Even your posture screams lack of sleep.
Your sister didn't leave too much hot water, but there's some. A cold shower might spruce you up. Or it might just suck.
"Benny!" your mom calls up, "Breakfast is on!"
The elliptical has stopped. Stopped at some point, you're not sure how long ago. Were you just staring at yourself in the mirror? For how long?
I jump in the shower, start it cold. Let my body react to the chill, stick my head under the nozzle until I start to shiver. After a few minutes of that, I'll turn on the hot water and shampoo. Squirt some Axe body wash (Black Chill, to be precise) on a washcloth and take care of my pits and the rest of me. I finish after maybe five, seven minutes total, just as the hot water runs out again, and let the cool water try to energize me for a few seconds before I jump out.
I towel off, appreciating the fabric-softener scent of a fresh towel, then slip my bathrobe back on. Finish with a quick brush through my hair. I still look like a dog that got run over an hour ago, but at least I smell good.
I walk back to my room and take care of things. Unplug the camera and throw it in my pack. Make sure I have clean socks and jock strap for practice. I glance at the clock in passing and realize it's been forty minutes since I left my room. Gonna have to grab breakfast on the go...
"Where did you go last night?" she asks as you reach the sidewalk, out of earshot. She's trying not to look too curious, but her tone is giving her away.
Across the street, you see Amanda getting into Todd's jeep. Her eyes look... lost. She's pale, too. Shoulders droop a little and she's barely moving, like.... like sleepwalking, really.
Amanda. That... was me, feeding my Nightmare girlfriend, thinking it was funny. Shit. Another fuck-up for the list.
I take a bite of my bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. The toast is soggy, of course, after all that time on the table, and the melted cheese has kind of coagulated.
As she hands them to you, she looks past you at Amanda, then says, "She's going to school? Shit. Mom said she had mono. Gah. So gross."
"Yeah, that's what Mom said. Would they send her to school with mono, though? Maybe it's... I don't know, maybe she's just got a cold, or something?"
Todd's jeep drives by, blasting some tunes. A very weary Amanda is in the passenger seat, and she catches your eye as they pass by. She stares at you for that moment, and there's no filter. She doesn't hold herself like "one of the Andrews", doesn't have that normal bitchy air about her that she carries. She just looks... stripped down.
What do you talk about with Heather on the way to school? Or do you let her prattle on and just listen?
You ask about Julie, and your sister exhales in a way to show she's frustrated. "Another pregnancy scare. That's like eight now." She doesn't swear you to secrecy. Is that a thing? Or is she telling you in hopes you might blab?
"Julie's pregnant again? Dammit, it wasn't me this time, was it?" I grin to let Heather know we're cool, I won't spread any rumors, won't confirm or deny.
She looks at you, narrowing her eyes, "Are you and Jasmine... you know?" She puts up a hand, like she doesn't wanna know. "Just... don't make me an aunt in high school. I don't really care."
The street comes to a T intersection just ahead and just past the fences on the other side is your high school. Most of the kids drive to school, but there are some walking near you. Any you know? Anybody walk in with you?
Lunch comes, meatloaf surprise. Once you've gone through the lineup and have your tray, Eileen waves you over to sit by her. "Benny, you look like hell, man. Sup?"
"Not sleeping, dude. I guess it's just been kinda hard to process how far into the pigshit I've pushed myself in the last few days. How are you doing?"
After a few bites of her sandwich that she made herself, "Benny, is it just..." she looks around, as if to say "these people?" without, you know, say it. "Or is there something else?"
Finally, she puts a hand on your bicep, "Benny... that's some wild shit. What are you gonna do?"
The rest of your day is more of the same. You've got some wicked trig homework that's due tomorrow. How are you on that subject? Darius gives you a nod of respect in Biology, though. That's a victory, more or less.
Your flip phone buzzes during Biology class, actually. You don't recognize the number.
