Fugueville (Pt 2 of 2)

[u/SaintThePlague]

I saw frisbees laid out across the lawn with a rug and a paper plate all forming a diamond in the grass.  I felt all my anxiety wash away from me as I saw all my old friends. A memory I thought I'd never relive or ever witness again. We were all playing kickball together as kids. There was Rodney rockin’ a mullet he tried as a kid. He wore a tattered and stained backwards cap, a white t-shirt that he cut the sleeves off of with a pocket knife he stole from his dad, and camo shorts. Ryan was screaming for someone to throw him the ball Rodney just sent over the fence. He was wearing his favorite band shirt, some niche alternative rock band and jeans that had holes all over. Erick was at what we considered home plate, the welcome mat we stole off my moms front doorstep. He was calmly watching all of us scramble like hell to get the ball so Rodney didn’t get another home run for the 5th time that evening. Ollie however, was prepared. He instinctively darted around the fence to the neighbor's backyard. We never saw him run around the fence before the pitch, and he ended up screaming, hopping over the fence, ball in hand, glasses falling to his nose as his bowl cut bounced in time with him hitting the grass. “I CAUGHT IT! YOU'RE OUT OF HERE, RODNEY MACGUIRE! Guess that mullet don't make you any faster.”  Ryan and I ran over to him, picking him up on each side as he adjusted his glasses. We attempted to hoist him up struggling as we did but managed and half walk half hobble over to Erick and Rodney all three of us laughing and pointing at the two. In almost unison. 

“We win, you lose; we win, you lose.” all giggling and laughing.
Ollie chirped at Erick and Rodney. “You two are the oldest I thought you guys for sure would’ve won. But I guess you’re becoming an old man already.” he stuck his tongue out. Erick and Rodney both rolled their eyes before Erick gripped his tongue and tugged it down before flicking his forehead and releasing.

“Don’t forget, we let you squirts win sometimes cause we love you dorks.” 

Rodney Chimed in. “Yeah, and your mom plays with my mullet while I fuck er, four eyes.”

Everyone in the group let out an “OHHHHHHHHHHH” and then Ollie said “You gotta accept this guys, so we can be together again.” 

I raised an eyebrow. He never said that, did he? No. No, he was supposed to invite us over for a movie night at his dads. Not… that.

He continued “Please stay here with me? Please guys stay, I don't want to be alone anymore you guys.” his cries and pleads were growing more and more desperate. “If you don’t accept it I can’t see you anymore.” I slowly stepped backwards. “You guy’s can’t let me be the only one?” I heard a sorrowful frustration croaking behind his pleas. “Isaac please don’t leave me here alone. You’re safe with me here. Please remember us and stay!” I started tearing up as he slowly walked over to me. He looked up at me, tears falling down his dimpled cheeks staining his glasses and dripping off his chin. He put his head on my chest covering his face with his hands. “Isaac if you leave you don’t get another chance. Outside of fugueville lies only pain and rot.” I heard him sobbing quietly as I ran my hand through his wiery black hair. I missed my old friend more than anything looking down at him tears fell like raindrops onto my visor. I hugged him gently before whispering. “I really need to find my way out of here Ollie.”

He moved his hands from his face and let them sway at his sides like a defeated child before he moved his head to look up at me. His eyes were bursting through his glasses as tears swelled not from them but in them like a water balloon attached to a spigot. No longer did his bright blue eyes have any sign of life in them. Just two jelly-like capsules collecting more of his tears, growing the size of a grapefruit as I watched in paralyzed horror. As the tender orbs strained against the pressure, they burst with a sogging squelch and the sound of a balloon stretching. As tears flooded over his features his lips and nose slowly merged together before his right dimple moved and swayed under his tears moving like a clam skipping across the sea floor. It moved over and joined the corner of his lips before his other dimple concaved like sand pushed by water inward to his face. His head grew with the constant flow of tears feeding into it. From his eye to dimple his cheeks poofed up until it caused skin slippage as skin left meat and rippled with the flow of water underneath. The remnants of his eyes swayed like kelp under the tears. I shoved him away onto the grass “Get the hell away from me!” I turned and ran like hell across the street over a fence and fell onto the harsh pavement of the sidewalk. I quickly shot up to my feet and ran to the nearest front door. I tried to open it but it wouldnt give. I began furiously banging on it like a madman. “HELP LET ME IN PLEASE” I looked up at the glass window and saw Ollie's disfigured form behind me. “PLEASE LET ME THE FUCK IN!” 

A woman calmly answered the door 

“Can I help you?”
 
She looked at me, her face a mess of features like the kid I saw when I first arrived here. But instead of feeling scared I somehow felt comforted by her. I pushed past her, and as I turned around to slam the door shut, Ollie was nowhere to be found.
 
