MANIC MONSTER DISPLACEMENT

Do you ever wonder if there are other worlds out there? Do you ever wonder, in this infinite, vast space, that there could be others out there? Could they be like us? Would they think like us, would they look like us? Cain’s thoughts were interrupted by his phone letting off a soft ring, directing his attention away from his endless questioning. He had been sitting on a park bench for a few hours now, leaning against the railing, while his music played in the background through his headphones. Cain Desdé was an introvert by all means, his closest friend in life being the headphones he was always seemed to carry, that or his older sister, but they haven’t spoken much ever since she moved out. He had fluffy black hair, black skin, and dark blue eyes, as well as being on the scrawnier side.

Cain slid his phone out of his hoodie pocket, taking time to pick at the loose thread that was barely keeping the pocket attached to the body. Figuring he’d have to sew it back together when he got home, something he found himself doing often with how well-loved his hoodie was. It was oversized, dark black, and had an assortment of checkered patches sewn onto the fabric. In places where it had torn, stained, or ripped, his jeans donning a similar appearance. Cain had a condition called synesthesia, something that made him see colors, shapes, or patterns in music, which helped nurture his love for music even more, as well as giving him an interest in art in later years.

He answered the call, seeing it was from his sister, peering towards the frost covered grass surrounding the park as he held the phone up to his ear. “Hey,” He said casually, putting his free hand in his pocket. “Ma said you weren’t home yet, what are you doing out in the cold?” She asked with a worried, and somewhat annoyed tone. Cain scoffed quietly, his grip on the phone lessening slightly. “I’m just chilling at the park, I didn’t feel like being cooped up at home today, it’s pretty out,” Cain replied. It wasn’t clear over the phone, but he could feel the eye roll his sister probably just gave him, knowing him well enough by now.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s pretty, but it is also FREEZING, dude! Were they fighting again?” She asked, Cain going silent for a few moments as he contemplated. “Okay, so that would be a yes.” She sighed over the phone, thinking herself for a second. “I’m not cold, promise, I just didn’t feel like hearing their bull crap after school.” Cain said honestly, fiddling with one of the many rings on his finger. Being an avid collector of knick-knacks, and random jewelry pieces he finds at the thrift store. “I get that, they get… pretty loud,” She sighed. “But, again. You shouldn’t be out in the cold, especially when it’s getting late. Why don’t you try joining one of your school clubs? You’d get something to do, be warm, and stay outta the house longer.”

Cain awkwardly chuckled in response, already shooting the idea down in his head. “What? Are you kidding? Then I’d have to interact with, ugh, people.” He said, in an over the top manner. His sister laughing a little over the phone, “Well, that IS what people do, Cain. They interact with each other! Make connections. I mean, not to seem rude or anything, but you don’t exactly have any friends…” Cain shrugged a little, seeing no issue with that, being a lone wolf for pretty much all his life. “I like it that way though, people are complicated… Not to mention, making friends is hard,”

Cain stood up, grabbing his bag off the bench. The snow was powdery, light, and melted upon impact. Thin strands of green peeking out from the layer of snow that had been coating the rest of the town for a week now. “Don’t you have studies to do, anyway? I don’t want to hold you up or anything, Belle,” Cain said, throwing his bag over his shoulder. “It’s a few minutes, Cain, It’ll be fine.” She said with a light chuckle, before getting a little more serious. “Just… Let me know if you need any help, y’know, with them. I know how they can be,”

Cain stayed quiet, nodding a little. “They’ve gotten worse ever since you left, but… I’ll manage, it’s just harder without… Never mind, it’s good, I’m good! I’m gonna head home now, love ya, sis.” He ended the call before she could respond, a deliberate choice he’d probably get drilled for whenever they talk again, but he didn’t really mind. Resuming his music, he started walking down the icy sidewalk, carefully stepping through previous people’s footsteps as to not get snow in his shoes. He still didn’t feel like going home, but it was getting late, and his mom was clearly already worried, knowing better than to stay out any later.

