The Journey to the House on Raspy Hill

It was a quiet night, the moon wasn't out, but a faint glow came from a forest off in the distance. A gentle breeze blew by, and despite all efforts, the cool air seemed to wrap all around her and prevent any warmth. Blair's mint eyes surveyed her surroundings, pale fingers reaching up to pull her hair out of her face. Her short, brown hair whipped wildly in the wind as it grew harsher by the second until a voice called out into the dark.

"Oh, quit that, would ya?" The Irish accent rang out, annoyance obvious as he spoke. "It's cold enough as it is."

The wind stopped, then one more gust ran through, knocking the poor figure off his feet, as if just to spite him. The figure growled, and rolled his eyes, rising to his feet as Blair took a timid step forward, the grass tickling her bare feet. The man's head snapped towards her as she got closer, his eyes surveying her before he broke out into a smile.

"My, my, my..." He smirked, one eye glowing a different color than the other. "Looks like you didn't take the right turn." He paused. "Well, you did. But it was the wrong one. You were supposed to go left, but you went right, and now you're here and-" he cut himself off. "Anyway, that wasn't my point. The point was, you're here, and you're supposed to be there." He pointed with a finger to something behind her.

Blair turned around, looking at a shimmering purple city on a pink cloud not too far from where they were currently standing. The man walked up next to her, using her shoulder as an armrest as the two of them looked at the sparkling city in the clouds. Thankfully, Blair didn't seem to mind. "What is that place?"

"That, my dear, is dreamland. I assume you got here because you fell asleep?" the Irishman asked. Blair nodded. "That's definitely where you're supposed to be then. Here is..." he chuckled. "Much worse." A look of fear passed across Blair's face as she swallowed fearfully. He took his arm off her shoulder and caught her eye, smiling at her reassuringly. "But don't worry doll, I'm not just gonna leave you." He extended his hand, smile still evident on his face. "Hi, I'm Anti and I'll be your guide through Raspy Hill."

She took his hand and shook it, giving a small smile in return. "Blair," came her short response as she dropped her hand back down to her side.

"Well, come on then." Anti called as he began to walk away.

"Wait," she said, causing him to pause temporarily as she ran to catch up. "Where are we going?"

"To the house on Raspy Hill, of course." The green haired man replied, as if it should've been obvious.

"But, I thought this whole entire place was Raspy Hill?" Blair asked, slightly confused.

Anti chuckled. "It is." Upon seeing her even more confused, he smiled. "I'll explain as we walk." He held out his hand for her to take, which Blair just eyed skeptically. Anti sighed. "I have no romantic intentions. I promise." He reassured her.

After a second or so longer she finally grabbed his hand in hers and they began to walk, their arms swinging a little between them. "Got rid of those a while ago." Anti explained, filling the silence once more. "Gave them all to Jack for his girlfriend. Now that I think about it, that might've been a bad idea. Should've saved a little just in case. They're getting along just well, and I have all faith that they'll stay together, but, you know, just in case." He trailed off, as if in thought. "Should go harvest some later."

"Anyway," Anti said, jerking his head up from the ground where he had seemingly got lost in thought. "The whole Raspy Hill thing. So, this whole place is named after Raspy Hill, which is the hill where we are going. That probably made no sense."

"No, I got it." Blair reassured him.

"Ok, good. So we're going there for a couple reasons. You have to wait until you wake up before you can leave here, so you might as well go somewhere friendly and have a place to rest. Well, somewhat friendly, but the main reason is to get away from the air. The house is the only place here that has clean air."

"Seems fine to me." Blair commented, taking a deep breath as if to prove her point. Anti rolled his eyes.

"Of course it seems fine. But it's not the air, it's the side effects."

"Side effects?" Blair looked up at the man's heterochromic eyes with worry. Anti, once again, just smiled down at her comfortingly, and gave her hand a little squeeze.

"Some go away as soon as you leave, some take a while to fade into oblivion and some, well, are there forever. But don't worry, you'll have to be here for a long time for that to happen. That's why I'm freezing cold all the time."

"Yeah, I did notice that when I grabbed your hand." Blair informed him.

"Quite unfortunate really." Anti mused. "But not like there's much warmth to have here anyway."

"You said something about a Jack..." Blair began, curiously. "Does he live here too?"

"No, no." Anti replied, shaking his head. "He lives in your world. But I'm not alone, trust me. It can actually get quite crowded with the five of us in the house there. Used to be a lot less when it was just me and Dark. Wilford got kicked out of Mark's place and the computer that Google was staying in didn't have enough storage once Glitch was made. Thankfully Jack was able to update the computer that Bing stayed on before it kicked him and JackGlitch out. It would be a disaster if there were seven of us in that house. The thing is tiny enough as it is."