[2.00 AM]
"You are not Christine."
That voice, I had to wake up from that voice again. Another night in this mansion, and I hear a whisper that cuts my dream into black and silent. It's been the third time I've encountered this shadowy voice since our first unlikely encounter.
Once again, it was halfway before morning, and the room was filled with nothing but darkness. I still sleep in the same bed I had yesterday, but now I have two pillows and a chair—I think that means I have more things in my room now. Still, it feels so empty and cold here.
"Hrgh...Starglaze?"
He still believed I was sick enough to distant myself from reality and illusion. It's starting to bother me more when I hear him snoring comfortably with the thought of me being too disillusioned. But nevertheless, he sleeps so well that it doesn't seem like he is bothered by it. The star shines dimly when he is asleep.
"Oh, Starsy. What's with you and this little nuisance we're having? We could all be happy as a Joyling together...aren't we?"
"But of course, we had to fight for something. Such a friendship disagreement we're having here..."
It's happening again—I cannot sleep. As soon as my body rose in a terrible wake, I was numbed from sleeping anymore. This has never happened before since that voice came to me. That's when I knew it was their doing—or HER doing—the voice's doing.
"Hey. Are you there? Are you still listening to me...?"
"You've called for me? Why would you call on your own voice?"
"You called on me before. I should do the same."
"You shouldn't. I did not need to be called..."
"Oh, but I know you needed me more when you talked to me that day. You must be a lonely one, too...aren't you?"
"You should know that I do not kindly take an offer. I have no feeling or desire to do so..."
Yes, I do recognize the voice as a lady, but she sounded faded and blurry to hear. If I held a broken microphone and put only a taunting whisper, I could mimic that voice, too. But I couldn't get rid of her since she started to appear in my head. Sometimes, even I could ignore her by accident—and she didn't like it.
"What do you want?" I asked the voice.
"Nothing. I wanted nothing."
"I can't give you that. You have to be more specific..."
I walked out of my bed and sat on my chair while glancing at her face through my mirror. Sadly, it was only my face that showed up on the glass. Her voice echoes in my head clearly, with the faint Gleam lamp beside me to help keep an eye on her.
"You think I could find a friend out there?"
"You wouldn't find a human likeable."
"I know. But these humans are my friends, and I don't like to make my friends hate me..."
"You've always been hated. What's the difference?"
"What? Where did you get that idea?"
*Buk*
As I was about to ask her again, I heard something falling from the outside with a thumping sound. It happens again, and I think I know who is involved here. The intruder with the saddest face is coming to haunt this home.
"What was that?"
"Your voice slips out again, Pearl."
"Oh, no...it's him. I need to wake Starsy up..."
"Starglaze...Starglaze...Starglaze...! Wake up..."
Starglaze and I were the only ones who were ready for this night, so I had to wake him up. He looks so funny when he wakes up, so it's hard not to chuckle. But when he looked at me with such a gaze, he grew more irritated than I thought he would be.
"Ugh, what's with the laugh, Pristy...? Can't you see it's night already...?"
"Starglaze, he's here...King Glum's here..."
"What...? Pearl, are you sure you've checked your ears...? Your eyes look...heavy..." He's reasoning for additional sleep time.
"We need to catch him now! Please, Starglaze..."
"Pearl, I'm tired...do it yourself..."
"Come on, Starglaze...Just help me for this one...please, please, please..."
"Please, please, please, please..."
It's hard to beg for him. But when my sweet, kind words were taken out to his ears, Starglaze couldn't resist himself from sleeping again. Delighted as the Joyling he is, he helped me out of his heart with a gasp of excitement after realizing how exciting it would be.
"Alright, friend!"
———————————————————————————————————
We went downstairs, following the sound of Glum's terrible footsteps. But we didn't go down without a proper weapon. We never trust the day in a studio with a Frowling, specifically unarmed. Starglaze had his wand aimed at the front, shimmering brightly with stardust to decimate our enemy. While me? I am packed with one of humanity's most versatile weapons.
"Hya...ha...huff...ha...hmm..." I swing this metallic bar I find from the wardrobe as hard as I can. I believe it was a pipe, but it was already broken.
"Woah, where did you get that? Looks dangerous..."