One of his favorites parts of living in their quaint suburban town was that mostly everything was in walking distance. The downside being they didn’t get many interesting shops or anything, having to go into the big city nearby for that. That’s where Belle was going to nursing school, their family had made plans to visit a few times, but all of them went sideways for one reason or another, either being too busy, car troubles, whatever. Cain tried not to let it get to him, but he undeniably felt lonelier after Belle left, she was his best friend growing up, the one friend he really had, so it felt like he lost her in a way. Not to mention, becoming a nurse ain’t no easy task, so they don’t have much time to talk anymore.

Cain took a deep breath when he reached his street, frigid air piercing his lungs, the sky covered in a mass of gray clouds, with a few rays of sun peering through. He flicked his mailbox open upon arrival, looking through various pieces of junk mail before taking in a sample magazine he figured he could use for an art piece. While he didn’t have any real friends, there was a furry little friend that he had started taking care of as of a few weeks ago. A black cat to be specific, it’s wide, yellow eyes staring at Cain from his rickety, white porch.

“Hello, Mr. Mystery,” He greeted. Cain wasn’t sure where the cat had come from, they never had any stray cats in the neighborhood before, and despite his asking around, none of his neighbors seemed to be missing a cat either. So, he dubbed the cat Mr. Mystery, and has been feeding it little pieces of food here and there, ever since its arrival. He still remembers the day they met, Cain had came home late, and he saw a pair of bright, yellow eyes in the pitch black. His heart damn near jumped out of his ribcage when he saw them staring back, until the eyes darted down, and the cat revealed itself under the porch light, having perched in the tree in the next-door neighbor’s yard.

“I don’t have anything right now, but you can wait until dinner,” He said, giving the cat some nice pats before opening the front door, and slipping inside. Cain took a deep breath, the house already being way too hot for his liking, his dad cranking the heat up if it even starts to get chilly. He kicked his shoes off, locking the door behind him before walking into the living room where his dad was, watching some old game show on the TV. “And where were you?” He asked, shutting off the TV when noticing Cain in the background. “Around,” Cain responded with a shrug, “I meant to text,”

“But you didn’t.” Cain’s mom shouted from the kitchen, walking out in her apron. “You have got to stop vanishing like this, Cain! It’s worrying,” She said sternly, having a mixing bowl held against her waist. “Especially with those weird, strange man sightings, or whatever they are. You could get hurt, and then what?” Cain grumbled a little, putting his hands in his hoodie pockets. “You don’t actually believe that, do you?” Cain said. “The people who originally saw ‘it’ were clearly high off their asses, they probably saw some branches in the woods and freaked themselves out. And everything else after has been kids making crap up!”

She shook her head, “That’s not the point, point is, you can’t keep just bumming around whenever you want, and without telling us where you are.” Cain could tell them WHY he’s never around, or why he never tells them where he is… But that would also involve him telling his parents how much he hates being around them, or how much he thinks their relationship sucks, so he wound up just saying nothing.

“We want you to start coming home directly after school now, alright? And that’s final,” She said, Cain’s father speaking up in protest. “That isn’t what we agreed on,” He said, in an annoyed tone. “You didn’t even listen to what I had to say, did you?” Cain groaned a little, already sensing yet another shouting match. “Maybe if you weren’t trying to talk to me when I had to be focusing on FIFTY other things, then maybe I would have been listening.”

Cain scoffed out loud, turning to his room. “Gee, well, didja ever think THIS is why I’m never home?!” He shouted, slamming the door behind him. He half expected them to come tell him how disrespectful he just was, and ground him for, like, 6 months, but they didn’t. Maybe it was because they took what he said to heart, and realized how awful they’d been acting, or… It’s more likely they just started arguing about his behavior, and who’s fault it was. Cain couldn’t tell, he had his volume turned up high, and a pillow over his head, laying down in bed.

It was hard not to get emotional at this point, it felt stupid in a way, getting so worked up over a small interaction, but it still stung. It’s not like he had anybody else to turn to, anyway, Belle was constantly busy, he has no friends at school, his parents, well, they ARE the issue. He felt like his fault, in a way, maybe if he wasn’t so scared of getting hurt, he WOULD have friends… Maybe if he’d just stayed home, dealt with their petty arguing, they wouldn’t be fighting right now.

