The night was cold. Damp. Wet. It was Halloween, after all. October 31st, and the darnest thing was that a typhoon was happening right at the center of the mountain. There were rocks hurled from the peak falling down. Landslides everywhere. But, this specific town was quiet.
Heavy, shaky breathing left his mouth, but with no visible steam. This was our favorite Superhero mascot, Happy, from the last arc. He just finished hiking up the mountain after saving the world, and now, he’s here. Sweaty. Stinky. And he smelled awful. He couldn’t smell himself, though. He knew why, he just wouldn’t tell us.
Happy smiles, using his drones to navigate the area, finally reaching the town. The Superhero with the drones going around him was met with non-chalance by the bystanders. He sees a gas station, faded slightly by the fog. He walked closer and saw that the gas station had a strange stench of dead rats, flies everywhere on the food being sold, and literally the food there were just a couple of pizzas and a bag of cookies.
“Hey, bossing!” smiled the man behind the counter. He wore a yellow and black cap, with a yellow and black uniform.
“Oh. Hey. is this place supposed to be ‘Paperille’? Like, the one historically linked to that American guy who founded said town out here in the 30s back in American Colonial period, Joseph Paper?”
“Why, yez sir we are, bossing! We are the proud Paperville!” smiled the man.
“Great. Uh… Can you tell me if there had any been strange occurrences?”
“You a journalist?”
“No.”
“Detective? Vigilante?”
“No, no. I’m a mascot. WAS a mascot. Boss didn’t say I was good enough, and let me go..”
The man smiles. “Oh! You are now? What’s the code?”
“Honey, I’m home,” said Happy.
“Ah! Perfect! Name?”
“Canton. MacArthur Canton.”
“You Chinese?”
“Chinoy. Chinese ancestry.”
“Ahhhh… Interesting!” smiled the man. “What brings you here?‘
“Have you ever heard of MacJovial?”
“Who?”
“The… The second known Filipino serial killer. After Mallari in Spanish times. He… He’s somewhere here, I think.”
The man’s eyes just look down to Happy’s mouth. He smiles, staring at his lips. “I don’t recall!” he smiled sweetly.
He nods softly, almost just bouncing his head in disappointment. “Okay. Great… You guys have a hotel here?”
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“Yes, we do! Right beside the barangay hall!“ smiled the man, staring at his ear this time.
He nods, and Happy goes out into the cold fog. No rain. Just cold fog enough to cause one to shiver. Happy doesn’t shiver.
He reaches the Barangay hall, and sees that there are dead rats and birds hung from the ceiling. Happy backs away and gasps. “Jesus! Fuck, that’s gross.” He doesn’t cover his nose, since again, he can’t smell. He enters the door and meets with the Kapitan.
Happy’s eyes widened. The Kapitan’s face osall bloated, eyes bulging and just staring into nothingness, with his cheeks bloated as well. His skin is rubbery, almost fake, and he is salivating. He was stiff, and he smelled atrocious, but Happy can’t smell.
He smiles, wheezing and laughing like a dying teenager.
He’s also a teenager.
Happy sighs. “You the Kapitan?”
“Yeah…”
“You’re old enough to be one? Leader of the local gov around here?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” He stared at Happy’s nose and ears.
Happy tightens the hold over his costume. “Uh… Okay. i’m a mascot.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Okay.“
Happy nods. “Can you tell me about the… Ahem..,. MacJovial?”
The Kapitan stayed silent, and his smile slowly faded away.
Happy asks again. “Dude? Hello? Right… I’ll just… check in next door.”
Happy leaves, and the Kapitan’s eyes just turn to him, and his eyes begin following him, even turning his head to follow him. He wheezed louder, sounding like sandpaper scraping on stones.
He walks out back into the cold. He, again, can’t feel it’s cold. Not for a second, and he enters the lobby of the hotel, yellow, pristine, golden chandeliers above, and beautiful.
He meets with the concierge, who has her face dripping down, half-melted.
“Hi. How may I help you?” she asked.
Happy is visibly unamused. “Uh… I’d like a room, please.”
“Certainly! You are a mascot, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“Name?”
“MacArthur Canton.”
“Name. Yes. Ah. Name. Hello, Name. Yes. In.”
“What?”
“MacArthur Canton. Welcome. Enter room. Now. Please. Haahahahaha!!!” she smiled, face forcing itself into a smile, giving an eerie massive sneer over her face and eyes bulging out of her socket.
He walks into the hallway, tightening the grip on his chest as he reaches his room. The long hallway had a red and black pattern, similar to the one in the Shining,. The room. “66.” He opens the door and immediately hears a sort of howling of anguish. He turns both to the left and right, giving a sigh, seeing nothing but the elevators. He realized that it was rather strange that there were two elevators in the same hallway, where the hotel was only two floors. He shrugs and enters the door.
He opens the door and sees a nice, calm room. He falls on the bed, obviously tired, where a sound of creaking and twitching could be heard from his body, squeaking like iron, before falling asleep.
Suddenly, he opens his eyes, and his drones are gone. He sighs, trying to summon the drones from his skin, but nothing happens. “Fuck.” He told himself. He looks around, shuffling in the room to search every drawer and wardrobe for something. No toothpaste. No toothbrush. No complimentary food or water. Just an empty room, and no drones. He knows what’s going on. He takes a chair, dismantles it, and takes the two legs, arming himself with two sticks essentially.
He walks out and sees the Kapitan dancing at the end of the hallway, before crawling on all fours and running toward him, howling like a dying cat. He screams and screams, running toward him as Happy tosses a stick and beats him in the face.
The Kapitan grabs him, revealing his disgustingly bloated muscles and beats him, slamming him to the wall. “Shouldn’t come. Shouldn’t have come. AAAAAAAH!!! Why. Is there. Dog. What. Fuck bottle. Computer. Mouse. Hang mouse. Mommy?”
Happy roars and dropkicks him, as his head fell to the doorknob and his skull breaks open, bleeding all over the ground.
A shriek could be heard, and Happy grunts, beginning to limp away as the woman walks, moving erratically as she develops stilt-like legs, crawling toward him as Happy grabs the door, shatters it out and uses it as a shield. She roars, staring at his nose. His nose. His nose which she licks and bites at but Happy punches her and stabs her in the face, brains splattering all over the wall. “AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! TOMMY!!! Tommy. TOMMYYYYY!!!” Happy roars and beats her, continuing to beat her over and over, before silence.
Happy sighs. He doesn’t pant. He just walks away and doesn’t even clean the body. He checks out of the hotel and walks outside, armed with two sticks.