Chapter Text
There was the sound of men's formal shoes hitting the ground as an adult male ran through the house corridors. He seemed to around his thirties.
He wore the fancy kind of formal shoes. The ones those business men would wear on the old fashioned Tele. You could tell by the the distinct tapping the shoes made as they made contact with the hard wood flooring.
Looking closer at the man as he stumbled, and knocked frames off walls in his madness. It was clear he was not in the right state of mind. He looked frazzled. His clothes were a mess, and his hair, that looked like it was once styled neatly, was tussled and greasy.
Whatever he was running from had not done nearly enough compared to what the man had done to himself. Self inflicted wounds covered his body. Bloody scratch marks painting both his arms and face. Staining what was once a white dress shirt, with red and making it discolored.
Despite the injuries, this did nothing in slowing the man as he made his way through the maze of corridors. With each turn he took, he was met with more hallways splitting into two, forcing him to choose between left or right.
No matter what path he chose, it was like he was in a never ending matrix of left and right turns. As if the hallways where forming right Infront of him, turning his path away from the exit. Trapping him in loop of circling hallways.
Until finally, with a stoke of luck. He managed to break free from this maze. He saw a yellow wooden door. He saw the door!
With new found vigor the man, ran to the door, with joy and relief being released in his breath at the sight of freedom.
He grabbed the nob and twisted it with all his might.
It wouldn't open. It was locked. Or more like the thing keeping him here wouldn't let him leave.
Regardless of the reason the door wouldn't open, a chill ran down the man's spine. He knew he wasn't getting out.
A distorted voice called out to him from the shadows.
"You shouldn't have run Robert."
"Please! Just let me go!" Robert screamed back at the shadows. His Pulse quickening and breathing more erratic then before.
Staring right back at him was his tormentor. The source of all this suffering since he was brought here.
An Abomination. All he could see was all of his loved ones melted together. One of the many forms this creature took shape of just to mess with him.
"Please... I just wanna go home..." asked the broken man.
The entity in the shadows just smiled back. Toying with him.
And all Robert could do was sob at its sight.
---
Bam!
"Oh sorry Home, that was quite rude of me, how could I forget," wally stopped in his path. He was half way through the door when home had pointedly reminded him he had not said goodbye to them properly.
Wally brought his hands to his mouth and let an audible muwah. "Goodbye Home, I'm off to go see the other neighbors" Wally said in his usual monotone voice. Giving his goodbye, this time properly as he blew Home a goodbye kiss.
The house deemed it sufficient enough as they let out a series of friendly creeks and bangs as wally stepped outside.
Creeeek! Squeak! Creeeek!
[have a wonderful day my darling, don't cause to much trouble]
"I won't," wally turned to home one last time and gave them a smile before he went off.
Home couldn't help but feel a feeling of fondness and love as It watched wally go off and do his daily routine of greeting each neighbor. It reminded Home about how much It's little blue haired puppet had grown.
As Home looked around more It could see how much their little neighborhood had grown too. Back then, before it's neighborhood became known as HOME. There was only one entity living there. It was only Home, but then one by one, new neighbors and house's had been added.
All with their variant, vibrant colors and personalities each giving the neighborhood a little bit of more life each day. Well Home couldn't say much about frank but even he did his part in contributing to the neighborhood's spunk.
Home turned It's attention back to what it's favorite puppet was doing. It looked like he was walking up to Barnaby's house. Still in the early steps of greeting each neighbor. Home couldn't help but crinkle it's eyes or windows should it say?
Those two were nearly inseparable. As much as Home didn't like Barnaby's sense of humor along with other aspects of him. (Home would have rather liked that Wally had chosen someone else for better company) it could not deny that the friendship between the two puppets was heart warming.
The two of them getting into whatever mischief his daily adventure called for. Each day was like a new world to explore for Wally with his neighbors, and at the end of the day the little puppet would return back to Home and tell Home all about the adventure and the trouble he got into.
Along with all the new things he had learned. It made Home happy that the boy was so eager to learn.
It watched as Wally did his routine.
Wally, now with Barnaby by his side walked on the yellow stone, brick path of Home, stopping by each house to greet each neighbor.
A routine Home and each neighbor was accustomed to.
The duo would stop by long enough for a quick chat before moving on to next neighbor. This went on and on until they made they're way down the path to Howdy's little shop.
