My Friend Over the Phone

Chapter 36

A/N: Thank you all so much for 200+ followers, and over 50k reads on this book?? That is SO awesome, seriously. As a gift, this chapter is twice as long! Thanks again :D

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    Blue sat alone cross-legged in the vast nothingness. The air around him was hazy and thick, and he wasn't sure what was happening or where he was. He didn't question it; he wasn't very aware of himself. He looked to the side, noticing a group of shadowed figures. They looked far away, yet close. They seemed to all be talking to each other except for one, who was standing a bit further away and looking in his direction. Did they see him..? The figure reached out, beginning to run in Blue's direction. He was suddenly aware of a red glow behind him, that glowed brighter the closer that silhouette came. He wasn't fixated on either of those things however, but instead he was watching the other three hooded figures. He thought there were originally five, but perhaps he was just hallucinating.

    One of the figures kicked down the other while the third backed up slowly, not doing anything to stop or spur the fight forward. The bullying one turned and left, beckoning the bystander one to come with them before vanishing from Blue's sight. They did, but Blue could see them show concern for the one on the ground for just a second before disappearing as well. He was hyper fixated on the one on the ground. It looked like they curled up into a ball, shaking and writhing in pain. He suddenly remembered the figure running towards him. He looked around for them, but they were gone too.

    With great effort, he got up and began tumbling towards the only remaining figure who was facing away from him. He was vaguely aware of the world around him changing in a way he couldn't register, and the glow behind him faded. He couldn't take his orbits off of them, for he was afraid if he looked away for just a second, they would be gone. He realized what was happening around them now. Everything was glitching. It was all glitching and changing colours sporadically, creating terrible light patterns that strained his vision. He reached out a gloved hand towards the figure, noticing his gloves were the wrong colour. He wanted to call out a name, but nothing came out. Everything feels so familiar, but not quite...

"ERR-"

    He got stuck, the first syllable of the name he wanted to call on repeat. Yellow strings covered his first before his sockets snapped open, and he was in the Anti-Void again. Horror was beside him, looking at him in confusion and concern. "Horror..?" He could see the broken skeleton's singular eye socket soften. He put his hand on Blue's shoulder, "yooouuu......okaayyy?" Blue tried to smile reassuringly in response, but the way Horror's hand heightened made him aware that it wasn't convincing enough. He was getting worse and worse at maintaining a constant composure the longer he was here. Having someone there helped him stay sane longer, though. "Don't worry Horror, I just..." Blue trailed off, debating wether or not to tell him the truth. Horror doesn't deserve carrying his burden when he already must have so much on his mind. It's his first time being trapped here, and he'll never be the same again. He was suddenly taken away from his life without an inkling of what was going on.

    He didn't need someone else putting more on his slowed mind. "I was just lost in thought. H-how about we stay here for a bit?" He cursed the way he tumbled over his words. Error would always point it out and ask Blue what was wrong, because he normally never stutters. But Horror said nothing, he just silently sat down and crossed his legs beside Blue, but not too close.

    Horror let out the beginnings of words, trying to piece together what he wants to say. He already had trouble sometimes, but now with the glitching slowing him down further, Blue couldn't imagine how hard it was for him to piece his thoughts together now. "beeeeeenn. thiiiiinkiing.." Blue smiled for real this time, waiting patiently for him to continue. He's been trying to stop Horror from speaking so slowly, dragging out his words the way he had been when he first found him here. It's been working better than he thought, Horror's words almost compressed to normal length again. "ssaawww peoopllee ssstrraaangee, peeeoplleee." Horror furrowed his brow in concentration, trying not to lose his point while thinking of the right words to say whilst also not taking too long to say them. "oonneeee caammeeee fooorr meeee. waass, Duustyyyy..." Blue frowned, noticing Horror's mood drop when he mentioned his friend. The one-eyed skeleton shakily inhaled, "hee wwaaaaass... caaalliiingg tooo meeee.. heeee waaasss trryyyiinnggg toooo reeaaachh mee."