LateNightHacking Louis My Writing

Auth

It was two AM. I looked around the room. My room in the new college dorm was very nice. By the luck of the draw, I got the biggest room in the building. Still, it was bland. It looked like a hospital in the hallways. People never came out of their rooms because all they saw were closed white doors that blended in with the white walls. The Housing Office didn't want their nice new building messed up with murals yet, so things weren't likely to change. Especially not in the next hour or so.

I knew I had some assignments, but I had no inclination to work on a Friday night. I had no inclination to do much of anything, actually. While staring at the white walls was better than doing classwork, it left much to be desired.

The white walls needed something. They needed creativity. Painting was out. Writing! That struck my fancy. No, not on the walls. Though it might help the walls, I am more creative on paper.

I grabbed a pad and a pencil. The wee hours of the morning were great for creativity. I just gazed out my window at the stars and the trees and let my mind wander. I could see along the path to main campus, the trees where I saw squirrels just about every day. I always looked for them at night, but never could see anything. What if maybe I did? What would I find in the trees?

10 min

I sat there, staring out the window at the trees. They were big ones, oaks and sycamores, though I could be wrong as I am not the best at identifying trees. I just let the ideas rumble around in my head, letting them stick together however they would. I had a character I had written about before that was a squirrel. Maybe he was in the trees. Not likely - this was two far south for flying squirrels. However, flying squirrels are active at night, and my character was no normal squirrel.

Character, Hell. That squirrel was more like a big kid's imaginary friend. I knew he didn't exist, but I would never give up hoping that me might be out there, somewhere. Of course, being a big kid meant I was also willing to give allow him a bit more personality. I always liked him, since he was my idea after all, but if we should ever meet, would he like me? Would he find humans offensively odifferous or my simple lifestyle boring? Would he find me dull or would he like hanging out with me? If he had a life of his own, would he stop by to see me often, or would he be too busy? Would he be willing to take me with him on adventures, or would I just get in the way? Would I be willing to go if he asked me to? So many questions, so many insecurities, but I hoped despite the impossible that someday I might find out.

I sat there, staring off into space, thinking of the world as I wished it might be. Then I saw something moving in the tree. Could it be? Doubtful. Yet something was definitely moving in the tree. In my current state of mind, I was willing to try. I was only wearing pajamas, so I slipped on a light sweatshirt and a pair of loose shoes without socks. I walked out and around the building.

20 min

I stared up into the spreading branches of the oak. All I could see was a kaleidoscope of leaves, twigs, and inky night sky. Then I head a scrabbling noise on the trunk and saw the animal that had gotten my attention. It was a flying squirrel, and it was watching me.

"Nutsy?" The improbable was happening, why stop there?

"Louis?"

"Nutsy!" Welcome to the next level! My emotions hovered somewhere between elation and shock.

"Oh, thank goodness I've found you! You must come with me, we're desperate!"

"Uh, sure." Well, guess I answered one of my questions. I looked down at my feet. "Oh, but I better go change. Just a minute."

"No! There's no time to lose. We must hurry!"

Something about the squirrel's voice wasn't right. Maybe it was a little deep. Maybe it had a peculiar accent. Maybe not. I couldn't place exactly what was wrong. Then again, I had never actually heard Nutsy's voice before so I was probably imagining things.

I shrugged: Ok, if you say so. "Well, how do we leave?"

"Hmm. Come hold my paw." The squirrel was on the trunk of the oak, so I stepped into the planter and quickly walked toward him. He twitched, as if trying to prevent himself from running. I stopped and stood next to him.

"Uh, would you prefer to ride on my shoulder?"

The squirrel looked at me nervously for a few moments. This from my imaginary best friend? Still, he was probably just not used to me yet. Neither of us was probably exactly what the other expected.

"Y-Yes!" he stuttered. I guessed he was trying not to sound nervous. I put my hand out flat and he ran up my arm to sit on my shoulder by my ear.

I was surprised to hear him laughing to himself. "Yes!" he exulted.

