The Abandoned House
A regular mongoose basically goes into an abandoned house and finds a hell of a surprise. Created with Devilduk's help in a roleplaying session.
**The Abandoned House
By Fastbreak333 and Devilduk**
There once was a mongoose named Timothy. He lived a pretty normal life as far as anybody could tell. Timothy owns a small piece of land that resides in a town. It was a quaint town; it had a lodge, a small restaurant, a grocery store, a dock to fish nearby, and about ten homes, all on a stretch of highway. One of those homes happened to be abandoned. One could tell with the peeling paint and the dust that surrounded it. Strangely, the person that owned the home was a secluded fellow, so nobody knows who owned it or why that owner left. They've even forgotten how long it has been abandoned. Timothy lives across the home and it has always bugged him how that house sits there empty. As days pass by, he becomes way more curious. Nobody said anything about its history other than what Timothy already knew which was too little to even make a decent campfire tale. The mystery of the place only increases every time Timothy walks past it. Every day Timothy tells himself, "I'm going to get inside. I'm going to see what's in there once and for all." But he never did. He's just too scared to go any further.
Today starts off casually. Timothy gets up in the morning, stretching and yawning. He walks in his flannel pajamas and pours a bowl of Fruit Loops. He sighs as he dreads going anywhere, except back to bed. He looks at the house once again through his window, wondering about it once more. The curiosity gnaws at his brain. There's nothing to do since he doesn't work on Sundays and his TV is still in need of repair. He's currently saving money to have it fixed or buy a new one. One thing seems a bit off however when he looks at the house; something that's amiss...that wasn't there yesterday or the previous days before. He examines the house closely and realizes, even from the distance, the house has its door open. It seems that nature is now teasing him to go inside too or maybe somebody ventured inside. Well, he had it. He must know what that house contains once and for all, even if it kills him!
He rushes over to his room and dons the first set of clothes he obtains. Not thinking twice, he heads out his door and rushes to the house. Halfway there, he starts questioning himself as to why he is so obsessed with it; Timothy always had a keen sense of curiosity, but he never had something bother him so much. He stands there, the wind slightly blowing through his green jacket and blue jeans. He breathes a sigh and mutters to himself, "Well, here goes nothing."
Timothy enters the doorway with his eyes closed. When he takes ten steps inside, he opens one eye to peek. He was inside the living room. It looks as abandoned as the outside with dust covering every piece of furniture in here. He sees the TV, which was more modern than his crappy monochrome one. He turns to the right to see an old green couch and a cupboard full of China. It looks like whoever left didn't even take anything. Maybe somebody died here, he thought.
Timothy wanders around, not touching anything. A smile, though weak, comes across his face as he stands in awe of this dusty, but large home. He sees the stairs to the left of him and looks up, facing it. Maybe there's something interesting upstairs, he thought. He goes up the stairs to find a hallway with a few doors and a rope that seems to bring down a set of stairs for the attic. The attic, he thought, maybe I could find some information up there, like the history of this house. He pulls the rope and the attic stairs come down with a pile of dust. Timothy coughs and rubs his eyes, "Whoa!" After his coughing fit, he dusts himself off and looks upward into the dark attic. He walks in with a shiver in his step.
The attic is certainly dark as there is only the small, circular window at the other side that's lighting the room. Way more dust is in the air, enough to give somebody asthma. Lots of cardboard boxes and assorted knickknacks are inside here. It seems to be a standard attic until Timothy goes further; he finds some odd things: boxes of balls, racks of swords, some tables and cabinets of all sizes. After some thought, he realizes that he can see this stuff at a magic show. He breaks his no touching rule at this point and he takes one of the swords to inspect it. "Wow!" He exclaims as he tests the sharpness of the swords with his finger. It was definitely very sharp. He slides the sword back in and looks around with what little light he had. There seems to be more and more magic props that he finds interesting.
