nineteen | who am i [50% droned]

[strike_you_out]

At home
[Slugger opens his bedroom door, walks down to the kitchen, takes a seat at the breakfast table, and awaits his morning waffles and orange juice. Just like every morning.

Just like every morning...

He begins to breathe a little faster.]

At home; front steps
[The front steps are littered in pages and pages of notes. Surrounded by the papers,

Comments

25% Front steps

[miss_enma_ai]

[There is a girl next to you.]

You're remembering the wrong things too?

[strike_you_out]

[Slugger doesn't appear to notice right away and continues to scribble madly until the page he's working on is covered. He then tears it out and looks at it.]

Yes.

[Except he's having trouble remembering which things are false and which are true. He looks at her. Ai...]

What do you remember?

[miss_enma_ai]

I remember fake things. .....The first day of school. And playing games with you, Aisling and Pokey. Walking to school.

[She looks at the page he wrote on. She remembers fake memories of walking with him, and real memories of walking with him.....and it's hard to tell which is which.]

[strike_you_out]

[A faraway look as he tries to recall information about someone other than himself. It should be easy considering who she is...]

Your name is Enma Ai. You are the Hell Girl. You like cherries.

[The rest is uncertain.]

[Night]

[godisachild]

[Pokey put off finding Slugger for as long as he could. In a lot of ways, he just didn't want to have the confrontation with him. Slugger was his best friend since they were little and-

No. He wasn't. They weren't friends since childhood. They weren't friends. ...Were they? I mean, what did they do that was so friendly? I mean, they'd call each other names, and screw around with each other and go fishing and

No. Wrong. Only part of those even happened. And that still wasn't....what was it? He didn't know.

He just stops when he sees Slugger, pausing before bothering to say anything.]

Hey.

....There's something wrong.

[strike_you_out]

[Something is definitely wrong. At the sound of the familiar voice, Slugger's face goes from vacant to wide-eyed, as if suddenly overwhelmed, excited yet unsure.]

Pokey...

I know. Read this.

[He passes you a note. Unfolded, it reads:

My name is Slugger. I am a monster. I have been trapped in Mayfield for 10 months. This is not my home. ]

Does it look right?

[godisachild]

[Pokey looks over the note, squinting at it at first. He opens his mouth to reply, but no sound will come out.]

I....

I don't know. Yes? I mean. It makes sense but if it looks right I don't....

[strike_you_out]

[There's a weird sinking feeling inside him at that. Do you not remember him? He remembers you, but how much of it is true and how much is fake is something to debate. For the moment, he's trying to focus on the things he believes are true.]

You are Pokey Minch. You have something named Josephine---

[A dog? No. It's bigger, it's not alive. But not a car...]

---a machine. This isn't your home, either.

[Breakfast, 50%]

[puzzlerprince]

[Maybe not like every morning, Slugger. Today is pancakes. A huge, syrupy stack awaits you. Dear ol' Dad is back at the stove, griddling up some more.]

[strike_you_out]

[Fork in hand, Slugger stares at the food without moving. Something about this isn't right, like he's not sure if he's someone who should be eating. But who doesn't eat? Awkwardly, he'll begin cutting into a pancake...]

[puzzlerprince]

Make sure you save room for tonight. All right, kiddo?

[Freezing. Freezing in place. The word seems to have left a rotten taste in Edward's mouth.]

[strike_you_out]

[He pauses mid-chew... and finally swallows.]

Why?

[And then Night]

[puzzlerprince]

[Edward notices that Slugger hasn't been paying attention to the fireworks display. And Eddie has been rather distracted as well, hasn't he?]

Slugger?

[strike_you_out]

[Slugger is rereading the note when Edward speaks and quickly stuffs it under his hat again. Gone is the smirk he usually wears. In fact it's been absent all day. Whatever wasn't right his morning seems to have only gotten worse.]

[puzzlerprince]

...mind if I take a look at that?

[strike_you_out]

[...Slowly, he lifts his cap back up to pull out the note once more, and offers it to Edward. It reads as follows:

'My name is Slugger. I am a monster. I have been trapped in Mayfield for 10 months. This is not my home.' ]

It's for myself. To remember.

[deaths_heritor]

[And just like every morning, there is a figure in a pink floral dress and apron waiting for him in the kitchen.]

Good morning, Slugger. It's a shame you can't wait up this early during the school year. Excited for the holiday?

[strike_you_out]

[Before he even sets foot into the kitchen, Slugger freezes at the sight of Susan in the dress looking as if she's stepped out of a magazine. There is something familiar and welcoming about it yet something so obscenely wrong.]

Susan...

[deaths_heritor]

[She raises an eyebrow.]

I'd prefer Mis -- ... I'd prefer Mother, if you would, dear. You're not quite so grown up yet. Have some eggs and we'll start to prepare for our picnic.

[Susan looks slightly confused as she doles out a generous heaping of scrambled eggs... dyed red and blue.]

[strike_you_out]

[Stunned, he finally begins to move again and approaches uneasily. He hasn't even noticed the strange coloring of the food, his eyes are still glued on her dress.]

That color. Isn't it supposed to be... black?

[Black. Yes. Susan is fond of black.]