Chapter Fifteen

*(In the greenhouse… Ripper looks where the Carnivorous Wendy used to stand. He puts a clawed hand to his chin and slowly strides about it, looking at it closely…)*

Ripper: The Pathor did this?

Vladek: Y-- Yeah. \***covers his nose with his mask**\*

Ripper: How did it do it?

Vladek: I don’t know. I didn’t see it happen.

Ripper: Very horror show, yes. \***he takes a large step and walks onto the elevated bed and looks at the horrifying wreck of the Wendy. Its mutilated trunk is splattered with its strange, purple, dried blood; and the pulp is like rotted meat in both texture and smell.**\*

Vladek: Smells horrible.

Ripper: \***smile creeps across his face**\* Not to *me,* my brother. Not to me. \***he leaps into the rotted pulp of the tree and savors the smell before plunging his face into it and ripping a piece of decayed pulp out with his teeth.**\*

Vladek: \***heaves and turns away in sickness**\*

*(Avis wheels in and looks around, melancholy…)*

Avis: \***monotonous\*** Did you eat a sickberry?

Vladek: No, I looked and smelled that damn tree! Uh-- You have a fruit called a “sickberry?”

Avis: Several different fruits, actually. \***he stares at Ripper**\*

Ripper: Ello! \***he cheerily ambles towards Avis**\* How goes it, lit’le blond perliwinker? Are you having your fuzzy porcelain today? Or maybe you’re just curling away the time, flogging all your tomorrows into the stars?

Avis: … \***blinks**\* I know what those words mean, but that doesn’t make any sense.

Vladek: Ripper is going to help us find what destroyed the Wendy. He’s a detective of sorts.

Avis: Oh? Hm. Obviously not from around here…

Ripper: I’m very experienced with crime, sir! Especially the violent ones!

Avis: I see. \***he notices Zell out the corner of his eye**\* !!!

Zell: \***walks around the greenhouse with a watering can**\*

Avis: !!! Hey! You! \***wheels towards it**\*

Zell: \***turns and looks at Avis**\* Hello, Dr. Garfield. I am watering your plants and feeding your-- \***zzpt**\* I am watering and feeding your plants.

Avis: You don’t know how!

Vladek: Actually, Zell does.

Avis: What?!

Vladek: I gave… Her… Him?

Zell: \***blinks**\* Please, call me “it.”

Vladek: That seems rude.

Zell: Not as rude as calling me “her” or “him.”

Vladek: Very well. I gave it your books so it has all your knowledge.

Avis: … \***sadly wheels back into the mansion**\*

Vladek: … \***watches**\*

Ripper: \***takes a rancid bite of Wendy flesh**\* What’s rotten into his skin cover?

Vladek: If you’re asking what’s wrong with Avis, he’s depressed since his injury keeps him from maintaining the greenhouse. And his tree was brutally murdered.

Ripper: \***suddenly stops chewing on it and spits it out**\* Apologies.

Vladek: Now. Help me find the one responsible.

Ripper: No trouble, sir! Just gotta pick up the scent now… \***he sniffs the horrible odor, breathing in deeply**\* ...This way! \***he grabs Vladek’s gloved hand and rushes out the broken window**\*

*(That night… Avis tosses and turns in bed…)*

Avis: Leg… Pain… Tree… Perliwinker!

(In a small office room in Hell… Coleus sits at a table with Harlow...)

Coleus: How did you get him here?!

Harlow: \***smirks and twirls his cane**\* ESP.

Coleus: So… He’s asleep?

Harlow: When the body sleeps, the soul wanders.

Coleus: Very clever. Bring him in.

*(In the small office… A terrified Avis is led in by two guards…)*

Coleus: Hello, Dr. Garfield.

Avis: \***sits at the table; he trembles and shakes in fear**\* Why am I here?!

Coleus: You needn’t be afraid. After this is over, you won’t remember it. My name is Coleus, and I need to ask you some questions about your greenhouse.

Avis: M-- My greenhouse?!

Coleus: Yes. Why do you have such a large collection of odd plants?

Avis: \***nervously looks around**\* I-- I study them. It’s fun for me. They’re interesting.

Coleus: \***smiles**\* I see. Tell me, what sorts of species do you keep?

