The House

The Awakening

He woke up with a terrible headache on the floor of his friend's house. He felt a bit ill- like he'd eaten something funny.

What had happened last night? He couldn't remember a thing. Not a thing.

Still on his knees, he looked around him. The room was a bedroom, and it was a mess.

There was broken glass near a broken window. The usually cute stuffed animals which sat or leaned on various parts of the room were torn in various places, some of them had a missing eye or two, some were oddly shiny and they all had an extremely strong, strange and utterly unfamiliar smell to them.

The bed was neat, at least. Someone must have tidied it up. Maybe it was him. It also happened to be his friend's bedroom.

Still, the pink flowery wallpaper was peeling and, as he looked over at the floor, he was shocked once more.

Dry blood. A note was sellotaped to the floor next to him. What a relief. He could use some answers.

He read the note first.

'You drank a lot last night. A lot. So did I. What happened was all Blue's fault! He made me drink it! I'm sorry...'

The handwriting was small and neat with unjointed letters- where had he seen that handwriting? It couldn't possibly be his friend's. He was way too innocent.

Whatever had happened, the stuffed toys were giving him the creeps, so he stood up to go, leaving the note on the floor.

Something that was disturbing was that he himself had been very clean indeed.

What had happened?

He walked down the stairs of his friend's house, hoping to leave soon. Instead he found his way locked- the front door was taped up with a complex net of duct tape.

However, a letter addressed to him had apparently made its way through the letter slot.

One look at the sophisticated, flowing purple-ink writing and he sighed with relief.

That was obviously the handwriting of his smart best friend- he alone had had the sense not to go to the party and had warned him not to. He remembered this with a twinge of regret. If only he'd listened to him.

'Dear Shadow,

The party didn't happen last night. It happened two weeks ago- maybe longer if I can't get this letter to you.
Everything I want to explain can't be said in a letter as he could be here at any moment.
In case you forgot, he is Red. Don't be fooled, he is not as innocent as he seems!
Get him to drink some tea, ASAP!

Your ever-worried friend,
Vio.'

He was confused, to say the least. Red? Not innocent? The thought was like saying gravity doesn't exist.

However, if Vio thought something was up, something was up.

... and what was that about tea? Why would tea help? Oh well. Vio could explain once he got out of here.