1 Chapter 1 - In Which Zane-Ashburn Further Dislikes The Idea Of Friends

"Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

Zane-Ashburn listened as his sister softly sung like she did every night, the words somehow comforting him and his brother, Gill. Zane-Ashburn was a bright child. He read at every chance he could and soaked in knowledge like he was a sponge. He loved school, but he got distracted easily, often derailing the class with rabbit holes of questions.

As Zane-Ashburn listened in the small room, he analyzed the words. He had never really paid attention before but this time, he wondered what they meant. "Ashes? Isn't that black snow?" he wondered. He suddenly got an uneasy feeling and sat up in his bed, interrupting his sister's song

"Go to sleep darling. Everything is okay," Mother said. She stayed in the room every night until they all went to sleep, helping them feel safe. Zane-Ashburn looked at Mother, her dark brown hair with small grey streaks glinted in the moonlight and framed her face perfectly. She looked like a goddess, peaceful and kind. Zane-Ashburn felt comforted seeing this and slowly lie back down on his bed as Anabelle resumed her song. He fell asleep peacefully, his breaths slowing and his muscles relaxing.

"Zane, Zane, wake up!" Anabelle shook her brother, her unnatural looking blond hair waving with the motion. Zane-Ashburn opened his eyes and saw piercing emerald green staring into his plain brown ones. He rubbed his eyes. "Huh? What?" He sat up and lightly shoved Anabelle off him. "Morning, Belle," he said.

"Morning! Breakfast is ready!" Anabelle chimed before turning around and running out of the room, teddy bear in hand and her simple white dress, fit for an innocent five-year-old, trailing behind her. Zane-Ashburn smiled and stood up, stretching and yawning. The window was open, sending a slight breeze through the room. He padded over to the closet and pulled out his clothes, lightweight for the early summer weather. Moments later, he walked out into the dining room where Anabelle, Gill, and Mother were eating breakfast. He sat down and everyone greeted him. He replied with a smile.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Anabelle asked excitedly.

"Well, I was planning on reading in the library today..." Zane-Ashburn said slowly, knowing that his siblings would probably want to drag him outside.

"C'mon, you do that every day!" Gill whined. "Come outside with us!" Bingo, he thought. Gill was a rambunctious ball of energy who always went outside, and though she was a little more cautious, Anabelle followed close behind.

Gill had uncontrollably messy black hair that never lay flat no matter how hard you tried. His skin was a dark tan from the hours playing under the sun and a bright grin and sharp green eyes to match his wild nature. Annabelle, on the other hand, was like an elegant flower. She had delicate fair skin and long blond, almost white hair that waved gently. She was a perfect picture of innocence... yet she was anything but. If someone messed with her, her family, or any cute animals, she would go into an aggressive rage. In other words, don't get on her bad side.

Zane-Ashburn had jet black hair and plain brown eyes. He thought he looked boring. Every time he looked in the mirror, he resented his uninteresting facial features. He wished he had freckles. Yes, freckles would look good on him. He imagined the tiny dots peppering his skin. He smiled softly at the thought but when he blinked, the image was gone, and his plain face was left in the mirror again. He was thin and looked like he didn't get out much. He had light skin and tired eyes from reading all the time, but they were wide awake and analyzed everything.

"I don't really want to..." Zane-Ashburn said. "the books are calling me." Gill gave Zane-Ashburn a displeased look and Zane just shrugged.

"You should go this time," Mother said. "I rarely ever force you to go out, but your skin is so pale it worries me. And surely your eyes are tired. It would be healthy for you.

"All right, fine," Zane-Ashburn said. Anabelle and Gill cheered and quickly finished their breakfast before grabbing both his arms and dragging him through the door.

"Nooo, save meee!" Zane-Ashburn said to Mother dramatically as he was pulled along. He heard Mothers' laughter and the door closed behind him.

