…
Bobby pushed the door open rather thoughtlessly, stepping over the puddle he made via toilet water. 
“Hello? Anyone there?” the penguin boy called. No one answered, but hearing some noise from downstairs, concluded where they all were. Uninterested in being seen without his pants on, or at least not the ones still wet, Bobby went straight to the bedroom. The puddle continued to spread, as it did since few minutes they left him and several others when he finally meets them again. At the very least, he did turn off the lights in the bathroom.
There were some noises that came from downstairs, but Bobby just focused on rummaging through the wardrobe. When it came to clothing, there wasn’t really much for these kids. Sure, they all had at least two pairs of pants and shirts, plus something for the winter, but that initial number rarely if ever went beyond. As such, Miss Cheshire would constantly nag them about keeping themselves clean and proper, as even an idea of needing to replace old clothing seemed to anger her. Bobby would usually try his best too. Not that it helped him, being who he is. But with their caretaker away, he felt like he could just cheat for today, and get some new clothes from somewhere else.
“Gotta be here.” He looked under another bed, Brian’s, reaching for the small stack of clothing. And just like that, in it he found a new pair of pants to wear. He promptly put them on, revealing the obvious size difference between the two boys. Bobby though found them perfect enough to go downstairs with, finally. “Finally! Hope they didn’t wait too long for me!”
Then the house shook from a roar. 
“Whoah…” Bobby yelped while falling on all fours. Whatever was going on downstairs sounded really big.
Then he saw a levitating mirror appear in front of his face. The penguin’s beak unhinged itself, as the floating object moved closer.
“Whoah!” 
Bobby instinctively reached for it. The mirror slid itself right into his palm, its back exposed right in little boy’s face. On it was something written with a marker. Bobby checked the mirror itself first, finding it to be Miss Cheshire’s own personal one that she kept in her room. It had a flowery pattern in the frame and a golden color, though it slowly stripped away to show the dark-grey metallic one underneath. Bobby read the message on the back, which said “Put me on kitchen window, outside.” 
A window opened in the bedroom, then, out of the blue. The young penguin boy glanced toward it, then checked around to see if anyone else was there. Despite everything, all he could hear were the noises from downstairs. 
“No way…” he gasped, clutching the mirror tighter in his chest. He then moved to the window and looked downwards to see no one and nothing. That is, until one of the branches near his head shook, broke itself off from the tree, and then turned upside down. It pointed like an arrow to the ground, floating in the air soundlessly until finally dropping itself. The branch landed on the ground without fanfare. And yet, Bobby felt nothing by excitement growing within him. “A poltergeist! I knew they existed! Ghosts are real!”
Suddenly, the branch floated up into the air again. Before long, it levitated away, towards a side of the orphanage. Not interested in letting it out of his sight, Bobby proceeded to follow it. Looking around to see where he could put the mirror, he left it on the floor and then climbed out of the window and down the tree outside. As clumsy as he was, the boy knew very well how to climb. In fact, he was naturally talented climber, managing to have gotten to the top of several trees during the summer. The other kids would wonder if one of his parents was actually a monkey.
He landed right next to the tree without a problem. He heard some racket going on inside, where someone talked, which then followed by other kids “oohing” after. Bobby wanted to check in to see what was going on. It was much darker inside, so he needed to peek in more. 
Then something shining fell right next to him.
“Oh!” The boy jumped a bit, seeing the mirror from the second floor suddenly lying by his feet. The penguin looked up and then around. 
“Are you here mister ghost?” He picked it up. “Do you want me to bring it to the kitchen window?”
The ghost did not answer, for how a ghost could ever answer to a living being. At the very least, not while it was middle of the day. So instead, it pulled away the mirror from his hands, making it slide across the ground.
“Hey!”
It kept on sliding, all the way towards the side of the house. Finally getting the goal in mind, the penguin boy rapidly waddled his way around the orphanage. He went around the corner, through the broken fence, and all the way to the back. He was huffing a bit, realizing as well that maybe wearing pants that were bigger and would tangle a lot wasn’t such a good idea. And yet, he was in the backyard, all caught up with the runaway mirror.
He picked it up and checked the surroundings. Whoever the ghost was had probably left already. Or maybe just went into the house. How could he tell if the poltergeist was there though? Would the others believe him? He could ask Chester about it. He seemed like someone who knew about ghosts.
“HOW-Why did you say THAT?” a loud yell came from inside the house.
Bobby looked over the window to see what was happening. That said, it was far too dark for him to see. It looked like something big and black was obscuring everything. So the penguin made his way to the door. 