The two always stopping to grab a bite. Getting their regulars, two Hot dogs. One with relish and a whole lot of ingredients a sane person wouldn't even think about puting on a hotdog, and the other with ketchup.
Barnaby getting the monstrosity with relish, and wally the one with ketchup. Wally always got his with ketchup, not because he liked ketchup but because he thought the color was pretty. he mentioned this to Home and Barnaby once, when they asked why Wally never put any other condiments on his hotdog.
He just smiled up at them and with his monotone voice answered, "I like how the color red looks like on the hotdog." Barnaby then bursted out laughing at Wally's answer, it was such a random reason for picking a condiment to put on a hotdog, and one the puppet didn't even like.
Almost eveyone in the neighborhood knew wally was a picky eater. It came with the job of taking care of the Darling.
Home let out a quiet creek that sounded like laughter.
It was a funny memory that always came up when wally put ketchup on stuff, along with the fact that wally always just stared at the hotdog he got and never ate it. He always gave it to Barnaby once it got cold. The Pooch didn't mind, a hot dog was a hot dog to him.
Home continued to watch and listen as the two exited the Ballooga with hotdogs in hand. The two continued to walk around the neighborhood as they talked and joked.
Home was so caught up in watching what wally and Barnaby were doing it didn't realize when the neighborhood mailman, Eddie Dear had spoken to It.
"It's Always something new with em eh?" Eddie said as he leaned on one of their white fences.
Slam!
[Warn a house next time would you!]
Eddie noticed he had startled the sentient house and chuckled. "Didn't mean to startle you home, just here to drop of some mail, the usual. Sorry for scaring you"
The had house gained their composure back by the time Eddie had reached their door. Home looked at the mail man curiously and moved a window.
Creeeeek
[What do you have for Wally today Eddie]
"Not sure what you said, but i'ma assume you wanna know what i have right?" Eddie adjusted the mail bag he was carrying to better reach inside in. He scratched his neck. "I'm not like wally, and can understand you as well as him, but I got a package from the post office addressed to Home." Eddie said as he reached to pull out whatever package he had in his bag.
"Well... here you go... not exactly sure how to give to you eh? Seeing as you don't really got hands to hold things with being a house and all..."
Home could sense the mail man's nervousness from where It was. The package the man held was neatly wrapped in red paper. It was odd. Home never got mail, it was always addressed to Wally and Home, or just Wally. It was never just Home.
Unless...
It was those people.
Home knew the package had to come from was them. It was just too out of place. To realistic for their world.
The package shouldn't have been as tempting as it'd been, Home knew where I came from. but for some reason Home couldn't keep It's eyes off of it.
"I was originally going to give it to Wally so he could open it for you but... it looks like he's a little preoccupied." The Laughter and yells of Julie and Barnaby could be heard from up ahead as frank yelled and ran after all of them including wally.
What-
Home quickly turned their eyes to look at the direction of the noise. They took their eyes off of Wally, for a moment and he was already causing trouble. That mischievous little nix.
Home let out an inaudible sigh, well it might as well let wally continue having his fun. There was notting home could do, it was just a 'house'. So 'helpless' and 'stuck in one place, with no way of moving' obviously.
Anyways Home gestured with their door for the mail mail man to continue.
"I... I could open it for you I guess? B- But only if you're fine with it of course! I would never read someone's else mail!"
Home believed the man, he knew Eddie's personality, they shaped it that way in the first place, and he wasn't the type to do that. Home could easily open the package itself but it didnt want to scare the poor mail man. Plus they weren't sure how Eddie would react to Home's methods of reaching to grab the package or opening it. So Home decided it wouldn't hurt to let the Dear open the package. Home could also sense the deep curiosity the man had for the package.
Crreeek
[Very well, you may open the package for me]
"I-Is that a yes?"
Home rolled its eyes. Yes it was a yes. Sometimes It wished other's could understand It just as well as Wally and maybe Barnaby.
Creek.
[Yes, what else could it obviously be]
The mail man lucky got the memo.
"Oh great then! Let's get this thing opened for ya" Eddie wasted no time in getting the package opened, and what was revealed was a letter. It was not like the originally colorful red, blue, and yellow letters Wally got.
