Chapter 2: Finding Home
“So uhhh, I never did get your name kid.”
“Wow…”
“What? I didn’t mean to not ask sooner! No need to be so mad.”
“No it’s not that. Sorry it’s just people don’t usually ask me that. I’m not really used to it yet. So if you really want to know, my name is Daniel.”
“Okay, well my name is Xinli, and I need to warn you now that we’re getting close to my house. My three children are more monsters than I am by a long shot and don’t even mention my wife. Honestly sometimes I wonder if my children. One time I caught them eati-...Oh I shouldn’t tell a little kid like you that. Hey look my house is just up this trail!”
Xinli started chuckling while he and Daniel forged a path through a thick piece of brush until they finally made their way onto a path that had clearly been used a lot.
“Hey Old man what did you mean by that? Really. They can’t be that scary right?” Said Daniel slowly becoming more and more afraid of what was to come. Xinli’s face only became darker.
“Oh yeah, you don’t have to be afraid. Not yet at least.” Said Xinli as his chuckle becoming scarier. Suddenly Daniel felt a deep shiver travel down his back and cold sweat forming on his forehead.
After walking on the trail for a good thirty minutes I finally started hearing sounds coming from the distance.
“MOM HE’S EATING ME! HE’S EATING ME! HELP!!!!” I heard one voice screaming. Looking over to the Old Fart slowly while I slowly started backing up. I turned around and was about to stop but then a boney hand grabbed my shoulder. Creeking my head back I saw a smiling skeletal face that looked to be made up of pure evil. Oh god what did I get into when I agreed to come with this monster. I should have gone home.
///A Few Minutes Later...///
Sitting in a chair I looked to the floor downcast. I am currently in a cozy looking two story log house, and it is absolute torture. For the past ten minutes these strange skeleton kids have been looking at me with wide eyes. Well I guess they didn’t have an option other than staring but it was still creepy. As they looked at me I only stared back, I tried smiling but my face started hurting after so long.
“Hey kid, you know we can’t see expressions right? We don’t got any eyes remember. Commonsense kid.” Xinli shouted across the the room from where he was talking with his wife by the hearth.
“Wait, how’d ya know I was making a facial expression if you don’t have any eyes either?” I said questionly.
“Kid, you wouldn’t be able to imagine how much times this exact situation happened. You should’ve seen them when that transvestite ca-*SMACK*.” Xinli’s wife smacked him so hard he was launched through the wall on the other side of the room. Glaring at him she started swearing a lot. Something about me only being a child or something and how I’m their precious guest. I don’t know. But boy was she scary, I honestly thought I was looking at some sort of wild orc demon empress mix for a second. Honestly the title monster fits her more than her counterpart Xinli.
Finally after yelling at her husband for a long time the crazed mad woman looked over to me with a bright smile. To this day I wonder how she could possibly change her facial expressions like that so fast, especially since she is a skeleton!
“Okay kids let's have some dinner, shall we?”
///Dinner Time///
“Okay everyone sit down, I’ll go get the food so don’t mess around while i’m in the kitchen. I mean you Xin by the way.” Said the mother in a loud unabashed voice.
“Honey, please don’t worry I wouldn’t feel safe causing trouble on the same continent as you much less the same house. But the kids, those little demons are a different case.” Said the husband Xinli while pointing a thumb over to the kids. They were sitting on one side of the table leaving one side with only one chair.
“Hey! No fair Dad!” They all yelled in unison all bunched together.
Looking over to them I laughed quietly while sitting against the wall thinking about how happy they seemed, and to a certain point I envied them. I envied the fact that they had something I would never truly have. Family. But only to a certain degree because I understand that one should not envy the dead. I also thought back to when I was first entering the house just after I heard a feral scream coming from the log cabin I was just about to go into. And how one of the kids was practically biting his sister’s arm off, the mom literally had to tug him until he let go because of some crazy jaw strength. Just who were these people?
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‘Now that I think about this, how the hell do these skeletons expect to eat human food?’ I thought you need a stomach to do that. I was about to call over to the bickering Dad and his children but then the mom burst through the kitchen door with a huge bang making us all jump a good six inches into the air. The old man almost hit his head on the ceiling he had jumped so high.
“Okay everyone ready for another delicious dinner prepared by your fantastic mother? If you’re wondering I have prepared a turkey dinner today for the human, and milk for the kids. Oh, Xinli you get nothing for going to the caves again. You know what I said about that obnoxious hobby of yours.” Exclaimed the mother while putting the platter on the table and sitting down. She quickly handed out milk to the children leaving one for herself and none for Xinli, but then she looked around until a crease formed on her skull.
