Haunted

When the fog moved into Chalklatovia, Jaunce was paying attention. They made moves to get the family on the road to Cordellia. They were pretty far away and as the media hype got to a fever pitch they had just managed to get into the country and had gotten set up.

Then during a trance, Jaunce fell into a deep sleep. The deepest sleep they had had in a long time, but it was not restful.

They dreamed of fog, shadows, monsters, and screams. They were lost, looking for a light to get themselves back to the waking world, but there was no light. Pain shot through their entire body and they could hear the screaming of voices from their past and then they snapped awake.

Lucky was crouched next to them, worry clear on his face. "Cher," he said softly and cupped their face with both hands. "Oh, cher."

Jaunce reached up to figure out what the wet was running down the side of their face. "Wh...what?"

Others were in the tent with them, but Jaunce was focused on Lucky. His green eyes were filled with concern. They looked at their hand to see... Ink?

Their eyes flicked up and they tried to stand. Their legs were too long and they hurt. They hurt so badly. Lucky motioned for someone to help them to a mirror as he slipped his arm around their waist.

Jaunce's eyes fell on their changed form and their legs gave out from beneath them. "No."

--

Tobin rolled over from his chest to his back, his body aching from what he was thinking was a cold settling into his body. He was alone, or so he thought. So when a whimper sounded when he rolled, he shot up.

"What the fuck," He whispered as he went to get up.

Except, his legs weren't his... legs? He stared down at his feet to find blunt ends instead of peets.

"What... What the fuck?" He whispered again.

Then there was a sound behind him and he looked back. There was a smokey, wispy creature behind him on his bed... His eyes followed the smokey body of the creature to his back.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

--

Beverly had already been up most of the night. She was sat in the small kitchen at the back of the flower shop, her head gripped in her hands. The door to the upstairs opened and Farran went to turn the kitchen light on.

"Bev?" The younger O'Hare sister asked.

"No, leave the light off," Bev flinched as the light came on.

"Beverly?!" Farran rushed to her sister's side.

Beverly's head was pounding and she lifted her face to look at her sister. "Either I'm having a really bad dream, or something's wrong."

"If you're dreaming, I'm dreaming. And I am pretty fuckin awake," Farran replied.

A tiny creature peaked sadly over Bev's shoulder and gently rubbed her arm, cooing. Beverly sighed and rubbed her face with both hands.

"Call Allister."

--

Titan was sleeping and having a pleasant dream when he heard his brother screaming from the other room. Titan jolted upright in the bed and held his breath after the scream stopped. Maybe it was a bad dream. And then he could hear Orion scamper across the floor in a panic and his closet door slam.

Not a dream.

Titan got up from bed and grabbed the bat that he kept next to his vanity. He turned on all the lights and checked for an intruder before he went into his brother's room. The room was wrecked and there were small fires that Titan had to smother with the blankets off the bed.

"What in the hells?" Titan asked himself under his breath before he moved to the closet.

"Ori? Orion? Are you in there?" He asked, wrapping his knuckles lightly against the door.

"Go away!" Orion's muffled yell replied. "Go... Go away."

"Ori, I'm not going to do that." Titan replied and opened the door a little.

He saw one of Orion's eyes in the crack before he pulled it closed. His pupil no longer the X shape that Knittens bore but an upside down star. Smoke had billowed out of the closet for a moment before it slammed shut again.

"Orion?" Titan said with fear in his voice. "Orion, what happened to you?"

Orion sobbed inside of the closet. He had awoken from nightmares with fires all over his bed. When he had fallen out of the bed, he saw the full extent of what had happened in the full-length mirror on the back of his bedroom door. Smoke swirled around him as he gripped his ears and sobbed.

"Jaunce did this. Jaunce did this to me!!!" He bellowed in sorrow and rage. "Titan, I'm scared."