Deal with the Devil

Hello Neighbor Story

Chapter 1: Reunion

"Uh…" David blinked slowly as he saw his sweater-vested neighbor scurrying around the house, mumbling to himself, cleaning, and ignoring David, which was definitely not normal, especially since said young man was standing in the living room, trying to break into the basement. "Is now a bad time?" He was still ignored as the older man tried to scrub the walls and pick up boxes. "I feel like this is a bad time for me to try and break in...I'll just head home…" The man perked up, as if he finally noticed he had an uninvited guest.

"No! I need your help cleaning before Jack gets here!" David was barely able to make a 'huh' sound before he was given several boxes to hold. "Here, take this to the third backroom! And hoof it!" David decided he'll just humor the man, at least grateful he wasn't being knocked out by his neighbor or having a thing of glue thrown at his head. He carried the box to the mentioned room, placing it along the wall, before heading back.

"Ok, so who's Jack?" David asked as his neighbor was scrubbing the floor in front of the basement door with a familiar toothbrush. "Is that my-?" The doorbell cut him off and the neighbor jumped in surprise before heading to the door, haphazardly tossing the toothbrush aside into a vase. David blinked slowly, unsure how he should react to this as he heard the neighbor chuckle.

"Jack! It's been so long!"

"Same here, Morris! The years have been treating you pretty well, eh?" David blinked; his neighbor was named Morris? Honestly, not the name he was expecting from the man whose house he broke into on a routine basis to get into his basement.

"Morris?" David repeated slowly as his neighbor came in with a lanky looking man with a low pony tail and well trimmed beard. Morris's face fell as he realized David was still there. "Uh hi?"

"What are you doing in my-"

"Who's this Mori?" David had to bite his tongue to not laugh or snort at the nickname.

"My neighbor…" Jack's eyes seemed to lit up in surprise.

"Really? Wonderful!" Jack held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Jacklynn Moreau."

"David Prince…" 'That's a weird name for a guy' David thought to himself as Jack looked at Morris.

"I'm glad you're getting out of your comfort zone," The man in question made a disinterested grunt as Jack looked back at David. "So how long have you been living in the neighborhood?"

"Too long." Morris grunted and David nervously chuckled.

"I uh, just moved in…"

"Ah, nice to see an energetic person getting to know the people they live near." Jack said before looking at Morris. "Did you properly introduce yourself?"

"Yes-"

"He knocked me out and kicked me out of my house." As soon as the words left his mouth, David knew he was in trouble as his neighbor glared at him, murder burning in his eyes as Jack looked at Morris.

"Morris," He said sternly, like he was talking to a child that got in trouble. "What did I tell you before you left last reunion?" Morris looked away and crossed his arms, pouting.

"Don't terrorize people."

"And what did you do?"

"I might've terrorized someone…" Jack sighed and looked at him.

"Did Mel put this up to you?" The neighbor shock up like he got shocked and stared at Jack with an emotion that David had never seen before; outright terror.

"N-No! No! No!" He said quickly, earning David's confusion.

"Who's Mel?" Jack and Morris looked at the man, a mix of concern and terror on their faces before David felt a chill go down his spine as he heard chuckling in his ear. He quickly stumbled forward, turning to see who was chuckling behind him. The thing in question was lanky, tall, and wisps of shadowy smoke emitted from the ground from where the person had appeared. Jack frowned and Morris looked away sheepishly, almost guiltily as the thing beamed as it struck a dramatic pose.

"I am Mel, though you may know me more infamously as Mephistopheles."

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"Be careful Mori," Morris smiled sadly as he finished putting his stuff back in the trunk of his car. It was tradition for everyone from the Sideshow to come back to the last place they had their show and see how much had changed over the year.

"I know, I know, Jacklyn," He said as Jack sighed.

"And you better go out more than to get groceries." Morris turned and looked at his friend and opened his mouth, but Jack stopped him. "It's been 10 years since Maria..." Jack trailed off at Morris's unintentional wince and sighed. "You can't hide in your house forever." Morris looked away and shrugged, as if he didn't believe it. "Come Mori, who's the guy that people all over the world came to see?" Morris sighed and Jack looked at the other circus members for back up.

"Who's the guy the ladies would fawn~" The lion tamer sang in a playful tone, coming over. "With the mustache most men would die for~?" Morris chuckled and shook his head.

"Who's the man who tame the most savage of sharks~" Jack sang, though being dramatic. "Yet be able to break the coldest of hearts?"

"Only the strongest of the strongmen can~!" One of the clowns sang off key, earning laughter from everyone, even from Morris, who appreciated the support he had from his 'circus family'. After a few minutes he sighed.

"Thank you everyone...I appreciate it...I do..." Morris said before giving everyone one last hug before heading back to his home, absently checking the video feed of his security cameras at stops.

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Decided to try my hand at writing for the Hello Neighbor game.

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