Life of the Strange

Back Down The Rabit Hole

Six years ago.

The library was quiet, save for the sounds of wracking sobs moving through the chamber.

Somebody had died.

Somebody had been given life.

Everyone was grieving.

And Tenor had zero clue of what was going on. The ten-year old had only been in full existence himself for only a few years anyway, so who would blame him?

This situation had really thrown him for a curb, though. He thought he had the whole "life" thing down.

Now for some reason he'll never see a person that had been his life ever again...and then he heard a stranger, dazed and confused themselves (the stranger had a light voice that he's never heard before anyway), be led away by Duke, as he tried to explain to Captain Stranger what was going on.

Tenor thought he heard Duke crying too.

For some reason, all the adults were crying.

The other ten-year old in the house, who didn't have a name like Tenor yet, couldn't fill him in on what was going on either, being deaf made it hard for him to communicate with Tenor at all.

And then there was the six-year old of the castle he could talk to, but she was as clueless as him when it came to whatever was going on.

Grit had tried to explain to him what was happening but...

There was more commotion as the stranger had run off on their own through the castle.
From how everyone was reacting, death didn't sound too good to Tenor. It sounded sad.

The sobbing had come from the Library.

Tenor had wandered in the sound's direction. Whoever was crying sounded like the stranger from earlier, but it kinda sounded like Siren...or Padma, for a second.

"Hello?" He said, walking through the Library and hoping it was the latter. "Padma?"

There was a bout of silence as the sobbing came to a choking pause.

"Go away!" Said the stranger-voice. "Leave me a-alone." The voice was strained and scared.

Tenor frowned. He felt kinda like a ghost, shocked, gently moving forward like nothing was real. Everything was throwing him off course.

It wasn't Padma, it was the stranger.

Everyone was telling him she was gone. Padma.

Tenor hesitantly moved close to where he heard the voice.

"Hello?" He said again. "...Who are you?"

"I said. Go. Away." The stranger-voice sounded more frazzled and frustrated with every word they spoke. "Leave me alone! What do you want from me?" They sniffled.

"...I– um, I don't mean to bother you..." Tenor said, trying to sound polite— as he soon came to the spot where he assumed was right in front of the stranger. "You're new here right?  I remember when I was new...it was really scary."