I was about to ask him "What next?" when he suddenly dug his claws into my shoulder. YOUCH! He let out a loud stream of squirrelish chattering and there was a thunderclap of light as the scene before me inverted colors like photographic negative. I averted my eyes. Then everything fuzzed to gray and back to white. Then the scene around me was dark again

30 min

I woke up. I quickly wished I hadn't. I hurt all over. I was laying on my side, on something uncomfortably hard, cold, and somewhat rough. I opened my eyes. Stone. Rock. A granite slab. No, take that back - a granite cage! I sat up and looked around. Vertical columns of granite as thick as my leg. And a none-to-high ceiling too. I looked out between the bars. I was in on the top of a small hill, beside an enormous oak. The sun was rising. All around, I could see the hill sloping away, covered with dry, dust grass. The tree was enormous and dominated my view opposite the sunrise. Between the two, I couldn't much of anything else.

I looked at the bars of my cage. I couldn't find any sort of door. All the rock seemed to be one piece. I thumped a bar with the heel of a fist. It gave merely a soft thud, sounding quite firm.

I huddled down again, trying to stay warm. The granite was cold and the air still had the night's chill. The rising sun was helping, and I was glad I had what little insulation my thin sweatshirt provided.

What had happened? Where was I? How did I get here? My mind jumped from question to question, but I really had no ideas. I thought back, trying to remember what had happened. I was walking across campus, I had heard something. Yes! I remembered! That squirrel! Nutsy! He had said he needed my help. He wanted me to come. I agreed and he climbed onto my shoulder. There was a flash.. Then... I don't know. It felt like two football players were using me as a tackling dummy. The one who hit me from the front was winning, but the one that hit be from the back put up a good fight. Then - I don't remember. Then I was here, I guess.

I heard something run down the oak. Nutsy came and stood in front of me, looking through the bars if the cage. I stared at him in confusion, but his shinny black eyes were unfathomable.

"Nutsy? What happened? Why am I in here?" I asked.

He continued to stare for a moment, then broke out in laughter. It was a high pitched, squeaky noise. "I've done it! Success at last! The breach has been opened!" he crowed.

"Breach? What breach? What is going on?" I was getting mildly desperate. Something wasn't right.

"The portal! The hole! Between your world and mine. Oh, and you were such a help. It was so considerate of you to volunteer to make the breach. I thank you greatly," he chittered gleefully. "However, that is all that I need from you, so feel free to go back to whatever it is you were doing." He smiled, showing long yellowed front teeth. "That is, if you can do it within that cage!" He laughed again, a grating noise. "Sorry, but I can't stay and talk. My plan is now in motion and I must act quickly!" He scampered away, behind the tree.

"Wait! Let me out! What is going on? Nutsy! Aren't you..." I hesitated, feeling silly but desperate. "Aren't you my friend?!?"

Then I saw something that was even more astounding. I had just walked out from behind the oak tree! Well, someone that looked just like me, down to the clothes on my back. Nutsy was sitting on his shoulder.

"Of course I am!" said the squirrel. "Right, Louis?"

"Yup!" said my other self.

"Wait! Who are you?" I asked the me who was outside the cage.

"Louis. Louis Thomas." He replied.

"Well, then who the hell am I?"

"As Dave so eloquently put it, 'You're screwed!'" He and Nutsy laughed.

A cold knot of fear formed in my gut. I still didn't understand what was happening, but I knew this was NOT the kind of thing that was supposed to happen in real life. I stared at the pair dumbly.

"Well, I've got to get to class or people might become suspicious. We can't have that yet," said the other Louis.

Nutsy nodded. The squirrel raised his paws and with a flourish, a ragged, scintillating hole formed in the air beside my cage. Louis waved, and then the two stepped through the hole.

"NO!" I lunged at the pair, ramming my shoulder against the stone as I reached one arm through the bars. My fingers wiggled in the air, but I couldn't reach them, the hole, anything. Then the hole shrank and disappeared with a small flash, like a TV turning off. They were gone.

