Darkened Heart

Chapter Nine

"Before I became the other father, I was rather wealthy. In fact, I was known as the grand minister of Ashland when the town was first settling. The Pink palace was a home I had built in my honor." The other father began, telling his story while combing her hair with his gloved fingers. "You once lived up there? The real world?" Charlotte asked. "But of course. Underneath all of this, I can assure you I'm still human. Anyway, after I moved in, odd things started happening." His button eyes looked at the floor, frozen. "Something about this place was strange. I began to hear voices in the walls, voices that had to be silenced. Everywhere I turned, I heard these voices call out to me, begging me to come inside. Inside where? I didn't know at the time." She felt his heaving chest against her side as he breathed deeply. He hadn't told this story to anyone for over a few centuries. Just to hear his words escape the boundaries of his lips was enough for him to finally breathe. "One day I decided to follow the voice." He continued after a brief pause. "It led me past the garden and into the woods, past the apple orchard, and finally, to a well. I remember standing there unsure of what to do... now that I had found the source of those whispers. You know, darling, the peculiar thing is that I never remembered having a well built on my property. It was as if the water at the bottom of the long and cobbled hole had been there since the beginning of time. I looked inside it, bending over to see if I could hear the voices again, but then... then I was pushed in."

"Pushed? By who?" She asked. "I don't know. Not to this day do I have any idea. All I know is that I fell down the well and expected to be met with mud and water. However, by the time I came to, I saw that I was in a void of nothing."

"Nothing?" She repeated. "Now, now, Charlotte, let me finish." He said. "I wandered a white nothingness for minutes, hours, days maybe? I lost track of time. Then I came upon that door... that tiny little door I never knew I had. When I crawled through it, I was back in my own living room as if nothing had happened. That was how I discovered the other world. Whatever it may be..." She noticed his hand had slowed down slightly. There was something in his voice that caught her off guard. He sounded afraid. "You see, darling. I only made what I knew would impress you. It was like that with the other children as well. I never had children of my own of course. It wasn't that I wasn't interested, but... I could never find the perfect woman. All they saw was my status, my wealth! They accepted my gifts without as much as a simple thank you just as any other selfish brat did!" His voice became a little angry. Charlotte couldn't help but yelp slightly as his hand lightly tugged on her ginger hair. When he noticed he immediately loosened his grip and went back to stroking it. "I'm sorry my dear. Forgive my interruption. Now... where was I? Ah, yes... the other world... I thought that was the end of it. Although I wanted to tell the townsfolk on what I've discovered, I knew they wouldn't believe little old me. What I didn't know was that the voices weren't done. Every night they called to me in my sleep, in my dreams, and eventually I made the mistake of listening. For the sake of my sanity I went through the door once again. That was when I realized that this world, this... dimension, it... it was alive." Just as he said those words, the thoughts of the secret door and its breathing came back to her. "This world, darling, it liked the way I tasted. After it did so, it wasn't going to stop until it finished the feast. When I came back it demanded I create things, things that could satisfy both my hunger and its own. All the while I was scared. I wanted to go back, to warn others of my burden, but it was too late. I was trapped."

"I-I'm sorry. I never realized you-" She began, but was cut off. "That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that I caved in. Ever wonder why I sewed buttons in those childrens' eyes? I did it for the very reason I gave up my own eyes. I did it so I could survive. The eyes provided me with the base line I needed to create and alter a new version of my home. I used everything I had to sustain it. But my energy wasn't enough, you see... I needed more, I craved more. The other world was enough to keep me alive until the point where I was almost immortal. In my absence, the true pink palace went through many things. People auctioned off my belongings as if I was never there to begin with. The mice, you see, were the most helpful. They brought me things to alter and mend into my new home. They also made good spies. I had been gone for about a hundred years by the time the first child moved in. That's when I began my real work." He couldn't help but smirk slightly as he felt her shiver. Charlotte did her best to hide her goose bumps, but he knew it already. He paused, and said nothing. She felt him wrap his arms around her, warm and leathery thanks to his coat. It was as if he was hugging her tightly. "I admit that the first child I captured was hard. Unlike you, that foolish little boy didn't have a doll to watch after him. When he came, he figured out my scheme on the first night... that ungrateful little child... I had to eat him before he could escape." He couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as he recalled that old memory.