To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) Is this Benny?Yeah. Who's this?To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) Its Jazz. D said u told him 2 punch u. Is that tru?Ya. Tru-dat. Gave D the hits to mak it up 2 him. YRU txting me?To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) Make it up 2 him? WTF? U took pics of me, not him. SMH.You wrnt hear to mk peace wth, and D has big fists. & friends.To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) I M srry abt tht. Hes a fckn cavmn! wat u did ws wrong bt nt wrth a fite.Sure. Bianca?To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) No. Jazz. Whos Bianca?Joking. Dont know Y U wd txt me. Thot it mite be a joke.To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) hrd D cam aftr u. I tld him 2 stay away. y did u put that stuff of me online?It was beautiful. Y wdnt I? Art...To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) I was in my Starbucks uni! My hair looks awful! I never even did anything!Then, right after.
To Benjamin Marks From: Unknown Number (local area code) It wasn't pervy like I thought.I told you so...To Benjamin Marks From: Jasmine Touche. Well, D is in trouble big time. Gotta go.Darius is here w me. Wut trouble?A couple minutes later, Darius is checking his phone. And man, whatever he read, he didn't like it. He looks back at you his eyes angry, but then he shakes his head, letting it go.
Not long after, the bell rings and school is over. Eileen's out by her car waiting, she has her cigarette pack out, and she's slapping it against the heel of her left palm as she waits. "Benny, man, you are so slow. Like a turtle." She grins, then hops in the car, starting it up while you're getting in the passenger side. "Where do we go, man?"
Once you hit the street, she heads towards the hills, not even going near home. She pushes in the cigarette lighter to cook up, puts her unlit cig in her mouth, and looks over to reply, "No idea."
Once the lighter is hot, she lights up and hangs the cig out the window while driving slow. "Put on some tunes and tell me who."
"She back on the Benny Likey list now?" she asks with a smirk.
The question bugs me. So much has happened in a few days. Bianca, for instance, and... "not gin-rummy." Mother When, killing rages, the Wax King. If it was just the video and the punches and the mockery, I think I'd have my tongue hanging out like a hungry cartoon character at the thought of maybe seeing Jazz again, but now...
"I think... that ship has sailed, Eileen."
Sure enough, she takes the drive to the reservoir. She's happy to just listen to music unless you have a response.
"Okay. I know you have no reason to believe most of the shit I told you at lunch. I told you I could do some serious superhero shit now, right? Well, that Wax King I told you about, this is what he looked like."
...and I look like the Wax King.
Exhaustion: (Rolled: 3d6. Rolls: 5, 4, 3. Total: 12)
Madness: (Rolled: 2d6. Rolls: 2, 3. Total: 5)
What goes wrong?
I wasn't thinking about Eileen, though, about how she'd react if she really knew. She's my best friend, has been for years even if we've never said that out loud, and I know she'd run through fire if I needed help, but this... I'm watching Eileen as my appearance changes, and there's this moment of... fear, even disgust... that I can read in her eyes. Her body tenses and she plants her hands on the ground like she's ready to jump up. She shakes it off, stays put, but I saw that moment and I know Eileen thinks of me differently now.
In a chastened tone, "So... any questions?"
She swallows again, regaining herself as best as she can, "I always thought you were, well, special. But not, whatever you are special, Benny... shit."
"Here's the thing... I get the feeling that I'm stuck with either... this, or pretty much dead. I'm pushing along without any sleep for weeks now, and if I lose it, I lose it, and these Nightmares I told you about get a Benny Buffet, all-you-can-eat. I think my only option is to power through, fight the fight in the Mad City, see what happens if I can make it out the other side."
I blow out a breath. I don't smoke often, but I raise my eyebrows at Eileen's cigarette. "Think I could have one of those?"
