Silence Falls

“Hermanni, how exactly did you end up underground with us? And why were you incarcerated so far below everyone else?” Alexis finally spoke up, her voice so mild that she didn't think he could possibly hear her. But he did and his acknowledgement wasn’t what she hoped it would be.

Hermanni immediately tensed up then let out a wearied sigh before glancing away. At first the others thought Alexis was officially the second person tonight to upset him by his reaction, and instantly felt miffed with her. However, Hermanni flashed everyone a reassuring smile. “I am sorry, it is just...the reasons are still excruciating to reflect upon sometimes, but I will answer your questions.” He earned a scant nod from Alexis who appeared like a reprimanded child under the other’s acute gazes. If she thought she felt bad now, she would feel ten times worse if she ever found out the fable he was about to spin was a complete and utter myth. “I met a very interesting girl when I moved into this town. She was a spirited young lady that was always jovial. We liked one another’s company and often spent hours together. One day, she got into a misadventure when we were out in the woods which resulted in her untimely death. Forgive me, but I do not wish to particularly go into the ghastly details. I will say that I am deeply heartbroken by the incident. If I could have I would have ceased at nothing to keep her safe. I was the only person seen fleeing the scene out of fear by some passing folks who recounted it to the authorities who then reported it to her doting father, a man of higher status and importance. For the longest time he wanted my head for her death. One day, I was apprehended. In the blink of an eye, that chamber you and the others unearthed me in was my new home. That was many years ago, it almost feels like centuries now.” Hermanni concluded, staring impassively down into one of the snack bowls.

The four ladies stayed hushed for a moment. They unitedly felt contrite for being envious of the deceased girl who clearly meant something to him once. Lowering her eyes to her lap in disgrace, Onika murmured. “I’m so sorry for the loss of your girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend? She was no girlfriend of mine. Just a very dear friend in my time of need.” Hermanni corrected her, missing their exchanged looks of alleviation.
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For the rest of the week, the official slumber party members would slip down after dark to the makeup store to distribute stories, banter, and casual conversations. Despite being a boy, Hermanni was permanently counted into their group and relished every second he was around them. Every night, his heart’s beat would spur in their presence, and whenever he encountered them around during the day his heart would disobey it’s natal rhythm all over again. Hermanni wasn’t sure why his heart was having unusual tempos that only arose when he was around them and so he merely abolished it as some sort of trivial passing illness of some kind. Yes, he was simply under the weather.

The next few weeks were the most enjoyment anyone could ever remember having since being detained underground for several years. Hermanni, per usual, consumed most of his days thoroughly assessing his family closely in an effort to train himself to read them by their facial expressions and body languages without having to pry into their minds. He didn’t like it one bit because it was difficult, but progressed on anyway. While cracking down on his study of human’s customs, Hermanni discerned from the televisions that for centuries humans had partaken in entertainment within and outside of their homes with neighboring people. One particular show displayed a group of friends who went out to a club and had a tremendous amount of fun. The club was what Hermanni found very engaging with it’s colorful lights, drinks and attire. Sadly, he couldn’t take his family OUT to a club, but with the monumental amount of items the mall contained, perhaps he could construct one INSIDE the mall.

Hermanni had managed to enlist both Cris and Connor’s help. Their jobs were to compile all of the black lights, strobe lights, bubble machines and music they could find. At first they thought his concept was an impossible one, but decided to humor him anyway just to see what he would come up with. On his own, Hermanni set up everything while his family devoured their dinners and watched a movie in the small cinema on the ground floor. By the time they departed the theatre they were frozen in their tracks by something they’ve never seen before. The entire back half of the ground floor was pitch black except for the blinking colorful neon lights, swarm of floating bubbles, and several alcoholic drinks being conducted by Hermanni himself. The area looked exactly how a club would look if it was randomly placed at the end of a mall. The girls shrieked with excitement and began to jump in delight before they allowed the beat of the music to move their bodies. Bert and Bam shared a look of astonishment as they both examined all the hard work it had taken to set up an indoor club. Shaking her head to herself, Otep couldn’t stop the smirk forming from the corner of her mouth at the thought of who was undoubtedly behind all this. Cris and Connor both gawked in bewilderment as the ladies dashed past them to start dancing in a circle around each other like they were actually in a nightclub.