Of course, not before leaving the mirror leaning on the frame of the window. He had to make sure to do what the poltergeist asked of him.
…
“You…you had a BOY…” the clown gasped in utter disbelief.
Bobby was in the kitchen now, coming out with a cup of orange juice. He halted abruptly, once he saw the head of the clown monster lying on the floor in front of him. 
“Whoah!” Bobby titled his whole body to get a better look at the creature. A good chunk of juice spilt from the cup because of that.
“Really Bobby?” Chester sighed , going up to him and straightening the boy back up. “You gotta be careful with that! Don’t you remember how many clothes we have? Geez, first one problem and then another…” 
The other kids were all focusing on the clown, each one vying to get a good look while sitting on the couch, or peeking at it from the side. If there was a closest way to describe the scene, it was “morbid.” Chester pushed Bobby back into the kitchen to get something to wipe off the floor.
“You…hohohohoh….what a cheeky little brat you are…I could see it now…” The clown’s muttered into the floor. “Yes….you have GOTTEN me….”
The hedgehog just looked at the head. Despite clearly on the cusp of being erased from existence, it did not act in any way miserable or depressed about it. Instead, all it kept doing was mumbling, as if it needed another minute, and it will be back on its feet. However, the fumes of ebony-red and blue were escaping the stump of its neck without stopping. At this point, these ramblings did not in any way appear suspicious or defiant. Instead, Chester was feeling pitiful for the clown.
Azure, on the other hand, had other ideas in mind.
“We must ask him questions,” he told Chester, coming across as impatient. “He will tell us everything.”
“You sure he will?”
“A throe of death might motivate him to spill secrets. There are cases as such.”
Chester raised one brow. In the end, he considered following his spirit’s advice.
“Hey, clown!” The hedgehog bent down the head of the monster, while the latter was still mumbling something. He heard something along the lines of “cut-off chicken head” and a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” among other things. Both him and Azure thought these sounded a bit too disturbing. “What is Lord Vaco trying to do?”
“You think…hohohoh, I will REVEAL you his secrets?” The clown spurted from his mouth and into the floor, leaving a deep purple colored gunk. The other orphans cringed from it. “You’ve got me, you STUPID brat, but you did not win this war..oh no…I will have the last LAUGH! You will see! You will regret everything! Oi-Hohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohoh-”
And so, the clown dove into a spiral of never-ending laughter, filling the room with its cursed voice. Chester looked to the blue spirit, waiting for the later to come up with something. All Azure did was shrug. 
“At times, they choose to say nothing. A form of victory, however small,” he admitted.
Chester tilted his head at it. He thought about their whole fight up until this point, from the first time they met. In the end, he admittedly understood it in some manner. So while he didn’t like it, he at least could respect that. 
Then, a giant piece of paper covered the clown’s head. Chester, Azure and the others turned their heads back to the clown when Matthew, screaming with all his lungs out, appeared out of nowhere with plunger in hand. While his courageous shrieks reach their hearts, he rapidly pummeled the clown’s severed head under, what Chester realized happened to be, a poster.
“Matthew!” Chester said, confused. The goose kept on wailing on the head, non-stop, until even the laughter ceased. After a while, the hedgehog grabbed his feathery, shaking wrist.  “Calm down already!”
Matthew struggled his hand away from Chester and stood back up.
“And that’s!” he announced. “And that is, my friends, how you show, your superiority! THIS is how you overcome your fears! Hurrah, my friends! Hurrah, for the spirit of triumph! Of courage! Of SURVIVAL!!!” The goose honked and shouted in triumph. 
The rest of the kids in the room just stared at the overly energetic goose. What else could be said, when someone was in the middle of soaking in their victory? Well, nothing, actually. Chester saw it as okay to let him dance around in victory. Azure agreed, though he did wonder what sort of dance the goose was making, before further asking what “flossing” actually meant.
“My, what a wonderful nap,” someone said in Chester’s ear, meanwhile. He turned his head to find, of all people, Fotia sitting down next to him. “If I may, what happened here? It seemed as though we are celebrating…what for, if I may?”
Chester exchanged glances with Azure. Some of the kids were already leaving the living room, few of those in the kitchen and others upstairs. Soon enough, someone will mention a puddle. But it seemed that none of them will explode, at the very least. Chester sighed contently, happy that his plan worked. 
<A risky plan, too,> noted Azure.
But it worked! Retorted Chester.
<Yes, very much so…> Azure chuckled. <You have quite unusual set of “boogers” living with you.>
“Saeclum…”
Chester focused on the clown’s head again. Tongues of black smoke were still escaping from around the paper poster. The bump that was formed under it has shrank to double the original size. And yet, a small, crisp voice continued on to speak.