"Heh. Yeah, good question... she's, she was pure Nightmare, but something happened almost by accident. She says she's mine now, I gave her the name she wears. I think she'd sacrifice herself for me, literally. And she's... changing, somehow, I don't know how. It's sexy, having some...one so focused on me, but it's also fucking scary. I keep worrying I'll say the wrong thing, and someone will die."
" 'Leen? What do I do?"
She takes another long draw. Exhales, "Benny, I love you, man, but until you did that.... that face thing, I thought maybe you were having some delusions or something. You know, schizophrenia or something. And now... I don't know what to think."
Some more time passes, then Eileen asks, "So wait, are you saying Bianca might kill someone if you say the wrong thing? Or that you might kill someone?"
I think some more about Bianca, consider Eileen's words. "I guess I'm worried about both Bianca hurting someone, and me hurting someone. And I'm trying to find a way to give her back to herself... you're right, it's some... fucked up slavery shit, but I get the impression that she'll just stop existing if I figure out what to say to just cut her loose."
A light breeze picks up, and Eileen's hair rustles a little bit. Off in the distance you can hear some kids chattering on a playground. Leaves rustle with the breeze, too. "I trust you. I know you won't hurt anybody unless you gotta. And maybe this Mother When deserves to be put down. If she's hurting people, you know?"
Then, Eileen peers at you close, "What about Bianca? Do you, like... you know, like her?"
"I just don't know. There've been moments, even after I knew she was... whatever she is, when I really felt like we had a connection, but I don't see how there's anything, well, permanent. I mean, we're from different worlds. Literally from different worlds."
I let the breeze wash past me, who knows when I'll have another moment of stillness. "Y'know, Eileen, I don't think it matters, though. I'm not so much making decisions now, I'm in a spot where I'm just plain reacting."
Then you talk about reacting, and Eileen makes a pfft noise, "That's BS, Benny, and you know it. You make decisions every day, all the time. You decide how you will react, you and me both know it." She waves that off, totally not buying it.
"So... how do you go to this other place, anyways?"
"I'm sorry, Eileen." And I'm off, running as fast as I can. Back into town, but not toward home.
You get back to town without any problems, but you know Eileen is probably racing home in hopes of beating you. And you are still grounded. Soccer practice isn't quite over, but will be before long.
The desks are ancient creations of wood and wrought iron, with hinged tops and inkwells. The room has no windows, the only light spilling from the door behind you. The place smells like old wood and dust, and there are dark red stains in circles near three of the chairs. A desk in the back row is missing, just the naked bolts in the floor mark that it was ever there.
You hear laughter echoing down the hall. Girls' laughter, the cruel kind used when someone is roughly mocked.
As I did for Eileen earlier, I let my vision bubble up, but this time I focus on editing myself out of the scene. I've done this before (nothing to see here), but this time I act with intent, cautiously erasing myself not just visually, but also removing the sound of my breath and my shoes on the floor, the smell of the day's sweat and the cigarette. I am... gone.
Then, I creep out the door.
Exhaustion: (Rolled: 3d6. Rolls: 2, 6, 5. Total: 13)
Madness: (Rolled: 3d6. Rolls: 4, 1, 2. Total: 7)
Discipline 3
Exhaustion 4
Madness 0
Flight
Flight
Fight
The concrete walls are pitted, paint flecking off as you pass by, the place smells rotten, like spoiled milk and bad perfume. You come up to a classroom with kids inside. The door panes at head height are windows, and you see there is an entire class of girls. They're about Bianca's age, some a little younger, a few probably older. They're teasing a boy who is standing at the front of the class, by the teacher's desk, which is an ominous black slab of wood. The boy is about your age, your build, too. Looks quite a bit like you, actually.
The girls are all hurling insults at him, like it's a game, trying to one up each other. The boy, he's just... taking it. Bewildered, eyes darting about, he stands transfixed.
You could slip out of here. But you should do it soon. The sweat is pouring off you, now. Your back is wet with it, and your temples are aching with a low-grade headache from doing this. The school itself feels like it is fighting you, pushing down on you.
