cornflakes are good

Part Five

Warning: This part mentions insanity or probable psychopathy.

"AHHHH!!!" Sophia screamed. She tumbled down the stairs and landed on the floor of the creepy basement. "Ow! Agh. . . !"

The screaming stopped and was replaced by whispering. "A new person?" "I can't see her." "Let's turn on the flashlight." "Okay."

Suddenly the basement was filled with light coming from a small red flashlight. Three children were standing above Sophia, staring directly at her.

One of them, a girl, had smooth dark skin and slanted brown eyes and short dark hair. Another child had brown messy hair and an eyepatch for some reason. Probably to be edgy. The other child had pale, freckled skin and long brown hair. Even though they looked mostly normal (besides the edgy kid with the eyepatch), Sophia was afraid and terrified by all of them.

"Ew. Gross. Three childs," Sophia said.

"I'm not Child," the girl with the long brown hair and freckled skin said. "I'm Other Child."

"Wut," Sophia responded.

"I'm Other Child. That's my name," Other Child said.

"Wow, your parents must've hated you," Sophia said.

"I guess they did let me get kidnapped by these stupid octopuses," Other Child responded.

"I'm Child," said the girl with slanted eyes and short hair.

"Your name is 'Child'?" Sophia asked Child.

"Yes."

"Y'all are depressing. Let me guess, you're Another Child?" Sophia looked at the boy with the eyepatch. To her surprise, the boy nodded. "Wait. I was just joking then."

Another Child shrugged. Then he said, "I like blood."

"I'm an exorcist," Other Child said.

"I can read minds," said Child.

"Is this an insane asylum," Sophia said.

The children shrugged at the exact same time.

"So the big octopus boss kidnapped you?" Child asked Sophia.

"Er. . . Yeah. I think he's in love with me," Sophia replied.

"That sucks," said Other Child.

"The boss octopus is weird," Another Child told Sophia. "I can't imagine him being in love. It must be so freaky for the other person."

"My name is Other Child, you stupid idiot," Other Child said.

"I said other person," Another Child said.

"Yeah, and it's Other Child," Other Child told Another Child.

"Bruh," Child said.

"Does this happen a lot," Sophia asked Child.

"Yeah. Our names get confusing for the three octopuses, so they eventually just gave up on saying our names. It's just, 'Hey, you! Stand still so that I can cut your arms off!'"

"Wait what."

"Yeah."

"They cut your arms off?"

"Yes. But we drank a potion that made us regrow our limbs like lizards."

". . . What?"

"Don't question it. No. Wait. Just don't question anything that happens from now on."

Sophia shuddered. How could she not question that? If she was going to be down here, she could have her arms sawed off. But then again, the big boss octopus was in love with her. Maybe she had an advantage.

"Oh, no. You don't," Child suddenly said.

"AH! What? How did you. . ." Sophia said, but then remembered that Child said she could read minds. Apparently, she wasn't kidding.

"Yup," Child responded.

"That's freaky," Sophia said. Then she went back to what Child said. "What do you mean I don't have an advantage? The big octopus boss likes me, so he can just. . . tell the other octopuses not to saw my arms off."

"Yeah, but the big octopus boss is also insane and would probably love to put your arms on a pedestal in his evil office," Child told Sophia.

". . . Ew."

"Yeah."

"So how did he find you?" Other Child asked Sophia.

"What do you mean?" Sophia asked Other Child.

"How did you meet?" Other Child said.

"Uh. . . I was sort of just at my school. I got knocked out by a magical girl, and then I woke up at nighttime and just wandered around the school. I walked inside the school's lab and then he came in and kidnapped me," Sophia explained.

"Wow," Other Child said, "that's way cooler than my story. I was just kidnapped while I was playing a VR game. At the time I thought I was flying until they ripped the headset off of me and I realized I was stuck in this crummy place."

"My story is still the best by far," Another Child said.

"Nobody gives a hoot," said Other Child.

"I was kidnapped right when I was eleven. The three octopuses kidnapped me and then went into a time machine backward in time. I'm technically not even born yet right now," Another Child explained to Sophia.

"Wait, so you're from the future?" Sophia asked.

"Chya," Another Child replied.

"We're technically older than him," Child said and grinned.

"We don't even know if that story's true," Other Child said, rolling her eyes. "To me, it sounds like a bunch of bull."

"Octopus Three told me that, though!" Another Child said.

"Octopus Three eats dog kibble off the sidewalk," Other Child argued.

Just then, there was a click.