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theshadowspecter · 4 years

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Nuisance

(Bloom: I need to keep leaving notes at the top so I can add a line break under this. Death is only assumed in this one, but I think for future chapters I’ll just tag it instead of commentating on it. Also I can’t draw boats.)

Abigail awoke to sunlight pouring through her window onto her face. She sat up, the paper she had been using as a pillow sticking to her cheek. She pulled it off, glancing it over. It was a list of things she had to do, and a few notes to think about while devising her next trip to Subcon. Her to-do list comprised of meeting with the Mafia Boss and telling him the bad news about the fellow Mafia man, meeting with the Conductor to tell him the bad news about the owl, and manage to convince not 1, but 2 others to follow her into the forest. And once they were in Subcon, she would have to find a way to deal with those...those beings that worked for Snatcher. At the thought of the shadowy specter, she remembered what he had said the first time they met, 'THERE USED TO BE SEARCH PARTIES'. An idea forming in her head, Abigail quickly left, headed for Mafia HQ.

“And just where have you been? And where is the one who went with you?” The boss wasted no time interrogating her the moment she arrived in his throne room. She squared her shoulders; the Mafia boss was intimidating, sure, but next to Snatcher his temper was almost laughable. She wasn't afraid of speaking up to him, “I've been in that forest you said I could go to. We got separated, and I've spent most of my time trying to find him. Those woods are very dark and very big, so eventually I had to give up and come back, which I did, last night.” She lied. But what did it matter? He wouldn't have believed the truth, that's for sure.

The boss, who had gotten off his throne to scold her, sat back down to think. “This is not good, a Mafia member lost in those woods...he is not the first.”

This was Abigail's moment; she approached the Boss, “why don't we send a search party out? Just a small one? Me and, oh, maybe 2 other mafia?”

“You want to go back?!” The Boss all but shouted, “That forest has claimed many of my men!”

“What about me, then?” She argued, “I made it out!”

Silence followed as the Boss pondered this. Abigail stared him down, waiting. Finally, the Boss nodded, “I will give you 1 last chance. Go back to the woods and find him. However,” he held up a finger, “you may only bring 1 other Mafia member with you. And it shall be 1 that I choose!” Abigail gave a slight bow, “understood,” and walked away.

'That didn't go nearly as bad as I thought it would!' she thought. Knowing the Boss, she would probably find her 'search party' waiting outside her home either tonight or tomorrow morning. She considered going to Dead Bird Studios and dealing with the Conductor, maybe doing the same song and dance and getting another Express Owl to join in, but ultimately decided against it. It was risky enough going back with even 1 extra person. Getting a jump on learning some history was not worth risking the lives of these people. If it weren't for the contract, she wouldn't even be bringing others in the first place! That reminded her, she had to come up with some way to keep both Snatcher and his...entourage at bay long enough to mark her progress on the contract and get the Mafia man she was bringing with her out of the woods alive.

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It seemed like in no time at all, Abigail was back on her speedboat, Mafia man in tow, with Subcon on the horizon. She had a plan on how to evade the forest's inhabitants...or at least not alert them to her accomplice. Once the boat pulled up on the outskirts of the forest, she tied it up but halted the Mafia. “You stay right here, ok? I'm going to retrace my steps to where I last saw Mafia, then come back for you. I need you to stay here and guard my boat.” The Mafia gave a gruff nod, and she took off at a brisk pace deeper into the woods.

'This had better work,' she thought to herself as she retraced her footsteps. She had hoped that the smaller beings, and maybe even Snatcher himself, wouldn't go into direct sunlight. Subcon was in perpetual night, after all, so it made sense. The crackle of fire interrupted her thoughts. It was either more fire spirits or...”the firewall,” she gasped, coming across the beginnings of it. Her latest contract, just like her initial one, had said she was to stay inside the firewalls, so that must mean these lead to Snatcher's home. Perfect! She broke into a light jog, adrenaline and anxiety fueling her need to get to the middle of the forest as soon as she could...

She came upon the clearing with the giant hollowed tree much faster than she had anticipated, and she paused to catch her breath. From her viewpoint, the interior was blocked from view, so she cautiously approached, unsure of what to see. When she finally was able to glance in, she paused. Snatcher was there, right there. He looked...either slightly smaller or just less intimidating, and he was curled up on a big red chair, deep into a book. She nervously knocked on the side of the tree, hoping he wouldn't get mad being interrupted from his reading. “HMM?” he said, looking up from his book, “OH. IT'S YOU. WHAT BRINGS YOU BACK HERE SO QUICKLY? DON'T TELL ME YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER SOUL LINED UP FOR ME ALREADY?”

“First of all, my name's Abigail, a-”

“YEAH YEAH AND I'M SURE THAT OWL FROM YESTERDAY HAD A NAME TOO. BUT GUESS WHAT? I DON'T CARE. NOW DID YOU BRING ANOTHER VICTIM WITH YOU OR NOT?”

“I brought somebody with me, yes, but he's waiting back a ways for me to return. Said he was too scared. So I figured I'd tell him to wait, come find you, go back to him to tell him all is good, lead him right to you and...well...” she trailed off. “WOW. I'M ACTUALLY SORT OF IMPRESSED! WHO KNEW YOU COULD BE SUCH GOOD BAIT!” “Yeah yeah,” she waved it off, “but before I go I was hoping you could mark that part of my contract off? I'd rather not stick around for...what you've got planned...” “SURE THING!” the specter cheerily obliged, snapping his talons. She pulled the contract out and saw a little tally mark.