In due time, everyone yielded to the rhythmic beats, herds of bubbles, beaming lights, and the steady flow of drinks coming out of the small bar bartended by Hermanni. Otep kept a close eye on everyone as she assisted him pouring the drinks. The girls had whisked off after the first song to get properly adorned in short tight dresses before returning to dance and sing along to the familiar songs they recognized for the duration of the night. Bert, Bam, Cris and Connor each took turns on two Slip N’ Slides that Hermanni fused into one that would be used to slide down from the second floor and straight into a mammoth indoor swimming pool that he also erected. Not a single soul stopped to roast Hermanni on how he did all of this simply because they couldn’t bring themselves to wake up from this fantasy. None of them wanted to and so they simply wouldn’t.

Hermanni did admit while switching on some fog machines that he savored moments like these when everyone overlooked their troubles and joined together in harmony. Every single trouble they had gone through was squandered from their focal point, and that’s exactly how he preferred it. But in reality, Hermanni knew this couldn’t last forever like he wanted it too, and was dejected to know it had to end at some point. The closing of night was coming soon, and before the clock would strike midnight Hermanni had already braced himself into beholding their prosperity waft away into the night. Everyone was pretty drunk at the moment and when people were drunk they became different people. Not all of them became favorable people. Hermanni had sensed what was going on before a sober Otep had smacked him on his arm to alert him. Bam and Connor were having a drunken squabble over somebody by the name of Piglet. Having not met this Piglet before, Hermanni began to head in their direction and regarded the two boys standing up to get into each other’s faces.

“What the fuck are you evening talking about!? Piglet is not a motherfucking villain! Are you fucking insane?” Bam spat, his booming voice muted to anyone other than Connor over the raucous music.

“Oh really? Care to explain why he was hanging out with the villains outside of Mickey’s House of Villains parking lot?” Connor demanded to know, keeping a hold of his drunken temper better than Bam was.

“The fucking pork obviously arrived later than the rest of his fucking friends, that’s why! What, you’ve never been late before?” Bam snapped, set on defending the poor timid pig from Winnie the Pooh.

“Or maybe he’s fucking turned to the dark side, and decided he was done being a frightful pig that was always dreading the next big thing that was headed his way to turn him into bacon bits. I think Piglet took the chance to hang out with the villains to finally grow some cojones of his own. You follow?” Connor harassed Bam, his smile getting bigger as Bam’s face got redder.

“Piglet is a beloved character you SONOFABITCH!” Bam lobbed his fist at Connor’s grinning face, but ended up watching it connect with the palm of Hermanni’s hand that materialized out of nowhere. Eyes widened with shock, Bam managed out a slurred response. “W-What the-”

Hermanni caught Bam before his unconscious body plummeted to the floor and lowered him down carefully so he wouldn’t be harmed. Straightening back up, he then reached out to install his other hand on Connor’s chest before he could utter a word. Under his power, his body instantly went limp from his touch and was too lowered carefully to the floor. He sensed Otep coming up behind him, not at all horrified that he knocked them out.

“Poor boys tuckered themselves out fighting over a pig, eh? Oh well. We should probably get to sleep ourselves. It’s pretty late and everyone else is exhausted from partying” Otep notified a scrawny Hermanni as she kept watch over him while he hoisted both boys over his shoulders and to bed like they weighed nothing. Luckily for them, everyone was too drunk to notice anything abnormal going on in their presence. In fact minutes later, the others began to file in after them to pass out. Exiting the mattress store, Hermanni decided to research more ways young humans have fun with friends.