Alive

Ch. 17 Without

For the first time in a long time, I actually had a goodnight's rest, despite being in the same bed as someone else. That someone was Susie, heh, I'd ask for a high five from you if I could. I do have one regret though, it's the way Susie slept. Not only does Susie snore, but she's a total blanket hog. Luckily, the heat kept me warm throughout the night. You might be wondering how the heat, water, AC, etc. will end up, considering my parents have become recently deceased. Well, I got friends in high, heavenly places; in a dream, Mariah confronted me about how the secret life will continue with my parents absence. My parent's souls will reside in the same realm as Mariah until me and my sister both become permanently dead and, in the meantime, Mariah won't let the human government or anyone outside of Hometown bother me or my home. Back to me, I wake up and rub my eyes, but with my underwear on, surprisingly. I look over and saw that Susie wasn't next to me on the bed, I thought "Aw man, I should've figured Susie would be the 'come and go' in this situation." I put on comfier clothes and I go to my living room to see Susie and Kris chilling on my couch, snacking on chips, and watching tv. Susie notices me and says with a cheerful tone "Oh hey, Fonster Mucker! It's about time you woke up!" Kris looks over and says to me "Sup, Brian!" I let out a hysterical chuckle and say "I didn't expect to wake up to this! What's up?!" Kris continues flicking channels while Susie says "Well, of course I wasn't going to ding-dong ditch on you, not after what we've been through! I invited Kris over because I wanted some chips." I knew that I had chips already and I said "Susie, you didn't have to get Kris to get chips. One, I already have chips, and two, I would've bought you some anyway." Susie yawned and scratched herself as she said "Yeah, but you had those veggie chips and I didn't want to wake you up." I let out a sigh and sat next to Susie on my couch, she offered me some chips and said "Want some of this?" I shook my head no and Susie replied "Want some of me?~" I chuckle and say "Susie, not in front of Kris." Susie tosses the chip bag aside and gets romantically close to me and says "Let him look.~" Before we got intimate, the doorbell rung. I stand up to answer the door and Susie slouches. Kris puts away a camera he had out and says "Aw man." You can guess why he had it out. I open the door and it's a tall goat man who I'm unfamiliar with, I ask "Uh, hi. Who are you?" The goat man politely replied "Howdy! My name is Asriel Dreemurr! I'm here to see my brother, Kris! I heard he was over here!" I was surprised, I didn't know Kris had any more family, it made me kind of jealous. I announced to Kris that his brother is at the front door and he comes running to him in an excited manner, he says "Oh my god! Big bro! You're back from college!" Kris and Asriel both hugged each other, Asriel said "Well, I still have college, but we're on break now, so I thought I'd drop by!" I began noticing Asriel's features. Asriel had horns, looked just as tall as me, he didn't have any facial hair like his dad, and he was skinny, he reminded me of Ralsei, then I realized that he looked a lot like Ralsei, just minus the age he is and the glasses he had were different, I said to Kris "Hey, uh, Kris. Your brother looks very familiar to someone, but I'm not sure, do you think you know?" Kris looked back at Asriel and then back to me and said "I don't know who you mean, is there something wrong?" I shook my head and said "Oh, no, I'm probably just being skeptical or something." Asriel and Kris stopped hugging and looked like he realized something too, he said "Oh! Kris! Mom said it's time to come home! C'mon, I'll drive you there in my car!" Asriel began walking to his car and Kris said to me and Susie "See you guys later!" Then Kris ran towards Asriel's car and left, it was just me and Susie now. Susie came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me, she said "Alone again.~ You know what that means.~" I chuckled from feeling the affection, but the mood was interrupted when my sister walked in and said "Yeah, Brian's taking me to P'e'zza!" I get surprised by Judy's outrageous statement, while Susie gets disappointed. I retorted "What?! Why?! Just have Mo-!" I remembered that my parents were dead, Judy did not look pleased after she figured out what I was going to say next, Susie figured it out a few seconds later and said "Yeah... hey, Bri, I think I'll just head out, I'll talk to ya later." I rubbed the back of my head in shame and said "Yeah, I'll talk to you later." Me and Susie hugged our goodbyes and went our separate ways for the day; I didn't want to see Susie go, but my sister needs to forget what happened yesterday.

Judy and I went on our way to the pizza place, the thought of death didn't leave us as we walked and didn't say a thing. The situation felt bad, like we were just being eaten with loneliness. The only family we have is each other; my grandparents are dead, I don't have any aunts or uncles, the only godparent I have is a literal god, and we don't even have a pet of any sort. The tension of the silence was too great, I decided to ask the first question that came to mind. "How do you think Mom and Dad are?" I regretted asking a family question, but Judy answered anyway. "I hope they're ok... I wish I could see them again." I just realized that the last time Judy may have seen Mom and Dad was when she being taken from the hospital, it makes me think she didn't really see them in Mariah's realm. I decided to be silent for the rest of the time, then we got to the pizza place. We entered the p"e"zza restaurant and I paid for the food while Judy got some quarters and played on the arcade machines. I hear a familiar voice in distance say "Pause." I knew it was Mariah, she appeared next to me when I wasn't looking. I wasn't startled when I looked over at her, she said "Good morning, Brian. How are you feeling?" I didn't feel enthusiastic about replying, so I was honest in a snarky way, I said "I feel like shit, Mariah. I don't know how I can get through this without my parents. I know you'll be helping me, but I know you won't be here forever." Mariah looked a little sad, like my words meant something to her, she replied "I know, Brian, but the thing is, there is a time where we all must grow up. Even your sister, who would just play and complain on video games, has grown more mature ever since being here." I found that Mariah was making some sense, but it didn't help me feel better. Mariah noticed that my sad expression was unchanged and she continued speaking "Brian... please don't be upset. I'm trying to do what I can to help this life feel normal." I looked over at Mariah with my same expression and said "Normal, huh? Having my life entangled with gods, dark beings, and bad connections with bad people seems normal to you? I'd like to see what a crazy life is to you." I looked away from Mariah, but I still knew how she felt, she was feeling challenged. Mariah thought for a moment and then said to me "Alright. If you want a normal life, I'll make your life as normal as it can be. Resume." Time resumes and Mariah is not to be seen when I look where she was. The cashier at the front desk spoke out to me and said "Hello, sir. Welcome to p'e'zza, may I take your order?" I went up to the cashier and said "Just get me a cheese."

Two hours later, Judy and I ate the pizza and had a little fun in the arcade, but we still felt pretty sad in the end of our visit. On our way home, Judy said to me "Hey, bro. I'm going to go over to a friend's house, is that alright?" I couldn't say anything because of my thoughts distracting me, but I nodded and Judy went on her way. I was back by myself again, I didn't know what to do from there. I walk around town to find myself something to do, but with all of the chaos that has happened around town, nobody is really out to interact with. No crime was being committed, so even talking to Undyne is out of the question. Teachers and students were told to stay home after the assassination attempt at me and Judy's life. My friends thought to give me time to grieve, even though I know I'll see my parents every now and then. When I had no where else to go, I went to the park and sat on a bench to collect myself and look back on my life ever since I arrived in Hometown. What I noticed was that everything was perfectly normal to begin with. I thought I lived in a normal small town with people who have their own unique characteristics, but ever since I went into that supply closet at school, nothing was what I thought it was. Kris had an evil spirit thing in him, Susie went from bully to girlfriend, and a deity has been controlling most of my life this whole time. I think it's about time I find my way to settle down. I stand up off the bench and just head home, with a full intention on living out my new, normal, lack of magic life... Alive.