My entry for the ultimate character contest! (Chowchow, I know you said to make the design simple, but I just had to make it look good. The easy way to draw him is an orange blob thing with spectacle-looking eye markings, and make a few scale impressions as lumpy waves in blue. ◡◡◡◡ ◡◡◡ Also, press "a" to see the uncolored version, and as you can see, he is very simple to draw.) The character is the bed creature. The inside of his mouth is supposed to be white. Press "a" to see the uncolored version! The character's name is Jablomek, a shapeless mass with arms and a head (at least that's what Erica thinks). And... (she's the girl in the picture,) an annoying tendency to bother Erica at night. As soon as she went to bed, she heard the usual sound of a large object under the bed. "Oh no," she thought. ''He's here again." "So, how was school today?" she heard at the end of her bed. "It was fine," she replied, scowling, digging down and hiding her head under the covers. "Jablo, I don't feel like this tonight. You know that I have rehearsal tomorrow." "I think you failed history today." She sighed and slumped her shoulders. He always seemed to know what had happened at school. "Can I go to sleep, so I can better focus in history class tomorrow?" There was a pause. "Good," she breathed out. There was a creak and and Jablomek's head came up and looked in her eyes from the side of the bead. Annoyed, Erica turned to the side, facing the other way. "What?'' she snapped. "Look at me when I'm about to speak to you!" Jablo retorted. "Not right now. I'm too tired." "Hm?" "I just don't like it when you look at me like that, that's all. Sorry." She remembered when she had first met him. Since Erica was 2, or something around there, she started hearing dragging noises under her bed, specifically at 2-5 o'clock in the morning. So, yes, she became scared and told stories of the thing under the bed. Of course, her parents didn't believe her and they said it was her imagination. They even had her help them clean out from under the bed. She was happy for a few days until it came back again. She thought it was her imagination (although, didn't people have control over their imaginations?), or just rats under the woodwork. And then, gradually, she thought she would hear the muffled voice of a man talking in the basement. It wasn't just any voice. It was one that was different and that she had never heard before. It was definitely NOT her Dad's or any of her classmates'. It became louder and clearer over time, and could hear some of things it said, like one phrase it repeated over and over again " the problem to the solution, is the solution to the problem, and the solution to the problem, is the problem to the solution!" "there's that place again, behind the hills"... "too much, don't you know it! just yesterday there was two of them hiding beneath the log!" ... So yeah, eventually, it freaked her out. She told her parents about it and they thought it might be a crazy criminal living in the basement. They called the officers, but they couldn't find any evidence. Maybe it was because she was lonely? No. The situation got so bad one time that she couldn't go to sleep. She said "be quiet", quietly, after that immediately she became more frightened and could not believed that she had done it. The rambling stopped. There was a short pause. Suddenly, there was a creak from the wooden frame of the bed, and she thought she could actually feel something big under the mattress lifting it slightly, and, already horrified, she stared on frozen in shock as, in the darkness, a face popped up at the end of her bed, and looked straight at her. She could hardly see it, it was as if it were some low-quality dream! Shaking a great deal, she violently jumped under the covers, shutting her eyes tight. She didn't feel the huge lump under the mattress disappear. Instead, she heard the somewhat deep and strangely accented voice she had grown accustomed to go; "Ohhhhh...," ... THEN the lump went down. She stayed absolutely still for the rest of the night. When morning came, and before preparation for school, she dragged all the covers off her bed, and threw them in the middle of the floor. Then she took her lamp and put in under the bed, and turned it on. It was going to stay on all the time. He came back when her Dad found out and removed the lamp. He then told his kid never to do that again. However, the bed creature only comes if it's night and she's alone in the room with her door closed. She didn't want to, but you know, we all do things that we don't want to do. She knew that the thing hadn't hurt her, so she decided not to be scared of it. Of course, it would have to be told to silence itself again. "Oh well," she thought. It was something new, anyway. She started not to care. (continued below)