She started to leave before Snatcher stopped her, “I'VE GOT TO WONDER, WHY DID YOU COME TO MY FOREST IN THE FIRST PLACE?”

She looked back at him, “to learn about its history.”

“YOU COULD'VE JUST READ A BOOK.”

The history nerd in her started speaking up, “The history I want to learn about isn't written in books. Subcon's history ends with the last Ice Age. I was simply curious why nobody had tried to claim the land and fix it. Also why there were so many disappearances.” She paused, “well...you're the reason for the disappearances, but why is Subcon still like this? Why is it still so dead, even though the air is ripe with magic? There's a huge gap in the history of this forest, and I'm just a curious girl with a passion for history.”

“YOU'RE MORE LIKE A NUISANCE.” Snatcher thought for a moment, “TELL YOU WHAT. BRING AT LEAST ONE MORE VICTIM INTO MY FOREST, AND I'LL TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ITS PAST.” Abigail's eyes lit up, “really?!” “THINK OF IT AS AN INCENTIVE! THAT SHOULD GET YOU BRINGING OTHERS IN AT RECORD SPEED!” Abigail couldn't help but grin as she started to turn on her heel when she stopped, “wait a minute!” she spun around, “I know your game.” Snatcher froze, looking at her questioningly. Reaching into her jacket, she pulled out her contract. Giving him a smug look she stated, “I want that in writing. An addendum.” Snatcher gave a small laugh, “OH YOU ARE A NUISANCE! VERY WELL!” He flicked his hand and an addendum appeared on the contract stating that after the next delivery of a soul into the forest, Snatcher would tell her a bit of Subcon history. “DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING FROM WHEN PEOPLE WERE ALIVE,” he added, “I DIDN'T ARRIVE IN SUBCON UNTIL AFTER THE...INCIDENT.” He said the last word with a bit of anger. Abigail took pause to consider what that meant, before tucking it away to consider later. Instead, she gave a nod, “understood,” and left.

On the way back she remembered she had wanted to know more about those small creatures, but decided she could just ask him the next time they met.

All seemed to be going well....at least until she got back to where she had left the Mafia man, and found the place deserted. Her boat was still where she had left it, but no Mafia. 'No, no!' She thought 'I'm so close! Where could he have gone?'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of one of those hooded figures. “The boss says not to worry, he found your friend.” Abigail felt like her heart sopped. “D...did you know where 'my friend' was?” The little one happily nodded, “yeah! We lead him right to one of Boss's traps!” “Traps?”, the girl questioned, remembering those vines that appeared when she brought the owl. The other nodded, “yeah, Boss keeps traps around. Don't fall into one, he hates when that happens!”

Making heed of the little one's warning, she began to walk back to her boat. “Well, I've got to head home now.” Without waiting for a reply, she sprinted back to her vessel and jumped in. Before she roared the engine into life, she took a glance back into the forest.

The ...'Subconite' was gone.

Once back in Mafia Town, Abigail decided to tell the Mafia boss about the disaster of a trip. He...did not take it lightly.

“Because of YOU, the Mafia lost two members! What do you have to say for yourself?” “I'm sorry!,” she pleaded, well aware of the two Mafia behind her, blocking her only way out. She continued, “if you want, I'll go back on my own and-” “NO!” The Boss shouted, “you will pay! Mafia!” On cue, the two brutes behind her went in for the attack. Luckily, she was able to move out of the way fast enough to avoid capture, as well as slip past them and back outside. She heard the Boss call out, “Mafia! Attack!”

Running out of the Boss's main room back into the main casino area, she saw the entire place up in arms to get her. Luckily, since she worked there, she knew of a back exit. She scrambled into the kitchen, out the back door, and out the back of Mafia HQ.. Taking the secret entrance gave her maybe ten minutes before the rest of the Mafia made it down to the main streets, and then the whole town would be after her! Nobody messed with the Boss, and now she was on his hit list!

Luckily it didn't take long for her to get to her little house. She burst in, grabbing her backpack and stuffing all that she could find and fit into it. Her notebook, camera, some of her favorite books and some clothes. By the time she left her house, she heard a Mafia call out “there she is! Mafia stop you!”, and knew she had overstayed her welcome. She sprinted down the street away from the mob, using her fear to fuel her adrenaline to get her down to her boat before she got caught. As soon as she saw her boat, she also saw about five more Mafia around the docks, though by the looks of it they were just boxing fish, so they hadn't heard the call to arms. Thankful for the Mafia's bad form of communication, Abigail jumped into her boat, threw the rope off, and throttled the engine. With a roar and a splash of water, she was off! Looking back at Mafia Town, she saw a few Mafia standing near where her boat had been. They had just missed her.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Abigail faced forward. She'd stay at Dead Bird Studios for a little bit, until things cooled down around home. With that matter settled, her thoughts turned back to the only thing she thought about lately: her contract. As her boat sped through the waves, she pulled out her parchment and looked it over again. A person a week...well, tragic as it was, that Mafia member did count for a whole week, so she had a few days to actually calm down and find a workable solution to this issue. 'No more deaths. Not mine, nor anyone else's! I'll beat that Snatcher at his own game!'

#ahit au #ahit #shadow specter #shadowspecter #Snatcher

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