I sank down to the stone floor of my cage, rubbing my bruised shoulder. The sun was shining warmly now, but I shivered nevertheless.

1 hr

The sun was directly overhead, and the day was very hot. I was glad for the shade the roof of the cage gave me.

My stomach rumbled. It was lunch time but it didn't look like there would be much to eat today. In fact, there hadn't been much of anything to do today. I guessed that this was the way animals in zoos felt. There's just nothing to do! I pounded on the bars a time or two, but there was no chance of breaking them. All I could do was sit and wait and watch and worry. And of course I had done all of those and was getting pretty bored.

The land around had nothing eye-catching about it. I was on a foothill, so to the left of the tree were a continuing succession of bigger hills covered with oaks and manzanitas that eventually tuned into pines. The other direction was a dry grassy plane. These was a band of green trees and shrubs coming out from the valley behind the oak. The band ran roughly parallel to the foothills, which suggested a stream or a creek was running through it. It was a pretty place, but there was no sign of habitation or people as far as I could see.

With a sigh, I sat down against the bars of the cage, facing away from the oak. Now what? I guessed all I could do was to wait for Nutsy to come back. I stared at the creek and tried to be patient.

Suddenly, I heard the flap of a bird's wings. A big clack crow flapped to a graceful landing in front of me. She settled her wings and looked me over. "Aawk! Goodness me, what a sight! 'Bout time you was locked up, Xaro. Maybe yo' master finally seen da error of 'is ways. Ha ha! Aawk! Not likely do'. So, wadja do, step on 'is tail? Ha ha ha! Aaaawk!"

"I'm not Zaro!" I said, moving to the front of the cage and looking between the bars. "I'm Louis. Nutsy trapped me here. You have to get me out of here!"

"Aawk! Stay back, you! I ain't goin' fer none of yer damn tricks. You can rot in there fer all I care. Good riddance, I'd say," she scolded back.

"But you're making a big mistake. I'm not who you think I am! It's all Nutsy's doing!"

"Aawk! Enough of yer gab. You ain't foolin' no one." I thought the crow sounded a little less sure of herself. She stared at me again, first with the left eye, then with the right, bobbing her head up and down.

35 min

"Fooling?! I don't even know what the Hell is going on! Please, who are you? Why did Nutsy do this? And who the HELL is Xaro?" I was grasping at straws.

"What, you t'ink I ain't got da sense God gave a snail? YOU is Xaro! Dervan's hench-human, you snivellin' low-down rat. Aawk! What type o' trick are you an' dat rat's ass squir' tryin' to pull? Ol' Helga gots a message to deliver, an dat's what I'm goin' do!"

"I'm Xaro? What...?"

"You jes' shut up an' listen," interrupted the crow. "You tell Dervan dat de counsel knows dat he been usin' banned magic. If'n dey detect just a smidge more, dey gonna come down here an' kick his furry ass to kingdom come and back. Course, dey didn' say so in so many words, but you get de idea." She seemed to take great delight in delivering this ultimatum.

"Wait, who's Dervan?"

"Aawk! Dervan? What you keepin' between dem big funny ears o' yours? Certainly not your brain!" The crow settled her wings in a huff, and turned to depart. As she spread her wings to take off, I called out.

"Wait!"

The crow paused for a moment with her wings spread, and glanced over her shoulder. I had to think quickly. Nutsy wasn't Nutsy. Nutsy was Dervan. I was Xaro, yet I was also me. Therefore, there might actually be a Nutsy. I had to risk it.

"Do you know someone named Nutsy?" I asked desperately.

The crow closed her wings and turned to stare at me once again.

30 min

"I is beginning to wonder about you. Xaro never could hold a joke dis long. He is one grinnin' foo', dat boy."

That sounded disturbingly like me. I'm not good at practical jokes because I can't keep a straight face. Luckily, I was too panicked now to smile.

"Yeah, course I know Nutsy. He didn't never stick nobody in no cage though. He live off dat way." The crow pointed with one wing off towards the mountains.

