Gingerbread House

Chapter One: New Neighborhood

"Don't go too far now!" A pale white skeleton shouted to his son.

The inky skeleton just nodded and waved at his mother. After that, he explored a little bit of the forest that was behind his house. He just loved the outdoors! They were just so peaceful and amazing!

It was a bit like an early birthday surprise when his mother and father told him that they were moving to a town surrounded by miles of just dense forest! It was a perfect place for the young adventure to grow up in!

Of course... There was a small downside... Every few years, some children and adults in the town would just... Disappear... Never to be seen or heard from again...

Yet, the young ink skeleton didn't know this. He just loved the place! The people were kind and very accepting of his parents, who were both male monsters! Most other places were a bit cold to them.

"PJ!" Ink called out, his eyes growing worried after not seeing his son for a bit.

The dark boned child giggled, running up to the white monster with the biggest smile he ever had.

"Mommy! I love it here! Can we stay? Please, Please!" The child bounced up and down ever so slightly.

The motherly monster chuckled, smiling down at his child. The white monster didn't want to bring his son's hopes up just to crush them, but he also didn't want his child to grow upset at him...

"Maybe, if we can find a job within the next month or so."

Even with the weak words, the dark child squealed in joy, hopping around like a bunny. Ink chuckled at his son's way of having fun.

"Why don't you go and knock on our neighbor's door and introduce yourself? Remember, be nice and behave." The motherly skeleton told his son, who obediently nodded.

He went to the left side first, and knocked. He kept his happy smile, remembering that people liked smiling children... Well, most people... Mr. Kepler hated children of every kind! Even young adults!

"Oh! Hello, you must be the new neighbors!" A nice, white skeleton smiled softly. Their voice was soft and gentle, though it sounded weird... Like something was wrong...

"Hello! I'm Paperjam, what's your name, Mister?" The child cocked his head to the side, the last word sounding like a question in itself.

"I'm Geno, little one... The town's school nurse... Hey, why don't you go play with my son and his friends? They're at Palette's house, down the road." Mr. Geno pointed to the right, where there was a curve in the road. It was the same road that the family had traveled down to their new house.

"Okay! Thank you, Mr. Geno! I hope we can talk again!" Paper gave another kind smile as he hurried off.

After running around the bend, he saw that there indeed was a group of children playing some random games. A few were playing hopscotch and some where playing with a large jump rope... It was honestly nerve racking.

Still, the determined little monster wasn't going to run away when he could make plenty of new friends!

"H-Hi! I'm P-Paperjam!" The inky skeleton called out when he was close to one group.

They were a bunch of humans messing with the jump rope.

One of them had pink hair and mismatched eyes. They smiled brightly, giggling softly. Another one had dirt brown hair that was spiked with bronze, hazel eyes. The one that was holding the jump rope, had forest green eyes with tipped blue hair in a sea of long white hair. The final human was wearing a baggy, teal sweater and wearing old basket ball shorts, their face being hidden by their cowboy hat.

"Hi! I'm Kailyn! Though everyone here calls me Kai." The pink haired girl introduced, throwing out her hand.

"Cool name!" Paper cheered, shaking the girl's hand.

"I'm Bronze, that's my twin Steel." The brown hair boy told, pointing to the teal sweater kid, who waved.

"I'm Althea." The girl holding the rope waved at the boy.

"Why did your parents name you Paperjam?" Steel asked, tipping his hat up.

He had steel grey eyes with a bit lighter colored hair than his brother. Honestly, Steel looked to be the bad boy twin of the two.

"I dunno... They just liked it, I guess." The new kid shrugged, earning a small hit from the pink haired girl.

"Who cares why you're named that! It's totally original!" Kai shouted, wrapping her arms around the slightly smaller child's shoulder. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone else." She giggled at the end of the sentence, skipping over to the other group playing hopscotch.

It surprisingly had a few more kids in it. They were mostly composed of monsters, skeleton monsters. There were though two other humans that had their arms linked together.

"Guys, this is Paperjam!"

The humans looked up at the dark boned monster, as he gave a shy wave. A bright, lime wearing monster brought the skeleton into a big hug, saying something about a new friend.

"I'm Palette!" The bright skeleton shouted, smiling like Ink normally does. "This is my best bud, Goth!" Palette pulled another skeleton into a side hug, they wearing a red scarf like Mr. Geno.

"Oh... You're Mr. Geno's kid... Right?" The inky skeleton whispered, cautious just in case he said something wrong.

Goth blushed a light red color as he nodded.

"I'm Melisende!" The taller of the two humans called out, smiling sweetly.

"I'm Bree..." The other one shied away.

"I'm Sprinkle and this is Loki and his brother, Desire!" A lavender wearing monster pointed to two other monsters.

"Nice to meet you!"

"PJ!" Someone called out, the voice bouncing off the wooden and brick houses.

"I guess Mommy's calling me. I'll see you guys later!" The inky skeleton ran back to his house, seeing his mother's worried look. "Hi, Mommy!"

At the sound of his kid's voice, he turned towards him. He lightly patted the young kid's head, smiling down at him.

"It's dinner time." Ink whispered, walking inside the two story house.

"Okay!" Paper rushed to the bathroom to wash his hands.

The water... It felt odd against his bones... Yes, he was mostly made of ink, but... That wasn't the reason for it...

"PApEr! cAmE oN! T-ThE f0Od'S gEtTiNg C0lD!" A glitched voice called through the silent house.

"Coming!" The child quickly dried his hands went to the dining room.

Even though they had just moved in, Ink and Error had unpack most of the boxes and even went food shopping. This meant that instead of take out, the three got a heathy meal that they all enjoyed. 

It was a nice first day.