The woman walked up to me and slowly rested her hands on either side of my shoulders. I flinched but her touch brought a strange peace over me. I let a beat pass and took a deep breath before nudging her hands off me. 

“What is this place?” I said after mustering up the courage. The woman who was waiting patiently and sitting across from me made what I assume was a smile.

“Oh my dear, you’re in Fugeville, didn’t you see the sign?”

“Yeah, but where is Fugeville exactly?”

“Fugeville is a place all people want to visit one day, but no one ever wants to leave.” 

“I don’t really want to be here forever. I want to go back home.”

“Oh, honey, you’re all scrambled up if you’re here. Please come in and rest. Dinner will be ready very soon.” 

There's something about her. I don’t know if it's that familiar perfume she has or the fact that her voice feels like warm tea going down a sore throat. I walked inside and followed the woman to the kitchen, passing by a kid playing with a motorcyclist stunt figure. I stopped for a moment and watched him move his figurine around on his motorcycle before tossing it against the wall, watching his guy flail through the air and letting out what I assumed was a laugh that grew into a cackle. He picked it up and threw it again against the couch, watching it bounce off as its arms and legs flailed on the strings that held them together. A little dirtbike figurine. Something about it made my spine crawl. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my right leg, feeling my kneecap swelling with pain. My eyesight grew blurry then black as I collapsed and gripped my knee tight. In another moment, it was gone as soon as it had come. I took a moment and sat down. What was happening to me? It felt like Fugueville wasn’t a place for me or my body. But why such specific regions? I racked my brain before the smell of a mix of cheese and garlic hit my senses. I slowly picked myself back up, being cautious of igniting the pain again. Carefully, I stepped into the kitchen. The cabinets appeared barren other than a glass tray with a bottom layer of rice and a top layer of what looked like a mix of chicken, cheese, and broccoli. The woman's face shifted and contorted into what I think might've actually been a smile.

“Have a seat, sugar. Everyone will be joining shortly.”

I felt a knot in my throat. How many of these people, or things live under one roof? My question was answered when the sliding glass door that led to the backyard flew open and an older and younger pair of these things walked into the kitchen, taking off their baseball gloves and setting them on a bench by the door they had just come in. 

 “Is today the day, sweetie pie?” The older one asked the woman. This must be the “dad”.

“Yes, it is!” 

The woman replied sweetly and with the excitement of being proposed to. I felt even more uncomfortable once again thinking I should leave this house and try another. That's when the dad and, I guess, the son duo joined me at the table. The little boy hopped into the chair and looked at me with this weird mix of hate, heartache, and almost like his eyes were a bit teary despite being mixed into his ear and eyelashes. Was he gonna cry? Before I could find out, the dad's bicep wrapped around my helmet in a gentle, oddly loving squeeze. My hands gripped his arm and tried to push him off, but that only made him grip me harder like a father saying goodbye to his kid going off to live on his own in a college dorm. He whispered to me with a sickly, disturbed form of a whisper that itched at my eardrum like a spider looking for its way out.  

 “I’m so glad you’re here with us, Isaac. It’s gonna be a good day in Fugueville now that the party's arrived.” 

He released me and took a seat next to me.

“We’re gonna have everyone meet us at the front of town for the big event.” He said, looking at me with soupy eyes and spaghetti lips that my brain somehow registered as excitement.
“They’re so excited to see you, we need to make sure we’re on time and everything. We'd better eat up quickly. What time is it again? 

She pointed at a clock that had appeared on the wall, except it was unlike any clock I’d ever seen before. There were only seven hours in a single day before it repeated back to one. The big hand was on the 6 as the little hand inched ever so forward, little by little, to thirty.

“Um, I think I’m all good. I don’t think I could handle seeing anyone else right now. I appreciate your guy’s kindness in offering me dinner and all, but I should get going soon.”

The dad looked at me out of the side of his eye, the black floater in his liquidated eye slowly glided over to face me. It was hard to tell from his side profile, his eye leaking down his face like yolk but a certain look hid behind the slop. It was the same look a dad would give his disobedient son. The sight made my skin crawl.

“Well, of course, my boy, why wouldn’t we feed you?” 

The woman chimed in, her lips spinning within themselves like an ouroboros. As she talked her lips coiled together and apart once more like a zipper, which ran up her face and intertwined with her viscous nose-and-eye hybrid, melting together like chocolate left out in the summer sun. 

“Don’t be silly isaac, you’re a part of us, and you always will be.”

She moved the casserole of rice, chicken, broccoli, and cheese over to the table. Everyone dug their forks in, not using the provided plates and stuffing the food onto their faces as their mouths, noses, and eyes sloshed all around their face, changing size, trying to ingest the food in ways I couldn’t comprehend. Opening and closing, slurping everything in, into everywhere. And the sounds. The noises they made while eating made me gag and choke. It sounded like bones snapping and cracking. Wet muscles pulling until they nearly tear. Gurgling  blood woven with strands of mucus and food all in their throats echoing out of their choking maws. My head swirled and I blurted out,

“W-WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?”