"From my wardrobe. It is heavy, and I like it. Tough tool for a hit..."
The excitement, the darkness, and the scene. I have never felt so happy before at this moment. After years, I could finally take Glum down again and return this house to peace at once. I could hear his footsteps as he wandered around the kitchen again for another of his silly trips. Maybe I can finally redeem myself to the Joylings after what I did.
"Hya... ha...ya!"
*Prang*
"S-Sorry..." I apologize.
But I was too clumsy. One swing and I could make our victory go by in a dust. That poor vase didn't deserve the shatter it got, but it gave us a hint of the intruder's attention. It's clear that he knows we're here now.
Right after he heard that, he quickly moved to our position, just where we wanted him to be. His footsteps were loud, but the chimes were the loudest. He had no idea what hit him on the back as he continued further.
*Heavy breathing*
*Thought* "By the stars...it was him..."
He stood there menacingly, hands gripping the doorframe as ice cold spread across the room. The chimes on his body also rang around the hallway, while his shadow stood tall on the ground. I can't see his face well, but I can see a man standing like no other human.
We waited for him to get closer to us, with his back unguarded as he made his way through the noise. We could see only a shadow of him standing tall with his cane. Still, it doesn't matter because now we had him trapped instead. My arms go up with this weapon.
"On the count of three...two..."
"Hm?"
"ONE!"
Pak! The first hit was on me. The crushing sound of his skull, along with my metal weapon, convinces me that it must have been a heavy wound for him. He was helpless, and the body of a king fell so easily like a bag of meat. Oh, how fallen have you become, Glum.
"King Glum! You're dead!"
Pak! The second hit struck him in the legs, enough to keep him running from us. He was helpless, as he had always been. A creature like him couldn't be so pitiful to look at. Now he crawls, begging and limping.
"No more mercy for you! No more!"
Woosh! The wand struck a hot dust across his body, where fire rose from his robe, and he was burned with so much pain. Starglaze's wand was bursting with gleam, and Glum didn't like a gleam.
"And stop taking away my stardust! You...you whale-looking sad face!"
"Woah, that's rude, Starsy. Even for him..."
"But this is for everything! The big four, including me, will have you know you're done!"
"For the Joylingers!"
*Crack*
The victory was ours as it always had been. Fire and bruises are on Glum's back, and we are triumphant where we stand. Alas, the king has fallen from his throne and is defeated by one and only Joylingers like us. Or that is at least what we thought in the dark. And to celebrate this triumph, we sang our song.
"Jump and Jack, the shore rising tight~!"
"The ocean calls for waving~!"
"With gleam and glossy, the skirt spinning right~!"
"There goes the Pristine Pearl~!"
"Round around, the circling night~!"
"The wonderful children are waiting~!"
"With shines and sparkles, their head gleaming wise~!"
"There goes the Starglaze~!"
"Yeah!!"
*Click* "Pearl, what's happening here?"
But right before our eyes, the victory was short-lived. Mother was awakened by our loud noise, walking downstairs with her towel-like pyjama and baggy eyes. She was tired, like many Joylings who aren't an owl like me.
"Christine? Star-thing? What are you doing this late at night? Don't you know what time it is?" She appears disturbed. But I know she wouldn't be with our findings.
"Wow, Ms Starstuhm...care to warn us first...? Ouch..." Starglaze mumbled.
"Mom, mom! We got him! We got King Glum! We—huh?"
But when the light was on, we found that no king was lying on the floor. It was only a man, bruised and battered by our merciless attack. He was leaking a red colour, wearing his thick coat to cover the humanly face he had hidden behind the dark. Father was not lucky to be our victim.
"Augh...ugh..."
"F-Father???"
"Mr Starstuhm, what are you doing there?" Starglaze pokes him with his wand.
He was grunting with pain—one more terrible than King Glum's sluggish hum. So many bruises, so many wounds, and so many disappointments he could have seen through me when he saw me holding that metal bar. Fortunately, we didn't go too harsh on his leg. Unfortunately, he can stand on his leg.
"I'm so sorry, father...I thought you were..."
"Yes, yes! You think I'm this 'King Glum' you've met last night?" He looks so unhealthy. His arms are crossed, and he blinked hard with that purple eye.