Suddenly, he bumps into something while looking at the right. Timothy rubs his stomach to find a red box. It was lying on a black table that seems to be held together by two latches on the side. There are wheels at the bottom. On the floor, there was a red cloth lying idly. He pushes the box aside, not even looking at it, as he picks up the cloth. After a short chuckle, he sets it aside and looks at the box.
It seems the box opens in two places. Timothy opens the top of the upper half box and finds nothing. There doesn't seem to be anything except for a metal divider that lies in the middle. He smirks and slides off the divider in his attempt to dismantle the box. Reaching in, he bumps into something squishy, furry, and warm. His mind tried to make what he was touching a visible image, but with the poor light, he couldn't see it. "What is this thing?" He says.
Before he goes to open the other half, he sees a pair of white feet sticking out of the box. They appear to be motionless. Timothy assumes that they're fake feet and decides to feel the foot a bit. He giggles, thinking they feel pretty soft. He decides to give them a tickle at the sole of the foot. It wiggles in response. He jumped back and fell over in fear and surprise, "Hooooolyyyyyy..."
D-d-d-did that foot just wiggle!? He thought. He gets up, trying to calm himself down. He figures that it was probably robotics or something. He refuses to believe it's real. He gives it another light poke to be sure. The foot wiggles again, more vigorously. The whole box soon jumps and moves as the contents try fruitfully to get out!
"This can't be happening!" Timothy was frightened; there were a genuine pair of legs inside the box and they seem to be very jumpy! After a bit of struggle, the legs finally calm down and resume silence. Timothy gets closer and decides to open the small door on the side of the box. He looks inside and sees a leg. The leg seems to have on purple pants and they looked tight enough to be her skin. He looks at the rear as best as he can and sees a cotton tail. Whoever...or whatever it is, it's a white rabbit, apparently. Timothy walks to the end of the box and looks at the feet, kneeling down to their level. The legs appear to have a feminine shape to them. He looks down at the feet and finds the stock that holds them in. With hesitation, he takes off the stocks and hopes for the best.
The legs seem to shift weight a bit in the box, probably noticing that the stock was removed. The right foot reaches out, feeling Timothy's cheek. He laughs in amazement and stands up, "Wow! They are real!"
The legs seem to be calm now. It might've assumed that all that shaking around could've scared him off. It was a good thing Timothy stuck around after all. The legs suddenly knock on the top of the box a bit with one of her knees. Timothy assumes that it wants to get out. He complies and opens the box.
In a single bound the legs leap out of the box and stumbles back to a fall. Timothy catches it by the butt, and assists it upward as he blushes, "Sorry ma'am!" From her butt, Timothy confirms that the legs are female. The legs stand back up again and turn around to face Timothy. The legs twist left and right; she appears to be confused. Timothy scratches he head and ponders how he is going to get her attention. She couldn't hear him nor see him. Not to mention touching her anywhere might excite her. He was at an impasse.
The legs reach out, feeling Timothy's leg. It seems he needs him for something. Whatever it could be is a mystery. Timothy pats the shin of the leg to show her he's responding. The legs then walk off and he follows. The legs reach the top half of the box, her tail shaking a little bit. She bumps it with her hip a bit as if indicating something. Then the legs walk to the left, feeling around with her foot until the legs find the red cloth. She touches that too, trying to make a point as well.
Timothy ponders for a while and then he clicks, "The cloth!" He picks up the cloth and presses it to the leg's thigh. The legs touch it as if it was agreeing with him. Sadly, Timothy doesn't know what the cloth is for, but it's a start to explain things.
He scratches his head and thinks, "What is this for?"
He sighs and looks at the legs, getting no response.
"Where is the rest of you, eh?"
Still nothing. He gives up on figuring things out and casually drops the cloth on top of the box. It lands wadded up on the box and Timothy pays no more mind to it. I don't know what you want.
The legs stand, waiting for a response. The legs then slump a bit. She realizes that she can't be clear enough like this. Timothy leans on the box and shakes his head. Man, I feel terrible.
The legs walk ahead and feel around for Timothy. It seems she doesn't want Timothy to leave and he still needs her help on something. She then reaches out and writes gibberish with her toe and then pats herself.
