Changed by Time ✔

eighteen.

Wendy slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in a dim area. The lighting reminded her of a sunset, as if she went to take a nap right after her therapy appointment for the week. She reached up to rub her head, lifting it up slightly to find a shooting pain go through.

She let out a slight groan, her fingers rubbing along the edge of the bandage wrapped around her head. She blinked a couple times, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room. She was on a small bed with gray sheets in a smaller dark room, the door was on the wall to the right of the bed. A silhouette passed under the door every few minutes in the light behind it.

The few moments before she lost consciousness were fuzzy. She wasn't sure what order everything happened in – whether she got out of the well and then passed out, if Nolan hit her in the head with a rock, or Abigail...

Wendy's eyes widened as she shot up. "Abigail!" she called out, wincing as she felt the pain in her head return.

She rubbed her forehead, pinching the bridge of her nose as she waited out the pain. She opened one eye to look ahead of the bed she had been resting in, a chair on the end. On the seat of the chair, propped up and practically staring at her, was a beautifully crafted fox mask.

Everything that happened leading up to her loss of consciousness came into place. How she got out of the well and went to find rope to help Nolan out, only to be ambushed by Abigail and nearly killed, just to pass out from exhaustion and pain and most likely kidnapped by the fox masked figure.

Just great.

Wendy laid back down as she heard footsteps approaching the door to the small room. She turned away from the door and closed her eyes, pulling the covers close to her.

The door creaked open, two footsteps entered, and the door creaked shut.

"You don't have to pretend you're still unconscious," the figure said, their voice causing Wendy to practically freeze. "I heard you yelling."

Wendy slowly sat up, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly parted. She turned towards the figure, simply muttering, "Mom?"

--

Nolan paced around the well, switching from leaning against one of the walls to sitting in the center while looking up as he waited. He ran a hand through his practically dry hair, standing up as took a quick look at one of the walls.

"Wendy? Are you alright?" he called out one last time.

He heard no response. He let out a gruff sigh, pressing his hands against the walls and finally gripping around the stones that built them. He began to pull himself up, climbing up the well one step at a time.

Nolan was careful since the stones were slightly damp from the morning dew. It was clear this had never been an actual well, so the threat of too much humidity around him and soaking the stones wasn't one he worried about.

"What the hell is she doing up there?" he muttered to himself, getting about a foot above the ground as he continued to climb.

A rope suddenly flung down the wall, the end landing with a thud below him. He let out a chuckle as he yelled out, "Took you long enough!"

Nolan grabbed the rope from his position up on the wall, tugging on it a couple times to make sure it was secure. When he was sure it was, he pushed off the wall and used the rope to continue climbing the rest of the way up.

When he finally reached the top, another set of hands grabbed onto his arm and pulled him out. He rubbed his hands on his pants, patting the rest of himself off.