People always said Grandma's house was strange. The paperboy, the grocer, even the crazy old bat down the street. The house was oblong, it jutted out in random places, it had more colors than I could count.. In short, it was, well, different. But, i...
"To be more precise, an exact plan and a lot of work. Maybe some weapons," Emma cut in.
"Okay. First things first, we'll have to get back up there. How exactly could we do that?" Jack asked, rubbing the back of his head. It's a habit of his when he's thinking.
"Well, you'll have to wait until night, and then have one of us accompany you to the tree. If you eat some of the ropes, you'll go back," Emma explained to us, in complete seriousness.
"What?! Can we at least have a Master Chef cook it to make it edible?!" I shrieked.
Giggling, Emma replied, "No, you don't have to eat rope! But you do have to hang yourself. If you do it alone and at night, when you pass out from lack of oxygen you'll be transported to the other world. You'll have to do it separately, because two people is technically a group."
"I'll go first. Jack can find me, but I probably won't find Jack. He has a tendency to wander," I decide to volunteer. Glaring at me, Jack scoffs.
"Alright. Now that that's set, we have to prepare you. You'll need something a little protective, an amulet if we have one, and some sort of weaponry. In the story, the friends see each other as gods of death--" I cut Emma off before she could finish, by asking, "Do they like apples?"
"They don't eat," she replied, clearly confused, "Anyway, they see each other as gods of death, believing that they're doing the right thing. They did technically create death for us, but they will try and place the curse on you two. You have to learn how to be unaffected by such attacks. Now follow me."
"To your doooooom," I hear Jack sarcastically mutter behind me. I can't help but giggle. This earns a curious look from Emma, but Father Ka keeps walking with her, a small smile placed upon his old wrinkled face.
We come to an old room, with a strange type of bamboo. Emma opened up a wardrobe, and in it was varying types of armor. She gives us a choice between them, and I choose a protective looking female armor that seems like it'll fit, and Jack does the same but for males. In another wardrobe, this one a little more closely shaped to a chest, she shows us a variety of steel and wood weapons we can choose from. I choose the daggers, whereas Jack chooses the bow.
Holding the daggers out, I call out to my friend and say, "I'm gonna jack you up!" with the cheesiest grin I have. The sound of the room's collective groan is music to my ears, until an arrow narrowly misses my head.
"Stay alert. You two need to learn how to use these," Emma says sternly and hands Jack his bow, "and you need to learn fast. Father Ka will teach Jack, and I will teach Marceline. Father is very adept in the art of archery, and can teach you well. I know knives, so I'll try my best."
We split up, Father Ka leading Jack off to some other room, and Emma leading me to the next room. She began showing me various moves, and once I got the hang of them we started sparring.
"So what's the deal with you and that guy?" She asked, "I think Jack is his name?"
"Oh, he's just a friend. Why? You into him?" I reply.
"No, but Father Ka thinks you two are together. As in, together together. Watch it; you want him to have a good view of you, so don't get yourself into some odd situation."
I sputtered. She swung. A large cut was now on my cheek; it'd likely scar. Oh well. I was more mad that it'd cut my bangs oddly, since I couldn't much feel the pain. Adrenaline, am I right?
"Oh my lord I'm so sorry I'll tend to you now!" She rushed off to get bandages. It surprised me that she immediately lost her tough girl facade, and instead was genuinely sorry to have hurt me. I touched my hand to my cheek, and found a steady stream of blood coming from the wound. Damn.
"I'm so sorry, here, turn your head and.." she trailed talking all kinds of medical mumbo jumbo. She disinfected the wound, bandaged it, and decided I'd practiced enough today. "You'll learn from me for the next week, then you'll start the journey. It'll take you awhile to find them, since they'll likely be at the top of the house and from what I've heard from Coraline, it's a very big, especially tall house.She kept many random species of animals; it was, in a way, an Ark for our world. If a species was dwindling, she took it in and rekindled it's life. I've heard of a Noah's Ark some of your people believe in; she was our version of that."
The mention of my grandmother got me thinking. I never actually knew her, I mean when I was little I did, but I barely remember those days. I don't remember having tea with her or baking cookies, nor her helping me with arithmetic. I wasn't particularly torn up about her death, now yes I was very sad, but the reason I wasn't a blubbering mess was because there was nothing for me to blubber over. Just a black hole where my memories for her are.
"Did you know my grandmother?" I ask.
"Yes actually. We age very slowly here, but I'm about twelve years younger than she was. She was very kind; she liked the color mint, and she was always making up new games for us to play. She was like a big sister to me, since mine were taken in the last mass," she tells me.
"Mass?"
"Mass suicide. It's taboo to discuss them here, so we just call it mass. Oh, Coraline always hated the idea of the cycle. It was why she wanted to escape. She did escape, when we were forty in your years. She visited from time to time, and very much did enjoy it. Actually, she tried to help us. The reason the original marion and shadrahk are in her house is because she wanted them to be somewhere easy for their conquerors to find, thus her reason for luring them to her home. Not to mention, she likely pitied them, if only a little. She liked baking little pastries, which is beyond me but they tasted good when she brought them over from up above, and she showed us something called lemonade. It's amazing. She said she preferred limeade though. That drink isn't so amazing. I'm sorry if I'm babbling, but there's just so much to tell. She.. She was a wonderful person." Tears pooled in Emma's eyes, and she excused herself so that she could hold herself together.
Suddenly, I was struck with the strangest longing for my grandma. I may not remember making pastries with her, but I know they were fantastic. I may not remember drinking sour drinks with her, but I know she thought they were sorta sweet. I know she loved keeping me endlessly entertained with game after game, even if I'll never remember having played with her. And, quite surprisingly, it hurt. So, in that little room, I just curled up and let it out. All the longing for my grandmother, my confusion about her origins, why I was here, what I'd do when the time came to defeat the friends. I hadn't realized I was so scared and worried over it all, but once I started crying over Grandma Coraline, I just couldn't stop. It felt good to let it out.
Okay so, this is the general idea of the armor they're wearing:
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I can't credit the artist, because I got this off of google images and have no idea who put it there, but it's a lovely set so I thought it'd work well. Also, I decided to use this chapter for character development rather than furthering the story. I hope that's okay; thanks for reading!