Home expected this, the letter was obviously different from the usual letters given out in the neighborhood. It was colored white. A sign Home was accustomed to when they come from those people.
Home had seen these letters before. While original addressed to no one in particular, they would contain messages formal and scientific type of writing in them.
Home was the only one who knew where they really came from. While other neighborhood's would sometimes receive these letters, Home's (hypnosis) influence over their neighbor's would always make them see nothing weird or wrong with the letters. Letting its neighbors be blissful unaware, and just move on with their day, playing it off as misplaced mail.
Of course Home just couldn't let the letter stay there, lest a nosy neighbor decide to dig in to much into the origins of the letters. Home would just go and collect these letters at the dead of night while everyone was asleep, much to the dismay of a certain stary neighbor. So what if she heard, it didn't matter, Home could just make her forget if she also decided to get too curious.
It kept everything as it should be.
Keeping their safe haven undisturbed.
Home couldn't risk any of the neighbors realizing what their world was. Home had worked too hard for this place to be the picture perfect neighborhood it was today. It would not let all it's hardworking be undone by a measly group of out researchers.
Home analyzed the box the letter came in. The letters usually just came in envelopes because they were well... letters, so it didn't explain why this one came in a box.
It didn't look that significant though. Maybe they were trying something different. But why a box?
"Huh, well that's odd. Just one letter? Wouldn't it have been better to send just send it in an envelope? Uh... would you like me to read it to you?"
Should it let Eddie read it?
Home though about it for a second, Eddie already saw the package, so it was the harm of letting Eddie read the letter to it, Home was already going to make Eddie forget what he saw.
So Home decided why not with a shake of it shutters.
Eddie must gave not gotten the memo this time, as he just stared Home.
Creeek
[Are you going to read]
"Is that a yes?"
Home rolled it's eyes, obviously they wanted Eddie to read it.
It slammed its shutters in a matter signifying that they did want Eddie to read the letter for it.
And Eddie not wanting to agitate the house more, cleared his throat
"ahem! Well here we go, brace yourself it's a long one"
"if you have received this letter it means attempt 142 in making contact with the world, as it has been named 'The Neighborhood' has been a success, to further our research and understanding of this world we advise person, or persons reading to write back and send letter back with writing through what opening the package has been received through"
The letter was typed out neatly adding to its professional tone. Home already knew the whole sha bang, this was the usual prodecall the people writing used, it was all formalitys. The real letter started after that paragraph.
"'Hello entity 01, or should we say Home. Our group of researcher have been observing your world for a very long time now. We find your world very intriguing, and hope to better understand how this world functions. We know you're role in it. So if you could, please answer our question below. We would like to collect more information.'
