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Over the many years that Scar has known Cleo, he's never seen her put any add-ins into her coffee. He figured that when that day finally came, the sky would turn black and the Waffle House down the street would close for maintenance. That's why, when Cleo slipped one singular creamer into her drink with the fervor of a single mother pouring herself a glass of red wine after her 9 to 5, Scar couldn't help but internally freak out a bit.
"So he's been missing for a little under a week," began Cub, "Maybe he went on a, umm, ghost vacation. Or something."
Cleo sighed. "You'd think he'd tell me. Or, I don't know, leave a note?"
The three of them stayed sat at the kitchen island, pondering as eager customers clamored about in Cleo's Boutique down the hall.
"I was hoping you two could figure this out. Preferably in the storage room, away from the shoppers. Don't want them seeing any seance circles and reporting me to OSHA for workplace violations."
Scar and Cub both turned to each other. "We've done summoning circles before, remember that dude who kept getting possessed by his demonic twin?"
Cub nodded. "Yeah, that was a rough night."
Cleo nodded as well to feign understanding. "Yup. Sure. Now you two can go off to the storage closet and do- well- whatever you guys intend to do. I'll be off attending to my customers."
The two waved Cleo off, and turned to make their way over to a pretty run down looking storage closet.
...
Scar felt like at any moment, an avalanche of boxes would tumble down on him, and that would be the last thing he saw before he died.
"Cub, if all these boxes fell on me, would that kill me?"
Cub looked up from his half-drawn seance circle. "I don't think so? And why are you getting so morbid now?"
Scar shrugged. "Maybe it's the whole ghostie summoning thing. Or the air quality in here is just really bad and it's messing with my brain."
The two were crammed tight in Cleo's storage closet, mostly used for holding boxes of merchandise or cleaning supplies. Though Scar didn't entirely rule out the possibility of there being a dead body as well; it would certainly fit the vibes. There were also a few mannequin parts strown about. Cozy.
Cub finished drawing and began to light the candles, finally illuminating the room with something other than the single fluorescent lightbulb that hung from the ceiling. Scar could feel the otherworldly energy washing over him. It sent a chill down his spine. Rituals like these always weirded Scar out a bit. Maybe it was the lack of control in the situation. Spiritual stuff was always a bit volatile. Sort of like throwing a handful of darts with your eyes closed, or attempting to chuck a peeled Kraft single onto somebody's window. Except with potential consequences of death or eternal damnation and the like.
Cub finally reached up and turned off the lightbulb. Scar sat down across from him, their faces now bathed in a flickering orange light.
"Oh great spirit of the beyond: Joe Hills, from Nashville Tennessee. Please, grant us permission to summon you back to our mortal realm."
It felt like the entire room shivered; some stuttering motion as an energy came in waves. The tightly packed boxes which lined the shelves began to shake. A strange light began to fill the room, seemingly coming from every direction. Scar looked to Cub for reassurance, but his gaze was seemingly lost in a realm beyond their own. His arms were poised like he was rearing to conduct this force. A rumble echoed throughout the closet. The walls shook more as boxes rattled.
Cub swept his arms to the side and the tension was broken. Scar could sense uneasiness, as if something was teetering over the edge.
Until a single blue sock fell from the shelf. It flopped unceremoniously in-between the two, smudging the chalk drawn out on the floor and nearly knocking over a candle.
"Hmm." Began Cub, "There's a sock now."
"Yeah, true. Oh! It has little arms!"
Scar leaned in to flip the sock over, but Cub batted his hand away.
"We don't know what this thing is capable of, man."
The two settled on just staring at the sock-that-might-also-be-Joe for a moment longer. Cub eventually found the courage to flip the thing over using a clothes hanger he found to keep his distance, exposing its googly eye face, orange nose, and stringy brown hair.
Scar scrunched up his face in thought. "Y'know, this definitely seems like a Joe thing."
Cub nodded in agreement. "Yup. Couldn't agree more."
Another awkward beat of silence.
"I'd give you twenty dollars if you put it on your hand."
Cub gave him a look.
"Twenty five?"
Cub sighed and threw caution to the wind. He scooped up the sock puppet and carefully slid it onto his right hand. This was immediately followed by him going slack and slumping to the floor.
"Oh shoot, Cub!?"
Scar was quick to scoot over to his side and jostle his shoulder in an attempt to wake him. No response, his head just rolled to the side. At least he was visibly breathing. Just as Scar lifted Cub's head into his lap, the man suddenly jerked awake and sprung to his feet. His concerningly empty gaze scanned the room until he finally landed on Scar.
"Oh, hi Scar!"