Cain sighed, doing his best to shut any and all thoughts out, focusing on his music and the colors he saw in his eyes when he closed them. Eventually, passing out, waking up in a dazed, still slightly emotional confusion. He kicked off his blankets, yawning a little, 3:24am, how long has he been out? He thought to himself, taking his headphones off, resting them around his neck.

Cain still wasn’t sure what to do, having a bunch of pent-up energy he didn’t know what to do with. So he grabbed the magazine he got from the mail, and got up to sit at his desk, grabbing a pair of scissors. Back in 4th grade, he had an art assignment where they were told to get a magazine, cut out various bits, and piece them back together to make something new. He found it uninteresting back then, but that was only because back then he was a boring snot-nosed kid who was only into monster trucks and camels, for… some reason. He’s a little more perceptive to it now, snipping through whichever images he found eye-catching enough to use, and gluing them to a piece of cardboard he tore from a box lying around.

Cain had no idea in mind, putting the collage together with the strong belief of trust in the process, and, well, it was alright. It was a good time killer at least, the piece depicting a shadow… man, surrounded by various patterns, pieces of jewelry, and some stone sculptures he found in a garden page. “Hm,” Cain thought to himself, smiling a little when he realized. “Guess I had the shadow man on the mind…” He joked to himself, standing up to stretch a little. “Ugh, my back’s killing me,” Walking over to the window, he cracked it open, sighing in relief. Having sweat up a storm while he was busy with his little art project, his dad clearly forgetting to turn down the temperature before bed, too.

Cain turned to his room, it was shadowed in a dark blue, thanks to the LED lights he poorly attached to the wall, aside from his desk corner, where his desk lamp lit up that section of the room. He thought about going back to bed, not before a quiet meow caught his attention, making him glance back towards the windowsill. Where Mr. Mystery was now sat. “Oh! How on earth did you get in here?” Cain said, instinctively petting the cat on the head. The cat meowed again, before hopping back outside, and meowing again.

Cain tilted his head, sticking his head through the window. “Do you want food? I have beef jerky,” Cain went over to his nightstand, pulling out a bag he had in his drawer, tossing a piece out the window. Mr. Mystery ate the piece, of course, but it seemed like he was still expecting Cain to do something. “I don’t know what you want me to do, buddy, I thought you were just hungry…” Mr. Mystery tilted his head, turning to leave, seeing if Cain would follow.

“Oh, you want me to come with you? Uh, my parents would get so pissed if I snuck out at night…” Cain paused, taking a pair of work in progress sneakers he was working on off the floor. “I’ll be right there.” He packed a few items in his bag, along with his trusty headphones, before hopping out the window, sliding it shut from the outside. “Thank goodness my room’s on the first floor, otherwise you would have had to climb a lot higher.” Mr. Mystery started walking away, turning back every few moments to make sure Cain was still following close behind. He wasn’t sure why a stray cat was leading him towards the woods late at night, it was admittedly creepy, but at the same time, it was kinda fun.

After a short, uneventful cut through the woods, they had ended up at the town’s local scrapyard, Mr. Mystery sneaking through a hole in the fence. “Maybe they have other cat friends here,” Cain thought to himself, awkwardly climbing the fence, stumbling, and falling on the other side when his leg got caught on the wiring. “Ouch,” He said, landing with a quiet thud. He brushed himself off as he started looking around, piles of discarded metal, appliances, cars, and other scrap mounding high into the night’s sky.

“Where the hell did you go…” Cain murmured, pulling his phones’ flashlight to search for the cat that led him here. No Mr. Mystery in sight, though, confusing Cain. He decided to climb one of the more stable looking piles of scrap, getting fairly high before stopping, and sitting on an old washing machine. Still no sign of Mr. Mystery, though, how odd. Cain leaned back, taking in the night air, before hearing another noise. It wasn’t any animal, though, at least he didn’t think so; It almost sounded like dust being sucked through an underpowered vacuum, and it was getting closer and closer. “Is there somebody cleaning a junk heap at this hour…?” Cain thought to himself, peering down at the yard below.