“Saeclum…the Cor…Oi-hohohohohoho…”
A last puff of smoke burst from under the paper, turning it fully flat. Nobody but Chester, Azure and Fotia, were paying attention to it. The hedgehog raised carefully one part of it, seeing the sticky, dark purple matter turn into black ash after a moment. He then peeked over to Fotia, whose glare was intense. Then, he turned up to Azure, who seemed to have become manic.
“We must find the others!” Azure declared.
“Oh!” Fotia quickly shot up to his feet. “I should have warned you of the Torque! Quick, before it is too late! They must know it’s weakness!” Fotia ran towards the door.
Chester looked up to Azure again, who seemed to be a bit at a loss himself.
And that was how they learned of Saeclum.
…
Flora had little problem with going back to the hospital with Tom. Mainly, because she felt like leaving Barbie by herself again. The latter looked fine for the most part, though maybe she should have checked on her eleven times instead of ten. But the lizard girl was as chipper as ever. She barely acted different, and Rose saw nothing wrong with her spirit. If there was anyone that looked the most shaken, it was Zamarad. 
In the end, they all left the premises without much trouble. Chester would later call her and tell them about the clown’s demise, as well as about some weird sounding word. Later on, he would also be in the hospital with the rest of the orphans to visit Miss Cheshire. 
At the moment, only she was sitting there in the lobby. Not even the desk lady was there, apparently off on her break. Rose was away, talking with the other spirits about what they learned. As such, Flora just sat there and scanned through the internet again. She tried to check on the news and on social sites, but kept on learning nothing. At some point she began to wonder what was the point of sitting on her phone all night.
“Man, what have I come to?” she muttered, settling her device away. Looking up at the clock, there were only few minutes left before they would have to leave. She sighed, waiting for it all to be done with.
Soon enough, there were sets of steps going her way. The were still minutes left, making her wonder a bit if it really was the tabby cat himself. She straightened herself up, from her dress to her posture, then leaned in to see who it was. The boy who came out ended up not being a cat cub, but instead, a bear one. 
Flora locked eyes with him. Immediately, a mutual sense of disdain was traded between them.
“You again?” Russell grumbled.
“Yes, me again,” Flora spoke through a lazy smile. “I’m waiting for my friend. Now could you go away, I don’t wanna be forced to leave too early.”
“Why, is he your boyfriend or something?” Russell asked ungracefully, making the deer rolled her eyes and nearly gag.
“Go ask stupid question somewhere else, already! Why are you even here!?”
Russell’s face was frozen in that serious, strained look on his face, which he silently scratched. He looked like he was trying to be intimidating, but all Flora saw was someone looking a bit too confused.
“Why aren’t you hanging out with Mandy and the others?” he asked suddenly.
“Since when?” Flora scoffed with a laugh. “I’ve been cut off from them already. Anyways, it’s not like Mandy’s group is even a thing anymore. Daphne left last week, while Angela been WAY too busy at home. It’s so bad, I think she’s been asking others for money to help her family. Can you imagine? The original “Richest Girl In Town,” now begging on the internet, it’s so funny. So, like yeah, the whole group?” Flora then stuck her tung out and did a slicing noise across her neck.
“Wow,” mumbled the bear. “That must suck.”
The deer side-eyed him.
“I mean…sure,” Flora sighed. “It’s not like Angel ever knew how it’s like to not have a lot of money. She’s really in shock over the whole thing, I guess it’s natural that she’s a bit…well…anxious about this. Daphne, I swear, is going through another trauma. She moved around like me, so that’s way more unpleasant to have to go through again, believe me. And Mandy,” Flora went silent for a moment. She continued, after looking down, “She is trying so hard…I can’t help but feel sympathetic to her. It’s sad.”
Blowing off a bit of the air, she looked over to the bear, who stood in his spot completely frozen. Flora squinted a bit just to see if even a small facial muscle even twitched.
“…Are you…gonna say something or?”
The bear looked around, as if to see if she was talking to someone else. Realizing it wasn’t he scratched his ear, and then retorted with, “Does it suck hard?”
“…What?”
“Like…it hurts a lot? You? Or…I dunno! Are you sad or what!?”
Flora opened her mouth half-way and then shook her head. After letting out a laugh, she asked, “Are you serious?”
“I’m trying to be nice!”
She tilted her head. “Why are you trying to be nice?”
Russell looked away and then mumbled something.
“Speak up,” Flora said to him.
“Cause my uncle says I need to get more friends,” Russell said.
Flora furrowed her brows.
