Sharp as a Knife

Chapter Twenty-Nine

-Lidia's POV-

I woke up the next morning nestled in some warm, blood-red blankets (Try saying that ten times fast at 2AM...) And a big red dog sleeping soundly next to me. I giggled and patted him on the head, and he let out a soft yip in his sleep. I stretched and threw off the blankets, revealing a small pink nightgown. I guessed Sally had let me borrow one of hers, since it was covered in rips and faded blood. I got up and stretched, waking the dog. He lifted his head and smiled widely at me. I giggled and scratched his ears, he barked happily and wagged his tail in responce. I reached up to grab the doorknob, but I wasn't quite tall enough. I felt something lifting me up, and I saw that the dog had slipped under me so that I could reach the doorknob. I laughed and opened the door, and he padded down the hallway happily with me still riding on his back. When we got to the living room I was giggling and the dog seemed happy as could be. He padded in and the first person to greet us was Jack. "Hey, Smile! Hey, Lidia!" He said, patting the dog and swinging me up onto his shoulders. I laughed, "Hi Jackie!" His smile faltered for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. "Did you sleep well?" I nodded, picking at his hair contentedly. He laughed, walking into the kitchen and holding my ankles so I didn't fall. Once he walked into the kitchen, Benny looked up and his eyes lit. He was about to say something, but Jack whipped his head around and growled at him. I tried to hold in a small giggle, but Bennys' expression was too much. He looked at me and scowled playfully. I grinned and grabbed his hat as we went by. I couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "Hey, give it back!" He said, walking towards us with his hand outstretched. I laughed and put it on, grabbing Jack's hair, "Run Jackie!" He laughed and began to run towards the front door, Benny close behind. He flung the door open and began to sprint, with Benny chasing after him and yelling. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying because Jackie was pretty far ahead of him. I laughed as Jackie lept into the trees, gazing down as Benny ran right past where we were. We stayed up there for a few moments, laughing so hard I was sure Benny could hear us. Jackie tried to jump out of the tree, but his foot got caught in between a couple branches and he got stuck upside down in the tree. I fell from his grasp, but we hadn't been too high up. I shrieked as I fell, but only for a moment. I got up and brushed myself off, looking up at Jackie and trying not to laugh. He looked so helpless, his arms were dangling by either side of his head, his mask was slipping but he quickly fixed that. I almost fell over laughing until he said, "Um...Could you go get someone? Preferrably Hoodie or Masky...?" I giggled and nodded, racing back to the mansion. I burst through the door, Bennys' hat still on my head. "Where's Masky and Hoodie!" I yelled in the doorway. Hoodie was at the door in an instant, he had been in the living room. I heard a loud shriek and a bunch of loud thuds, then Masky came tumbling down the stairs. I laughed, but then quickly remembered Jackie in the tree. I grabbed their sleeves and ran into the forest. "He's around here somewhere..." I muttered. Just as I did a small drop of black liquid landed on my arm. I looked up, as did Masky and Hoodie. "I knew this was the right place!" I said happily as the others began to climb the tree. Once they got him down, Jackie had a hard time standing. I couldn't breathe, I was laughing too hard. He stood up, but his legs failed him and he had to lean on Hoodie's shoulder for part of the way back to the mansion. I tugged on his sleeve and he looked down, "Why did you want Masky and Hoodie? Benny was closer." He gave the two a quick glance before replying, "They wouldn't have as much to say about it." He said simply. I nodded, even though I didn't quite understand. We walked back into the mansion, and I reached out fo Jackie to pick me up again. He laughed and did so, putting me back on his shoulder. Benny was playing something, so when we walked past him I put his hat back on him and pulled it over his eyes. I heard a loud "You Lose!" come from the game and Benny froze, pulling his hat off of his eyes. He started letting out a long string of words, but I couldn't hear him 'cause Jackie had put his hands up to cover my ears. He left the room, with a screaming Benny and Jeffy rolling on the floor while clutching his stomach. Jackie took me back outside just as snow began to fall. I squealed happily, grabbing at his hair. He winced and I let go, worried I had hurt him. After a few minutes, however, he was trudging through the snow with me, laughing and hurtling snowballs at Benny. Onoe snowball knocked Bennys' hat off, and I quickly grabbed it and placed it on top of a small snowman I was building. Benny tried to take his hat back, but everytime he would reach for it I would stab a carrot at his side. He reached for it one last time, and I dropped the carrot and lept at him, tackeling him down into a snowdrift adn wagging my finger in his face, "Snow-Benny needs a hat too!" I giggled. I raced back over to the snowman and began to build another one, slightly taller. I gave it a big knife and carved a big smile into its face, then moved onto the next one. I carved out the eyes, reaching behind me and prodding Benny with the carrot again as he tried to sneak his hat off of Snow-Bennys' head. He began ot whine, but I turned around and put the carrot in his mouth. I heard a soft thud and looked over to see Jeffy face-down in the snow and laughing along with Jackie, while Masky and Hoodie tried to hold their laughter in. I smiled, running over to Jackie and wiping some of the goo off his mask. He looked confused until I ran back over to the snowman and put the goo under its eyes. After a few minutes, I had a big happy snow family with a snowman to represent everyone that lived in the house. I included Momma, Aunt Molly, Aunt Alyssa, and Aunt Payton. It was a great day, then I felt something poking me in the side. I turned around to see Jackie pointing to something, then realized Benny had stolen Snow-Bennys' hat. I