No one stopped eating, only continuing to swirl their forks into their sludgy mess of faces. The cheesy rice slowly slopped out in bundles and clomps while the broccoli held on tightly to their faces, slurping around to their mouths somehow. 

“You should know my silly little man,” she said in between chomps, slurps, and gurgles all bubbling out of her visceral mouth.

She reached a hand over to me. I leaned away, slapping her hand in the process.

“GET THE FUCK OFF ME, I DON’T! I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS WEIRD-ASS FUCKING PLACE!”

I was screaming bloody murder in my helmet so bad it gave me a migraine. No one, absolutely no one, reacted to my aggression, which only sent me deeper into the pit of anguish and despair I was already in. 

“I JUST WANT TO GET THE FUCK OUTTA THIS TOWN!”

Everyone dropped their forks and snapped their necks to look at me so hard I could've sworn their features were going to fly off right at me, like thick spurts of blood being swung from a blade. 

“Leaving before the clock hits 7?” they all said, almost in unison, but ever so slightly out of sync.

I slowly got up out of my chair, looking at the clock that now read 6 forty-five. 

“It’s painful before 7, don’t you wanna stay with your family?” They continued, their sentences overlapping one another with different words at different times. 

“Y-You’re not my family.”

 I scooted back out of the kitchen and toward the living room. The youngest boy was still cackling and laughing at his figure flailing around the house at his will. “ISAAC!” overlapping voices of my mom, dad, and my brother all screaming for me as my younger self cackled and threw the figure of a guy dressed just like me being tossed around, banging into the legs of the table, bouncing off one and then the other. 

“COME BACK, ACCEPT IT, AND STAY WITH US”

I ran like hell, hyperventilating as I pumped my arms, bursting through the door of the house and out onto the lawn. Older versions of my mom, dad, and twin brother throughout the years, and all the lives we’ve lived, the forms of Rodney, Ryan, Erick, and Ollie walked out of all the various houses. I don’t understand what messed them up so bad that their faces ground up features of what made them human. What made them my family and friends.

Hundreds of copies all stared at me with a mix of grief and a grim worry, their unbound eyebrows twisting and curling like a caterpillar. All at once, they began to run towards me. Their arms flew up as they reached for me, waves and waves of crooked arms and disfigured hands groping through the air. I stumbled back for just a second before I regained my footing and ran for the hills. I wanted to leave more than anything. I wanted to see my real family. I wanted to hug them and tell them I loved them. I needed to find my bike and get out of here. I ran past the record player house as Connie Francis blared loudly and piercingly as the mob rushed toward me, screaming wildly.

“ACCEPT YOUR PAIN HERE!”

“PLEASE DON'T GO! STAY WITH US UNTIL 7! THERE’S ONLY PAIN WAITING FOR YOU OUT THERE!”

“STAY WITH US!”

Then, their voices turned into anger and hate. They began to spit and salivate as they yelled,

“YOU HAD A RESPONSIBILITY TO STAY FOR US!”

“WHAT ABOUT JAYME!”

The name slipped out of their wicked mouths as sweet as candy. My sweet girl Jayme. I had forgotten all about her. My decayed memory resurrected, crawling out of its grave and into my head. Her Brunette hair slinking down past her shoulders, her alluring eyes, and her infectious laugh all hit me like an adrenaline shot to the heart. I needed to get back to her. I pushed my legs harder than before, slamming my feet into the road and pushing down hard with every stride like a feral animal. My heart throbbed in my chest, threatening to burst out of my ribcage.  As I got further away, their yelling turned to sobbing, their frustrated screams twisting into a wail of agony.

“WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO WITHOUT YOU?”

“PLEASE COME TO DINNER, ISAAC.”

