Chapter 20 - Welcome Back

67 2 0
                                    

;Hero's (?) POV; ...

Do you feel guilty?

That's when the world warps, I see her. Only her. Her swaying hair, her cold face, her bruised neck, her dead expression. Two words scream across my mind.

YOUR FAULT.

...

forgive me, please..

The rain came down that day. The flowers, the shine of the grass, the umbrellas. Thinking of what we could have had is depressing, but when I think of what we did have, I feel terrified. The thought that nothing, truly nothing, will bring her back is disheartening. I never got to say goodbye. Never got to hear her voice.

Never got to save my friends.

I feel a hurt in my chest and a certain lightheadedness. I feel myself topple to the ground, next to where she was buried. I look up to see the rest of my friend group glancing down at me, smiling. All of them so little, just like on that day. My eyes shutter closed like door hinges as I feel myself almost begin to fall; straight down to the depths.

Welcome to the black room. You have resided here unknowingly for as long as you can remember.

You are suddenly in what appears to be a void. Nothing here, nothing there. Spare a few belongings. You tiredly check your computer, it's cold. There is nothing but static.

Your textbook. All the pages are blank. You have no pencil.

Hector is nowhere to be seen.

There are doors, everywhere. You head to the one closest to your right and hope for the best.

Shades of green and blue run discordant on the walls and on the floor. The patches of random colours don't make it any easier to look at, either. It's an eyesore, but you keep moving. You make your way around the room, trying to find anything. Crudely drawn images are everywhere; the trees, the random 'spikes' of grass, whatever else made its way into here. You keep walking and find a girl with her foot stuck under the root of a tree. She tries to get it unstuck, but her boot's size compels her from doing so. She cries a little bit as she grasps her knee and eventually collapses from exhaustion. You walk up to the girl. Recognisable? It's Aubrey. "Hero, please help me! I got my boot stuck under the root of this tree!" She whines out. You kneel down and tug the root with all of your strength. When that doesn't work, you try also pushing her boot backwards. "Brace yourself." You tell her before she goes flying backwards. She tugs some more and eventually, tumbles backwards onto the grass. "Ow..." she groans, grasping her foot. "Are you okay?" You add. Aubrey looks back up at you, "No... I-I rolled my ankle!" She basically cries. "Alright, Aubrey. Need help up? And we also need to look for the others if they're out here." You reach your arm out and actually allow her to get up, unlike someone. She grasps her stuffed animal tightly, presumably scared. You both walk back towards the door. As you walk through, you see her pastellish colours begin to fade as she becomes monochromatic, too. You walk through a door, located to the north of the room. You sigh, realizing the hassle as I twist the nob.

The room is coloured in patches rather than rows and bursts of it. Your vision scatters when you catch sight of a spider's web. Your breathing gets heavy as your heartbeat fastens.

"Hero...please.."
A perfect, steady voice chimes from a considerable distance; practically unseen.

"It's not as scary as you think.. Face your fears or watch them face you, their enemy.."
"Breath in, breath out. It's just spiders, Hero. Truly, they are more scared of you than you are scared of them."

Dear little brother...Where stories live. Discover now