"Could you take him a message for me?"

Again, the crow stared at me. It was unnerving to be in a cage, trying to pass scrutiny by a bird who could fly away at any moment. I didn't even know what she was *looking* for.

"Maybe."

"Just tell him I've been captured, and tell him where I am." It was all I could think of. I wanted to keep it short so she'd be likely to pass it on. Plus, I didn't know anything about what was going on. What more could I say?

"What, you want me to tell 'im Xaro's been captured?"

Oops! That wouldn't work.

"No, no. Tell him Louis was captured. He'll know who I am." I hoped!

"Aawk!" cried the crow. With a flurry of wings, she took off.

I slumped against the bars of my cage. Hopefully, she would deliver the message. Hopefully, Nutsy would come. Hopefully he'd recognize me. Hopefully, he'd get me out. That was an awful lot of hopefullys.

I reviewed what I learned from the brief conversation with the crow. The squirrel was named Dervan, and my mirror image was named Xaro. They were apparently a pretty nasty pair, and Dervan was messing with magic that was against the laws.

Magic! Well, that would explain how I got here, and how I ended up in a solid granite cage. What was Dervan doing that had been banned? Most likely, bringing me here must have been part of it. That entire opening the portal thing was not a pleasant experience.

I looked out at the horizon that separated the amber prairie from the azure sky. Here I was in a land where animals talked and magic was real. It was practically a dream come true. Unfortunately, it was more like a nightmare.

30 min

I must have fallen asleep. What can I say? Warm sunlight and nothing to do just put me right out. It was the flapping of wings that roused me. I looked around. The sun had behind the mountains, leaving them silhouetted against a glowing orange sky. It was actually very pretty. When I turned the other way, I couldn't see hardly anything after looking at the brilliant sunset. I was able to make out the black outline of the crow. So, she had come back. And she was staring at me again. What was so interesting?!

"So?" I prompted as I rubbed my eyes.

"Holy moly! Louis, is that really you?!"

That was not the crow's voice! I looked harder. There beside her was a squirrel.

"Nutsy?"

"It is! It's you! Just as I imagined!" The squirrel bounded up to the cage and jumped inside. He came to rest on my lap so quickly that I jerked my head back with a start. My head banged against the granite post I was leaning against. THUD.

"Ouch!" I closed my eyes and tilted my head to rub the goose egg that was slowly forming on the back of my head.

"Oh no! I'm sorry! Are you all right?" The squirrel cringed. "I didn't mean to startle you. I was just so happy so see you! I never thought it'd ever happen. I mean, it shouldn't have happened, but I'm still glad to see you." He jabbered. Ah, yes. This was Nutsy as I remembered him.

I heard the crow take to the air. I guess I couldn't blame her. She wasn't interested in taking any chances.

"Oh, that hurts." I rubbed my head again. "Yes... Yes, I'm VERY glad to see you." Then a pernicious thought intruded into my consciousness. "But, how do I know you're really Nutsy? And for that matter, how do you know I'm really Louis?"

"Well, just like I said. You're just as I imagined you. Well, you're very close. I can tell though. You feel right. I'd know Xaro anywhere. That human is bad news. Speaking of which, we gotta get you out of here. Dervan could be coming back any time. He's even worse. Damn. He brought you here didn't he? That's really bad. Really, really bad. Oh my, I don't even want to think about how bad that is right now. Now, how do we get you out of here?"

"But how do I know you're really Nutsy? How do I know you're not Dervan back to trick me into something even worse?" One bitten, twice shy. I didn't want to get in any worse trouble than I was already.

The question forced the squirrel to pause for a moment. "I don't know how I can prove who I am," said the squirrel unhappily. "Maybe you could ask me a question that would satisfy you?"

I thought about that. What could I ask? I had no idea what question I could ask that only Nutsy would know, but I had to come up with something quickly. "Ok. Does anybody else live in the same oak you do?" Oh no, that was too easy of a question.

"Well, there are a couple of bird families in the upper stories, but otherwise, nobody," replied the squirrel confidently."

