Stranded

Winter Solstice-Act 4

~Teardrop POV~

Snow began to fall that morning, building icy peaks in the grass. Nobody had heard from Needle and Taco in a while, so we assumed the worst. This was another terrible event for both Firey and Coiny, who had been playing chess all morning over coffee. I worry about Taco. In all honesty, she's probably the person I want to see go the least. As for Needle, ehhh... A worthy sacrifice. Golfball hadn't left her room at all this week, and I was sad to say that I had almost done the same. It's Thursday today, which means I have one more day to spend time with my friends.

I plan to kill myself tonight. If it's not me, it's somebody else. My friends need to survive until we can get out of here. I walk over to the snack bar, and Match is hanging around the other side of the counter. Her expression is one of confusion.

I walk up to her and raise my eyebrows in question.

"The trapdoor is open." I climb on top of the counter. A dark wood trapdoor is wide open, it leads down a dark rusted ladder. Match looks curious.

"I think Needy might have gone down here without anybody else supervising." She leans over and wobbles the bars. That wouldn't make much sense... Needle wouldn't be so daring, I think...

I pull out the hotel's note cards. They have an island icon on them. I draw a small doodle of Needle and Taco together.

"You think they, like, went down here together?" She asks, and I wave my hands in agreement, "You don't care?" She shrugs. I quickly scribble a few words on my notepad.

No Moron. It means that I do care.

"Really, Pillow told me-" She begins before I cut her off. I shake my head, and peer into the opening. Why don't we head down there. It's not a bad idea. Match sighs before nodding. We slowly make our way down the ladder, I shut the door on my way down. Eventually we get to the bottom and I dust the rust off my palms. It's a hallway leading to an open door. Match could have been right about this being the exit.

"... Needle and Taco are down here?" She follows me as I pass through the haunting doorway.

...

Oh?

Needle and Taco are faintly heard in the distance, but the doorway opens to a horrid cell block. There's barely one person in view. Liy? Oh...

"Hello there... Match." She hobbles up, my legs feel weak. I guess I'm glad I'm not being addressed, after all, Liy was kind of a creep.

"Liy. I haven't seen you since the EXIT. Nice... Seeing you here?" Her voice is fragile, and I begin to walk around the jail. Most of these cells are empty. Ruby!? Before Liy can reply I grab Match's arm and sling her over to the cell. She's awake, and her eyes shoot over to Match.

"Oh my god! Ruby!" She frantically shakes the bars. It's so forceful I'm afraid she'll rip the concrete from the floor. From the other room we suddenly hear a pitter patter of footsteps. It's Taco, Phew. Needle... AND BOOK?!

"... MATCH!" Book rushes over and hugs Match suddenly. She's frozen. Like an ice cube. Oh... I should write that down. Her eyes are muddled, and she quickly sucks in air. I wonder what she's thinking about... I walk over to Taco and hug her. She gives me a quick hug back. Her eyes are filled with more hope than I've ever seen in my life.

"It's good to see you too Teardrop." She lets go of the hug and looks to Book, who's tearing up. Needle is also giving a large smile. I don't feel the need to call her Needy this time... Am I... Better friends with these people? I guess the competition always kept me on my feet, and my time as an author didn't win me any awards. Well, not socially at least. Maybe if I'm lucky, Gelatin will be here too!

No.

I can't be close to these people.

I have to let them go.

I will kill myself.

...

It's just so hard.

~Match POV~

I don't deserve this... Ruby and Book. All at once. My stomach is killing me. I... I... I killed Bubble. Somebody who trusted me. I can't take this. I release, and drop to the floor. I wish I didn't have to make a scene.

I miss Pencil. I miss Pencil so much. I really wish I could see her again, I... I miss her so much, I really... Why did she have to die? Why did she have to die? Why did she have to die? Why did she... Why couldn't I have been there with her... Been there for her... Why did I ever think I wanted to cut her out of the alliance? Couldn't she have stayed alive a little longer? Couldn't she have survived all this?

No... I can bring them back. That's what Pin said to do... That's what I'm going to do.

I haven't even noticed my friends swarming around me. There's something off though...

What...?

"Book... Why do you have four arms?" I barely whisper.

"That's... That's not important." She hugs me really tight. Book never was this emotional... What is this place? I push myself up and excuse myself. Book tries to stop me, I'm not stopping. I feel a bit hysterical. Whatever happened to Liy, whatever happened to Book, whatever happened to Ruby.

I walk up to a small closet and push it open, holy crap!

It's a computer room, lined wall to wall with security cameras.

Needle walks over and peeks through the door.

"Oh my gosh! This might crack the code!" She exclaims, and walks over to the computer and shuffles through the filing cabinets. Taco and Book head over too. The code?

"Match, you might not understand, but..." Taco looks uncomfortably at Book, "Book and 7 others were experimented on, she's been wanting to do who did this." It takes me a moment to absorb the facts, but I nod slightly.

"Book, we can't stay down here for any longer. Do you mind combing through these files?" Needle hands him a small usb drive, it seems out of place for her to have it. Then I notice her hand in a drawer, that's probably where she found it. I agree with her though, I can't stand staying here in this... Object experimentation facility.

Book nods and the three of us exit, I notice a calmly painted pink cell with shards of wood decorating it. It's ominous, but we continue up...

I feel like I'm forgetting about somebody.

~Needle POV~

"I hope that USB doesn't have weird stuff on it. Ewww."

-1139 words, two chapters in one day. hope you dig it!-