In Which Misunderstandings Are Made and Everything Is Overacted to the Tune of Tiny, Sad Violins

In Which Misunderstandings Are Made and Everything Is Overacted to the Tune of Tiny, Sad Violins

Today was the day, Ciel thought. Everyone was going to make a big fuss about it, as usual. He already knew about the preparations. He hated making a big deal about it, in fact, if anything, he wished it would just pass by without anyone knowing. But no. Someone let slip, and now the whole house was in a hushed frenzy of getting things ready for what was to come.
Ciel was just sitting in the dining room drinking grape juice from a teacup because he was too lazy to find a real cup. The sky was blue outside and the grass was green. He was having trouble drinking the grape juice because it required taking off his mask.
“EVERETTE!” came a scream.
Ciel hurriedly pulled his mask down and threw the teacup behind him. “Yes?”
The dining room door burst open just as the teacup smashed against the wall. The person who entered, Rosie, jumped a little, and screamed at the sudden noise.


It was a beautiful day outside. The sky was blue and the grass was green. Vigilance took a breath and surveyed the grounds with a calculative gaze. But something odd disturbed the green. He walked over and pushed a stick aside. The morning newspaper had been carelessly chucked over here. Where the stick came from, he did not know nor care, but littering was bad for the environment. He had to be vigilant against such perils.
Vigilance picked up the newspaper and was about to go chuck it in the trash by the garage, when the headline caught his eye. “MASKED MAN STRIKES AGAIN! DEATH TOLL RISES TO FOUR!”
Suddenly he heard screaming and the sound of breaking glass.
He spun around and saw red dripping down the window.
“BLOOD!” he shrieked. He ran across the yard and crashed through the window.
There was Rosie lying on the floor. Red stained the carpet. Ciel was standing over Rosie looking… very masked.
“YOU KILLED HER!” Vigilance shouted, pointing at Ciel. “So you’re the masked murderer!” Dark and heavy orchestra music filled the air.
“What….? No….” Ciel said with a sigh.
Vigilance was having none of that. He pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger, but suddenly he was dead and a huge smear of blood was left behind.
“Not again…” Ciel sighed.


Rosie had forgotten that today was the day! She had to go get Ciel and distract him while the final preparations were prepared. He could not be trusted. He was terrible at keeping secrets.
“Everette!” she shouted, running through the house, looking here and there for him. He was a terrible liar, but a great hider apparently.
“Hey, Milo!” she called out, seeing her friend in the living room. “Seen Everette?”
“Um, I think he was in the dining room,” Milo said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. They flashed dramatically to accentuate the epic nerdom. He was wearing a neon blue shirt that said “My Anaconda Want Some.”
Eew… Rosie thought.
“Thanks,” she said, sprinting back down the hall.
“Everette!” she shouted, throwing open the door.
Suddenly there was a loud crash. Rosie slipped and shrieked as she lost her footing. Then she hit the ground, and everything went black.