“Wait, friends? With me?”
“Not with you! Maybe, with…” Russell then shrugged, “I dunno! You’re like…my least favorite…and you’re-“
“Sit down.”
The bear stopped to stare at her, his face still wearing that lost look to it.
“What are you gawking at?” She wiped a seat next to her. “Sit here. I’m way too bored, and as much as it hurts me, you are better than wasting time thinking about…my Mom.”
“What happened?” he asked, before trudging his way to her and plopping himself down.
“She is kidnapped,” Flora said, then sniffed the air. “Do you even shower?”
His face barely changed.
“Anyways,” Flora continued with a grumble, “They found her car in the woods, and now they are trying to investigate. There’s like some theories about possible serial killer or something, but no one even has any evidence and like, it is so not helping, and I’m just tired of it. Like, I don’t think anything is wrong with her, cause I don’t think she’d be stupid to fall for anything, but like! What now? Can I see her again? Will I be able to meet her? Can I ask someone for help? Will they keep investigating? Why is there so little talk about it? I’m just so…”
Flora laid her face over her own hands and then exhaled into them. Rubbing her eyes, she felt way more tired talking about it than after a whole day with the monster. 
“That sucks,” Russell said.
Flora looked at him.
Quickly he began looking around again, and then blurted out, “I’m being nice!”
“Yeah, you sure are,” Flora said, then leaned into her chair, before taking out her phone again.
She heard Russell sniff and then wipe his nose off. “I…hope your mom’s okay.”
Flora rolled her eyes. Some people are incorrigible.
“Thanks,” she said to him.
A new message came up on her phone. She furrowed her brows, and then opened it, seeing it coming from Mandy. She read the message, and then bit her lip. She then put her phone down and looked down into the hall. 
She wished for him to come out earlier.
…
“Oh, and here’s what I got, Mom!” Tom carefully placed the laptop on his mother’s bed, turning the screen in a way that she could see fully. “I got in! I am going to go to the ARKYO university! I know I told you that I’m quitting, but it looks like I was wrong! I’m getting in! Isn’t that great!?”
His mother glassily stared at the screen. 
“Oh! And also, I’ll be going there with my friends! Remember them, right? All four of them? I mean, they are different ones, but you know them. They treat me well! And-and they let me go home and go to sleep right on time!” 
Tom watched just move her from the screen and then back to the outside. It was very dark at this point of the evening, so the only thing illuminating there was the external light. 
“Also, I need to tell you something,” Tom said, gulping a bit and taking a deep breath. “I…haven’t slept well today. It’s why I’m a bit scatterbrained! But don’t worry, I won’t do it again! It’s just one time! I was…just doing something I felt important, so…”
He gave a small pause to his mother. She, after while, sniffed once. He took it as a sign that she forgave him and loved him regardless.
According to the doctors, there was nothing wrong with her specifically. There is a high chance of trauma after the whole event that happened, which could explain why she was acting in a certain manner. 
“She could be trying to hide,” one of the doctors told him, “so help her get the courage to come out.”
Tom put away his devices back into the bag. He looked over the top of the small drawer next to her bed, finding her empty plate and a full cup of water. He looked over them and then back to her.
“Do you…want me to help you take it away? The dirty dishes?”
His mother turned her head to it. Her eyes laid on the cup. Tom noticed that.
“Are you thirsty? Here let me help,” he said and brought her the cup. 
She turned away without letting him give her a single drop. Tom stood there for a bit, with a full cup of water at hand. The room was silent, and spacious, enough that she didn’t feel too awful about it. It was good that the services were covered by the insurance, but there was only enough time left before she would have to leave. And yet, how long will they going to over it? He had no idea. Can they afford to keep her longer? Will the hospital be kind about it? Could she pay it all back later? She wasn’t exactly in a high position, even he knew that. What will happen to them, once they all go back?
Will she ever want to come back?
He looked at the cup full of water. It barely moved in his hands, surprisingly. He thought for sure he’d be shaking, considering how scary it all was. He wasn’t blaming his mom for wanting to stay away. Maybe, he could just stay longer with her?
Tom looked over to his Mom. He remembered about the old days, how they did everything together, how much she loved him and took care of him. He remembered her helping find a new laptop, how she helped him get into the club, how she always made sure to wipe off his nose…She always did that for him. 
Even though her father did…that…to her…
He put the cup back on the drawer.
“I’m gonna make you proud,” he said to her resultantly.
She did not utter a word back. After a pause, he began to collect his stuff, getting ready to leave. As soon as he reached the door, he heard her make a small sniff.
When he looked back, she turned her head back to the window.
…