Timothy sighs, "What? I can't hear you...where is the rest of you?" He glances over the box he's sitting on, "Is it in here?" He grabs her hips and bumps the other side to the box for a confirmation. The legs step back and write on the floor with her toe again and then pat herself again with her foot. Timothy takes a minute to decipher her meaning and then smacks his forehead. "You want me to write words on you!"
He writes with his finger slowly on her leg, "What do you want me to do?"
The legs don't reply. She can't seem to answer that question.
Timothy decides to try writing a yes-or-no question instead, "Is there an upper half?"
The legs appear to be bowing a bit and standing straight repeatedly. It could be a nod.
"Well! Now we're getting somewhere!" He says aloud, "Ok! Um...." He writes, "In the box?"
The legs nod again. Strange...but they're not in the box, he thinks. He scratches his head a bit in confusion. He looks at the cloth and gets an idea, "Does the cloth bring it back?"
The legs nod rapidly! Timothy was relieved. So all he has to do is bring it back with this cloth...but how? Timothy leans on the box for a moment and thinks, causing the cardboard boxes right by it to shift a bit. A journal falls on Timothy's head.
"Ow!" He picks up the journal, rubbing the top of his head.
The journal has no title, but it's bound in leather. The dust covered black book was thick. It probably had about a hundred pages. Timothy opened it and read the inscription in the cover, "Rambol the Great."
Heh! Timothy thinks to himself, Magicians and their weird names.
He then starts to read the first page.
Dear Diary,
I am Rambol the Great! Okay...I'm really Jessica Rambol, regular ol' white bunny. However, I wish to be a great magician someday and today is going to be that day. I'm going to focus all my energies on practicing! Of course...since I don't have anybody willing to help me out, I guess I'll have to do these tricks by myself.
Timothy glances at the legs, which seem to be standing idly. So you must be Jessica. He continues to read, flipping through the pages. He finds a lot of entries of her juggling, sword swallowing, making things float, and a depressing page of her grandfather's death. Timothy manages to skip to a page that interests him. It was dated...10 months ago.
Dear Diary,
I give up. I can't find anybody willing to get in this damn sawing-in-half box. So I decided to make a proposal: I'm going in the box and saw myself in half! There's a panel on the side where I can get out my arm, so it'll take a little flexing, but I think I can do it! I just gotta be careful and try to slide in the dividers and stocks as best as I can! Wish me luck, diary!
The rest of the pages are blank.
He closes the book, and Timothy almost chokes up, "Wow...that is....sad." He looks at the legs as they stand and wait. He sighs, "Well that's what happened, but there's nothing on how I can fix it."
Jessica walks forward slowly and leans against Timothy. She seems really glad that somebody is there to help as her tail wiggles a bit. She still needs help though. He pets the thigh to let her know he's there. He writes on her thigh with his finger, "I don't know how to get you back, Miss Rambol."
Jessica nods, understanding. They don't seem to be sad. Perhaps she knows it could take a while for a non-magician to reverse this mess. The legs then get to the upper half box and stand on their toes. She seems to want to get up there. Timothy catches on to her remark and helps her up. He turns his face away from her butt as he lifts the legs up and onto the box comfortably. She reaches out and touches Timothy with her foot, feeling around his chest, his stomach, and everywhere else around him as if she's trying to see what he looks like.
He thinks it odd, but he lets her feel around him: his face, his chest and his fur. After the legs finish, they seem satisfied. The legs reach out and she tries to write with her big toe as best as she can. Timothy stands still and makes out the word "cute."
He chuckles and rubs the foot that wrote that a little. He then repeats his finger writing on her shin, "u2."
Jessica's tail seems to shake a bit, showing her happiness. The foot reaches out and writes "name." He thinks on what she just wrote, trying to comprehend it. When he figures it out, he replies with a short form of his name, "Tim."
Jessica crosses one of her legs and nods. Now she scoots over to the lower half box and sits there. She's now dangling her legs, hoping that he could fix this.
