Othersworld (Eddsworld AU) (wip)

New House, Or Whatever

The Eddsworld house always seems like a fun place to be.
You have Tom, who's both angry and rude. Matt, who no one likes as much as himself. And Edd, who's usually the leader. Each has their own personality and are always getting into adventures together. It would seem like a place that's never boring or lonely.
But things change.
Over the past couple of years, things have been different for Tom. Tord, who he hates, attacked and destroyed the first house. Matt, who he's always been annoyed by, has started to become unbearable. Ringo, Edd's cat, went missing. And Edd, well... he misses Edd.
So, it was time to move again.
He thought that maybe it would be best to go on his own for real this time, not because of being kicked out by Tord like before, but because he needed some time to be alone. But he didn't want to-- he missed them all. Well, except for Tord.
After a shorter search for rooms (since he already knew which places he didn't want), he ended up moving to a three-story apartment, where each floor was pretty much its own house. Tom ended up living in the middle house, which from the front looked like the first floor. The first floor was really below ground.
In the first house, there were two people living together; their names were slightly similar, and they looked familiar. Tom didn't know why, but they did. They would always talk about how they were in some army until they got fired, but tell people that they're still in it.
In the second house was Tom, which was already said.
In the third house was someone who'd never come outside, they'd only come out for food and mail, but no one ever sees them. People say they stay in there all day playing and pretending he's the leader of the army the two downstairs swear they're in.
They all seem to be a little strange, but as long as they're not disturbing him, Tom didn't mind it.
Although, everyone kept asking him about his eyes. Once you're asked the same thing over and over, it starts to get annoying. But other than that, Tom's new place seemed alright; the quiet felt great, and no one was bothering him with giant robots, or about how he was acting, or that he drank too much, or with Christmas. All seemed well. The only other thing that bothered him a little was that there was a locked room he couldn't get into or find a key for. It's his place, so shouldn't he be allowed in?
One night when Tom went into his room, he noticed a bowling ball on his desk. He didn't remember getting one, and he didn't think any family was around. So, he didn't think anything of it. It's normal for things to just appear, right?
But after that night, things, again, weren't really the same. During the night, Tom started hearing things in the walls, like something was in there. He could swear he heard a cat running around, but never saw anything. And weirdest of all, the locked room would be slightly glowing. He would sometimes think about what could be behind there, but other times he just didn't care. He's searched for a key, but could never find it.
Another morning while he was walking outside the home, the two people in the first house were out too. "Hei, Thomas!" one of them said. "We haven't seen you out here in awhile."
"Oh. Guess I just haven't been out lately." Tom started to walk away, but then thought not to. "But, um, do you have any pets or something..?"
The other one stopped and looked at the first. "No... I don't think so. I don't think anyone here does, they weren't allowed here for a while."
"I don't think the one on the top floor does either, but who are we to know?" the first one added. "He never comes out."
"Right," Tom said. "So... none of you have been hearing noises around the houses?"
"Nei, not really," they both said.
"Maybe you're hearing the wind, or maybe a tree branch hitting the outside walls," the second one suggested.
"Yeah, maybe," Tom said, but knew that wasn't it. He definitely knew what those sounded like. But, he decided to just shrug it off and go with that it was just the wind or something like they said.
When Tom went back inside, he went to his room and threw himself onto his checkered bed. Sure, it was nice to have it be quiet, but it's also gotten...boring and lonely. He looked on the bedside table at the framed picture of him, Matt, Tord (with stuff drawn around and over him), and Edd. He did miss them, but also knew that he could never talk to most of them again. He couldn't go back.
He then looked on the opposite side of the room and stared at the bowling ball on his desk. It sort of almost seemed like it was watching him. To Tom, it felt a little... creepy. But it was probably just his imagination.
He looked back at the frame and grabbed one of the checkered pillows. At least he was comfortable even if he was alone. He turned around to attempt to get back up, but then noticed that the bowling ball was now on the ground. That seemed a little weird, since he hadn't heard it fall. It was even in the same position as it was on the desk. But Tom just didn't think about it anymore.
The next time he went out, he went to get the mail. There were the usual things: bills, postcards, magazines, wrong addresses, etc. It's normal for mail to get mixed up in apartments since they're right next to each other, so Tom usually gets the downstairs mail and the downstairs usually gets Tom's mail. But this time, the wrong address was for upstairs. A part of the packaging was torn, and it looked like it had some books inside, like manga or something. Guess that probably says something about the one living upstairs. After dropping his mail off in his story, Tom went to the top floor to give the one living upstairs his mail.
Tom knocked on the door, but no one answered. He could hear some whispering from inside, but no one ever came to the door. "Um, hello?" Tom called out. "I got your...package?"
Then the door slightly opened. "Yes, please, I'll take it," came an accented voice from behind the door.
"Sorry, it got delivered to my box," Tom told them. "I didn't know if you wanted it brought to you or just put in yours." he handed them the package. They opened the door a little more, but when he got it and saw the packaging was a little torn, their face suddenly turned red.
"You didn't...happen to look inside, did you..?" they asked, a little nervous.
"Oh, uh, no...sir," Tom quickly replied.
Their face relaxed, and they looked at Tom. "You said you were from downstairs, yes?"
Tom nodded.
"Ah, a neighbor! I have yet to meet any since I first moved."
"Well, I only moved here a couple weeks ago. How long have you been here?"
"Hmm... How long ago was 2009..?" They asked, then laughed. "Your name, what is it?"
"It's Tom."
"Ah, good to meet you, Tim--"
"Tom."
"--yes whatever."
Tom realized that the air had slightly changed. "Um...what is that smell..?"
"Oh, an old friend of mine just dropped off some of his rat puppets! I keep them all in that room. But, neighbor, I think it's best to warn you about something." They leaned a little closer to Tom and started whispering. "The little soldiers and puppets in army, they talk to me. They tell that something is coming, and that you must keep watch for it. Maybe old friend who you can't trust."
"I've already been through that. It didn't trick me the first time."
They straightened themself back up, and looked at Tom with an eyebrow raised. "You don't think anything of it now, but when it comes, you will regret ignoring warning." They put their package down and began to close the door. "Goodbye, neighbor! Takk for my mail!" and the door closed. But from behind the door, Tom could still hear them talking, saying things like, "His eyes, they're interesting." Of course.
Tom walked back to his room and looked through his mail one more time. It was this time that he realized, he had gotten a letter from Matt. He placed the unopened letter onto the bedside table right next to the frame. He looked behind him and saw that the bowling ball had moved again, but this time it was back on the table. Or had it not moved at all? Tom wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was tired, and that he wanted to rest.