I open the door to the classroom, and as I cross the threshold, I am Mother When. "Class... dismissed. I shall discipline this... hooligan... myself."
So, funny thing. As the girls' heads whip up to look at you, you realize they are conditioned. They are dangerous as all hell, with their razors and their pointed teeth and forked tongues. But Mother When has them allllll whipped.
Several of the younger ones are already getting up to leave class.
Pain two to pull this off.
Exhaustion: (Rolled: 4d6. Rolls: 5, 5, 6, 3. Total: 19)
Madness: (Rolled: 3d6. Rolls: 2, 5, 4. Total: 11)
The girls shuffle out, a few making hushes comments to each other, some staring at the boy. That offense seems to draw unwanted attention. The pressure from the school is like a vise, and you can feel your ears pop. That headache is burning. You're in some serious pain right now.
The boy looks up at you. "Beh..." It's like you're drawing him out of a fugue state, "Benny?"
"Who are you?" For any observers outside, I draw a yardstick from the shadowy folds of Mother When's habit. I slap the wood against my palm. I feel the School pressing against me, the sinus-headache, the pain in my ears. "Who... are you?"
"No. You are not me. You must be something Mother When thought up..." My head hurts like there are actual hands pressing on my skull, pushing, pushing... "Whatever you are, I can't... I don't think I can help you."
"They'll figure things out soon. Those Ladies are sharp. You should go." His eyes become a little glassy as he looks towards the door.
You hear the clocktower's bell, a huge gong-ing sound. Over the rooftops you see it, striking 13. That's when Bianca said the Bizarre Bazaar happened. You could hit the subway, find your way back to the Warrens, find the Wax King.
Wjat do you do?
I head toward the clocktower and the Bizarre Bazaar, keeping my eyes open for any of the Wax King's people, who might be able to guide me to the Warrens. There've got to be some of them at the Bazaar if I don't run into any first.
Ducking through an alley between a candlestick shop and a wine shop, you come upon what must be the bazaar. There are tents and shacks, booths, tables, and the place is as loud as a cocktail party in full swing. Arguing hagglers, men and women hawking their wares, the like.
There are several hundred people here, including some copper-colored policemen (they wear double-breasted coats and derbys like London cops), but none of them have noticed you yet.
You could buy anything here, Benny. What might catch your eye?
As for the Blind Knights, you'll need to head in there, and avoid notice.
This time, I go for something different. There's a picture of Heather on the mantle from when she was little, and the folks dressed her up as a "Punk Rock Girl" for Halowe'en.
Yeah, that'll do.
Exhaustion: (Rolled: 5d6. Rolls: 3, 2, 2, 2, 4. Total: 13)
Madness: (Rolled: 2d6. Rolls: 5, 4. Total: 9)
Not only that, Discipline dominates.
You're little punker girl, and none's the wiser.
I wander through the crowd, taking note of the merchandise being hawked. Various things and "people" flash past my Blind Knight-focused attention as I move. A flash of a seven foot tall Chester the Cheetah, a dude that looks like Beadle Bamford from the movie of Sweeney Todd, a slender rapier on a table alongside what looks like a Kitchenaid mixer with a rather suggestive attachment, a birdseller with cages on a pole where songbirds tweet and whistle in a pleasant cacophony, a black lady with a humongous afro and a wide-lapelled pantsuit.
I keep my eyes peeled, looking for one of the Wax King's Knights...
She's standing off by the side near a vendor hawking "fearful vapors", which looks like red and black balloons. She wears the golden coif like you see, and also a tabard of the Wax King in silhouette. There is a sword on a belt at her side. However, other than the chain mail around her head and hung over her shoulders like a shawl, she's wearing a thick cotton undershirt and dark blue jeans with work boots.
As you approach, she smiles "down" at you, "Hullo there, little one. You are adorable. May I help you?" She's not actually taller than you, but it seems she's fooled by your ruse.