The Mandela Catalogue

Revenge

I wake up quickly, I see a figure at the end of my bed through the blurriness and I scream.
"Hey!!! It's just me!!!" Fox says, I rub my eyes.
"what the fuck are you doing at the end of my bed!? While I'm sleeping!?" I say sitting up.
"I heard you yelling so I came to check up on you." Fox says
"how long have you been in here for?" I ask scratching the back of my head.
"5 or 6 minutes?" he says
"do you usually watch people sleeptalk for 5 minutes and scare them when they wake up?" I ask specifically.
"I used to." he says.

Pepper is perched on the end of my bed, puffed up and no care in the world.
What time is it? I check my phone: 10:35.
"alright I'm awake." I say getting up.
"I have an idea." Fox says.
"what." I ask, scared of what he's about to say.
"did you get the address for where your friend went." he says.
I look down at the floor, poor Coop.
"yeah." I say.
"we should go there." he says
"why would I go to a place where my friend was killed and when were not supposed to be out?" I ask, confused on why he suggested this.

"well, we could bring a weapon and maybe... I don't know, avenge him." Fox says.
"sounds dumb.... I'm in-"
"now get out so I can get dressed." I say
Fox walks out and I put on some clothes.
I come out and sit on the sofa.
"so when?" I ask
"maybe we'll drive there today. Sleep in the truck somewhere else but we'll have Pepper on watch at night and she can sleep in dayp." Fox says.

"sounds like a plan." I say.
"yeah, I ain't going back to work for a while after that experience we had." Michael says standing up.
"what about Bee and Max?" I ask
"Well, Bee pretty much acts human on a daily basis, you just haven't seen it. I've seen her refill her own food and I sure she can fill up Max's as well" Fox says says.
I get up.
"well we should leave early so that we get there, one thing. We should stock up on food for when we get there." I say and Pepper flies out my room.

_________________________

We drive for 15 minutes, Jackie and Michael in the front (Michael driving), me and Fox in the back, with pepper on my shoulder of course.
We arrive at the petrol station, Michael puts petrol in the car and then goes to the shop and unlocks the door. He goes in and after 15 minutes he comes out with about 6 bags filled. He puts them in the back with is.
"you didn't need that much!?" I say
"you never know!" Michael says and we start the journey.

_______________________

I open my eyes, I had fallen asleep for a few hours. My head had fell onto Fox midway cause I woke up with my head on his shoulder. I quickly sit up and feel my face go red.
"you fell asleep on me" he laughs.
I look out the window to see a bluey-orange sky.
"what time is it?" I ask
"uh, 4:30. We'll be there In about 1 hour and 30 minutes" Michael says looking in the rear view mirror.

I yawn and lay my head in the window.
"tired?" Fox asks
"didn't get much sleep last night, at least the car will have heatening. Its turning winter" I say
"yeah, sunset is already starting at 4, that's new!" Fox says.
"wonder if it's because of the alternates, a lot of change is happening." Michael says in the front.
"how's Jackie?" I ask
"their out like a light." he says smiling at them.

________________

We arrive at exactly 18:10 (6:10), about 15 feet away from the house for caution.
I get out to stretch my legs and then get back in before Michael locks the car.
"right! Anyone who needs toilet in the middle of the night can go behind that tree, make sure you leave the car door open or at least unlock the car and lock as soon as you get back in" Michael explains.
"Pepper, could you keep watch?" I ask
"yes" she says.
"good girl" I give her a nut.

We all go to sleep at 10.
_____________

I wake up at 6am. I kept waking up through the night, thinking I saw this figure through the window. It had a hat but that could have been my imagination. I yawn.
"morning" Fox says.
"morning" I say back.
"what time is it?" Jackie says
"6:36" I say.
"well that's early" they say.
"so when will we be going in?" I ask.
"probs tomorrow, well be spending all day today planning." Fox says.
When Michael woke up we ate breakfast and started planning.

At 12 we just chilled out.
Pepper pecks the window.
"alright, just don't get caught" I say opening the window for her to fly.
She caws and flies out the window, circling the car.
"can't believe she hasn't flown away or something." Fox says
"she always knows her way back" I say looking up at her.
"you taught her well" he says smiling.
"I did" I smile back.

_____________

(T.W Interstellar spoilers)

At 6pm we watched a movie on Michael's phone, something about space. It was called interstellar, I cried lol.
"you crying back there?" Michael asks.
"it's sad!" I say.
"we're not even near the end yet!?" he says
"but the message! They should have known!" I say, Fox laughs.
"it was just a message!" Michael says
"you would cry too if you were stuck in space and your children are older than you and have children!" I say
"oh shush" he says.

We eventually go to sleep.
________________

Here we go.
We were ready to go. Michael welded the bat and gave me a gun, I couldn't wait to shoot the motherfucker that killed my friend. But before that, there was something else we had to do.

I get a good enough rock and stick it in the ground, I carve the words 'R. I. P Cooper' and put little stones around it.
I stare at it for a moment... Not thinking, just staring. Then I see Pepper, she had a nice red flower in her beak and gave it to me.
"thank you Pepper." I say, putting the flower on the little grave.
I get battery powered candles out my pockets and put them around it, turning them on.
Then I just sit.
And watch the glowing lights of the candles.
I sat there for about 15 minutes before standing up and joining the rest of the gang.

We walk to the house, brandishing our weapons. We enter through the doorway and look around, a bunch of graffiti on the walls, vines and blooms starting to grow, weeds growing in the cracks of the floor. It was definitely abandoned. But I got the feeling that we were being watched the entire time.
I kept looking behind me all the time, seeing only the empty rooms.
But at one point, when I looked out a window I swear I had seen a man.

We explored for a while and eventually just sat down, waiting for the thing.
We definitely weren't prepared for what was going to happened, even though we thought we were.
"so where do you reckon it is." Fox asks.
"Probably trying to find a way to sneek up on us." I say.
"maybe" he says
We hear something behind us and we all stand up to turn around.

A person walks in, long fingers.
"it's you?" I say.
"M-me?" it says, in an inhuman voice. Glitching, that's weird.
"you got into our building." I say
"oh, when I looked at your door?" it smiles.
"you knew it was us?" I ask
"yes, I-it was pretty easy. You had turned off your TV that I had turned on. But unfortunately we don't know how to open doors, especially locked ones. So I just left." it says
"easily enough, killing your little friend lead you right to me." it smiles wider.
"you bitch." I say
"your insults mean nothing to me. I didn't try to hide the fact that I'm what you call an alternate, because you've already seen me. I could have gotten you way easier that like this." it says.
"we would have killed you either way" I say
"how cute" it says.
I comes closer.
Pepper starts getting protective.
It gets closer.
She watches it.
Closer....
She goes to attack it, it grabs her and throws her at the ground, she doesn't move.
I watch her lifeless body.
Fox looks over at me, shocked.
I feel adrenaline go through my body.
"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" I yell.
"It was merely in my way." it smiles.
A bang breaks through and the alternate drops.
Behind it, I see it.
The smiling man.
With his gun.

I wanted... To be the one to shoot it.

____________________

On our way home, was silent.
We had wrapped Peppers body in a towel and taken it with us.
I stared out the window the entire time, not thinking. Nothing. Just nothing.
When we got home, we buried her in the little safe place, under the tree.
It was her favourite place.

When we got back in, I went straight to my room. And layed down. There was something hard in my pillow? I lift up my pillow to find a small, blue shaded egg. I sit up, taking it in my hands.

Was this... hers?