"Wrong! You're not Nutsy!" Shit. Dervan hadn't done his homework, and I'd exposed him. Now what would he do?

"Wait! You only asked me one question. That's not enough to know for sure that... Shit!" The squirrel scampered off my lap and hid behind my back.

I looked around to see what had caused Dervan to hide like that. Suddenly, I saw the scintillating tear appear in the middle of the space between my cage and the giant oak. Out of the tear stepped my mirror image, with a squirrel on his shoulder. Dervan and Xaro! But if they were there, then who was quivering behind me? Magic! An illusion. Dervan must have wanted me to believe that it has him out there so that 'Nutsy' could gain my confidence in here. Tricky bastard.

"Why hello Louis!" called the squirrel outside the cage. "Do anything exciting today?"

I just glared. I leaned back against the squirrel behind me hoping that if I squished him a little, he would lose control of the illusion.

"No? Well, that's too bad. We sure had a lot of fun." The figures before me appeared as solid as ever, so I relented on the squirrel behind me. "No one in your world expects any magical mischief. Doors that won't open, chalk that won't write. It was really funny when we disabled the brakes on your roommate's bike. It was sure nice of him to let us have your room all to ourselves until he gets back from his short stay in the hospital."

"What did you do!?" Oh my God! Did he get run over by a car!?

"Oh don't worry. He just ran into a curb. Broke an arm and bumped his head pretty hard. But I'm sure he'll be OK." The squirrel chittered with raucous mirth, and Xaro joined in.

"You bastards! Let me out of here!"

Xaro came over and kicked at me between the bars, hitting me in the leg. I grunted and got ready grab his leg if he tried it again.

"You shut up, or you'll get worse!" threatened the human. What a bully.

"Xaro! Stop that NOW!" Apparently, Dervan dug his claws into Xaro's ear, because my mirror image suddenly tiled his head and cried out in pain. There was clearly no great love between these two.

"I'm sorry for my friend's rude behavior," the squirrel addressed me. "Have a nice evening, and I'll deal with you personally in the morning."

1:15 min

The pair walked around to the other side of the oak, and I thought I heard a door open and close.

"Whew, that was close," said a small voice behind me. "Let's get out of here."

I had to agree. I was beginning to suspect the flying squirrel who claimed to be Nutsy was telling the truth. I definitely didn't want to hang out around here any more. Still, Nutsy was going to have to explain why he didn't answer my question correctly.

Suddenly, the granite posts behind me disappeared! I fell backwards and landed on the ground with a soft whumph.

"Ssh!"

I slowly stretched my cramped legs and back. Sitting all day in a low ceilinged cage had done a number on me, not to mention the bruises I got from that portal business.

"Follow me!" whispered the squirrel, and he scampered across the grass. Slowly, I followed him. We were moving directly away from the oak, and I tried to move as quietly as possible. We descended the side of the hill and moved into the dark gully that separated this hill from the next. As I stepped through the outer brush, I lost track of the squirrel in the gloom

"Nutsy! Wait, I can't see you."

There was no response. Shit! I had been ditched!

"Ssh! I'm right here," came a soft voice from near my feet. "Pick me up."

I breathed a sigh of relief. This entire episode was making me paranoid. I picked the squirrel up and set him on my left shoulder. He promptly scrambled across the back of my neck and settled himself on my right shoulder.

Good, I thought to myself. That's just like the Nutsy I always imagined. He always liked to ride on my shoulder and would often ask to be picked up. Of course, I like to carry him, so that worked out well. He also preferred to ride on my right shoulder, though I have no idea why. Could this actually be my imaginary friend? Dervan and Xaro had sure seemed solid enough, especially when Xaro kicked me!

"Follow this dry stream up into the mountains. It's a good place to hide. Dervan's gonna be furious when he finds you've escaped."

I nodded and began to pick my way forward. Pajamas are just not the best clothes for hiking in. I would have preferred a good pair of old blue jeans right now.

30 min