All My Favorite Monsters

New Places, New People

[Addie]

My head bobbed slightly to the music streaming from my earbuds as I opened the door, walking into the kitchen. My backpack was making my shoulders hurt, so I set it down under the table that sat on the edge of the kitchen and dining room next to my clarinet. Thankfully, I had finished my homework before leaving school, so I had the rest of the afternoon for freetime. Well, so long as my parents didn't have any chores for me to do.

I was about to head to my room when I felt some kind of... aura. A presence. Some strange force, pulling me back to the door.

I took out an earbud to see if there was any noise. Nothing but the sounds of an empty house, since my parents were taking one of my brothers to football and the other was with my grandpa out of state.

I cautiously walked out the door, and walked to the middle of the driveway. The cold autumn breeze cut through my hoodie easily as I looked around warily.

I could've sworn-

My thoughts were cut off as a hard, ice-cold hand covered my mouth, and I felt a sharp pain in my neck as the world faded to black.

---

"Hey! Over here!"

"Who's that?"

"I don't know, but I think she's hurt! Come on!"

Those voices... where have I heard them before?

"And why are you doing this?"

"Hey, I'm only quote, unquote, 'bad' when I snap. When I'm sane, I tend to want to help people."

An agitated sigh was heard. "Fine."

I felt someone sit me upright. I wanted to wake up, see who it was, but my eyes were glued shut.

"There, on her neck. There's some kind of bite mark."

"There- oh, there is."

"I thought you were supposed to be a doctor. I feel like you'd notice something like that."

"I was trained in mental care, Eli. You probably know more than me about this, but you seem involuntary to do this."

One of them, the one who actually seemed concerned that I had been lying unconscious who knows where for who knows how long, put his hand on my forehead. At that moment I was finally able to open my eyes. Startled by my sudden awakening, the person checking me jumped back. The one standing chuckled.

"It's hilarious watching you be an idiot," he said.

"Shut up," the first one snapped.

Once my eyes re-focused, I was able to see the two more clearly, and I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating or not.

Because standing in front of me were two of my own characters.

Eli glanced back down at me. "And who are you?"

"Uh- I- uh-" I found myself unable to speak from shock.

"It's okay, we're friends," Socks said. I could tell he wasn't confident about that, and I wasn't either - him being the version of Socks from my story Switched, I knew for a fact that he was insane. And Eli was just plain bad.

I blinked, trying to decide whether I should tell them who I was.

"I think she's in shock, we should probably wait on introductions," Socks said, turning to Eli.

"I could get her to talk," Eli smirked, and his hand moved to where I knew he had a taser gun in his pocket.

"No! No, no, we're gonna be patient with her," Socks quickly cut in, putting his hand on top of the gun Eli had started to raise.

Eli scoffed, and put the taser gun away.

Socks turned back to me.

"Alright, then. I'm Socks, this is Eli," he said. "You don't have to tell us who you are now, but once you can that would sure be great! Can you walk?"

I nodded, and slowly stood up. I felt really stiff, and I suspected I'd been laying there on the ground for a long time. But I could walk, and that's what mattered. Socks motioned for me to follow him, so I trailed close behind him, keeping at least five feet away from Eli at all times. Socks may be more mentally unstable, but I trusted him to keep a grip on his sanity more than I trusted Eli not to tase me.

Which is saying something, due to the fact that Socks usually has trouble with that...

It wasn't very long before the two led me to a large cabin that stood in a clearing in the forest.

Socks turned around to me before he opened the door.

"I'm just going to warn you now," he explained, "The others aren't very... welcoming, I guess, of new people. They tend to have trust issues with newcomers. So if someone tries to kill you, that's probably why."

My face went pale. Say what now-

Before I could ask anything, Socks opened the door.

------

*inhales*

Ialreadyhaditdoneokayimpostingitandmaybemanyotherchapters

817 words