#she literally wailed and then threw herself on the floor writhing around and screaming her head off

[vampiricgf]

Why don't you like his mother?

she's a typical Boy Mom "my son is my king no woman could ever replace me!!" type which is absolutely fucking insufferable to deal with if you haven't ever had the displeasure of experiencing that plus she just in general dislikes me because for as long as we've been together I've been trying to help him basically grow a spine and not let his mother continue to run his life and dictate to him like he's 10 years old when he's a grown ass man. she's obsessed with being in his business and our collective business and constantly yaps about how I should be getting pregnant and idk just exist as a brood mare and not a person basically she sucks

[theofficialimaginariumblog]

Chapter 7

“That’s Miss Riddle?” Franklin said in disbelief.

“It can’t be her!” Tanner rubbed her eyes. “Can it?”

“But that’s the same person we just saw!” Summer looked the doll over.

“No, it’s not,” Blake realized. “That ghost thing had to be an illusion, like in a magic show.”

“So, wait,” Elly said. “You mean this is the real Miss Riddle?”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Karina added. “‘Cause then, that would mean that-”

“That she turned out like Julia, too.” Liam finished in shock. “And everybody else.”

“What’s she got there?” Morgan noticed. Megan saw it too. “Look,” she pointed. And the others looked.

Blake crept over and picked up the stuffed doll from the real Miss Riddle’s arms, turning it around in his hands.

“Why’s it look so... familiar?” Karina said almost exactly what he was thinking.

Indeed, he couldn’t help but think that he had seen something similar before. Then it hit him.

“A harlequin doll...” he breathed, connecting the dots in his mind. “Just like...”

“How dare you.”

The familiar voice, filled with a tranquil rage none of them had heard from its owner before, was enough to make them jump up in alarm and look around the room, trying to spot where it had come from.

A thick stream of white mist suddenly shot out of the doll into the air. When it cleared, there he was, floating above the children, glaring down at them.

“Bonko,” Blake gasped.

“Wait, Bonko was behind all this?” Elly asked, shocked at this turn of events. “But why?”

“It’s…” Bonko seethed, glaring at the doll that was once Miss Riddle. “It’s not like I want to stay here, too! Being betrayed by my own best friend, trapped in that junkyard for decades, with no one playing with me, waiting for myself to rot!”

“So...” Summer glanced at the harlequin doll. “This doll used to be...”

“Miss Riddle’s toy,” Karina realized. “From when she was a kid.”

Bonko continued. “The despair I felt after she threw me away like I was literal garbage... how would you understand any of it?!” He gestured to their surroundings. “This place was meant to help me collect happiness, and that’s just what it’s gonna do! Soon, I’ll have more happiness than anyone in your world!” 

“So you’re just gonna...” Karina clutched Julia close to herself. “...steal it from kids?”

“That’s just messed up!” Elly protested. 

“What about the kids you lured here?” Tanner asked. “They’ll never get the chance for life!”

“What you’re doing will seriously hurt people!” Liam explained.

“Please, Bonko!” Summer pleaded.

But Bonko wasn’t having any of it. “Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!!”

It was as if the harlequin appearance had been a costume or a mask that Bonko had removed. The harmless-looking exterior was completely gone, replaced by the large, ghostly being that was now barreling towards them.

The children scattered at once, causing the thing that was the real Bonko to slam into the floor. He rose up, covered in dust, orange eyes glowing with fury.

Franklin, Tanner and the twins fired laser after laser from their pistols at the monster. Liam launched projectiles from his slingshot. Whenever Bonko swooped down at them, Summer and Karina would slash at him with their swords. But their attacks had no effect.

Then Elly had blasted him with her bubble gun. “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size, huh?!”

Bonko turned on her, and lunged, like a squid jettisoning itself towards its prey.

“Elly!” Blake, who had been standing in the sidelines, trying to think up a plan, darted towards his sister. At the last second, he made a running jump, shoving her out of the way of danger.

But he couldn’t save himself.

Bonko skidded on the floor, crashing to a halt against the wall. For a moment, he didn’t move. But then he slowly rose up into the dim light. There was no sign of Blake. The other children were stunned.

“He ate him!” Elly wailed. “Blake!” Tears began to form in her eyes.

The massive phantom turned his sights on the remaining children. They knew that, without Blake, their efforts would be all for nothing. They huddled together, expecting the worst to come...

Bonko started twitching. He looked down at his hands. The look on his face was absolute confusion.

Then he jerked to the side with a yell, smashing into another wall. He fell to the ground, clawing at his chest. “W-What are you doing?!” he cried. “Stop it! Get out of me!”

It was then that the children knew what was happening.

“Blake!” Summer gasped.

Inside Bonko’s body, Blake held on as tightly as he could, resisting the current that threatened to drag him out.

“Not a chance!” he called over the wind whistling in his ears. “If you’re not gonna end this, then I’ll do it for you!”

“NO!” Bonko was screaming now.

A golden glow surrounded the writhing Bonko. All at once, what seemed like a million beams of light shot out. They emerged from Marchen Palace, spreading throughout the Imaginarium. Only one remained, flying instead for the children. It struck Julia square in the wooden chest.

In another instant, a wooden puppet was replaced with a girl around Karina’s age.

“Julia!” Karina breathed.

There was a sudden rumbling. By now, their surroundings had changed completely. The Imaginarium no longer looked like the perfect carnival - more like a crude, childish crayon drawing of what the perfect carnival should be.

“Run,” Summer cried. “Run!”

And that’s what the children did, Julia now included.

The exit, once located in the Haunted Academy, was now in plain sight. Other children - Bonko’s previous victims, now free - were scrambling into the tunnel.

“The whole place’s coming apart!” Franklin shouted. “We gotta go!”

“What about Blake?!” Elly cried.

Summer looked back at what used to be Marchen Palace. “It’s all up to him, now,” she whispered.

CRACK!

The wind stopped, allowing Blake to release his hold. Floating weightlessly, he looked up to see a large, glowing crack forming a hole big enough for him to enter.

“No!” he heard Bonko cry out. “Please!”

Blake ignored him. He swam towards the hole.

“DON’T LOOK AT ME!!!”

The rain that poured down was relentless.

When Blake first saw the child, he was standing amongst the ruins, staring up emotionlessly at the stormy skies above; a pitiful sight.

“Are you... the real Bonko?”

The child just looked back at him before turning his gaze to the ground. “It’s always been like this...” he whispered.

Blake looked up at the grey sky, then back at Bonko. “You’ve been feeling this way this whole time,” he said. “but you still wanted to make a change. Is that it?”

“But nothing changed,” Bonko replied. “No matter how hard I tried...”

Blake stepped forward. “It’s not too late to start over,” he spoke in the same gentle tone he used in the past to console his sister whenever she cried, crouching down to meet the spirit’s gaze. “You can’t be satisfied by flat-out stealing happiness from others. You gotta earn it by doing whatever else makes you happy.”

“But how?” Bonko asked. “I was made to make others happy. Not myself...”

Blake smiled. “You’re alive now, are you? That means you can find real happiness. Favorite foods and games, friends, family, lovers... If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the simple things in life brings that kind of pleasure.”

Bonko looked up at Blake, then lowered his head. Tears began to well in his eyes. He sobbed. “What have I done? ...I’m such a monster...”

Blake hugged the weeping child. “I don’t think so. I know you can change. You just need to take a step in the right direction. And you can begin by letting everybody know you’re really sorry.”

CRACK.

They both looked up. The rain had stopped. Cracks were forming in the sky.

Then the world around them shattered.