Pang! That's the sound of my metal pipe laying elsewhere.
But something confuses me when I see him. The sound of a cane was heard around the hallway this night, something a Glum could have. But when I inquire about this idea to him, he quickly shuts it off with the broom he had been holding. It was thick for a handle, and he liked to tap them on the floor every time he held them.
I asked him again about the chimes. Chimes were ringing here before, and it was loud to me and Starsy's ears. But that hope was gone when he opened his coat and revealed bells hanging all over his body. Rats hated them, he said. He was trying to ward them off because the chimes made the little creature scared.
The cold, I ask him. The freezing temperature rising from this house was too unusual for him. But then, he showed me his fingers, and it was cold. The refrigerator was opened right before our eyes, shimmering with its white light. It was open, and the cold was spreading through the lonely floor like a breeze.
"Aww, what? This is unbelievable! I thought I got him! But it was him!"
"Yeah, you look almost like him, you know? The robe, the cane, the cold, and the chime!" Starglaze sneered.
"Alright, that's it! You two are grounded right now. Christine, Star-face, clean up the vase you just break there. Tomorrow, I don't want to hear any of this 'Glum' ever! You understand?"
"Yes, father..." | "Yes, sir..."
"Good. Ugh, can you give me a lift, dear...?" My father was limping.
"Here you go."
In the end, we failed to capture King Glum and find ourselves a terrible duty instead. On a late night, after a jolt of false excitement, we get tired easily with all those energies we've drained. Meanwhile, the mother and father get to sleep the entire night after our mess.
"And Christine..." My father called upstairs.
"Yes, father?"
"Sleep quickly. Don't overwork yourself, okay?"
"Yes, father."
———————————————————————————————————
How awkward. The joy was killed in the same spotlight as mine. Now me and Starglaze had to clean up the mess we made in this place. It's only a vase that breaks, but now it has become more than that. It became a guilty mess. We picked up the broom and swept as easily as a maid, which is insulting.
"Why don't we have a maid here? We're a Starstuhm family, right? Shouldn't we have a maid?"
"I think they don't need a maid in a place like this. It's so boring! Why did the humans made it so big if it wasn't going to give us what we needed?"
"Exactly. Starglaze, I didn't know how much I could endure this place knowing so many things are happening here."
"The toxic paint, the human girl, and now Glum? What else going to hurt me here? Can you imagine that?"
Somehow, it makes me even happier to be here at night's silence than to be in the spotlight. So many lights, but not for me, and so many claps, but not to cheer me on. Starglaze was also indifferent as usual, but always sticks close to me like a friend I've always needed.
For the rest of the night, which isn't long, we just wander around the house and smile at the thought of our safety. It was doubtful, terrifying and hard to bear when we had to face Frowlings back in the studio and now. Yet as long as we are together, it's what keeps our journey worthwhile here.
"Heh, would you see that? Today was the day, Pearl..."
"What?"
"The day! The day you're no longer hidden from the human anymore. It's a new day."
"No, it's not! It's night."
"You don't know how clock works, don't you?"
"Yes, I do! I...uhm...know that!"
What a relieving thing to hear. The day of hiding was over, and I could finally shimmer as I wanted to. But it wasn't over for me to just jump into the ocean of beige-wondering creatures. I wonder what talent they would like to see from a forgotten Joyling? Surely, a Screenshow position no longer suits me.
"You have no talent. You merely as strong as a human..."
"Aha! I know, Starglaze! Tomorrow, I have a plan! We have to exercise!"
"We?"
"Alright, just me. But you have to be there helping me, okay? It won't be risky, I promise you!"
"Well, anything for my friend."
———————————————————————————————————
Somewhere, something was lurking on the hill. Darkness is the coat, but rain is his face. The one ruling the cursed now lies without a throne, wandering in the desert of humans. Desperate to find his prey, he tried everything outside the mansion. Yet it was easier said than done.
"Hrgh..." He growls. "Need...fresh meat..."
It returned to the darkness, where it vanishes with all its works for the Joyling. Yet Pearl had warned of his existence here, and that there's nothing else to wait but a silence. Tomorrow is the day when he has to make it right.