Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled his nerves. He could not help but grin as he thought of the look of shock on the little monster’s face as he attacked. Suddenly, as he rounded a corner he saw Quiggly lying on his back, writhing in pain with what looked to be a small metal ball embedded in his side. Quiggly was screaming, and Quiggly had never been one to make a lot of noise. Even as Quiggly had screamed, Quiggly’s one good eye had been open and staring at him in the darkness. This all seemed to be part of some sort of trap Quiggly had put together, and Quiggly had been caught and was still being attacked. Quiggly had also mentioned something about his trap being an “accident waiting to happen”. While Quiggly would not dare to attack anyone that had caught his little surprise, a trap in the dark did make Quiggly a little nervous. This night wasn’t going to be a simple one.
Suddenly, as Quiggly turned to continue his attack on Shibyun, his arm was grabbed roughly. Without thinking, Quiggly screamed and swung his small fist to try and connect with Shibyun, only to be pulled down to the ground as he was lifted up into the air and slammed into the ground. Quiggly struggled in Shibyun’s grip, thrashing about and trying to get away. Then, out of the corner of his eye Quiggly saw something flying at him. Quiggly managed to scream again before he was shoved to the ground and the sharp pain in his body told him that he had been stabbed. Quiggly began to scream in pain. Before Quiggly could be stabbed again, Shibyun stood up and looked down at him. Shibyun knelt over Quiggly and saw that the boy was alive and in pain. Shibyun also saw the trap in the darkness.
“What was that? A trap?” Shibyun asked.
“Y-You can’t be here!” Quiggly hissed and coughed violently. “You’re just getting in my way!”
Shibyun sighed. “It’s a trap alright, and we seem to have fallen right into it. But I’m not falling into anything else like that trap. You might be the one who put the trap there, Quiggly, but I’m not getting caught that easily. Now, what’s going on here?”
“A surprise attack, I don’t know what you’ve planned this time.” Shibyun could hear Quiggly mutter as he fell unconscious. But as he was listening to Quiggly, Shibyun also heard something that sounded like a faint noise. Shibyun looked around. Behind Quiggly, there was a dark area that was partially hidden by the dust and debris. As Shibyun turned to look, he suddenly saw a shape rise up from the dust.
Before Shibyun could react, he was pushed away from the shape and slammed into the ground. He had no time to react before something sharp suddenly pierced his body. The pain was incredibly excruciating, and Shibyun screamed. Then the pain faded and he felt as if someone was pushing his body on top of something cold and hard. And Shibyun fell unconscious.
Shibyun was awakened by a piercing scream. He looked around, his head throbbing with pain. Then he looked around at a small, shadowy figure and, in the dark, something else. Sitting on his chest was the familiar figure of Quiggly, covered in his blood, trying to stab Shibyun through the heart. Suddenly, Quiggly stopped.
“How did you know?” he shouted in terror. “That I was trying to stab you?”
“I’m glad that I did it,” Shibyun said to Quiggly, “since you just had to try and stab me. I was going to kill you if I had to, Quiggly. But I do have some questions for you. What happened to you, Quiggly?”
“H-He-He-He-He-He-Heck-Heck-Heck-Heck-Heck-Heck!” Quiggly was struggling to get out some words. “Heck-Heck-Heck-Heck-Heck-Heck-Heck!”
“I am not going to ask you again. Quiggly, what happened to you? Where are you getting all the information you need to build all these traps?”
“W-What does it matter? If I die, I’m going to end up doing more evil, so all I have to do is kill you, then that evilness will never come from me! I’m going to turn you into the very same evil being that trapped me!” Quiggly screamed.
“Oh, that’s perfect, Quiggly. As soon as you’re dead, I will become the exact same thing that made you be so scared. You won’t be around to kill me. So why don’t you just save yourself and let me go now?”
“I’m not letting you go! You were going to kill me! And I have nothing left to live for! Heck! Heeeck!” Quiggly was still struggling, as he screamed and sobbed into the ground.
Shibyun looked at Quiggly. “He’s dead now, Quiggly. He’s no longer a threat to you. If I had been stabbing you you would have died long ago. Right now, all I want to know is why did you put that trap in the garden?”
“Trap? Quiggly was confused.
“The little trap you put in the garden with the crystal and it exploding. Do you know what’s in the crystal that can explode?”
“Heck! Heeeeck! Heeeeeck! I wanted to trap you like I trapped that other creature but I don’t know if you’re trapped. I didn’t do anything. Heeeeck! Heeeeeck! I don’t know what’s in it! Heeeeeeck!” Quiggly began to cry again.
“Quiggly, your traps and those things you use to summon monsters, are they your own invention?” Shibyun began to slowly dig in the ground around them. “Did you come up with those traps all by yourself? Who’s to say that the reason for all the bad things you did are because you just wanted to be evil or worse, you didn’t know you were doing anything wrong? Are you sure that what you were doing wasn’t all by yourself?”
“What’s your point? I didn’t do it.” Quiggly replied, his head buried in the ground as he tried to hide behind some leaves.
Shibyun pulled back. “So you’re saying you were forced into this? If that’s the case, then there’s still hope for you. My little brother has a chance to turn out okay if he’s given the chance.”
“I’ve done my research on you and even helped you when you had problems. That means you can understand me. That’s what happened. You’re lying!”
Shibyun looked at the boy, “Why would I lie to you, Quiggly?”
Quiggly began to cry again. “Heeck! Heeck! You-you-you-you-you-you-you-you-you-you-you-you-you! Why are you lying to me? I’ve been here my whole life, I don’t remember my parents, but I never once saw the face of my mother or father. That’s just a dream! Or is it? Is it? Are you an illusion? I can’t tell anymore! Or is this just another trap?”
“Oh, you’re just going to go around believing the only real thing that happens to you is the stuff that makes sense to you? The fact that you can’t remember who your parents are, doesn’t mean you’ve got some other being controlling you. That’s crazy. Or is it? Are you crazy? There’s no difference. Why not just admit you’re crazy and be done with it?”
“Heeeeck! Heeeeck! I don’t know, I’ve never been to school. I don’t even know what ‘trap’ is! But I guess I’ve been trapped since a long time ago. Why am I thinking about that? I should just rip out your throat and put it in my mouth like you did to me before, what do you think?”
Quiggly looked up suddenly as the shadowy figure rose from the ground. Quiggly screamed, “You’re not my friend, why did you kill me? Why? I have nothing to live for now. I’m already dead! Why did you kill me? I didn’t do anything to you! Why did you?” Quiggly was getting louder and louder.
“Quiggly! QUIGGLY! QUIGGLY!” a