Avis: Uh-- Brides of Zeus and noxnees and toxic daisies and a Carnivorous Wendy.

Coleus: What is a Carnivorous Wendy?

Avis: It-- It’s a t-- tree with tentacles for branches and flowers that excrete its waste. It eats meat.

Coleus: And the others?

Avis: Why do you need to know this?!

Coleus: It’s okay. It’s going to help lots of people for you to answer.

Avis: ...Many of my plants… Uh, many of my plants are carnivorous. A lot of them behave more like animals than plants, and that’s why they interest me.

Coleus: \***leans back and relaxes in his chair**\* You’re a very curious individual, aren’t you?

Avis: \***shrugs**\* I like learning things.

Coleus: I’m very impressed by your plant collection. Where’d you get them all from?

Avis: Most of them are from Bornattic Woods.

Coleus: Where’s that?

Avis: It-- It’s in Madagascar. It’s a small island off the coast of South Africa.

Coleus: Thank you for telling me. Let me ask you something. What’s something you want more than anything else?

Avis: I-- Uh-- To be able to walk again without waiting more months for my leg to heal?

Coleus: That’s a good thing to want. I bet if you believe in it, it’ll happen.

**\*the servants begin wheeling Avis away**\*

Harlow: I don’t understand, why didn’t you kill him for collecting the plants and ruining everything?!

Coleus: He didn’t do anything wrong. He saw something worth documenting and he did so. Also, I like him. He seems smart.

Harlow: What do you mean, you like him?!

Coleus: I mean that we need to find this Bornattic Woods and somehow repair the tear in the world.

Harlow: But-- Energy-- We don’t--

Coleus: Get to Bornattic and report back to me on the tear.

Harlow: \***huff**\* Alright, alright!

*(Meanwhile, in Avis’s bedroom… Avis screams. Vladek runs in with an oil lamp…)*

Vladek: God, first that Ripper character runs me all in circles in the forest, and then this. What is going on?!

Avis: I was-- I was in Hell!

Vladek: Uh? What?!

Avis: It was horrible, Vladek! It was the most vile, deplorable, creepiest--

Vladek: Avis?

Avis: What?!

Vladek: You’re standing.

Avis: … \***slowly looks down at his feet, then back up to Vladek; his eyes wide open in shock**\* I prayed to the Green Lady last night and she cured me! Praise to the leaves and stems; bow down before the glory of the blossoms and mushrooms!

Vladek: ...Uh… Yeah. Look, I don’t know if this was a miracle or a lucky coincidence or what, but I think we should talk to Markie before we get too excited.

Avis: I can WALK! I can RUN! I can DANCE! \***he dances a few clumsy steps, then runs to Vladek and hugs him**\*

Vladek: ...Please go to sleep.

Avis: Will you stay in here with me?!

Vladek: \***groans**\* Fine.

Avis: And rub my back? \***he lies down on the bed**\*

Vladek: … \***hesitantly rubs his back**\*

Avis: And sing an original song about the moon and the stars? Preferably in A minor?

Vladek: GO TO SLEEP, AVIS.

*(In the Bleakland… Skip and Lyric sit on a hill, looking over the monochrome forest…)*

Lyric: It *is* nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Limerence.

Skip: I told ya!

Lyric: Skip?

Skip: Hm?

Lyric: Where are you from?

Skip: ...I’m not really sure.

Lyric: Oh?

Skip: Rainbow says I was too young to know where I was from when he found me.

Lyric: Rainbow found you?

Skip: Yeah. I guess I slipped in through a close by dimension.

Lyric: Wow.

Skip: Yep! That’s why studying ‘em is my life’s work!

*(Suddenly, a horrible CRACKLING sound is heard with a flash of what seems to be lightening…)*

Lyric: ?!?!

Skip: The Bleakland doesn’t get storms… What was that?! \***they take off running for the forest**\*

*(In the heart of the Bleakland woods… A dark figure races ahead of Skip and Lyric, then vanishes in another, softer crackling sound…)*

Skip: Hey! No one ever moves that quickly around here!

Lyric: What is that?!

Skip: \***stops and looks around**\* I-- I’ve never been in this part of the Bleakland before…

Lyric: It’s a little dark…

Skip: Kinda spooky.

