Chapter 1, Masse.
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"Are you having fun, Mister E?~"
"Of course he is!"
"Why wouldn't he be."
"Because he's worthless."
"Mhm, no better than a pile of feces."
"A useless piece of human trash."
"But he is a cute piece of trash!"
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
A young man, sat at a park bench in the dead of night. He would often twitch, or dig his nails into his thighs. He seemed to be experiencing sharp pains.
"Hup." He exhaled, skipping a rock into the large pond before him.
He did his best to ignore the multitude of voices, screaming into his ears from all around.
"It is so much fun tormenting Mister E!"
"Indeed."
"Take your medication fool."
The young man, Everett Masse, ignored the words of his demons. He simply continued to skip his rocks, the droning voices getting louder, though he did not care.
All he did was watch the rocks sink in the water, cracking a smile every time the ugly, yet somehow cute sea creature surfaced.
It seemed that this figment of his imagination enjoyed watching the rocks sink with him.
"EVERETT." The delusions grew louder, screaming into his ears, a thick pressure descending onto his mind.
"EVERETT."
"EVERETT."
"MISTER EE!~"
He winced, anger swelling up on his tired face.
"EVERETT."
"SHUT UP!" He screamed, throwing his head up, his hands grasping at the sides of his face.
"Shut. The fuck. Up." He groaned, sweat profusely dripping down his face. He dug into his pockets, pulling out the pill bottle and popping the required amount into his mouth.
Everett Masse, a schizophrenic, 20 year old male.
He lived in a small apartment on the outskirts of his city.
Many people knew him as he often wandered around the city, staring off into space, twitching, or just being a person many would recognize as "weird".
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Though there was something that made him different from other schizophrenics.
He was 100% sure of the fact that his "delusions" were not delusions.
There were many cases in which he would see his "figments of imagination" make a move, a move that really affected the real world.
The large gerbil with tendrils that would crawl around the streets jumping at any critter it saw, making the rodent flinch in fright and run away.
The strange humanoid figures that would hover around people, occasionally tapping them on the shoulder, making them turn around.
Although he had witnessed a few of these altercations with his own eyes, he had been conditioned to believe what he was seeing was merely an illusion.
But he simply couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't truly fake.
"Everett, the Garlip wishes to eat you!” One of the voices whispered, much more restrained than before.
Or, more like he couldn’t hear them as well.
He had grown more drowsy, and his muscles became more tense.
”It doesn’t seem like that.” Everett responded, feeling cold and bony fingers on his shoulders.
He gulped, fear and anxiousness creeping onto his face, but he did not turn back.
”We all want to eat you, Everett.” It whispered directly into his ear, its heavy and raspy voice making him jump to his feet.
”Ugh!” He groaned, scratching at his ear like a bug had just flew into it.
”But we simply cannot!”
”We unfortunately need you.”
“And you will unfortunately need us.”
Everett scoffed, being more mellow now that the drugs had calmed him down.
”You always say that.” He murmured, shaking away the fear in his mind.
“Until next time, little Garlip.” He said, turning away from the pond and throwing his hood on.
”Mister E!” All the voices around him shut up, everyone focusing on the one who just spoke.
”Reese?” Everett stared ahead, his hands in his pockets.
”That is my name.” She said with a warm smile, a scarf wrapped around her neck, her breath visibly spreading into the air.
“What are you doing here?” Everett asked, digging his face into the collar of his jacket, his hands still deep in his pockets.
”I often come here! To feed the fish.” She said with red cheeks.
”The fish?” Everett turned around, looking at the pond and noticing the fish under the surface.
”… At 12:30 in the night?” He scoffed, turning back towards Reese.
Yet what was before him made his eyes widen a bit.
Standing behind the small, barely 5 foot, long haired asian woman, was a…
A demon, of sorts.
It was tall and lanky, with long claw like fingers.
Atop its head were 5 spikes, and its entire face was just a large toothy grin, its skin pulled tightly towards where his ears should be.
”Everything alright?” Reese asked, noticing Everetts out of it gaze.
”Oh, sorry! Yeah of course.” Everett forced a smile to his face, ignoring the creature.
”Well, I was gonna get going… but I don’t mind feeding the fish with you for a bit.” He said, moving back towards the bench, taking a seat.
”You really don’t have to…” Reese said, moving over and taking a seat next to Everett.
“But I won’t deny company.” She said. “So why are you here anyway? It’s pretty late.” She chuckled, pulling out a large bag of fish food.
“I tend to gravitate towards places where the stars are visible at night.” Everett responded, Reese placing a handful of fish food in his hand while he gazed into the sky.
”I see… Does it… Does it help with your, voices?” She asked nervously, tossing a few pellets into the water.
There was silence for a few moments, but Reese quickly tried to fill it.
"Uh, sorry! I-Sorry, I was just trying to get to know more about you." She said, a sincere worry plastered on her face as she avoided eye contact with Everett.
"Not many people know information about you that isn't surface level around here! It's weird you know, it's like you’re just treated as some good luck charm." She complained, real frustration seeping into her voice.
"Is that so." Everett laughed. His hand that held the fish food twitched a little, spilling a few pellets onto the ground.
His eyes started to grow even more drowsy, as unbeknownst to Reese, there were dozens of things happening around him all at once.
"I like this woman Mister E!"
"I do not. Another worthless piece of human trash."
"Feed the fish please."
"There is more to her than the average eye can see."
"Correct, even I sense a mystery that needs unravelling."
"Feed the fish please."
"Are you going to respond Mister Everett?"
"Feed the fish please."
"Mister Everett, the world is going to end."
"Could you please feed the fish?"
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