“And a one...And a two ...And a three…”

Thomas watched as his companion counted to three and kicked down the front door of the house.

Thomas trailed behind the creepy, dark-eyed, child. Charging into the house as well. Watching with a muted mixture of tension, horror, and boredom as the other boy ran into the house like a feral beast. Racing into the kitchen.

The straitjacketed boy leapt onto the man of the house and used some kind of psychic power to make the man’s head explode. Brain, bone, and blue-gray ichor splattering everything.

Thomas did his own part. Striking at the woman of the house. An older woman in a green and white striped shirt.

He hurled one of his daggers of light into the woman’s chest and then released the power contained inside. Detonating the dagger like a grenade made of pure light and heat. Cooking the woman...cooking the thing that was pretending to be a woman ...Cooking her from the inside out.

“Gramma! Pap-Pap!” cried the little boy who sat at the table.

Monty leapt off the headless torso and back flipped over the boy. Knocking the boy out with a brusque and brutal kick to the temple..

“...Dude.” said Thomas. Still breathing hard from the adrenaline that was coursing through his system.

“What?” said the dark eyed boy.

“You’ve gotta stop kicking them like that.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fucked up...Besides aren’t they supposed to be our fellow hostages...Fellow victims caught in this whole crazy? Doesn’t it seem a little, I don’t know, wrong?...to literally kick them around, on top of everything else? Plus, I’m pretty sure we both know you probably have better ways to knock people out.”

“Mhm ...You might be right about some of those things. Plus fixing all that brain damage is starting to get tiring.”

“Oi?! Wait, what was that last part?!”

“Relax. Relax. They were brain damaged even before the kicks. The human mind isn’t supposed to be in an illusion this strong for this long. It doesn’t funny things to the mind. Plus, besides being very fun, I kind of ‘have’ to knock them out like that to break the connection between them and the creatures. Anything subtler or gentler risks turning these people into a sequel hook.”

“Sequel hook?” said Thomas.

“You know...A sequel hook. When the movie is all done and then you turn around and see that one of the character’s eyes are all wrong and look exactly like the eyes of the big bad. For the characters in the film it only lasts for a second. The characters might not notice it at all, or if they do notice it they all hold the idiot ball and act like its nothing. However the audience sees that shit and immediately knows that the film’s makers are hoping for a part-two...A sequel.”

“Oh...I guess that makes some kind of sense. My bad for thinking you were just doing that because you thought it was fun.” said Thomas. Looking chagrined. Suddenly struck by the worrying feeling, that hanging around the other boy was eroding his common sense.

“No problem there, friend. You ‘were’ partially right in that if it wasn’t so fun to do it this way I’d probably have already figured out a faster, lazier, alternative.”

“What?!”

The strange boy ignored Thomas’ sound of outrage. He kicked the chair that the crying boy had been sitting on, sending the young child’s body flying into the air. Then the straitjacketed little imp stomped the ground and aperture opened up swallowing the unconscious child.

Despite knowing that the child was completely safe and was in fact more secure in the “pocket” dimension that Monty was keeping them in, Thomas couldn’t help shuddering as he watched the child get “eaten” by the hole in the floor.

Monty on the other hand began humming a jaunty tune as he explored this new house. Walking through the kitchen and opening the fridge. Using his telekinetic abilities to take out a carton of eggs, some cheese, some spinach, some tomatoes, and some orange juice.

Thomas watched Monty walk over to the stove with his loot and imagined the boy growing another two invisible limbs as he used his powers to take hold of a frying pan and spatula.

“What say you to breakfast for dinner, Mr. Yu?” said Monty.

Thomas rolled his eyes at the stupid pun and shrugged as he pushed aside the corpse of the creature that had been pretending to be the child’s grandmother and took a seat.

“...Sure.”

*************************************************************************************************************

According to Thomas reckoning it had been a little under twenty-four hours since he and the rest of his fellow students had been pulled inside the town of Andante. However, that couldn’t be right because according to his strange new companion the news coverage concerning the missing students of Gerald Yang High had been going on for a little over three weeks.

