“Just leave the box behind, please... This isn’t a trick or a double cross or anything!” Shawn took a half step forward, like he was going to try and take the box, but he was too scared to get close.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Tue 01 May 2018.

"Leave it behind? So it can sneak up behind us when we're not looking?"

Delilah shook the box slightly. Listening.

"Maybe it's s'posed to help us. Bradford said we were s'posed to get something. Maybe this is part of it?"

There was a shifting in the box like wooden parts were inside as Delilah moved it back and forth, the contents hitting the inside edges. Delilah spoke to Shawn and then, when she wasn't moving the box around, she heard something.

It was a rickety sound from within the box.

Then she felt something. A tap, tap, tapping from within the box like a pencil was being jabbed on the interior of the case.

"What was that? Did you hear that? Did you?" Tiffany asked, not seeming to notice or care anymore about Delilah and Shawn's argument. She was now focusing almost exclusively on the sound the box was making.

"He's not a...a...a...double crosser!" Ralph shouted, ignoring the tapping and the sound the box was making and not seeming to notice or care about it. He was now focusing almost exclusively on the argument Shawn and Delilah were having.

Shawn panicked when he heard the tapping, and rushed towards the box, trying grab the top so he could stop Delilah from opening it. It couldn't happen!

Shawn's attempt to grab at the box shook it more, his hands roughly grabbing at it as Delilah responded. But this only made tapping increase.

Shawn ignored what was going on in his head to just hold the lid shut, not letting it open at all. The tapping from the inside was turning his stomach.

"He is so!" Delilah grunted and tried to keep hold of the case. "He double crossed us all last winter. He double crossed my best friends and they all died in a place. like. this."

Only then did she hear the ricky-ticking from within the box. Her attention turned from Ralph to the box back to Shawn.

"What's in it? What's in it?" she demanded.

"Something evil. If you let it out, it'll get one of us, I know it!"

"But if we leave it behind, it'll come get us later!"

"C'mon, just give me the box." Shawn wasn't thinking entirely clearly right now - maybe he could throw it off a cliff or something.

Penelope's eyes shifted behind those large glasses from Shawn to Delilah. From Delilah to Shawn. Her ratty blonde hair wafted one way and then the other as her neck moved to follow the conversation

Meanwhile the tapping grew louder and louder still. It was now rattling off multiple taps from inside the box. Less of a finger poking on cardboard then insecticide legs from a centipede all moving in unison.

The multiple taps had an insect quality to it. Spooked, Delilah dropped the box and backed away. Maybe Shawn was telling the truth this time.

Shawn wasn't expecting the sudden release of Delilah's grip, and he dropped the box too! But unlike Delilah, he was too surprised to back away.

Penelope walked up to the box ready to give it a kick.

Then there was a loud series of snaps that made her back off. The box started to jump around--literally. It sounded like rows of seams were splitting apart. Suddenly the top of the case opened and....

Almost instantaneously several large cords descended from the sky. They wrapped themselves onto Mr. Clayton's wooden feet, legs and neck as he sprung forth from the case. The sound of them lashing up to him grated like a whip being cracked. Metal at the end of each rope bit into the wooden exterior of the puppet's surface as if each cord was barbed with a fish hook.

"Bradford! I'm baaaaack!" The puppet cried out in joyful mirth, as he landed in the center of the dusty road, the case tottering over.



And then, as if he was confused. "Bradford? Bradford?"

Shawn literally whimpered, falling backwards to the ground and then looking up at Mr. Clayton with genuine terror. His legs twitched a few times as he tried to make himself back away, but he couldn't even do that.

Delilah's legs tensed and she had no idea which direction to run. Tears started in her eyes. Then a familiar figure burst out of the box. Odd and creepy though he was, Delilah nearly collapsed with relief at seeing a familiar face. Mr. Clayton could be scary, but he'd never hurt anyone, right?

"He's gone! Bradford got taken by a dragon and flew way up there!" She wiped her red face and watery eyes, then pointed at the mountain. "We don't know where to go! So we gotta find him!"

She paused and realized that she was talking to a magic puppet in front of everyone.

"Hey, don't worry, you guys. This is Mister Clayton. He saved my life. He's a good guy. Don't be scared."

Delilah spoke slowly with her hands out as if to soothe the group. A very different tactic then her usual bossy, braggart style. Honestly, she was afraid of Clayton when he made angry faces, but right now they needed serious help.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:03, Sun 06 May 2018.

There was a collective gasp as Penelope, Bobby and Ralph scattered in various directions like a they had been flanked on the battlefield and someone was calling for retreat. But here truly was no where to run. Just a flat dusty road that was heading up hill. After realizing this, the next thing the kids did was simply freeze in place. Ralph was too uncoordinated to do so without falling to the ground, a wincing look on his face as he ate a nasty face-plant that covered his lips and mouth with dirt.

Slowly, listening to Delilah's words, Penelope and Bobby inched forward a step or too and then stop. But they didn't say anything. They just stood there. Bobby had a stupid look on his face. Penelope had on eyebrow raised, her hands tensed as if she was ready for a fight, back hunched slightly.

"What!?" The puppet yelled in a high-pitched cry. "Bradford! Bradford!" He yelled again, as if calling the boy's name out into the sky might bring him back some how.

"NOooooooooo!" he wailed, desperately. There was a wiry, metallic 'chink' sound, and the cords that connected him to an unknown source in the sky slackened. Mr. Clayton's legs gave out, perhaps because of the cords, perhaps out of sadness. They flopped around uselessly, suspended in the air for a second before collapsing in a heap on the ground. His upper body was slouching, head down. The effect was of over dramatic depression.

"Bradfoooord. Bradfooooord. Braaaaaadfoooord." he said over and over again, voice strained with pain. Each time he said Bradford's name, his voice sounded sadder and weaker.

"You're faking. Stop faking!" It was certainly the height of hypocrisy coming from Shawn, but his conception of the dummy was of a merciless, uncaring monster, regardless of how it might actually bear out. He turned to the other kids. "Stay from him, don't get too close!"

"You're the faker! You're a liar! This is all your fault!" Delilah leveled her truth at Shawn and let him have it with both barrels.

"You made the clowns come! And you knew they were gonna chop us up! If it weren't for you none of this woulda happened! We wouldn't even be here!"

She wanted to beat on the traitor until he was as weak and floppy as the puppet. She moved to help him up.

"Mr. Clayton saved me from Cherrywinks and from you!"

Penelope backed up and then spread her hands out as Shawn leveled a barrage of warnings. Her eyes darted back and forth between the puppet, Delilah and Shawn with a cautious expression.

The puppet was still saying 'Bradfooooord', 'Bradfooooord' in a pitying wail as Ralph entered the fray.

"He's not a l...l..l..l...l...l..l..l..l..l..l...l..l...liar!" He shouted back at Delilah, the effect of his anger slightly spoiled by his stuttering.