Lyric: But we gotta find where he went!

Skip: I know, I know! Oof. \***trips and keeps walking**\* Have you been tripping over a lot of rocks too??

Lyric: \***trips and walks**\* Yeah. Or tree roots. Shaped weird. \***suddenly, the leaves begin shifting around**\* I think something’s moving!

*(Very slowly, a bunch of skeletons begin sitting up underneath the leaves… Those weren’t rocks or tree branches…)*

Lyric and Skip: \***completely freeze in fear as they watch the human skeletons all sit up and blankly stare at them**\* AHH!

Skeleton: \***the only one that’s gotten to its feet, it begins shambling towards Lyric and Skip**\*

Skip: N-- No! \***backs away slowly**\*

Lyric: \***backs away with him, but panics and falls when she sees the other skeletons are still staring at her**\*

Skeleton: \***his voice sounds young and male**\* Not too many visitors make it this far to the Bleakland…

Lyric: …???

Skip: …???

Skeleton: Come with me. I think I have the answers you’re looking for.

*(Inside a cottage in the middle of the dark woods… Oddly, when inside, the windows all just show a starless sky with a faint moon-- no trees or anything else. The cottage is cozy and, unlike the rest of the Bleakland, isn’t entirely in black and white-- there’s faint colors to everything in the cottage…)*

Skeleton: My name is Andril. \***he carries a teapot to the cedar table and sits at it.**\*

Lyric: \***wraps a blanket around herself**\*

Skip: \***stares at Andril in awe**\*

Andril: \***pours a cup of tea**\* Skeletons… Are people who were murdered and their bodies never found. \***he slides the cozy cup of tea to Skip, who refuses to take his curious eyes off of Andril**\* We generally have no real purpose, so we rest in the woods, where we won’t disturb anyone.

Lyric: That sounds sad…

Andril: \***shrugs**\* It’s terribly normal for us. \***he reclines in his chair**\* I believe I know why you’re here. Some very strange things have been happening lately.

Skip: Y-- Yeah. All the dimensions close to each other are intertwining in ways that could be dangerous and potentially kill all life, both observable and unobseravable! \***sips his tea**\* Ooh, peppermint.

Lyric: I’ve noticed that your house is in color. Why?

Andril: Because I refuse to die.

Skip: Then why were you lying in the woods?

Andril: A horrible vibration shook my cottage. I opened the door to look out, as you can tell my windows are beautiful but useless, and I caught a glimpse of a strange man run by. I figured he’d be back, or someone who knows him. So I laid next to my deceased brethren and waited.

Lyric: Uh… Tell me more about “refusing to die?”

Andril: \***blinks his sockets as his jaw contorts into a smile. It’s unnerving to look at, but Lyric and Skip smile politely**\* Certainly. \***sips tea. It runs down his spine, so he wipes it away with a cloth napkin**\* I am dead. But here I am speaking with you. Therefore, I am not actually dead. I died in one world so that I am alive in another. As long as I don’t believe I’m dead, I remain alive.

Lyric: Ooh, that’s very philosophical!

Andril: Thank you. Now, could either of you tell me who that strange man was? He completely terrorized all us skeletons here. We were worried the Shattering was upon us.

Lyric: Man in pink?

Skip: We don’t know him.

Andril: Then what were you two doing here?

Lyric: We have a friend here. We were just visiting and got lost.

Andril: You must be careful in dimensions where the “dead” live.

Skip: I know. But Jesterians have been disappearing, and--

Andril: ...Disappearing?

Skip: Yeah.

Andril: … \***sips his tea**\* Do any other living people know about this place?

Lyric: Vladek Fray does.

Andril: I don’t know that name.

Lyric: He’s a doctor. He knows a lot of strange people in town. He’s my boyfriend’s best friend.

Skip: Boyfriend?? Avis isn’t your boyfriend!

Lyric: Y-- Yeah! Yeah he is! He’s a boy who is my friend!

Andril: I’d appreciate a talk with this Vladek Fray, if he has any information.

Skip: You should probably come back with us. Vladek’s a bit jumpy. And he’s huge. Recipe for disaster.

Andril: Can you ensure that I can return here?

Skip: Yes sir!

Andril: Very well. \***sips more tea**\* Bring me to him.