“Honey, where is that child you brought with you?”
“He shou-Sorry! I’m over here, I didn’t mean to hide it kind of just happens.”
“Little boy we see in a thermal lense how could I possibly not see you before? I must seriously be getting old.” The mother said in a tone while pondering a little.
“Well, anyway come take a seat.” The old man said with a big smile.
“There’s um, only five seats so I thought I’d just eat while sitting on the floor as usual.” For some reason both parents grimaced when I said this but quickly turned back to their usual faces. ‘I hope I didn’t cause them any trouble by coming here, even if they are scary skeletons.’ “It’s okay kid we don’t have any spares but you can use Ki’s seat for now Kid. Ain’t that right Ki?” “Yessir.” Said Ki who appeared to be the oldest responding to his father. Looking over to Ki felt bad, so I tried multiple times to say no but all my attempts were for naught and I ended up in the seat while Ki was sitting criss cross on the floor.
After a little while we got settled in and we started eating...kinda. It was more of a milk rub for the family, well except for the old man of course. The mom was constantly nagging the kids telling them to get in all the creaks and notches. Until she finally looked at me and asked me the question of all questions.
“So kid, just who are you”
“Ah well I’m Daniel, Daniel Roberts…” I looked down a little shy, I wasn’t used to talking this much. Plus I was still a little exhausted thinking about all that precious food I stole that was left at my wood shack on the edge of the woods.’Now all that food is going to be wasted.’
Where was I even at the moment, I was starting panic now. How do I even get home I’ve never been this deep in the forest. Just ho-
“Daniel, hey Daniel you in there?” I looked up to a bunch of faces
“Mom says it’s rude to ignore people when you talk to them. Yup. Mmm.” Three voices mirrored the first kid skeleton who appeared to be the youngest.
“Well children it’s also rude to not introduce yourself to your guest. I’m sorry about them Daniel it’s just you spaced out a little there, here let me start again. Hello Daniel I’m Wuli Shenghuo please call me Wu, and these are my three children Ki Shenghuo, Ken Shenghuo, and Ko Shenghuo along with my idiot husband Xinli Shenghuo. Hey, heya, hi, hey kid.”
“Ah um, ah it’s nice to meet you all.” ‘Oh god i’m scared I hope I said that right it’s really hard when your only practice is on yourself.’ “See kids he is even more polite than you are even at such a young age.” ‘Phew...thank god I thought I botched the greetings.”
“So Daniel what were you doing in the forest in the first place? Why were the Skeletonic Archery Brigade chasing you?” This time the father spoke up in place of the mother with a questioning face. Everyone went silent clearly they were waiting for this question to be asked. Feeling their non-existent eyes on me I started to crack a little.
“It um, kinda all started after I left my shack in the woods to go to sleep on this huge boulder near the cliff…” I explained everything to them, but for some reason Xinli and Wu looked bothered.
“Kid why were you living in a shack in the first place? If you don’t mind me asking.” The old man really had a way of getting straight to the point. Starting to feel a strange little pressure on my heart, but I still answered to the best of my ability because I had finally found someone to talk to.
“I ran away when I was six because no one cared.”
“Kid no offense but that doesn’t make much sense to me. Even if no one cared they still should have done something, the police I mean. how have you not been found yet, and don’t tell me you’ve been living entirely in the forest forest for four years because I know my wife is the only one who can actually capture a damn thing to eat out here. I mean with their being cameras practically everywhere in the cities it would be impossible to hide if someone was looking for you.”
“That’s just it old man, no one was looking. They have never looked before why would they start now?” I felt the pressure on my heart tug more and more until it started hurting and my breathing started coming out in small puffs.
“Kid you’re confusing me even more now. What the hell do you mean?” Said Xinli losing his politeness
“Let me spell it out for you Old Fart, I C-A-N-N-O-T B-E N-O-T-I-C-E-D, literally. As in people avoid, and can’t see me without me clawing at their feet, as in I can’t talk to the girl I like because I scared her because she didn’t notice me sleeping in her line of sight, as in almost dying because I haven’t been fed. Did I spell it out clear enough for you ya damn Old Fuck.” Suddenly the strange pressure on my heart tightened and the puffs stopped leaving me without breathe. Everything around me was turning into black dots that slowly formed into a giant abyss. And as I was falling into the abyss I heard two people arguing about someone going too far. I was much more stressed than I had thought.
‘Oh jeez, I must of sounded like a huge ass…’
“COME...TO...US...DANIEL! YOU...ARE...NEEDED…”