Prologue (2)

(Still 12 years ago)

"Tommy!" Wilbur's anxious pleading awoke Tommy. His throat was sore, was he crying? He checked his cheeks, they were wet.

Phil and Techno went unnoticed by Tommy. "I saw them." He murmured, eyes wide.

"Who?" Wil asked.

"Mom and Dad." Phil drew in a sharp breath, Tommy taking a quick glance at him.

"It's going to be okay." Phil lied, scooping Tommy up. He gave a longing stare into Phil's eyes, but saw a corpse looking back. Phil's big, exotic wings were cut from the body, with blood smearing each feather. The wings made a squelching sound. Tommy made a sudden shrill and tried to shove himself away from the body. "What's wrong, mate?" He asked, letting Tommy scurry away from him, but as Phil opened his mouth, white bubbles formed.

Tommy stared at Techno, seeing if he saw what Tommy did, but Techno's eyes went glossy white. Blood started to ooze from his mouth and neck. As he cocked his head to the side, there was a loud cracking sound and Techno's head was being detached from his body.

Tommy closed his eyes shut. Techno couldn't die, Techno NEVER dies. Why was everyone dying? Tommy prayed this was all a nightmare.

"Make it stop." Tommy pleaded.

"What?" Phil asked, he didn't try to hide the concern in his voice.

Tommy didn't respond.

"Tommy, bud. I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong." Phil tried to comfort. Tommy just shook his head and squeezed his eyes tighter as Phil's corpse showed in his imagination. It was dark, but at the time, that was what comforted him most. He was safe here, he knew his mind. Tommy didn't want to open his eyes again, not when what he saw could still be there.

Phil sighed and squeezed him tightly.

They were like that for a good hour, Tommy breathing shakily in Phil's arm while Techno and Wilbur went back to bed. Eventually, Tommy drifted into an uneasy, and dreamless sleep.

-

Tommy woke hours later to nobody with him, but with the memories of the previous day.

What went so wrong? Tommy wanted to go back to the days when he could come home to the smell of fresh bread and warm greetings from his parents.

Tommy felt a hand touch him softly and he flinched. "Hey, it's okay. It's just me, Wilbur." He relaxed a bit. "I'm right here." Wilbur softly caressed his back.

Tommy decided to try again, squinted his eyes open. Nothing was off. He opened them more, looking for the blood of Phil and Techno, finding none. Tommy slowly looked at Wil, first seeing his sweater, then he saw the blood.

There was blood soaking a rip in his sweater, underneath that was a visible wound, a stab in the chest. Blood dripped from his mouth and his eyes lulled to the back of his head. Dark blue tears streamed down his face.

Tommy whimpered and shut his eyes tightly.

"What's wrong?" He asked, there was an echo to his words, like he was in a canyon hundreds of feet from Tommy.

"I saw you." He whimpered again, the image flashing into Tommy's head.

"Is that a bad thing?" He chuckled.

". . .dead." Tommy finished.

Wilbur stayed silent for a minute then broke the silence with, "It's just your imagination. I'm not dead, look at me." He said reassuringly.

Tommy looked, but only saw the ghost of Wilbur staring back. "I can't. I can't see you alive. All I can see is a stab in your chest! Your eyes are distant and there's blood covering your sweater!" Tommy cried, closing his eyes again.

"Hey, hey. Don't worry about it. I'm alive no matter what you see. I'll always be alive. . . You want to try to sleep again?"

Tommy nodded and drifted off, snuggling into Wilbur.

-

When he awoke, Phil was grouped in the snuggle party. He tried to leave when he noticed Tommy awake, but Tommy hissed and snatched Phil's cloak, preventing him from leaving.

They stayed like that for around an hour, at least Tommy and Phil did. Wilbur got bored and went back to his room.

-

"Hey," Phil said. "Do you want something to eat?" Before then, Tommy neglected the rumbling of his empty stomach. He nodded and Phil softly let Tommy rest some more on the couch while he made sandwiches. It was cold without Phil's warm body around him.

Phil brought the sandwiches to Tommy, watching as he devoured it. "So, Tommy, are you willing to open your eyes for me?" The image of Phil's corpse flashed in his mind and he immediately shook his head.

Phil sighed, "Okay."

-

Days went by like that, Tommy refusing to open his eyes, despite Phil's encouragement. Tommy was getting used to being blind and got around the house much better, but still bumping into lamps and couches frequently. From a loss of the most relied sense, Tommy's hearing, smell, touch and taste have gotten stronger.

"Do you think you'll ever open your eyes again?" One day Phil asked. Tommy thought for a moment. Would he want to live in the dark his whole life? Would he ever see Phil again? Maybe he could get used to the dark, it's better than seeing corpses his whole life.

Tommy shook his head slowly, Phil responding with, "I need to talk to Techno and Wil real quick, I'll be right back."

"Okay." Tommy said. Phil then left him to wander the house. He was giving Tommy more trust as the days passed, and hopefully, one day, he wouldn't need to be checked on every 5 minutes.

Being the curious bitch he was, Tommy followed Phil from a safe distance, he walked into Wilbur and Techno's room. Since Tommy came here, Phil's been getting the spare bedroom a good polish up for him. Now he has his own room and feels like he belongs.

Tommy stayed at the door, not knowing if he should hear the conversation or not, probably not, but he wanted to know why they had to hide something from him.

"So I've been doing some research about why Tommy won't open his eyes and I came across something called Optophobia." Phil started.

"You think we know what that means?" Techno asked.

"I was going to say, until you interrupted me. As I was saying, Tommy has Optophobia, the fear of opening one's eyes. So don't pressure him, I'm looking at you, Techno." Tommy heard Wilbur laughing his head off while Techno snickered .

"Tommy's seen things not even adults are prepared to see. Just be fragile with Tommy, he'll probably be skittish this first month he's with us. Now go to bed."

Tommy quickly ran to his bedroom when he heard Phil walking towards the door. He nearly bumped into every object in the hallway, and tripped into his bed making a loud thumping noise.

Tommy stayed silent for a moment, the only thing he could hear was the frantic heart beat that came from everywhere at once.

"You good Toms?" Phil asked approaching his room.

"Yeah, I just bumped my head into the wall." He responded quickly.

"Okay. Goodnight!"

"Night!" Tommy tried sleeping, but with the rapid heart beat, it was useless. So instead, he listened to the wind, the birds, anything out in the forest his hearing could reach, until he drifted to sleep.

When he woke up, Phil invited Tommy to run some errands with him, Tommy gladly accepted and they set off.

There was only one errand they needed to run, and it was pretty much pointless. All Phil got was a stupid cloth.

As they trekked home, Phil explained the cloth. "You can wear this on your eyes so you don't have to worry about opening them, you want to try it on?"

". . .Sure." Tommy decided.

Phil then softly wrapped the cloth around his head, fastened it, then put another one around Tommy's neck.

"Just in case you lose your other one, this one's red, so it is possible that you could see through it.

"Thanks, Phil." Tommy never did well with "thank you's" and "you're welcome's" but he truly meant it this time.