That wasn’t too much of a surprise, Thomas had long ago realized that time in this place was unreliable. Sometimes stretching, sometimes shrinking. His memory and perceptions were even more unreliable. This whole place was messing with his head.

“I...I think I’m getting used to killing these things...Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” said Thomas. Staring blankly at his plate of fluffy, expertly cooked, eggs. Covetously eyeing a third plate of eggs that Monty had prepared and pushed to the side.

“Well, it’s keeping you alive, Tommy my lad. So I’d say it’s a good thing.” said Monty. Using a telekinetic limb to cut a portion of his omelet, spear it with his fork, float the forkful of food into his mouth.

“Huh? I guess that sounds about right...So let’s just go over what we know.” said Thomas.

“Mhm? Why?” said Monty.

“Why? For the readers of course.” said Thomas. Eating a mouthful eggs and washing it down with a sip of orange.

Monty glared at the boy. One brow raised.

“What?” said Thomas. Finding himself feeling started when he looked up and saw the other child giving him such a sharp and scrutinizing look.

“That kind of fourth-wall breaking is a sign of dangerously low sanity-points, young man.”

“Uh ...I was just joking. What? Would you rather I say, let’s go over everything that’s

happened in the last twenty-four hours because I’ve understood none of it and the growing sense of unreality feels like it is going to crush me at any moment?” said Thomas. His tone growing defensive, and just a little bit worried, near the end.

The other boy just kept staring. His eyes still narrowed. His gleaming, green-eyed, gaze

still sharp.

“....Yes. Yes, I would.” said Monty.

“Hmph, fine. Whatever!” said Thomas.

“So where should we start?” said Monty.

“Huh?” said Thomas.

“You wanted to break down where we are now and where we’re headed ...I'm asking where you want to start the discussion.” said Monty.

“Oh...Uh, right...How about I start explaining what I’ve observed and you tell me what

parts I’m misunderstanding?” said Thomas.

“Hm, that sounds like a plan. Shoot.” said Monty.

“Okay, first off, I’ve figured out why we’re all kids.”

“Oh, and? What’s your theory?”

“Because kids are easier to eat. In this form we’re smaller, weaker, and I’m sure whatever these boogeyman looking things are...we probably taste tenderer to them or whatever.”

“Meh...An interesting theory but far off base, based on the data I’ve been picking up.”

“Data? What data?” said Thomas. Cocking his head at the shorter boy.

“I’ll give you points for guessing the nature of these monsters. They are indeed a species of boogeymen...They call them Chorobasnu. Dreaming sickness, or dreams of plague. They feed on the minds, and eventually the flesh, of the ill and aren’t above creating and spreading illnesses to expand their food supply, which is one of the two reasons I’ve tucked away all our fellow “kids” till I can safely assess their conditions and rid them of any paranormal pathogens they might be carrying.” said Monty.

“Okay, but where are you getting this from…”

“I’m a player, remember? And besides that, I’ve been around for a while and built up an extensive mental library concerning a fair number of the cosmos’ most and least lovable life forms.”

“I...Alright, but why am I wrong about why we’re suddenly kids?”

“Because it wasn’t the chorobasnu that turned us into kids. It was other presence in this town that did so...Chorobasnu like most other boogeymen, gain their power by feeding off the fear of their victims. Unlike most other boogeymen they’ve adapted for targeting adults and the elderly. Making us into children actually makes us harder for them to get at. Especially since we...or at least most of the other people in this place...have been placed in nice comfy recreations of our cherished childhood memories.”

“What?! How the hell does that work? Also, how does making the choro-whatever's into the adults in this so-called land of memories equal making us safer?” said Thomas. His tone skeptical.

