Eloi
8
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Eloi Chapter Eight
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of
Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic
Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… *GLOMP *
Maxwell Pink, Dracena, and Graywolf
are loverly and wondermous
for archiving/hosting. J ProPhile gets a
cookie. Morgan: *test
Thanks bunches for reading/reviewing!
Mystique
pushed the front door of the boardinghouse open with an expression of disgust
on her features. She could smell the neglect
rising from the wood, a mixture of mildew and dust and rotting garbage that had
sat in the sun too long. Rubbing her
hand on the fabric of her tight-fighting trousers, she stepped into the foyer
and sighed. The place had never been in
the best repair to start with but the house was literally falling down around
her. Floorboards were obviously loose,
wallpaper soiled and peeling in spots and, from the bit of the kitchen she
could see from her vantage point in the front hall, cleanliness had not been
high on the list of things to do around there in weeks, if not months.
she called, not hearing movement in the house.
“Fred Dukes!”
His voice
came from beneath her feet. _What the
Hell is he doing in the basement? _ she wondered,
walking towards the door in the hall that lead to the cellar stairs.
den, however, and did a slow, almost comical, backwards walk
itself. A massive hole marked the spot where the loveseat used to be, the sofa
and television facing the chasm as if looking into it sadly.
carefully at the edge and peered into the relative darkness of the basement. “Fred,
did you fall?”
“
face appeared below Mystique, dirt-streaked and paler than usual.
She sighed,
mostly in aggravated relief, and stood. “Don’t move.” She eyed the kitchen
warily, not willing to find out if the contents of the fridge had become
sentient or not, before peering back down at Fred.
the side yard yet? The
old ones? You should’ve been able
to break them open, if nothing else.”
Fred made
an inarticulate response that sounded a bit like “Can’t” and shuffled back into
the darkness.
Mystique
growled to herself, something that would have been offensive if Fred spoke
German, and stalked from the den, not bothering to shut the front door behind
her as she strode to the side yard and the massive old double doors that led to
the cellar. They had been locked from
the outside, the padlock bound with electrical tape in some bizarre attempt to
make it stronger, she assumed. The wood
was old, however, and it did not take much, just a few well placed kicks, to
break the lock and handles away from the doors themselves.
hinges creaked before the doors thudded loudly to the ground.
the old doors but had failed, his size reducing the old wood to kindling.
the doors off it’s hinges, the wood giving way after a
few good tugs. She slid it into the
cellar, making a ramp of it. “Come on,
get yourself out of there.”
Fred came
into view again, looking mildly sheepish.
“Ain’t gonna
work. Just as
old as the stairs.” He pointed to
the destroyed steps and shrugged. “Sorry.”
She closed
her eyes for a moment, then fixed him with a determined
glare. “Then wait here.”
Fred nodded
and did as he was told, his thoughts turning inwards.
gone, forgetting him, he thought. He was
not sure how long he had been down in the basement but he knew that it had been
more than a day. He had eaten some old
pizzas he found in the chest freezer and munched on the old ice there, but that
was hours and hours ago. He had heard
voices this morning but they had not been familiar, so he had been quiet.
footsteps crunching in dust and debris, disbelief coloring their words,
passage. He should tell Mystique, he
decided. She would know if it was
someone who should not have been there. The
metallic thud of chain falling made him twitch, his eyes going again to the cellar
door. Mystique gestured towards the rope
and chain and he sighed. This was going
to hurt.
Mystique
was embarrassed, her face hot and neck red.
She wished she were in her natural state so the blush would not show but
until she was in a safe area, the disguise must remain in place.
further down than before, and the car inched forward, the engine complaining
loudly. After another try, she glanced in her rearview mirror and sighed. Fred
was free. She shut off the engine and
got out of the car, moving to detach the tow chain from the back and to make
sure Fred was okay. The teenager was
standing, dusting himself off ponderously.
else there I need to know about?
Fred shook
his head, lumbering towards her. He
stopped just out of arm’s reach and frowned.
“Someone came by earlier though.
Mystique
froze. “What? What’d they say?”
“
basement.” He scratched his head,
thinking. “What’s F.O.H?
She shook
her head. “Get in the damned car now,
Fred. We’re going to see someone about a
norm.”