'Please answer the following question:
Ḩ̴̩̩̦̻̦̥̲͈̋̅̈́̓̀̀̿͋̔̔̚̕ơ̷̦̩͍̞̙͎͇͎͚̭̙͊̓̀͒͊͜w̴̛̠̣̞̜̜̠̬͊̈̄̑̔̈́͆̎͂́̓͘͜ ̶̨̧̺͈̠̞̠͈̟͍̿̐̏̆̀͜l̶̨̧̧̛̫̩̘̯̦̬͈̜͇̬͊̀͑̐́̈͛̄̏͜o̷̹̬̪͑̉̒́̒͘n̷̞̹̯̝͎̠̙͚͎͙̺̆̐̇̿̾̇̿̅̎͐͘͝͝g̷̱̯̱̗̺̳̼͕̓ͅ ̴̬̤̹͇̻̝̬̉̂͐̕͝ͅͅd̷̢̳͍̹̺̀o̴͓̦̘̖̮̭̒̅̏͑̇͜ ̵̯͖͐̑̎͛̽͗͘͝͝y̶̧̢̧̖̖̹̠̫͈̺̻̪̐̆̀̈̅͌͋́͑͝o̴̜͎̹̗͙͈͖̾͊̈́̽̒̊̏͛̉̋̀͌̍͘u̵̥̙͆̆̇͗ ̶̛̜̣͎̳̙̱̝̻̒̀̉̈͛̀̈́͗̄̌̚͝p̶͍̟̙̱̉͒̀͒̆͗̎̈l̸̨̬̰̤̘͚̥̖̩̩̲̻̟̺̈̈́̈̎̃͊̈́̽̀̐̓͘͠á̵̡̠͖͙̤̭͈̠̤͇̍̐̓̀̿̈́̾̓̈͐̈́̕̕͜͜n̷̰̪̳̟͉̭̤͙̳̘̙̞̠̓̃͒̓̐́̈͂̕ ̵̜̦̭̤̦̌͆̀̄̅͂̕̚̕ͅt̷̡̨̮͎͉̭̓͂̾̄̃̄ȯ̷͕̞̘̒̃̓͊̈̿̓̕͘ ̸̡̤̇̊͜͝k̸̨̰̞̥͙͓̪̮̥̲̬͓̻̀̈̇̆̏̽̒͂̕̕ͅͅȇ̶̻̗̦̓̈́́͑̍̊̂ẽ̵̮͔̲̱̬̣͍̯͔͇̈͂͋̊̿̌͆͌̃̀͝p̶̢̨͍̠̞̼̈̈́̇͊̂̍̿̆ ̷̥̭̜̭̝̖͕̙͐͆̌̑͆̽̒̀̀͌͋t̵͓̜̬̠̳̰͊̾̾̿̄̂͘͜ͅḩ̵̲͎̟̭̖̳̟̻͈̩̺͇̣̅̍̊͜e̶̛͓̯͖̫͍̹͔͈̲͌́̈́̓̔͜m̶̧̛̖̥̼̼ ̴̡͎̝̩̤̰̞̩̝̪̹̮̂͆̅̃ţ̸̡̖̳̱̼̙̣̬͉͖̠̈̃͆̓̈́̀͑͛̌̊͠ͅḧ̵̬́͂̈́͌̓̾̔̀̿̀̒̌̇̚ę̴̢͚͈͎̆̈́̌̒̊̀͒̍̈́̓͘r̶̠̜̥̲̗̰̱͓͚̥͎̻̓̌͆͆̈́̽̄̈́̽̆̎̉̈́̉̈́͜ͅͅȇ̵̛̺̻̣͐̔͗͋͋̐̋͐͘̚͝'"
The text after that got distorted. And Eddie couldn't continue reading.
Home was left in shock. Whoever wrote the letter was quite bold. They've never been this direct before, usual asking questions about the scenery or how their world worked. This letter was the only outlier.
"...Well it looks like that's all, do you know who that was all from? They sure seemed really insist in contacting you, 142 letters geeze" Eddie chuckled. He was met with silence but continued to talk.
"And what's with the mentioning of worlds? Is this some sort of play pretend? I don't think I heard the name of the game they were playing it in the letter, do you know Home?"
"Home...?" Home seemed to be too preoccupied with its thoughts on the reason the researchers would send this type of letter. It didn't hear when Eddie called its name a second time or heard the following footsteps of two familar puppets.
it was their favorite blue haired resident and blue beagle duo walking up the house's yellow path.
"Oh! Heyya Wally!" Eddie greeted along with eyeing their dog neighbor wearily "....Barnaby" Eddie subconsciously held his satchel closer to himself.
Home was too busy thinking about the question to realize Eddie had spoken to it or how wally and Barnaby had shown up.
"Hey Eddie" Barnaby walked up to the mailman, giving him a heavy pats on the back causing Eddie to stumble a bit under the weight.
Wally's response followed after, slowly speaking like usual. "Hello Eddie, what brings you around?"
"Oh me? Just delivering this package to home... uh well more like letter"
Without anynore questions to ask Wally just went up to Eddie and took the letter from Eddies hands.
"I- uh"
"Ha! straight to business" Barnaby laughed at the mailmans reaction.
It was a bit rude and startled Eddie for a second when wally reached up and snatched the letter, but everyone was used to the little bluennets weird behaviors by now. It was just Wally being wally, they knew he didn't mean any ill intent or harm by it.
As Wally read through the letter he seemed more and more confused until he turned the letter around and stopped reading. Wally stopped looking at the letter and looked at Home.
"Home what do they mean by world?" Wally's voice had a subtone of curiously and confusion in his plain tone.
"Huh? What do you mean bud, let me see that letter will you walls" wally handed the letter to Barnaby.
Home couldn't help but blink as it was snapped out of whatever it was thinking by Wally's voice. Why out off all the things said in the letter did Wally have to focus on that one?