threw myslef into him, knocking him over and grabbing the hat. I ran back to Snow-Benny and put his hat back on. I heard Benny start to whine again, so I threw a snowball at him. He gasped and fell to the ground dramatically. I laughed and threw another. He grinned and threw one back at me. I ducked and it hit Jeffy in the back of the head. He whipped around and glared at Benny, reaching for some snow. Benny squeaked and ran toward the mansion. Jeffy threw the snowball and it exploded on the back of Benny's head with enough force to send him flying forward into the snow. I began to laugh until a snowball hit me in the arm. I turned to see Jackie had raised his mask and was whistling innocently, turning away. I laughed and threw another snowball at him, but he ducked and it hit Masky. He screeched as it began to drip down his jacket, jumping around like a maniac. I fell face-down into the snow, clutching at my stomach. He turned around to glare at me and I lept to my feet, running toward Toby. Masky threw the snowball, missing me but hitting Toby dead in the face. Masky began to run towards the forest, throwing his arms in the air and shrieking like a small child as Toby gave chase with a snowball in each hand. Momma laughed and I saw she had five snowballs, she was floating about a foot off the ground. She threw each one at a different target, not missing once. One hit Masky and caused him to fall to the ground, letting Toby catch up to him and tackle him. Another hit Jeffy, causing him to fall backward into a snowdrift. The third hit Benny in the leg, sending him tumbling down the hill Toby had tackled Masky down. She aimed the fourth down the hill, hitting Toby in the back. Toby thought it was Benny so he lept off Masky and began to chase the poor little guy around the forest. The last one hit Jackie, knocking off his mask. It landed near me, so I went over to pick it up. I walked back over to Jackie and handed it to him, noticing he had one hand over his face. "Thanks..." He mumbled, taking his mask and slipping it back on. Then he grinned, I could tell, and threw a snowball at Momma. This was the time that Aunt Payton, Aunt Molly, and Aunt Alyssa decided to come outside. They saw the snowball hit Momma and immediately began to gather their own, making a big fort which they hid behind to make dozens of snowballs without anyone being able to hit them. The walls were so high that the only way in was by flight or teleportation, so Momma flew over the walls and joined in. The boys called to Masky, then Toby. He looked up from holding the collar of Bennys' shirt and his fist pulled back. They ran back up the hill, with a slightly out-of-breath Benny close behind. They began to build their own fort across the yard from the girls, making a small tunnel under the snow that came up under the roots of a tree so that it was hard to get into but fairly easy to leave. I looked over at the door where Sally was finally emerging, so I called her over to the small pile of snow I was making. "What's going on?" She said once she reached me. I giggled and summed up the past twenty minutes with, "I was making Snow-Benny and Real-Benny kept trying to steal his hat so I threw a snowball at him. He threw one back at me but missed and hit someone else. Then this happened." I gestured to the two forts, which the boys and the girls were occasionally popping out of. "Okay, so what are you doing all the way over here?" I snickered, "The smaller kids need a fort too!" I laughed, continuing to pack the wall I had been working on. She smiled and began to help, so it took half as long. "Alright, I'm going to make one tunnel lead to the tree roots that the boys get in and out of. You make a tunnel into the corner of the girls fort. Make it too small for them to get into, and try not to make it noticable. I'll do the same thing and we can get into their forts and attack them from inside. Then we can slip away before the realise what's going on." Sally giggled and nodded, starting on her tunnel. I began to work on mine, it didn't take too long considering it was a bit close too the trees to begin with. I took a few snowballs with me, sneaking into the boys tunnel. I giggled silently, then began to pelt them from behind. Jackie turned around and lept to tackle me, but I jumped back into the tunnel. He was close behind, and just as I was climbing back into our tunnel he grabbed my ankle. I turned around to see him lift his mask enough to grin. I smiled evily, then said, "Don't worry, It'll all be over soon!" as I pelted him with around ten or twenty snowballs. He froze, then called for Momma. Jackie climbed out of the hole and began to talk to Momma. I could scarcely make out what they were saying, "Has she ever said somehting like that before?" pause, then "No, I don't...wait, yes! Someone tried to take her, and she lashed out and kicked him in the face." pause, "How old is she?" "She's one, but she seems to be maturing rather quickly..." I got bored, so I decided to go for a short walk in the woods. I ended up getting lost in a large clearing with a big lake. I sat down on a log and began to cry, but not long after I had I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Why are you crying?" Said a male voice. I looked up to see a tall clown with a big grin and a pointy nose, like the carrots that I used for the snow family's noses. I sniffled slightly, "I lost my Momma..." I said softly. "She was talking to Jackie and I decided to take a walk in the woods...I didn't come too far..." I sniffed. He smiled, sitting down next to me, "What's your mothers' name?" I looked up at him, "Her name's Lex." He stiffened for a moment, "She's back?" I nodded, unsure of what he ment. He smiled wider, standing and reaching out a hand towards me. I took it and he helped me to my feet. "I can help you find your mother. We know eachother, I'll help you find her." I smiled, "Really?" He nodded. I held out my arms and he put me on his shoulders like Jackie does. "So you can help me find Momma? And Jackie and Benny and Jeffy? And Sally?" He nodded., "Are those their nicknames?" I nodded. "So, what's your name?" He said, ducking under a tree branch. "My name's Lidia. What's yours?" He smiled, "My name's Laughing Jack."