photo above not mine. artist signed their name on it already.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER 05: MADE YOU LOOK
🐇
Nothing significant happened after the funeral. Taina and Eddie thought it'd be best for now if they went home. (Taina made a short detour to the store for some grocery essentials.) Nearing nine in the evening Eddie left with little to no explanation, demanding Taina stay home and stay off the streets. He didn't want her being cornered by the Toon Patrol again. It was already bad enough he got his niece, a civilian, involved in this case. So, Taina made dinner, ate, showered, listened to the radio while thumbing through a fashion magazine, and then went to bed around eleven.
Taina woke up around ten and dutifully made breakfast-eggs, bacon, grits, and toast. As Taina mindlessly shoveled down her meal, she noticed how quiet it was. Normally she was welcomed by the obnoxious snoring her uncle made while sleeping, but it wasn't there. He wasn't there, hunched over his desk with a liquor bottle in hand. Neither was he squashed on the sofa or sprawled on the pullout. Eddie was nowhere to be found.
Just as she's about to call Santino and file for a missing persons report, the front door swings open with far more force than intended. In the doorway stood a short, stubby man that looked a lot like Eddie from the neck down and on his head was a toon pig mask with her uncle's fedora on top.
"Uncle Eddie?" asked Taina, unsure. "Is that you?"
"Sadly," he grumbled. Taina walked over to Eddie, trying to find out where he was speaking through the mask. The permanent "smile" the pig mask wore was where Eddie's face could be seen.
"What happened?" Taina wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel. Should she laugh? Should she be more worried? Should she actually call Santino? Is this considered assault? Or harassment?
Eddie brushed past her and beelined for the bathroom. "I don't want to talk about it, Taina!" he shouted, slamming the door. Taina could hear the shower start to run as she went back to her breakfast.
"No need to be rude," she mumbled, into a bite of bacon.
Eddie emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later, no toon pig mask in sight. Taina pondered how he got that thing off his head until she remembered what was in the toon eraser elixir Judge Doom had, turpentine. The bottle hung out with their bathroom cleaning supplies under the sink, possibly a horrible place to put it, but that's where Eddie decided to keep it, and Taina never questioned it.
Eddie got redressed and then wordlessly ate his now semi-cold breakfast.
"Uncle," sighed Taina, not wanting to let the toon pig mask go because it was too weird to just ignore. "Why didn't you come home last night?"
Eddie glared at his niece. He studied her face for a moment. Normally, she wouldn't hesitate to point and laugh at his misfortune, finding amusement in that for the last couple of years. But right now, he couldn't see that. Of course, the twinkle of mischief still sparkled in her eyes, but her lips were pulled into a frown. She looked a lot like Teddy.