Milo could not believe it! The very first edition of the Hobbit was on sale on an obscure etsy shop for only seventy dollars! Drooling a flood all over the couch, he scrolled down the page to the “Add to Cart” button.
“No!” he wailed as he saw the laptop was down to 0.1 percent battery. “Don’t die on me baby!”
The “Warning!” kept flashing on his screen. Tears streamed down his face as his precious electronic waifu threatened to die on him. He waded through his tears and drool and braved a thousand dragons to reach his charger.
Ding! The laptop started charging.
“YAY!” he cried in victory. A thousand villagers came out to praise him for his heroic efforts, then quickly left before Loki noticed. But at least they left some cake.
Munching on cake, he clicked the “Add to Cart” button. He just had to fill out this payment form and it would be on its way!
“Hey, Milo! Seen Everette?”
He looked up to see Rosie in the doorway. A golden wind blew her hair around her face and shoulders while sparkles danced about her in rays of sunshine and rainbows. And he was definitely sure that there was plenty more cleavage showing than really was.
At least he remembered to wear his girl magnet shirt.
“Um, I think he was in the dining room,” Milo said, smirking. Smirks are a sure way to a girl’s pants. He pushed his glasses up his nose and they flashed dramatically.
“Thanks!” and she was gone.
“B-but… my chick magnet shirt,” he moaned.
Everything went black save the lone spotlight on his hunched form. “Why…. Why does no one love me…” Tears waterfalled down his face.
Rialtzo sailed in on a dingy and pulled him and his laptop into the boat. “Relax…” she said in a monotone voice. She bailed out the flood of tears out the window with a bucket.
He stopped and went back to his etsy shop page. Rialtzo finished bailing the room out and put him back on the couch. Then she dragged the boat back outside.
Suddenly, Milo heard a scream, a crash, more crashing.
“What the…?” He would investigate, but laziness was crushing him. And besides, THE HOBBIT! But he had to go, didn’t he. Maybe it was Rosie doing something sexy.
So he meandered into the dining room only to see blood everywhere and Rosie on the floor and a random, dismembered hand, and Ciel standing there looking bored.
“What the hell?” he shrieked like a schoolgirl.
Ciel looked up at him. “Um… it’s not what you think!” he said quickly, holding his hands in front of him.
Milo went to Rosie’s side. “Rosie?” He shook her gently. “Rosie? Are you okay? Wake up?” She did not seem dead.
Rosie opened her eyes and slowly sat up. “Ugh, what… what happened?” She looked up at Ciel. Milo did too.
“Um…” Ciel looked back and forth between them and the hand. “W-well, you screamed… and grape juice… and Vigilance attacked me… it happened so fast!”
Rosie started shaking. “It… it’s all my fault!” She broke out into tears. “It’s all my fault!” she wailed.



Rage was enraged, as usual. Stupid Loki took away his car privileges. Why? Sure, he crashed the Delorean, and the Gran Torino, and the Ford, and the BMW, and the Volkswagen Beetle, but no one gave two poops about the Beetle anyway. Why did Loki have to go and do that? He was overreacting.
As he stomped down the hall to go complain to Alastor, he heard a loud commotion downstairs.
And then the feeling of being ripped apart and… killed…
Frozen in shock and horror, he could do nothing but stand in the hall. Then, as if pulled by invisible strings, he rushed down the stairs, following the compelling sense of death to the dining room.
When he burst in, all he heard was, “It… it’s all my fault!”
The room was covered in blood. Milo and Rosie were crouched on the floor, the latter sobbing and repeating that same phrase. Ciel was standing by the blood, looking horrified.
Rage rounded on Rosie. “What the hell happened here?!” he roared.
“I got him killed, it’s all my fault, he died and I got him killed…” she sobbed.
“It’s ok, it’s ok,” Milo murmured, but Rage was having none of that.
“YOU DID WHAT?! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU MONSTER! THERE’S NOTHING LEFT!” Rage whipped out his gun.
“Calm down… Rage,” Ciel said.
“NO! THIS HARPY KILLED VIGILANCE!”
“He can’t truly be dead you know…”
But Rage was no listening. He pulled the trigger.