(continued) She can even talk to it, like a friend, she decided. So the next night she said "be quiet" again, and he did the exact same thing as the night before. But this time, she said "hi", keeping her eyes open, looking bravely at it. The dreamlike creature shifted a bit, waving its face around, like a cobra about to strike. Its eyes stared with indifference at the child in the bed. "What's your name?" she kind of had to force it out, but make it sound calm and friendly. The creature froze, then appeared to make an attempt at would you would call sitting up. It smiled, revealing a mouth. "My name?" appearing as if he was rolling his eyes. "Name is Jablomek! What is yourself's?" Ignoring the blatant grammar issue this guy apparently had, she replied, "Erica''. "That sounds green" Jablomek replied. That was all he ever said about it. Weird. Since then, they had been communicating at night about random topics. And he listened (usually) when she asked him to be quiet, which was a major plus side of the situation for Erica. This continued up until now, where she is 8 years of age. Back to present. "Whaaii?" Jablomek whined. "Because," replied Erica. "Because what?" "Because you're not real." That was it. She secretly was confused of and hated the situation because of the uncertainty. She was firm. "Now, can you please stop bothering me?" Jablomek was silent. "Look," started Erica, "I have no proof of your existence. When you disappear, you leave nothing behind. You only come around at night. And when I look at you, it's almost like you're not even there. You can be IN MY HEAD for all I know. Dreams are like that. They leave nothing behind, and they only come around when you sleep. And then sometimes, you can know that you're dreaming because it feels so fake!" Erica paused and realized that she had one last point. "And how do you know everything that happened in my day? It's like you experienced everything I did! I think you're a hallucination." Jablomek was still silent. "What if... I prove to you that I am real?" Erica's heart skipped a beat. Why would he even say that? What would he do? How can he prove he's real? That is for @Chowchow66 to decide. Credit to her for the character contest! Ok, it turns out Chowchow wants to know what happens, so here's the next part: "Years ago, beholden was it to no one, a specialized strain of bacteria infected the fetal brain of yourself, somewhere deep in the folds of your mind, did exist another conscience... of a loose network of a computational strain, living alongside and penetrating its hyphae into human neurons... "Have you ever heard of string theory? Atoms, which comprise everything, are in turn made of subatomic particles, which are in turn made of sub-sub-atomic particles, which it is theorized that they are in turn made of infinitesimally small vibrating "rubber-bands", which are made of energy and vibrate at different frequencies. It is thought that the different frequencies at which they vibrate make up the different sub-sub-atomic particles, to make up the atoms.Now, if the universe operates at wavelengths and frequencies, and the human brain... mind, thought... vibrates at wavelengths and frequencies, should it not be abstractly possible that there can become a correlation between thought and reality? It should also be noted that the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which is spread to rats by cats, inhibits the danger-avoidance response, thus helping the cat to catch the rat, as the rat is less likely to run away from danger. This single-celled parasite could also infect humans! Humans infected by the parasite are less likely to step out of the way of a car as it speeds toward them. Once the parasite is inside your brain, you and the parasite are one! Now the strain of bacteria I was talking about at the beginning is my species... I alone have infected your family for generations! I pass through the mothers, from her brain to the womb. This is how I know so much! Every time, I become more developed... if only you humans lived for so long, then you can learn the secrets of the universe ever more as I have! I learned how to channel human thought waves to alter string vibrations. I exist in a perpetual state of being both imaginary and real, so to speak. It shifts in its uncertainty, though. I don't know ALL the facets of your mind, don't worry... the chemistry and physics of my cells are odd. Your secrets are safe with you. Never mind the petty ways of those who have begotten me... I have found out how to drive such people as your mother to find new information as string theory. But I haven't done so with you, Erica, because I have learned that it is moral to let people have completely their own mind. If you wish, I may drive a desire in you to like history more, hmm? It will help your grades... we'll only do it for a little bit!" ----- Jablomek, reality-altering human brain bacteria ...........Erica didn't know what to think.......
