The Token Human - part 1
So that Welcome Home ARG eh? Eh? You know it right, my followers? You should look into it some, it looks like it's shaping up to be something really, really good.
Anyway I'm a sucker for well-made evil children's characters in horror media so I tried to capture the ✨vibes ✨. I don't feel I succeeded, but oh well. Part 1 of a possible series? We'll see.
Reader [gender not stated] pov
CW: Body horror, eye horror, size horror[?], creepy puppets, memory alteration, whump? ask to tag
Part 2
Nobody else in Home was quite like you. But nobody in Home was quite like anyone else, either! Everyone was different, and unique, and special! That's what Wally told you when you first moved in. And he was right, like he always was.
But still. Nobody was quite like you. Nobody had hair like yours, on your head, on your arms and legs. Nobody had skin like yours, soft and squishy in a different way than everyone else. Nobody had eyes like yours or ears like yours.
Nobody had hands like yours. And you noticed that right away the first time you held hands with them in a game. You had five fingers total. They had four.
You were pretty sure you were human. Julie was human too, but… a different kind of human, you were pretty sure of that, too. Really, everyone just seemed to be… them. Frank was Frank and Howdy was Howdy, Eddie and Julie and Poppy and Sally and Barnaby were all themselves too.
And Wally…
Wally was your best friend.
That's why when he invited you to his Home, to prepare a surprise party, you jumped right at it. You were always up for a party! You were too big for most of the games they played but you could put up the decorations and light the candles on the cake and clean the hard to reach spots your friends couldn't! You were a perfect fit in Home-
Wally called your name.
"Be careful!"
Bit late for that. In your little thought train you stepped back and right off the little ladder you'd been standing on to clean. It wasn't a bad fall, the step ladder was built for your friends after all. No, it just knocked the air out of you. But it reminded you of something else.
Your friends… didn't really seem to feel pain.
"I'm okay!" You called out as the air returned to you.
Wally had been standing nearby with one hand over his mouth, but lowered it slowly. His smile returned, and he laughed.
"Silly, silly," he said between the distinctive sound of his amusement. "You were thinking too hard!"
Yeah, you were. You laughed with him and sat up. He stood over you now, his soft little hands helping you stand.
"What were you thinking about?" He asked. "Was it the party?"
You hummed, backtracking your thoughts. What had you been thinking about, really? What set that train of thought rolling…?
"I think I'm forgetting something again," you said, looking at him.
Wally tilted his head to the side.
"Silly," he said. "You're always forgetting things. What is it this time?"
"I don't know!" You said, smiling. "If I knew, I wouldn't have forgotten it, would I?"
You both laughed, but yours faded sooner than his. Your smile fell. What had you forgotten?
A door creaked and swung open. You and Wally turned towards the sound.
"Maybe," Wally said, "you forgot to eat. Let's go in the kitchen!"
"Okay!" You couldn't remember anything else you could've forgotten so into the kitchen with him you went.
It was a nice little kitchen, though Wally never seemed to use it much unless you were here. He didn't like anyone seeing him eat. In fact, other than apples, you didn't know what he liked to eat at all. He liked sweets, you knew that much…
As you looked down at the colorful kitchen table, you frowned. You didn't feel hungry, now that you thought about it. You couldn't remember the last time you ate but it didn't seem that long ago.
Maybe, you thought, running your hand over a scratch on the table, Wally was the hungry one but didn't want to say it. That didn't seem like him though, he was so open and sincere…
Your hand ran over and over the scratch.
"Hey Wally?" You asked. "What happened to your table?"
Everything seemed quiet.
You lifted your eyes up towards the wall. The quiet stretched on and on.
You had forgotten something. You had. You knew you had. It was close to you, slipping away from you like dangling strings every time you reached towards it.
It was close to you. Right there. So important.
What did you forget?
"Wally?"
You looked over your shoulder.
You looked up at him.
Your stomach dropped. With a gasp, you stumbled backwards, away, your eyes wide as you looked at him. Looked up at him.
Wally once proudly told you he was twelve apples tall. You, uh, weren't. You were taller than him by a lot. But now he was tall, taller than you, looking down at you.
He tilted his head.
"Is something wrong, friend?" He said. "You don't look well. Maybe you should… sit down…"
"Wally," you said. "What happened to you?"
His mouth curled up, and your gut churned. That kind of smile didn't fit on Wally's face. That kind of smile shouldn't be possible on his face. He was a puppet -
A puppet? What was a puppet?
Wally laughed. It shook his shoulders, every syllable moving them in a rhythm. As if string moved his shoulders, but he wasn't that kind of puppet so he couldn't-
What was a puppet?
He tilted his head the other way. Jerked it, really.
"You're thinking too loud, friend." He jerked his head to the other side. "What do you mean, what's a puppet?" He laughed, ha ha ha. "Silly, silly, silly. That's you. You're my puppet."
His pupils went wide, and it was horrible how familiar it was, the feeling of teeth clenching down on - not your skin not your flesh not your head or your arms or any part of you.
You were. So tired. Like the energy poured out of you into a tiny drain.
My fear, you thought, he's eating my fear.
When he stepped towards you, you heard the click of his shoes on the kitchen tile. Had you ever heard that before? Your mind spun, you stepped away from him again.
"Don't-" you started.
Your name comes from his mouth in a tone you've never heard before.
"I won't," he said. "If you promise to stay."
And you knew exactly what he meant. And you knew you would do anything you had to, so you could go home.
You ran for the door.
It slammed shut.
The handle was meant for puppet hands, not human ones. Your legs gave out from under you as you scrambled with it, nails scratching the wood behind it as you tried to open it. Behind you his footsteps clicked, clicked, clicked towards you.
He said your name again, so sweet, so hungry.
"You don't really want to leave," he said. "I don't believe that at all. I know how much you love it here. We'd all miss you so much."
His arm reached out. His hand, with four fingers, took your wrist and pulled it away from the door. You shook your head, your throat wouldn't make a sound.
"Hey now," he whispered. "No more mysteries this time, okay? Don't go digging into things you don't understand. And everything will be fine."
You felt the teeth again, biting chunks into your mind. The panic. The fear. The dread. Gone, gone, gone.
My memories - you thought. He's going to eat my memories, too. He's going to eat my memories and put me back at square one. I was so close. I was almost-
You took a deep breath and groaned. Your eyes opened to a strange place, one you didn't recognize for a moment or two. The evening sun streamed in through a window, onto the couch you laid on. You groaned again and covered your eyes with your arm.
"Where am I?"
A familiar voice called from another room. You lifted up your arm, and smiled. Of course. You were at Wally's Home.
"What happened?" You asked.
"You fell off the ladder!" Wally said. "You must've been thinking too hard again. You think too much, I think."
You laughed a bit. "Maybe I do. Falling off a ladder? That's a bad time to get distracted."
You frowned. Wally watched for a moment.
"Did you forget something again?" He said
You sat up fully with the realization.
"The games!" You cried. "I left the games for the party at my house!"
Wally laughed. Was it just your imagination or did it seem… relieved almost?
"You can get them tomorrow," he said. "It's getting dark. You should stay here for tonight. I don't want you to trip on anything."
You thought about it, frowning at the patchwork blanket draped over you.
It would definitely be bad if you tripped and hurt yourself in the dark, you thought. Wally was right, like he always was.
"Okay!" You said at last. "Thanks Wally." You smiled. "You're a good friend."
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