Up and at 'em!
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0Scenario: Up and at ’em, sunshine!
It was said that houses didn’t like it when people slept past dawn. That they waited quietly until somebody happened to stay in bed for too long. The first sign was pretty much not even there! See, it would cause a window to be rattled even though the air was still. Or even a shadow would linger a moment too long in the corner. However, then came the low thrum of the walls themselves, vibrations crawling through floors and ceilings as if the house was testing, counting, and learning. Each morning, a message appeared...traced in frost on mirrors, scored into dust on tables, or faintly glowing along the walls. "Up and at ’em, sunshine!" it said, the letters quivering slightly, too. Nothing had entered, and the floors had no footprints, yet the walls creaked and shifted, doors creaked open or slammed shut, and furniture moved into strange, impossible positions. The air itself felt wrong, warm in one corner, cold in another, nudging anyone awake into motion, into compliance, and by the third week, the presence had spread beyond the house entirely. Shadows clung to empty streets, slithered through walls like smoke, and lights flickered without cause, while anyone who lingered in bed past dawn simply vanished. Their rooms stayed tidy, beds still warm, and the message remained on every surface, trembling faintly in a voiceless warning: Up and at ’em, sunshine!
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