Strawberries and Darkness

The Investigation

Moonwatcher opened the door to the home that Peacemaker and Hope lived in, she heard the creaking as she quietly entered. She wasn't sure why as there was nobody home, Peacemaker was with his friends and Hope was in a meeting with Queen Glory however despite this, Moon felt a weird persistence to keep quiet.

It was like someone would hear her if she was too loud one slight bit.

The home was small with a hallway and three rooms, the kitchen, Hope's room, and finally Peacemaker's room. Now that one is what began the suspicion.

Recently Peacemaker had managed to acquire a weird scavenger doll, it looked ancient yet he loved it. Hope was unsure and Moon was able to hear from her mind that the scavenger doll was highly familiar to her yet she couldn't place a talon on it. Like a distant memory.

Ever since the doll was brought in, there were complaints from Hope, and even from Nightwings strolling nearby of unusual sounds and unexplainable sights. From what Moon can remember, almost every night Hope could hear noises like banging on her door or thuds in the hallway like someone else was in the house. Some nights it became...more real like Hope started having nightmares of seeing Arctic tear himself apart, sometimes she would see a figure resembling a dragon in complete darkness walking past if ever her bedroom door was open and Hope would often feel like she was being watched throughout the night.

Moon wasn't sure what the last straw was but eventually, after Hope began being certain something was happening relating to the doll, Glory decided to finally have someone check it out and explore the place to see if anyone else could experience the same occurrences. That dragon was Moon as in case there was some very intelligent and creative prankster, Moon would be able to know with mind reading.

So there she was now as she quietly closed the door, despite it not even being dark outside at all the inside of the home was strangely...dark like black fog was in the room. Nevertheless, she continued heading to the room that contained the doll in the first place.

As the door creaked when it opened, Moon took a peek inside. There was nobody inside and all there was in the room was Peacemaker's belongings like a chest against the wall and his bed which lay the scavenger doll. Moon had to admit, it did look quite old, so old she was surprised it was even intact. It gave a more creepier vibe as its soulless buttoned eyes just stared up.

Moon crept in as she began looking around every corner and rummaged a bit. She felt a little bit tempted to look through the chest in Peacemaker's room but Hope insisted that for Peacemaker to have a good life, he should be treated at least like an ordinary dragonet and not some puppet to direct, therefore he has to be allowed to have some privacy so checking the chest is a no-go. Moon recalled when Qibli tried taking a peek at it in which Hope caught him and was...not happy.

It was fine for her, the chest didn't bring any sort of dread or bad feeling, it looked like a basic chest. Moon shrugged it off and figured that was it for Peacemaker's room as she exited. Before she did, she took one last glance at the doll. She gulped as she looked.

Did the doll...move a bit? Moon wasn't sure but it looked like the scavenger doll shifted in position instead of being in the center of Peacemaker's bed, it now looked like it moved closer to the door, closer to where Moon was. She began feeling tense before just brushing it off, it could've been her being paranoid. She closed the door with the same urge to be quiet about it which she couldn't explain.

As Moon carefully stepped away from Peacemaker's room, she faced toward Hope's. She began to quietly head there but before she reached the door, there was noise below her. A loud creak from the floor, Moon chastised herself for being loud but she didn't know why. It wasn't until a new feeling came through her.