Chapter 1 – The Silencer Arrives
On an island far away from all
civilization, fairy tales come to life, though not the kinds with happy endings.
All the people on the island are trapped in the corrupted fairy tales or live
with a curse on them. A mysterious effect of the fairy tales is that no one
dies or is capable of dying. Everyone who is left on the island is trying to
make their way off since they can’t contact anyone for help and the people who
happen to land on the island suffer the same fate as the people who are already
there. There doesn’t seem to be a happy ending for the hundreds of people
trapped in this nightmare.
Susie is a little girl caught up in
this mess and tries her best to survive. She’s barely been able to since most
people are out for themselves and since fairy tales are typically about girls
her age, she’s been a constant target. As of now, she’s managed to not die or be
cursed. She’s scavenging around for food and comes across a supermarket. There is
spoiled fruit outside of the supermarket on the floor, broken concrete, and
other signs that a struggle took place here. Going inside the store, Susie
finds that it’s mostly empty with various degrees of spoiled food on the floor.
That is until she hears a noise in the back. Cautiously walking to the back,
she opens the door with a blinking light behind it before backing away when she
sees a hand reach out. A large fat green monster in a chef’s uniform walks out the
door with a meat cleaver and a pan.
“I almost had you, little rat,” the
chef says.
This chef is known as the monster who
cooks up little children if he finds them stealing food. This version of the
fairytale is the one that tempts children with food by leaving it out to lure
them in. Susie runs through the store and tries to find something fresh to eat.
The chef breaks through the shelves and debris to get to her. When he does, Susie
offers him a bunch of canned vegetables. He takes and crushes them before turning
them into an apple. The chef then holds it out for Susie with a gentle smile on
his face.
“Thank you for the food, little
missy. I’m sorry if I mistook you for a common thief,” he says.
“No, thank you for the apple.”
Even though the apple isn’t much,
Susie appreciates it and walks out of the supermarket. She sees someone hiding
in the distance in a rundown laundromat. The person waves her over and she goes
to them. Susie goes over to find a man dressed in heavy clothes and
makeshift armor made from street signs and torn leather.
“How did you survive that and get
the apple?” the man asks.
“I did what Peppy did in the fairy
tale.”
“Peppy? Fairy tale?”
“Yeah. That’s what the chef,
monsters, and weird people are from. Fairy tales.”
“Now that you mention it, I do remember
the description of fairy tale characters matching the things I’ve seen, but how
do you know for sure?”
“I do the things in the fairy tales
that the heroes do to survive, and it always works.”
“You did survive the chef and you
are out here by yourself. I guess I’ll trust you on that. Do you want to find a
way off this island together?”
“Yes! I’ve been looking for someone
to help me especially since my dad is somewhere on the island and I haven’t
seen him yet.”
“Did he tell you the fairy tales?”
“Yes, he told me every fairy tale I
know. He probably knows even more than I do.”
“Then it’s safe to say that he’s safe.”
“But I still want to find him!”
“Of course you do. Hmm. Where do
you think he is?”
“The center of the island or at
least that’s the last place I saw him.”
“The center of the island? That’s
the place with the most activity. I’m sorry to say, but you shouldn’t get your hopes
up in seeing him.”
“What? I’m sure he’s alive!”
“If you say that he knows more
fairy tales than you then he should be safe. Hey, we should find a way off
this place first then come back with help. That way we can help your dad better
if he’s in trouble or maybe he’s trying to find a way off the island too and
maybe we’ll cross paths.”
“I don’t know.”
“Staying here talking about this
isn’t going to help him or us, so we should get moving.”
“Alright.”
The man and Susie wander through
the desolate island city until they reach a part that’s been taken over by a
forest inhabited by wildlife that aren’t found on the island. Susie walks into
the forest without hesitation while the man looks around it.
“Little girl, don’t you think it’s
dangerous to walk through there? We’re probably going to find a fairy tale
monster or something.”
“The whole island is filled with them
no matter what direction we go in. Come on already. I don’t want to keep my dad
waiting for me.”
Astonished by Susie’s bravery, the
man keeps close to her. He stays especially close as they find the clothes of
people on the floor near the trees.
“Hey, do you know any fairy tales
about being near trees?”
“Not really unless they’re
something weird about them.”
The man eventually spots grapes
growing from a lone tree. He goes to and thinks about pulling them down to eat
them.
“Wait, don’t eat them,” Susie says.
“Why not?”
“I think I remember a tale about
eating strange fruit from the trees. The strange fruit turned the people who ate
it into animals. That would explain all the animals and the clothes near the
trees that don’t have fruit on them.”