Alastor stared intently at his target, eyes burning with excitement. A Cheshire grin split his mouth wide open. Lifting the hammer high above his head, he brought it down with a tremendous clang.
“AHHHHH!!!!!”
Alastor winced. “That did not hurt, idiot…”
“You’re so frickin creepy when you do that…” Thane growled.
“Only because I enjoy it.”
“Making me suffer? You’re supposed to hammer the dents OUT of my arm, not surpass previous work.”
Alastor huffed. “Alright, princess, you give it a try.”
“What? Noooo, that’s not what I meant,” Thane wailed as Alastor dropped the hammer in his lap. “Alastor-senpai, don’t leave me!” Thane clung to him like a koala bear. “I can barely bend the elbow! Pleeeeaaaase!!!”
Suddenly, he felt something. Alastor’s eyes widened in horror as he felt that all too familiar feeling of one of his personalities being ripped away from him. “Dead…”
Thane was quiet. “What is it?” he asked.
Alastor pried him off and hurried to the door, just as shouting and a gunshot reached his ears. He threw open the door. “Something’s happening downstairs! Come on!”
Thane scrambled to his feet and hurried after him. They ran down the two flights of stairs. By pure instinct, Alastor ran for the dining room.
What greeted his eyes was an absolute mess, and as soon as he neared Rage, he subconsciously recalled to himself everything that transpired.
He had shot at Rosie.
Rage was looming in the doorway, furiously pulling the trigger as it clicked in that empty way guns do when no bullets are left. He had emptied the entire clip. Milo was lying on the floor, holes peppering his body like swiss cheese. Partially under him was Rosie. She was staring up at the ceiling, her eyes dazed, gasping for air.
Alastor grabbed Rage and shoved him back, but this new emotion only added to his other form’s strength. “Rage! STOP IT!” He screamed.
“She killed Vigilance!” Rage bellowed.
“You idiot! YOU IDIOT!” Alastor crumpled to the ground, holding his head in his hands. “You can’t die… none of you can… YOU’RE JUST EMBODIMENTS OF MY PERSONALITY!”
Thane set a hand on Alastor’s shoulder. “Alastor… clam down…”
“I’m clam…” Alastor murmured. “I’m perfectly calm…”
“Then who’s that guy?” Thane asked.
Alastor looked up. Standing before him was yet another him. But this one seemed shrouded in a darkness Alastor could not see, but feel.
“Alastor, snap out of it,” Thane shouted at him.
But at once, the room seemed to vanish. The self that was dark wrapped him in its embrace. Immediatley, his entire world plummeted. There was nothing but heavy, oppressive darkness. “I… I killed them…”
He did not even notice the dark one pressing the gun to his head. In fact, he welcomed it.
And then Rage and the darkness were gone.


Thane stared at the bodies. By the time he tore his gaze away, it felt that hours had passed. When he looked up, his expression as reflected in the eyes of Ciel.
“We have to move them,” Ciel said. “Loki isn’t going to be home for a while. This is not the way to break this to him.”
“That they’re all dead!” Thane snapped, his voice catching in his throat. He buried his face in his hands. “Oh God… how did this… why did… why did they die?”
“That was his Depression,” Ciel murmured. “I didn’t think it could be so strong…”
“ALL OF THIS! WHY? WHY DID ANYONE DIE!”
“Thane! Calm down,” Ciel said, calming his own voice in the end. “Listen, just… stay there. I’m going to call someone. He can… can… take care of the bodies…” Ciel left the room quietly and went to the phone in the hall.
Thane sat there in a daze until Ciel returned. He placed a hand on Thane’s shoulder. “Let’s put them in the truck.”

They spent the next half hour wrapping each body in a sheet and placing it in the truck. Thane felt too shaken up to drive, but Ciel definitely couldn’t.
“It’s going to rain soon,” Ciel said, staring up at the sky.
Thane looked at the open flatbed of the truck and the bodies wrapped and neatly lying side by side. “Everette, should we switch trucks?”
“No,” Ciel said. “It will take too long. Let’s go.”
Thane reluctantly got in the driver’s seat and Ciel in the passenger. Thane started the truck and began to wind down the gravel stretch.
They were both quiet. The events were just too shocking to be talked out. And what else was there to discuss now.
Alastor, Thane thought, he was my best friend…
Suddenly, the truck bounced harshly, sending a hard jolt through Thane’s tailbone.
Ciel suddenly spun around in his seat. “Oh no, one bounced out!”
Thane choked on air and felt his stomach churn. Oh god… one of their friends. He looked back over his shoulder. Sure enough, one of the bodies had bounced out and rolled into the grass.
“THANE IN FRONT OF YOU!”



