Animal

tfw you trying to modernize and standardize your character sheets. 

😣

I needed something to warm myself back up; you know, stretch the writing muscles. My ideas are a little slim at the moment and I still don't know where to put these, so for now enjoy another adventure of everyone's favorite Westbound Eldritch Empath.

Yours is Laughing...

There are some things that the human race is never meant to see or experience. Some things were just meant to exist independently, untouched by man’s corrosive influence. Now I was never one for superstitions, ghost stories, or tall tales; but what I experienced was no story. Scholars of the supernatural have no idea what abhorrent beings lurk right under our noses. Let me tell you, we as a species are just dust compared to them.

I have stared into the darkness…and it laughed in my face.

I used to be a mechanic, and a noteworthy one at that. I worked on airships for years, learning their in’s and out’s, what makes them tick. There’s no shortage of airship mechanics in the world, but finding a good one with consistent results is difficult. That’s where I came in. I could take a Deluxe Commercial Entertainment Ship apart and put it back together again with the greatest of ease; if not better than it was beforehand. With such skills, it wouldn’t be surprising that my services would be desired by those in high places. I was among people in very important circles as a chief engineer. I thought myself an aristocrat among this elite group of individuals.

It all went to my head...

But things changed after a particular gala. This actually happened on a small airship I’d repaired in the past. I was always an independent engineer, but I was about to accept a contract and be appointed to be Executive Engineer of an up-and-coming public transportation network. It wasn’t long before the announcement that I excused myself to the restroom to freshen up. I went into a stall to do my business before freshening up in a mirror at the sink. I was excited at my core; it was the peak, the climax even, of my career.

The moment I left that stall, my life changed forever.

There was a boy at one of the sinks, no older than eight years old, brushing his teeth of all the things. He was a disheveled mess at face value, with his heavily faded nightclothes and his wild ginger hair. I couldn’t even see his eyes through that mess on his head. “How did you find your way here?” I asked him gently. The ship was rented out for the gala, and even then there was a security check when everyone boarded the vessel. Somehow this kid had slipped his way in here. He didn’t respond to my question, just finished brushing his teeth and looked back in my direction. I went to wash my hands while I continued, “Did someone bring you with them?” He held his gaze on me even though I couldn’t look him in the eye. Then he finally spoke,

“Yours is laughing...”

“I’m sorry, who’s laughing?” I couldn’t hear anything other than the running water between my hands. His words had clearly fallen on deaf ears if there was laughter to be had. He pointed behind he as if he knew the source of the sound. I turned in that direction mainly out of sheer curiosity only to see nothing, however when I turned back the boy was already exiting the bathroom. “Wait, don’t leave! Let me get you somewhere safe.” He stopped and turned back to me; hopefully to stay with me until I can find security and see that he’s secure. However, the boy lifted the hair from his face, revealing his eyes. Those eyes...they pierced my soul in an instant. They were less like a child’s eyes and more like those of a seasoned veteran. “You can’t hear it?” He asked me, “You will soon. Yours clearly finds something funny.” With those few words he left me alone, cold water flowing through my hands, shaken to the core.

The rest of the night went off without a hitch, albeit with a few more nerves on my end. It was the next day that I started hearing it. At first it was subtle, I’d be in a public area and hear some kids giggling, I’d be alone in my room while there’d be hearty laughter on the busy streets, mild snickers coming groups of young adults; nothing unusual. I actually enjoyed how much more laughter I noticed at first, happiness is always pleasant to hear. Then it became more strange over time and I knew something was wrong. I’d hear an elderly woman cackling outside my workshop, I’d hear raucous applause when only a single woman is laughing, I’d hear a baby giggle when I open a can of beer.

Then I started to see them…

Mouths. Gaping jaws stuck in a perpetual state of laughter. I’d see them form on people’s faces, literally replacing their other features with horrendous teeth and mismatched jaws. They’d form on walls, on my tools, my appliances. They don’t talk, all they do is laugh. I tried to question them and they just laugh. They laugh. They laugh. They laugh at me. They laugh in my face. They think I’m funny. Is this just some sick joke? Am I sick? Am I a joke? Should I be laughing? It doesn’t seem funny. Is it funny? Am I funny? Can I even ask someone? Nobody talks to me. Nobody can. I couldn’t hear them if I tried. Not over the laughter. The laughter. The laughter.

To the people that promoted me, I’ve fallen off the face of the planet. I’m stuck in a closet writing this. I can’t go outside, I can’t eat, I can’t work, I can’t sleep; everything laughs at me. I feel like if I talk I’ll hear myself laughing. I haven’t heard a single coherent word from another person in a few days now, and it seems like I never will. I feel like I’m crashing and burning-

...

Actually, that’s…

Kind of funny...