Father Like Son

Chapter Four

(Tw: Panic attack)

Chris didn't like this place one bit. The only safe one that he could trust at the moment was Cross or so he thought. He now knew that he was in fact he was in a house filled with insane murders. Isn't that just swell! Why out of all people that could've taken him just have to be murderers. It reminded him of Michel. Sure he was a jerk but that didn't mean he was all bad. He missed him and his sister...but most of all his mother and father. No...he couldn't go down that road. They're not here anymore. They're gone and there's nothing he could do about it. The last thing he remembers of his father was him getting taken away by the cops (Before his death) and since his mother wasn't there anymore it left him all by himself. So by then, he thought the world hated him and just wanted him to suffer. It didn't get any better when he got taken away by murderous skeletons that probably would've killed him if Nightmare didn't show up to stop them. So yeah it wasn't a surprise that we wanted to just leave the place but he needed a plan which he didn't have.

"Hey, kid you awake?"

Oh, no he wasn't paying attention because he was too into his own mind. Now, this is where he was starting to panic. He pushed himself off of Cross as he started to back away only to hit the wall.

"N-no...no...no...p-please."

"Kid. Settle down it's alright."

He couldn't hear him or anything all he heard was the voices.

'Great, now he's going to punish you! Or maybe just kill you right where you are standing. It's not like it would matter Dad would've done the same. You're no different from him you know.'

It echoes nonstop in his mind causing him to yell.

"...stop it...please...just shut up!"

Out of this strange and unsettling behavior, the others were confused. They didn't know what to do about it.

"No! No! Please leave me alone! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The boy said now grabbing his hair tightly.

Chris's heavy breaths became heard. This wasn't good...but it was strange. Dust could've sworn that Nightmare said to call him if he feels like he is in danger right? Then he might not be in danger. Wait...it couldn't be what he thinks it is. Could it?

"Killer, Horror! Hold his hands down!" Cross said out of panic.

"Cross that isn't-"

It was too late the two were basically trying to get his hands out of his hair by force. It didn't really help much when he started screaming and thrashing around. Chris was already starting to cry. It kinda reminded Dust about his brother... sensitive. He couldn't stand to watch or hear another shout of plea from Chris so he just did what he had to. He turned Horror's and Killer's soul blue. His right eye turned a fiery shade of purple. Almost hypnotizing just to look at.

"L e t  g o  o f  h i m  .  .  .  N o w." Dust said bitterly causing them both to let go of the boy's hands.

He didn't hesitate when he just pushed their bodies to the couch with the blue magic from before. Cross didn't dare to go near him. Why now does he defend him? I thought he wasn't a fan of kids. All of that was true but something felt different with him. Like he was like him somehow but not at the same time. What Dust didn't know is that they have a lot more in common than he originally thought. Cross and the others were quite surprised at what Dust actually did.

"Pa- Chris? Can you hear me?"

He just whimpered and huddled himself deeper into the corner to stay as far as he could from Dust. Dust grabbed his hand gently and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Do that if you can hear me."

The boy just squeezed his bone-like hand letting him know that he could.

"Just try to keep your breathing steady. Focus on my voice. Nothing else."

This went on for a few minutes before Chris could focus on reality. His vision cleared and he could see Dust and the other's shocked faces just glaring at him.

"S-sorry...you really s-shouldn't have done that..."

"It was either that or you calling Nightmare for help." Dust lied.

The truth was that Dust had many attacks or seen others have it too. He soon learned how to settle down one's panic.

"Oh...may I go explore. Please?"

"Fine. But if you are outside of the castle beside the garden you're dead. Got it?"

He gulped taking his words seriously before nodding softly and leaving the skeletons.

"And you said I'd be the bad father Cross?"

"Shut up!" Cross said now embarrassed.

"S̴-̴s̵o̶ ̶w̸h̷o̸'̶s̷ ̴g̴o̷i̷n̸g̶ ̴t̵o̵ ̵w̶-̶w̶a̴t̵c̷h̴ ̷t̵h̸e̷ ̷k̴-̵k̵i̵d̸?̴"

"I'll do it. You guys just do whatever I guess." Killer said before anyone could volunteer.

Without another word he left the room to see where Chris went off to the door leading to the garden and stopped dead in his tracks. His mind getting the best of him made him whip his head around to look behind him. He hit his head with his own head thinking that he was just being paranoid.

"Ugh. He's right I am just an idiot. One for him and none for me."

He opened the door and closed it quickly behind him. Chris forgot that these skeletons can teleport and that's what Killer did into a tree so he could eavesdrop to hear if he's planning on escaping the place.

"What am I doing? I can't escape this place. Even if I wanted to there's nowhere for me to go even if I try to escape they'll probably find me. So what's the point of even trying." Chris said out loud to himself laughing mid-sentence.

He saw the rose patch and glanced at it in awe. He took a look around the place before sitting by a nearby tree. The tree Killer was in to be exact.

"Tch, here I am...and I thought five children and almost your whole family was bad. I just had to be people that could kill me in thousands of ways that I wouldn't know of!?!" He said in the most sarcastic way possible.

Killer was surprised, to say the least.

"Heh...gotta give em the benefit of the doubt they don't know me. I'm probably just some kid they found. I really don't get what he sees in me. Michel, if you're there...if you're anywhere for that matter. I hope you're doing better than I am."

A few tears escape his watering eyes before he wiped them away. He stood up and went inside. He was done talking about his feelings for one day.