Rialtzo sighed and plopped on the ground. “Stupid Milo… stupid boat…” she muttered. She had finally dragged the boat back to the docks where it was supposed to be. Of all times for the boat trailer to fail, it had to be the day Milo flooded the living room.
She felt her phone vibrate and she retrieved it from her pocket. It was a text from Loki.
“Got a call from Everette. He said something bad happened at the house so I’m on my way home. Please let me know if everyone’s okay.”
“Why is he texting me? I’m not in charge while he’s off doing who knows what,” she muttered. Well, she pretty much was in charge. It just wasn’t official. Shoving her phone back in her pocket, she jogged back to the house.
As she ran over the gravel drive, she noticed the light getting dimmer. She paused and turned, looking up. “Ugh, stupid clouds. Is it gonna rain? I hope not…”
Suddenly, an engine revved behind her. She spun around as a massive weight slammed into her body.


Lyra saw it all from the window. The bodies piling in the truck. The truck running over Rialtzo. Everette and Thane… she knew this place was nothing but a dream. Of course there was evil here. Why did she ever get the notion this was going to be a safe and happy home?
She saw Thane and Ciel get out of the truck. They made a big scene around the body and loaded it into the truck. Then, as if an afterthought, they drove back to the house.
“They know I’m still here…” she murmured. “But I won’t let them get to me…”
She had been preparing. She tied the final cords together and set the tripwire.
Then she grabbed her gun and rushed to the stairs. She hid by the railing in the shadows.
“I won’t let them kill me too…” she murmured. “I won’t… I will stop them. I’ve trapped them now.”
She held her breath as the door opened. Thane stumbled in, setting off the tripwire. When Everette closed the door behind them, there was an audible click.
“Did you hear that?” Everette asked.
“Dead… all dead…” Thane murmured. Then he burst out laughing.
He’s insane, Lyra thought, gritting her teeth. They both are. Killing everyone in cold blood. As if someone would not notice. I did.
She gripped the gun tight in her hands. I’m sorry, everyone…
She stood up and cocked the pistol. “It’s over you two!” she snapped.
Ciel and Thane looked up in surprise.
Thane had stopped laughing. His pupils were contracted to small points. He looked pale and was shaking really bad. He stared at her, silent, then said quietly. “What… what are you doing?”
“I saw what you did!” she snapped, not bothering to beat around the bush. “You killed everyone!”
“No, lyra,” Thane said, “That’s not-“
“SHUT UP!” she snapped.
Ciel took a step back.
“Don’t bother running,” Lyra growled. “I trapped the door. You open that and a bomb will go off.”
Ciel flinched. “You know that we’re standing over the armory, right?”
“So what?”
“This room won’t just go up!” he snapped. “It’ll set off the whole house!”
“Then you definitely won’t survive,” she growled. “Everyone will be avenged!”
“What is your plan?” he asked. His voice was oddly calm.
She huffed. “Loki’s coming home eventually. I’ll text him to use the back door only. Then together… together we’ll put you in your place.” She bit her lip. “It’s my brother’s house. He has the authority to sentence you.”
Ciel’s eyes widened. “Lyra! No! Call him now! He’s coming home early! He’s already here!”


Loki shut the car door and sighed. “Trouble at the house already… I leave to get ONE bowl of icecream at the shop by myself, and the world crumbles. Eesh…” He ran a hand through his hair.
The house seemed oddly quiet. He frowned.
“Must be the calm before the storm,” he said, walking up the front steps.
He crossed to the front door. Already he could hear some shouting.
“Sounds like Lyra’s voice,” he muttered. “Whatever could be going on.”
He opened the door…



Ciel stood in the silence as he stared at the wreckage of the Norcross House. Tiny, sad violins filled the air with their sweet sound. The charred remains of the corpses of his family members stretched ashen fingers to the sky, as if in one final plea for help. Help he could not give.
A cold wind blew. A partially burned party hat bumped against Ciel’s foot. He picked it up and put it on his head as the rain began to fall.
“Happy Birthday to me…”