Wally's stare bore into home, and all home could do was stare back.
"Oh, I think it's just some make pretend they're playing." Luckily Home didnt have to come up with an answer to Wally's question as Eddie beat them to it, "Like how me, you and Juile play business sometimes"
Wally stared at Eddie for a bit before answering "that makes sense," He was a bit disappointed, he wanted Home to answer his question, not Eddie.
Wally pulled on Barnaby's vest, signaling him he wanted to see the letter again. Barnaby seeing no reason to not comply gave him the letter.
Looking through the letter again Wally couldn't help but question the relationship Home had with this mysterious writer. Wally had never known Home had other friends then him...
Wally couldn't explain the feeling he felt as he looked down at the letter in his hands for one more time.
Why hadn't Home mentioned this friend before? Did it not want to?
He needed answers. looking at home again, wally asked "Home I dont think I recognize this neighbors hand writing,"
This time Home responded.
Creek
[You wouldn't, it's typed out]
Wally looked at Home confused, "typed out? What does that mean,"
Crreeek, slam, crack!
[It means it was written by a typewriter or computer, a tool that has many letter stamps on it, making sure all the letters look perfect]
"Oh," Wally looked like he understood Home a bit, but was having a hard time picturing what a tool for typing looked like, "But what about the writing style? Every neighbor has a different writing style but this one is different from all of those,"
He was met with silence from the House this time.
Wally turned to the others. "Do you know who's writing style this is Eddie? Barnaby?"
Eddie asked to see the letter this time. He grabbed the letter from Wally's hands and looked over it, "Well... gee wally I'm not quite sure. I can recognize every neighbors hand writing by heart, even with this letter was typed out, but I don't think this come from one of our neighbors,"
"Oh." Wally perked up a little, now even more curious. "Home, did you make a new friend?"
The house didn't know how to respond.
Wally put all his effort in making his voice seem welcoming,"why haven't you introduced us to them?"
Creeeek...
[I... didn't see any reason to?]
Apparently that was a bad answer. Wally stared a Home with wide eyes.
"...O-kay buddy, why don't we continue with our day now" Barnaby patted the little puppet on the back. "I'm sure this mysterious friend will reveal themselves eventually. Ain't that right Home." Barnaby elbowed the house.
Creeeeek!
[Get your elbow away from me!]
"See, they agree!" Home had clearly not. They hadn't even spoke anything correlating with what Barnaby said.
Home spoke up wanting wally and the others to drop the topic.
Slam! Slam! Creeeek!
[Wally, don't you and Barnaby have some play-date with one of the neighbors? And dosent Eddie need to deliver mail]
"Ah." Wally and Barnaby looked at Home with the same expression. The house did have a point though, both wally and Barnaby had said they would help Poppy with baking around this time.
"W-what they say?" Eddie asked confused, he was still unable to understand Home.
"Oh, Home here was just mentioning about how some of us here are behind shedule" Barnaby pointed to house behind them.
"Behind shedule...?" Eddie looked at his wristwatch "Oh oh! I gotta skiddadle! You know how Sally gets with mail!"
"Well better get to it mail man" Barnaby rested his arm on top of Wally's head. The bluennet, wasn't too thrilled about it and moved his arm off.
"Sorry I can't say a proper goodbye, but I gotta go, bye!" Eddie said in a rushed voice. before the other two could say goodbye too, the mailman was already making his way to a certain star's house, Dropping the letter he was holding before he left Home's yard.
Barnaby looked down to Wally, "hey, how about we start heading to Poppy's, can't keep her waiting for too long can we?"
Wally nodded.
Wally Cupped his hands together, this time not forgetting to blow Home a kiss. "Goodbye Home, me and Barnaby will be going to Poppy's now"
Barnaby tipped his hat as a goodbye.
With that the two puppets headed off to Poppy's, and Home watched as the three neighbors went their separate ways.
When in reality it was waiting until they were at a distance, far enough so they wouldn't see Home pick up the letter.
Home let their front door open a crack.
A Black inky tendril slithered out from the gap, inching closer and closer to the letter. The tendril once reaching its goal transformed. What was once a goopy tentacle was now a hand.
With its knew appendage, it was able to grab the letter and pull it inside swiftly.
That was one problem down.
Now. What was Home going to do about those nosy researchers...