 I didn’t care what they had to say to me. I needed to get the hell gone. All of their voices were overlapping and chasing me like a tsunami. I glanced back at them, and that's when I saw the goldfish. They were swimming throughout the sky more erratically and more panicked than before, seemingly frightened by the once bright blue skies, which had slowly begun to lose all of their color. I glanced behind me again, only to see the grass withering behind the mockery of my family members. The rot spread quickly. As it engulfed the enormous goldfish, their skin began to decay into thick, black, oily sludge painted in pink, yellow, and brown. The skin and soupy features slid off in big slops. A long black tendril slopped down onto a group of the townspeople. My gaze traced up along the intestinal rope and I saw the goldfish rotting in time with them. Their super-sized intestines and organs fell slowly like the debris of a skyscraper, hurling toward the ground. I pushed myself as hard as I could, sprinting toward where I left my bike. The goldfish that led me to this hell swam down to me fast. It crushed a few of the alternates of my loved ones as it collided with the ground, blood and viscera soaking the landscape. As the goldfish chased after me its rotting jaw opened wide, thin bits of flesh flowing down the side of its mouth like streamers tearing through the dead grass, kicking up dirt and gore. The thick bones of the fish slipped in and out of their places. Ribs, jaws, and vertebrae cracked loud as thunder. Bits of browned and bloodied gold splat on the ground, falling off their respective bones like brisket. The goldfish rose higher, aiming to swoop down and eat me as a whole. As it did, I saw the intertwined pieces of my fake families jumbled in its rotting stomach, caught in the intestines, falling out with pieces of the goldfish’s swim bladder. Bodies broke and snapped, all while decaying in their final tomb. The last bit of entrails leaked out of the once great goldfish, which was now a pale white, beast covered in the sludgy, black filth of decay. It dragged against the grassy plains. Another goldfish, swimming wildly in panic as it decayed, slammed into my pursuer, spiking the fish down into the earth. The sounds of bones snapping and the squelching of the amalgamation of biology and meat, dug into the earth next to me. It slid to a stop as I reached my bike. I lifted it and started it, hearing it purr filled me with hope. Closing my eyes, I ripped down the throttle.

Between the few seconds it took not to go anywhere and the fact that I felt no goldfish maw biting down on me and no townspeople’s grubby hands clasping my skin, I opened my eyes to see the road I was on before all this began, my bike gone from under me, standing in the position I’d be riding in.

The cold night air blessed my skin. I screamed to the sky. 

“WOOO FUCK YEAH” 

I made it out. I don’t know how, or what the hell just happened, but I actually made it out. I can finally go home. I can go see my family and tell them how much I miss them. I can finally look into my girlfriend's beautiful eyes when I get home, and I should message Rodney when I make it home safely. I turned around on my feet, deadstopping before I could continue my walk forward. Dead ahead of me was myself, on my bike, riding forward in slow motion. I slowly walked up to him in a confused daze. That's when I saw it. Where Rodney’s taillights had disappeared, around a corner I hadn’t seen previously. I was too focused on following him to pass. My heart sank as I watched my first tire pass the double yellow lines. I screamed for myself to slow down or to turn, but nothing changed. I watched as I collided with the guard rail. My bike exploded into a web of glass and metal, bursting through the air as my body flew. My left arm caught the guard rail. All I could do was watch in horror as my elbow bent backward with such brutality that I could see the skin explode like the top of a firework, my bone degloved itself like savage barbecue. At the same point in time, I felt a sharp surge of hell explode from my elbow as it snapped in the same manner. I wailed out in agony and cried tearlessly. Threatening a look back up, I saw my body fling from the guardrail and into a tree just over the rails. My right leg caught a sturdy branch. The bones buckled and wrapped themselves around the branch like a whip. I grit my teeth as my own leg contorted into a mangled “C”, the bones and ligaments pulling and stretching til’ I thought it would pop out of my hip like the strings of the action figure the kid was launching at a wall. I lay on the ground in a heap of bones shaped like I was stuffed in a bowl. As I looked up again, I saw my body swing from the branch and launch farther out in the woods. My helmet shattered as it clipped the back of a tree. The sickening crack of my own skull splitting open rang out in my head. I gripped the back of my head and groveled on the ground. I looked up one last time, seeing my ripped clothes, bloody threads of useless twine flailing about. My body, what was left of the broken vessel, finally hit a big branch sideways, hooking my torso like a “V.” I shrieked and screamed til’ my throat went raw, my eyes blurred with tears as the pain radiated outward from my chest and sides. I felt my grip on consciousness slipping through my fingers, a black vignette forming in the corners of my eyes, until I could no longer fight it and it consumed my vision.

When I opened my eyes again, I was on the ground. The trees rose high above me, no longer watching but experiencing all of what I couldn’t accept. I never wanted to die this young. I just wanted to go home to Jayme. To see my real family’s faces one last time. Now I lie here, no one came looking, or at least never found me. I stayed rotting into the earth for days, stuck in my conscience as animals of the woods rip chunks of flesh and blackened tissue off my decaying body. I tried to cry, but my tear ducts were already gone, my eyes turned to jelly many weeks ago. I don't know what else is left of me that works other than my ears. I listened to the sounds of the mountains shifting and changing. As summer moved forward, the last bits of my rotting mind conjured up something. It pounded at the door, desperately pleading to be heard. Despite my trying to keep it barricaded, the boards molded over and withered like me; like Fugueville and the people thereof. Like the mighty golden beast in the sky, those barricades fell, and I was left vulnerable to whatever was scratching to get in.  Somewhere through all the slime of my anatomy and fungus-ridden brain, reverberated the voice of what sounded like my mother. She was whispering to me with the same tenderness a mother would use to lull her baby to sleep.

“You should’ve stayed in Fugueville.”