“Well,...Now this part is more of a guess than anything else, but remember how I said chorobasnu have adapted to prey on adults, not children? Basically, they’re probably of the sub-variety of boogeymen that find it hard to react to things that don’t act like prey. Making them play the roles of beloved family members makes it even harder for them turn predatory because that means the kids are even less afraid of them.” said Monty.

“Nh, maybe that makes sense...maybe. But that doesn’t explain why we and about ten other kids ended up in the hospital instead of in our private dream lands...and what about the kids we found that were afraid, the kids the monsters ended up getting.” said Thomas. Trying not to feel nauseous as he recalled the small half-eaten bodies they’d run into as they explored the town.

“Your second question is easy enough to answer, the chorobasnu are cheating. Look up and you’ll see a mirrored sky. Every ceiling reveals a monstrous reflection. Watch out of the corner of your eye and you see sinister things shifting about. The monsters want us afraid. Hell, if they weren’t cheating there wouldn’t be all these extra kids here. They’ve been getting stronger as the towns snatches more people and making the town snatch more people as they got stronger. It only figures that the monsters would get their way at least some of the time.” said Monty.

“...As, for your first question, I need to ask you something and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way.” said Monty. Sighing.

“Okay, shoot,” said Thomas. A little taken aback to see Monty looking uncomfortable for one.

“Did you have a happy childhood?” said Monty.

“.....” Thomas didn’t know how to answer that. He felt like he’d been punched in the gut.

Memories, unpleasant memories, blurred by age but still filled with pain, surfaced in his mind. He quickly drowns the thoughts in other thoughts because he wanted to be able to finish his eggs.

“I...My mom was a victim of red-moon sickness. My dad didn’t handle things the best way...I may be spent some time in the foster care system before being adopted... I ended up being bounced around a bit, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any good memories. I have tons of good memories.”

“Yeah, but do you have any good early memories from between the ages of five and ten? Memories of being safe.”

“I ...What does that have to do with anything? And how about you? Do you have any cherished childhood memories or whatever?” said Thomas. Trying not to remember his mother’s face and the things her madness did to their family.

“No. No, I don’t.” said Monty. Matter of fact in his response.

“Oh,...Well, um...sorry.”

“Hm? Why? It’s been quite a while since I was a child. Plus in my case, I doubt the entity that created this altered space had access to my memories.”

“Wait? What?! Then what was all that stuff you were saying before?” said Thomas. Feeling himself get angry.

“The point is that those of us without happy memories that fit the entity’s requirements we got put in the hospital. Ditto for people like me whose memories couldn’t be accessed, or people like young Ms. Salvador who had no memories for the entity to access due to experiencing head trauma.”

“Who’s Ms. Salvador again?” said Thomas.

“The girl who wet herself when we started killing the orderlies during lunch time...Apparently outside of here, she was a long time amateur snowboarder and due to a few incidents where she should have been wearing a helmet but wasn’t, she can’t remember anything that happened before she turned twenty-two.”

“Oh...Alright then. So we know why we’re here and why we’re kids. But what good does that do us?” said Thomas. Finishing the last bite of his eggs.

“What’s that old Sun Tsu quote?...Know your enemy and know yourself and you shall never know defeat?”

“Fuck if I know…” said Thomas shrugging.

Monty sighed.

“You know, Tommy...Sometimes, I suspect you’re not much older than your current body.” said Monty.

“What’s that have to do with anything?!” said Thomas. Sensing he was being made fun of.

“Kek...Anyway, the point is I now have a good idea of how to get us out of this tricky little situation.” said Monty.

“Really? Cool, I’ve been ready to get out of this freaky place since forever. So what are we waiting for?” said Thomas.

“My partner.” said Monty.

“You have a partner?”

“Yes...Yes I do. Don’t I, M?”

“H-, huh?! Oh...Hi, Monty. I’ve been looking all over for you. And, Yes. Yes, he does.” said a little orange-headed girl in glasses. A girl who appeared in the doorway, covered in gray-blue blood spatter, with a steak knife in hand.