He didn’t spot anything, it was hard to spot anything in the darkness, that was, until, the scrapyards floodlights suddenly turned on, bathing the whole place in a bright fluorescent white. Cain ducked behind the washing machine, assuming that some sanitary worker or something had stopped by, but after a few, uncomfortably, long minutes, he didn’t spot anybody, or hear anybody. So he parted from his hiding spot, glancing down at the yard again, before hearing that vacuum sound again. “What is that?” He muttered, before a loud hiss startled him, sending him toppling down the scrap pile. He landed with a yelp, thanking god that he didn’t get impaled on anything on the way down.

Cain huffed a little, propping himself up on his hands, looking around, and spotting a… a cloak, but, it didn’t HAVE anybody in it. Yet, it was floating there, as if somebody WAS in there. It seemed like it was the source of the vacuum noise, too, as it was louder than ever, having this figure stood only a few feet away from him, he could hear it clear as day.

Before Cain could get his barrings straight, the cloak darted out an open gate, bolting into the woods. With Mr. Mystery carefully maneuvering down the pile, and giving chase. “Hey, wait!!” Cain called out, grabbing his bag and stumbling onto his feet to give chase as well. He barely caught the sight of Mr. Mystery leaping through a large bush leading into the woods, running down the forest path, before he lost track. Ducking and weaving through trees as to not lose the cat, AND the figure. As hard as he tried to keep up, though, he tripped on a large root in the ground, sending him right back onto the ground. “What is with me and falling today!?” He shouted out in pain, taking a moment to catch his breath, and reorient himself.

He chose the direction he last heard Mr. Mystery’s scampering, but it seemed like he lost the trail, not hearing anything besides the howling of the chill air. Walking for a few minutes, with nothing in sight, just tree after tree, his hands icy and bruised. Cain was about to give up, go back home, but… he thought he heard something, something he’d never heard before.

It was soothing, but, also sounded alien. Like, if he got any closer, he’d find a spaceship waiting for him in the middle of the woods. Maybe that’s what Mr. Mystery was, an alien disguised as a cat, luring random teenagers into the woods to get probed or something. Cain had seen his fair share of creature features, features that had stuck with him and given him an intense fear of pretty much any monster, and this seemed like a set-up for one gnarly horror film. And yet, Cain kept drawing nearer, the sound of WHATEVER he’d find, too alluring to ignore.

He found himself in a small clearing, surrounded by forest in every which way. In the center of the clearing, frost covered flowers quivering under its feet, was… a portal, of some kind. It was large, disc shaped, and swirled with blues you didn’t even know existed. An absolutely captivating sight to behold, and one that Cain couldn’t really comprehend, stumbling closer. Checking his head to see if he was suffering some form of concussive hallucination. But no, no matter how much he shook his head, rubbed his eyes, pinched himself, he was standing before a tremendous gateway.

He thought about what he was doing for a moment, questioning on if… ANY of this was a good idea, or if he should do what he desperately wants to, and touch it. What would happen? Would he get sent to some spooky Russian base? Another planet? He had no clue. Cain reached out slightly, his hand shaking slightly, from adrenaline, shock, and a bit of anxiety. His eyes widening as the disc slowly started to close, and… Without another thought, he looked back, back towards town, back towards his home, and everything he’s ever known, and then jumped.

It was a blinding flash of lights, a cacophony of beautifully unusual shrieks, and a feeling of like no other. It was terrifying, it was euphoric, and it all lasted just a few seconds. And after it was all over, those few fleeting seconds, Cain had opened his eyes, finding himself in an autumn forest. Thin birch trees surrounded him, orange, and red leafs falling upon him like snowfall, with each gust of the wind.

Cain felt like nothing but air for a few moments as he stood up, taking in the new, familiar, yet unfamiliar sights. It was warmer, more humid, it didn’t feel like the forest he had been in just a minute ago. But even the very ground he walked on, it felt odd. Cain took a deep gasp, having a million feelings hit him at once, like it all set in at that very moment, with one feeling in particular being the strongest of them all, he felt…

Displacement.