The Septic Curse

Four

Marvin decided to stay home the next day.

He didn't want to be caught up in any more of this upside-down shit. He didn't sign up to be in the kaleidoscope of Tattletail, he just wanted some tuna.

If he could avoid being sucked into what was likely a pit in hell that Darkiplier reserved for the Septics for some fucking reason, that'd be great. 

So, Marvin was at home with Chase and Robbie. They were setting up a parkour challenge for Chase's next video. Now, Marvin didn't think indoor parkour was the best idea... But this was Chase's recording room, so he could do whatever he wanted to do in it. Henrik wasn't going to scold them for making a mess that they have to clean up soon anyways. 

"Alright! I'll record. Robbie, stop chewing on that." Marvin turned to the zombie, sighing as he saw one of Chase's action figures in his mouth. "RrrRrr?" Robbie tilted his head, only to have Chase take the toy out of his mouth. He pouted for a second but went back to playing so that the fatherly ego could start the video.

The video itself was only about fifteen minutes long, but let's just say that the time spent recording was different.

When JJ got home, Marvin remembered what he had wanted to talk about. Jamie's birthday was on the 31st! How could Marvin forget?- oh, wait, there was an illusion and a stalker, THAT'S how. 

Marvin greeted Jameson at the door, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him to the side. "So! We aren't doing a surprise party, since we did that last year... So, I want your opinion on some things so that everything is perfect for you on the day of the party!" 

The light above them flickered.

'What party?' Jameson signed, tilting his head. "Your birthday party, of course." Marvin chuckled, but he was quickly cut off as the light began to flicker so violently and crazily that he swore that it was having a seizure. 

The lightbulb exploded.

Marvin yelped, jumping back as glass shards fell to the ground. "What the hell?! Holy sh-i-i-iiiit!" The magician laughed a bit, "CHAAASE! THE HOUSE IS HAUUUNTEEEED!" He joked, yelling out. Chase came into the room with a question on his face, which quickly turned to worry as he saw the mess. "What happened here? Is anyone hurt? Oh, Schneep is going to kill me!" "Oh, relax! The bulb exploded- It was cheap and overused. I'll have Jackie go to the store and grab some better ones while he's out." Marvin waved it off, snapping his fingers and making the mess go away- probably to the trash. Hopefully not a poor fish's gut. 

"...Alright. But nobody got hurt, right? JJ, did you get scratched?" Chase checked the others over, his fatherly side showing. "No. We're fine!" Jameson waved it off, quite literally. "It feels like the house is just breaking down, don't it?" Chase sighed, giving a chuckle as he turned to the living room. 

"Anyways! Jamie. Birthday-" Marvin heard something click on. "Uhh... What was that?" "Just the oven. It'll turn on randomly sometimes to warm the house- Henrik did something with it earlier." Chase shrugged it off, not knowing why Marvin was so jumpy. But the magician knew that something off was happening. He just didn't know what.

"Okay... Jameson... You know what? We can talk about this once everyone else gets here." Marvin sighed, giving up for now. "Talk about what?" Chase lifted a brow, having not been there for that part of the conversation. "Oh, the birthda-" Marvin let it slip, his eyes widening a second too late.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"WHAT THE- fuuuck! God, that stupid fire alarm scared me!" Marvin hissed, still not quite used to the thing randomly going off as the house warmed. "I'll go get it." Chase grunted, going out of sight and into the kitchen. 

When Chase came back, he looked guilty. "Miiight need a new fire alarm...?" He chuckled nervously, "wow, things just keep randomly breaking today!" 

"UGH. I'll text Jackie about that too!" Marvin groaned, pulling out his phone. "Text vhat?" Henrik opened the door, entering the house. "UHH... Oh, um, hi, Hen!" Chase fumbled for words, but the doctor really didn't notice. He saw the scene of Marvin and Chase standing beside a concerned-looking JJ, talking about texting something to Jackie...

"Ah. You must ve talking to Jameson about his birthday, correct?" Marvin flinched as he heard a crack in the other room, but his hearing was sharper than the others and they didn't realize. "Yeah. Well, I mean, they were talking about the birthday. I came in after I heard Marvin yell." Chase explained, Marvin hearing another light bulb pop. "Uhh-" "A light bulb exploded, and the fire alarm went off." Chase continued, listing everything that had happened.

"Oh, I see... Hhhh... I'll give Jackie some money..." Henrik groaned, "must zhis start happening so close to Jameson's virthday...?" The microwave started beeping in some binary code that Marvin was pretty sure resembled the letter they got a few days ago- 'fuck you'. "STOP SAYING 'BIRTHDAY'!" Marvin hissed, only to groan as there was another pop. 

Yeah, there was something going on. 

---

When Jackie finally returned from work and his trip to the store, the magician had already cleaned up the messes... But there were a LOT of broken things. 

It seemed that it was just one of those days. 

And so, the Septics got to work on repairing and replacing the broken electronics. And they avoided any words that had anything to do with parties, just in case that really was the reason things were going wrong. 

But when it was nine, and they had decided to leave the rest for tomorrow... Something happened. 

They were watching a movie. Marvin was sitting on a beanbag to the side of the couch, JJ and Robbie were sitting on the floor, and the others took the couch. But the movie suddenly paused on its own. The Septics, assuming that it was just poor internet, groaned but didn't make much fuss. 

But then time itself seemed to slow down. 

Something fell from the ceiling, slowly fluttering down like a leaf... 

It was a slip of paper. 

And on that paper, was a word. 

'F̶͖̆o̷̧͑ṵ̸͠r̸͚̚'

Everyone froze, staring at the paper that fell from the ceiling. The ink ran downwards, and bled through the paper... But the word 'four' was plain to see. 

And in the distance, a bell chimed. 

Four times.