Chapter 8: 8: Silent Night
By sundown, three coins turned into thirty seven, and JJ was fast asleep. She used her backpack as a pillow, and Red King pulled his jacket over her as a blanket. Changing all of the rusty silverware to gold coins seemed to take a lot of her energy, and the teenage girl did her best.
Jay was fidgeting with the Rubik’s cube, trying his best not to think about Armani Wolfwood in the basement. The place obviously got creepier as night came, so the baby huddled close to Red King. However, the teenage boy either doesn’t feel or doesn’t care about the vibe nor the smell of rotting wood and dust.
Baby Jay was being fed one last time tonight before he was put to sleep in the Red King’s arm. No matter how cozy it was, Jay was wide awake. At one point, the teenage boy fell asleep by his own nursery tones humming, but the actual baby was still awake.
It was pitch black, but Jay stared up at the ceiling.
System?
[ USER JAY. ]
What’s up with this place? There’s an actual fucking corpse in the basement, and we’re sleeping here?
[ ARMANI WOLFWOOD BECAME ONE WITH THE HOUSE. ]
Yep, totally reassuring and not creepy at all. This isn’t a horror genre, System.
Baby Jay looked at the two sleeping teens beside him. He’s underneath Red King’s arm, and in between the two teenagers who are sleeping rather peacefully. Jay can’t really see anything in the darkness, but he could hear the sound of wooden boards being assaulted by the freezing wind outside among the soft breathing of his caretakers.
Once in a while, the floor board made a creaking noise for no reason, and it didn’t help with the fact that there’s no sound of nature. There’s no wolf howling in the distance nor birds chirping nor bat flapping its wings nor insect buzzing in the night. The silence was making Jay’s head spin. He had been on camping trips before, but he wasn’t this scared because there’s at least the sound of nature outside of his tent, but this?
This is fucked up.
’System,’ Jay called out in his head. ’I don’t think I can sleep like this.’
The screen coming back to life in front of him gave him a sense of relief. Hell, Jay wouldn’t know what to do in this situation if the System didn’t answer.
[ WOULD USER JAY LIKE A KNOCK OUT FUNCTION? ]
A what function?
[ GETTING LESS SLEEP WILL AFFECT USER’S DAILY LIFE AND ENERGY LEVEL. WOULD USER JAY LIKE TO ACCESS THE KNOCKOUT FUNCTION? ]
A ’yes’ and a ’no’ button popped up beneath the question, so Jay was seriously considering clicking ’yes’. Just as he’s about to voice his decision, his ears picked up the sound of a door opening.
The front door remained closed, as far as Jay could see. Fuck... The basement door!
Another noise of wood being pushed indicated that the door has been opened further. Meanwhile, every hair on Jay’s body was standing.
Shit, shit... What if Armani Wolfwood was still alive, and she’s coming out of the basement to kill them in their sleep? Hell, what if she’s dead so she’s now a ghost, and she’s coming to kill them? They’re intruders in her house after all.
Because the Red King was half-hugging the baby, Jay was pinned down to the floor with his male caregiver. He tried to struggle out of the grip with the best of his abilities. If he gets out, he can crawl outside or wake the teens.
While his tiny hands were pushing away a muscular forearm that could easily crush his head, Jay’s eyes caught something glowing in the dark, specifically coming from the kitchen. The tiny green light floated over the kitchen counter before doing a detour to the basement door.
Fuck... The basement door was opened.
Jay let out a small yelp in distress, and unfortunately, his sound caught the attention of the tiny green light. The baby could feel that the green light was looking at him. After a few seconds of tension, the green light began floating towards him.
Shit, shit, shit... System! Just give him the knock out function already!
Slowly and ominously, the green light floated over the two sleeping teens. Jay let out another yelp before closing his eyes as the green light lowered itself on to him.
Then, he felt something landed on his nose. Carefully, Jay opened his eyes, and he was greeted with the sight of a glowing insect. The insect was a familiar earthly green, and its enlarged abdomen was glowing a neon green light. A sigh of relief escaped his lips.
It’s just a firefly. On his face. He’ll be fine—
[ ARMANI WOLFWOOD ]
[ INTERACT? ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
The flash of the System’s screen pulled a yell out of Jay, and he felt his heart stop for a beat. The forearm which held the baby in place tightened a little, and Jay movement above and next to him. The Red King shifted into a more comfortable position, but he didn’t wake up.
Jay took in a deep breath; the smell of rotting wood and dust ever presented. So... Armani Wolfwood the firefly?
Said firefly was still immobile on the baby nose, and doing the most childish thing he could think of, Jay reached to grab it.
Only for the insect to fly out of his reach. However, the System’s interface screen popped up in between him and the firefly.
[ ARMANI WOLFWOOD ]
[ INTERACT? ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Silence fell over the cabin like a blanket, and Jay was nervously chewing on his lips. He has four teeth, but it’s enough to cut through his skin. As he tasted iron in his mouth, Jay gagged and looked up at the interface screen again.
The firefly was still hovering above him, so Jay finally made a decision.
’Fuck it. Yes.’
[ CHOICE SELECTED. ENTERING MEMORY LANE. ]
[ LOADING MEMORY... ]
The firefly, along with everything else around Jay, started to disappear. The familiar feeling of being lifted in thin air returned to the transmigrator like the first time he found out about the System.