He approaches Jessica and rubs the top of her to comfort her. The stump appears to be just more white fur on top. It feels as flat as a table. Jessica shivers a bit; she seems to like being touched there. When she seems to enjoy it, he continues. He is still in thought on how he can fix something when she's being so vague. Of course, the real question is how he can use this cloth. Once he figures that out, he can bring her back.
Timothy grabs the cloth again from the other box. Timothy sighs and writes on her table flat stump, "What is this cloth for?"
Jessica shivers again. After a minute, she writes "vanish."
Timothy's eyes brighten, Then it can bring her back! But how?
He writes, "Will it come back if I cover you with it?"
Jessica suddenly seemed surprised. She writes "getting it," appearing happy that he's figuring it out. However, after that, she writes, "but no."
Timothy sighs and writes "What do I cover then?"
Jessica then pats the upper half box with her foot.
Feeling like an idiot he stands up and neatly covers the box with the cloth. Before he continues, he writes, "Any magic words?"
She shakes no and writes "wish." Timothy thinks about that for a minute again. Maybe, he thinks, maybe she wants me to desire for the rest of her to come back. He closes his eyes and hopes. He takes a breath, grabs the cloth, and unveils it.
Suddenly, the head of a white rabbit appears at the edge of the box. She looks up, blinking at the roof. She smacks her mouth, as if getting rid of a bad taste. She slowly turned her head to see Timothy standing there with the cloth in his hand. She manages to utter out a word, "Tim?"
"Jessica?" He asks in disbelief, "Yes! You're back!"
Jessica smiles, feeling so elated. "Thank you, Tim."
Timothy felt as if he knew her for ages. He is so dumbstruck that he gets lost in her eyes. When he snapped out of it, he realizes she was still in the box, "Oh! Let me help!"
He begins opening the box as Jessica sighs, "I guess I should explain how this happened, huh?"
Opening the box reveals the rest of Jessica. It appears that those purple tights were a part of a leotard. The purple continues up to her breasts where some of the leotard goes over her shoulders in straps. It left her white arms bare.
He smirks, "Well I could guess only so far." He grins at her clothing and helps her out; only then does Timothy remember she is in two, "Oh! Uh..."
Jessica gets up on her stump, seeing her legs sitting there. "That's okay. I'm just glad to be out, even in two."
She sighs, "You see, I was trying to saw myself in half because nobody else could volunteer. I got the stocks in easy, saw myself, and place the dividers. I was trying to pull myself apart, but I hit those boxes next to me and a red cloth fell on me. When I pushed it off of me...my top half vanished."
"Wow! What was it like?" Timothy pondered.
"It was weird. I suddenly saw black and heard nothing. I was trying to get out with the rest of me so I could get help or put the cloth back, but I couldn't. The box was closed and the stocks stopped me from getting out. I struggled for hours until I decided to just lay there and hope that somebody would come for me. I lost track of time really fast and I was lying in that box, mostly dreaming the days away..."
Timothy really felt bad for her. He can't picture something like that. He then remembers when life inside the house stopped, and figures that's when it happened. Jessica notices how sad she seemed and said, "Don't worry! It's okay now! You saved me and I'm really thankful for that!"
He smiles, "That's true. It's good to y'know...actually talk to you."
"Same here! So...you don't have anything to do at all?" One of her legs crosses over her, her foot waving in the air.
Timothy scratches his head nervously, "It's my day off, so yeah...I have nothing." He smiles and admires her beauty.
"Well...as you already know, I have too much trouble doing some of these tricks alone and you did save me. Perhaps we can be friends?" She gives out her hand, waiting for a handshake.
He grabs it and shakes, "Sure!"
As the two of them gaze at each other with grins, they could tell that they cemented a beautiful friendship. Timothy is thinking how glad he was to finally muster up all the courage to go inside for if he didn't, Jessica would've been stuck in her dark prison forever. Jessica lets go and announces, "Okay, let's start some magic!"