“What kind of fairy tale is that and
what is it supposed to teach?”
“To not eat unclean food or weird
food in the forest because they could be poisonous.”
“These look like normal grapes.”
“Would you really trust something
that grew on a tree that’s not supposed to be here?”
“…Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry. My
hunger is getting to me.”
“You’re welcome.”
Susie and the man walk further into
the forest and see fewer and fewer animals around them. They don’t think anything
of it until they hear the sound of dragging and animals making loud noises.
“What was that noise?”
“I think that was the hunter in the
fairy tale who would turn the animals into stuffed animals.”
“What kind of fairy tales did your
father tell you because that sounds pretty adult for a kid’s fairy tale?”
“He told me all kinds. Why? They
don’t sound adult to me.”
Weirded out by Susie’s nonchalant attitude
toward the horror happening out of their sights, the man quiets himself and
focuses on the path ahead. That is until they find a seemingly wounded hooded person
in the forest.
Susie runs towards them and asks, “Are
you okay? What happened?”
“I’m afraid I was robbed by a thief
who wanted my teeth.”
“Huh?”
“My teeth are my chief prizes and I
was about to make a wreath out of them. All I need are a couple more teeth to
make my wreath. Can I have yours?”
The person reveals themselves to be
a monstrous dentist with rows and rows of sharp teeth and drills for
fingernails. With a grin on his face, he starts to chase Susie.
“Get away from her!” the man says.
“Save yourself! He likes adults
more because of your mature teeth!”
“Oh, is that another set of teeth that
I can use for my wreath?” the dentist says as he sends out assistants made of teeth
from beneath his disguise.
“Ah! How do I get rid of him?”
“Give him chocolate or candy!”
Susie loses sight of the man and
hopes that he will be safe. She manages to run out of the forest and tries to
find the nearest convenience store only to come across three flying witches.
“Looks like we’ve found another girl
who’s run away from her parents, ladies!” one of the witches say.
Cut off by the witches, Susie runs
in the opposite direction. The only way to get rid of these witches is to find
her father, but she’s not sure if she can find him in time. As she starts to
panic and get tired, she takes a wrong turn into a dead end. She puts herself
in the corner as she thinks about what she should do and can’t manage to think
of anything. The only thing she can think about is her father.
“Daddy…”, she whimpers as she
begins to cry.
Before the witches can touch her, a
figure comes down from the roof in a puff of smoke. A witch is turned to dust
by an elongated hand from the smoke and the other two turn to dust by the gunshots
that come from the gun that comes out of the hand. A piece of candy then comes
out of the smoke and into the mouth of the dentist who screams in agony.
“Ahhhh! Not chocolate! Ahhh!”
The dentist then turns to dust and
the teeth he’s collected fall to the ground.
“Thank you, stranger! How could I
ever repay you!” Susie says to the figure in the smoke.
The figure just stares at Susie in
silence as Susie waits for a response with a smile on her face.
“…Hmm? Is something wrong?”
When the smoke clears, Susie sees
that her hero is a cloaked man with three heads. One head has bloodshot eyes
and no mouth, which is a common feature on the heads. Another head has an arm
coming out of its eye with the barrel of a gun in the palm of its hand and the
last head has eyes that can extend like a telescope. Susie is a little scared
by the man’s appearance and this gets him to turn away.
“Wait! I’m sorry if I seem afraid
of you. Your appearance is just a little startling to me.”
The man continues walking while the
head with a hand gently pushes her away.
“Hey! I’m sorry! We should travel
together since we both know the fairy tales though I don’t know how you got rid
of the witches. You also have all those heads that can be useful to us.”
Another head pops out of the man’s
cloak. This one has mouths in its eyes and yells at Susie before quickly retreating
back into the cloak. She’s startled by this but recognizes this as the man’s
attempt to get her away from him.
“I’m not going to be a burden to
you. Just because I’m a little girl doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself.”
The man continues to be silent.
“If anything, can you please help
me find my dad? I’m really worried about him especially since I haven’t heard
or seen him since this all started. He means everything to me. Please.”
The man stops and appears to be
considering what Susie said. He then turns around and stares at Susie until
shaking his head to agree to travel with her. Susie smiles and hugs the man’s
head.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I
promise that you won’t regret helping me!”
The man uses the head with a hand
in it to put Susie on his hutched back.
“Oh. Thank you. I was getting tired
of all the walking anyway.”
With Susie on his back, the cloaked
man with many heads starts their journey to find her father together.