"So, what do you do out here for fun?" Zane-Ashburn asked his siblings as they walked through the woods behind their house

"Well," Gill said, "We usually round up our friends from school and play games. Lots of games like Tag, Wax museum, Fox at midnight, and so on."

"The moth one! Don't forget the moth one!" Anabelle said, jumping up and down.

Gill laughed, "Yes, Mafia. That's her favorite. We should play it sometime."

Zane-Ashburn looked alarmed. "Mafia? Gill, do you know what that means?"

Gill scoffed, "Of course I know what it means. Wait... No, I don't."

Zane-Ashburn rolled his eyes. "It's an organized group of criminals"

"Oh. Well, it's a fun game either way," Gill said, pushing away the thought of criminals.

"So, how do you get our friends to come out here? We live far away from most other houses," Zane-Ashburn said, looking around at the large clearing they had come to. There was a small shack off to the side, facing away from the forest and tree stumps lining the clearing.

"Like this," Gill said with a mischievous grin and let out a bird call that perfectly resembled an eagle. Moments later, about seven or eight kids came leaping through the woods and doing bird calls of their own.

There was what felt like a pregnant pause for Zane-Ashburn as he waited for more children to pop out of the foliage. In total, including his siblings, 10 children were standing in a cult-like circle around Zane-Ashburn. He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but it scared him that children were acting like this. Children that could hear bird calls of their friends across the woods.

"Gill… Why are there eight children here cawing like birds?" Zane-Ashburn asked, confused on so many levels.

"Don't worry, Zane. It's our secret code," Gill winked at his older brother and Annabelle grew a large grin.

"You mean to tell me you can decipher meaning from those… unintelligible noises?" Zane-Ashburn didn't understand friends much nor the secret codes that they made together. While Zane-Ashburn was incredibly smart, friends were nothing short of scarce. It surprised him how much his peers didn't value intelligence over fun. He didn't quite know why literary works weren't everyone's thing.

"I don't know what that means, but it's like," Anabelle twiddled her thumbs as she thought about how to string the words together, "we just understand each other! We know what we mean!"

Zane-Ashburn was confused, but he decided to drop it for the sake of everyone's joy.

"What game are we to play today, ladies and gents?" Gill called out to the yard of children.

Everyone looked at Zane-Ashburn. He didn't quite feel comfortable, but it was probably simply because these children did not see him often. He was usually reading at the table where he could glace at the younger ones if he so chose to.

"Let's take a vote!" a small girl around Anabelle's age suggested. She was delicate like Anabelle, with the perfect blonde waves that reached her waist, but there was something off about her smile. It wasn't one of joy nor positivity. It was something of vindication and it left Zane-Ashburn unsettled.

"Okay, Margarie, since you said something, why don't you pick the game we vote on first?" Gill said.

"Duck, Duck, Goose!" Her voice was high pitched and cute, but there was most certainly was something off about her.

"All for Duck, Duck, Goose say aye! All for not say nay!"

Zane-Ashburn assumed he was part of the vote. Although Margarie was creepy, what could go wrong with a small game of Duck, Duck, Goose?

"Aye!" Anabelle and Zane-Ashburn called out.

"Aye!" said three small boys that looked similar enough to be triplets. They all had the same features of the brown-headed bowl cuts with iridescent, blue eyes that shined with mischief.

"Aye," Margarie smiled at Zane-Ashburn.

"Aye!" said Gill.

"Nay!" called two girls who were shivering among themselves opposite Zane-Ashburn. They were a curious couple. One girl wore large, oversized clothing that she seemed to drown in. The other girl had hair longer than Margarie's and it went down to her thighs, covering her entire backside.

"Alright. The majority wins as you girls know. You do not have to play, but you will be banned from all future rounds of today's game if that is the case," Gill announced coolly.

The girls trembled, seeming to mentally war with wanting to play and not wanting to play this round. Zane-Ashburn remained confused. It was a simple game of Duck, Duck, Goose. What was there to debate?