And with horror, Scar realized Cub had finally gained actual inflection in his voice. And was also southern. If only his actual body could have the same amount of animation.
"Umm...Joe?" Said Scar, cautiously, "Is that you?"
The Juppet, as Scar was now calling the parasite planted on his friend's hand, nodded. "Yup, and in the flesh! Instead of, y'know, ectoplasm. Gosh, you have no idea the week I've had!"
Cub's possessed body was quick to fetch Scar's crutches from the other side of the closet and began helping him to his feet. Scar, reasonably freaked out by the fact that Cub's (or now Joe's) voice was coming from a sock puppet instead of his notably closed mouth, had trouble standing up on shaky legs.
"Where've you been? Cleo's been worried sick!"
"Look, I wanted to try out a new vessel other than a mannequin, okay? And I found this sock puppet in storage and thought it'd be a grand ol' idea to try it out! Until I couldn't really move. Or speak. Or leave."
"That sounds horrible Joe. But don't worry, we-", Scar glanced over at Cub's vacant eyes, "I can help! First let's get you to Cleo."
Joe swung open the door and hurried outside, with a very dazed Scar not so far behind. The two of them made their way down into the main shop area. Scar tried his best to catch up with Cub, or well, Joe, but the other hurried ahead to his dismay. A small crowd of mildly concerned shoppers formed around the two as The Juppet began to speak.
"Howdy Cleo! It's me, your best pal in the whole wide world!"
Cleo's eyes glanced up and down Cub. "How are you doing that without opening your mouth?"
She cautiously stepped forward and snapped her fingers in front of the man's lifeless face. The Juppet saw this and scrunched up it's face with offense.
"Hey! Eyes up here!"
Horror dawned on Cleo as they took in the situation. With a very Cleo-typical sigh, she hurried the two men outside as customers watched on in confusion. The three of them gathered to the far right side of the garden, a good enough distance away from Cleo and Joe's fishy new tourist trap so that they wouldn't be overheard.
Scar decided to speak first. "Okay, so Cub tried a summoning circle which led us to this," He lifted up Cub's Juppet-ed arm, "And he decided it would be an amayzin' idea to try it on. I was like 'no Cub, think of the consequences of your actions' but he-"
"Okay. Okay." Cleo sighed deeply. "So now Joe is possessing Cub. Joe, can you please, for all that is holy and unholy, leave that god forsaken sock puppet?"
The Juppet shook it's puppet head. "'fraid I can't, Cleo! I've been bound to this knitted corporeal form for the foreseeable future. However we could work out some sort of custody agreement with Cub's body. I can take the weekends!"
"No, no, we are not putting Cub's livelihood at stake here. We'll get you out of that sock, Joe."
The trio stood in silence for a moment. Cub started to drool. Eventually, The Juppet's googly eyes vibrated with a plan. He whipped his head to face Scar's. The puppet's eyes jiggled with a new found sense of urgency and self destruction.
"Scar. Burn me."
"Umm, what now?"
"You heard exactly what I said," His pipe-cleaner arms slowly lifted up and cupped Scar's face, so that he could see the intensity in those beady eyes, "You must do this Scar, no matter how horrific and nightmare-inducing it is. It's the only way to free my poor, wayward soul."
Scar nodded, and Cleo was quick to run inside and grab supplies (albeit a bit too eagerly). They hurried back with a lighter and a small gas stove, setting it down on the grass in front of them. The fire was lit, and Joe was still uncomfortably close to his face.
Scar deflated. "Okay, okay. Cleo, catch Cub please."
He removed The Juppet and Cub collapsed like a marionette with it's strings cut into Cleo's arms, who slowly lowered him to the ground. Scar stared emptily into The Juppet's somehow even more lifeless eyes as it hung limp in his grasp.
"Welp, into the fire you go."
Scar gently tossed the sock into the small flame. It jittered a bit, the noise it emitted resembling a convulsing bean bag, before eventually curling up like a dying animal to be swallowed by the pyre.
Joe blipped back into existence shortly after.
He floated over to Scar. "I cannot thank you enough for that, Scar. Like, seriously! That closet was super dusty. I don't know how people with functioning lungs manage to stay in a closet for any amount of time."
Cleo shrugged. "Beats me."
Cub began to stir, and he let out a groan as he rubbed his head with his hand and propped himself up (with the assistance of Cleo).
"Oh boy. What, uhh, happened?"
"You got possessed by a sock puppet, Cub. I'd be pretty embarrassed if it wasn't for you."
Cub's gaze shifted over to Scar, who looked a little less abysmal now that his horrified expression melted with relief. "I'm taking fifty out of your stipend by the way. The other twenty-five is for the Advil."
Scar sighed. "Yup, I deserve that."