"We—We'll not be playing today," announced the girl who was drowning in her clothes as the other's cheeks had donned streaky tears. They sat on the porch of the shack, comforting one another. It was the strangest sight Zane-Ashburn had witnessed yet, but he put the thought back into the recesses of his mind.

"Gather in a circle everyone!" Margarie licked her lips as if she could taste victory. Zane-Ashburn was never quite sure how you could win this game if you were a duck. There never seemed to be a way to succeed unless you were in a position of power.

Zane-Ashburn sat with his legs crossed adjacent to Anabelle and the triplets, Gill opposite him. Anabelle had a wicked smile, as did Gill. He assumed they were good at not getting chosen as goose. Zane-Ashburn closed his eyes, preparing for Margarie to go around the circle, calling each person a duck until she got bored and landed goose.

"And… Start," Margarie whispered into Zane-Ashburn's ear. It startled him enough to have him jolt upwards, making his eyes pop wide open. What Zane-Ashburn saw was not something he expected in any universe. He sat there, rubbing his eyes multiple times, hoping it was either a hallucination or a dream.

"Run my little duckies!" Margarie called out with a sweet but, suddenly large foreboding voice that seemed to call from the heavens.

The children of the circle had been replaced by a handful of waterfowl. Small chicklets ran everywhere, making their small noises of terror as Margarie boomed across the yard attempting to pick up any of the ducklings. Zane-Ashburn had frozen in a mixture of shock and petrification. It was mere seconds before Margarie would realize he was an easy target. Though he knew this, he couldn't seem to get his suddenly webbed feet to move.

Margarie spotted the helpless duckling formerly known as Zane-Ashburn and grew a large, vindictive grin. She ran in his direction, the other ducklings attempting not to get trampled by the girl's careless steps. She picked up Zane-Ashburn who was too afraid of the over-sized 6-year-old to care to escape.

"Goose," She spoke softly, her grin growing wider. The other children had popped back into their regular selves, but Zane-Ashburn had remained waterfowl, despite being a different breed.

Margarie started walking out of the yard where they had played the nerve-wracking game.

"Margarie, release Ash. You have won and his penalty will be to remain as waterfowl throughout the rest of the games. Please set him down," Gill said.

"But we have to eat goose for dinner tonight, and this is far easier than Daddy having to find one," Margarie whined.

Zane-Ashburn squawked loudly in protest, fighting the small girl's grip. Her having him by his neck was not improving his chances of escape but he tried none-the-less.

"Margarie, you ate the last kid too! This one's my brother. Please let him go, bestieee," Anabelle pleaded, pulling the best friend card. Zane-Ashburn panicked mentally. These kids are getting eaten?!, Zane-Ashburn yelled in his mind. He knew there was something off about this group of kids, but more specifically Margarie. No wonder. It was Prion's Disease!

"Okay," Margarie's tone of voice went up nearly a whole octave. In the same moment, she dropped Zane-Ashburn to the ground, not being careful of his now hollow bird bones.

Gill's cool tone and attitude left as he dove to catch his fowl brother. He shot a dirty look at Margarie who in turn gave a sweet and innocent smile.

"What next?" The triplets all grinned, their mischievous eyes glinting. Zane-Ashburn let out an exasperated squall. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what the other games would be like. Especially as a goose, he thought. He met eyes with Margarie who gave him another vindictive smile and decided he wanted out. He pecked Gill's head rapidly

"Ow, ow!" Gill said and huffed, letting go of his brother-turned-goose. Zane-Ashburn immediately ran to the outer edge of the clearing and honked loudly.

"You want out then?" Gill asked, standing up. Zane-Ashburn nodded his fowl head, his beady eyes glaring at Gill.

"Alright," Gill sighed. "Just leave the circle and you'll turn into yourself again. But you can't come back for the rest of the games." Zane-Ashburn stepped into the forest and tripped as he turned back.

"I'll be perfectly fine with that," he said coldly and walked away.