Safe And Sound (Backrooms)

Clouds

They were after you. How had they seen you? You were so quiet. You were well hidden. Well beyond their sight, right? It didn't make any sense. It didn't matter. Right now, you needed to run. You knew it was no use, but you didn't want to die here. You had to run. You couldn't stop. You could hear their screams from behind you. How many were there now? You didn't turn around to check. You didn't want to know. You had never run this fast in your life. You weren't sure how long you could run. You already couldn't feel your legs from the speed you picked up. That's when it all fell to pieces. Something tripped you. You didn't know what. You fell to the ground with a scream of your own. The pain kept you from opening your eyes for a while. You forced them open and forced yourself to look at the crowd of monsters coming after you. You were in shock at the number.
Fucking run! You screamed at yourself. You tried, but for some reason, you couldn't stand up. It was like some force was keeping you on the ground. The crowd ran closer as you cried trying to stand up, screaming once they finally reached you. It was too late. You screamed as one got a hold of you and started shaking you.
Jolting up with a gasp of air, you felt something release you. Your vision slowly came back, unblurred, so you could get your bearings. You tried to catch your breath. You felt something touch your leg. You flinched away, and as quick as you did, the something moved away. You looked to your side, where the touch had come from. You were scared for a moment, then began to calm down. Kitty was knelt to your bedside, looking at you with worry. Well, you could sense worry. And fear.
"Kitty," you sighed. You thought back to the end of your nightmare. The shaking. Kitty must have shaken you awake. He must have known you were having a nightmare. You found it sweet that he cared enough to wake you. He cared enough to check up on you and make sure you were okay. Although you found it unsettling that he watched you sleep, you were thankful he did so he could save you from the horrible dreamworld you were trapped in.
"It was.. just a nightmare," you explained. He slowly touched your hand, trying to comfort you. You noticed his skin felt like leather. Slightly cold. You looked down to also notice that he didn't have hands. Just a tentacle-like appendage. Nubs, one might say.
"Thank you for waking me up," you sighed. "That was..." you shook your head. "Fucking terrifying. Was I talking in my sleep or moving around?" Kitty nodded. "That's how you knew I was having a nightmare?" He nodded again. You glanced to his hand again. "Were you... worried?" He nodded yet again. You sighed as you took his hand... tenticle. "I guess I'm gonna have nightmares for a while about the Backrooms," you admitted. "All the shit I've witnessed. I'm glad that stuff is over, but... I'm so scared for what's to come. You know, once I leave here." Kitty shook his head. You assumed Kitty meant not to think about it. He was right. Thinking about it would only make it worse. Besides, it wasn't an issue at the moment. You would enjoy your safety while it lasted.
"Do you.. wanna play that board game now? Maybe it'll get my mind off things." Kitty tilted his head and moved his hand to your shoulder, seeming to ask if you were okay. You found it sweet, but also a bit strange. You had never seen any video or Wiki describing Kitty this way. Nothing showed or talked about him acting this way. It made you question how much you actually knew about Kitty. Everything else in the Backrooms so far was pretty accurate. This is the only level so far that was a bit different.
"I'm alright," you smiled. "It was just a dream. Thank god." Kitty nodded, then stood. You found it endearing just how much he seemed to care. You wondered if he was like this to everyone. You wondered if everyone was just as kind to Kitty as you were trying to be. Knowing people back in your universe, though, they probably didn't. You hated to think that.
You stood from the bed, making it up to look as nice as it was before you got in it. This wasn't your house, so you wanted to be respectful.
You headed through the door down the hall that led to the reading/game room. Kitty followed close behind you.
You noticed how quiet the house was. You wondered how you hadn't noticed it before. It was practically silent, besides your footsteps. No sound of an air conditioning unit or heater, no sound coming from outside the walls, not even occasional sounds of the house settling. You also noticed for the first time that there were no clocks in the entire house. Not even a calendar. How did Kitty know when days would pass? Did time exist in the Backrooms?
When you entered the room, you looked back to see Kitty following, ducking his head to enter the room. You wondered why the door frames weren't made for his height if this was his house. Did it belong to someone else before? You wished Kitty could talk so all of your questions would be answered. So many to ask, so few answers.
"Since no one has ever played one with you, you can choose the game. Which one is your favorite?" You asked as you sat on the floor by the coffee table. Kitty sat on the floor across from you, still beating you in height, even when sitting. Kitty excitedly looked through the board games. You recognized some of them. You found it adorable how excited he seemed to play with you. You wished more people had done so.
Kitty finally pulled out a game you happened to know well; Scrabble. You were surprised Kitty had this game, and found it to be his favorite. As an entity that can't talk, he would have to rely on words he's heard visitors say. Although, that wouldn't help with spelling. Maybe he figured he could learn more from you. You loved his curiosity.
Kitty set up the board and letters. Once he shook the bag of letters, which was almost deafening in this quiet house, he pulled out a few letters without looking. He then handed you the bag to do the same.
"I used to play this game with my mom when I was younger. I enjoyed it. It's nice to see you like it, too," you smiled as you placed the letters in your letter holder. You set the rest of the letters aside. Kitty nodded excitedly. "Do you wanna go first?" Kitty thought for a moment, then pointed at you. "You want me to go first?" He nodded. "Alright, then. Let's see..." you looked down at your letters. There were seven: L, V, C, U, S, K, N. After looking through your options, you decided on the word "luck" and placed your letters on the board, then reached into the letter bag to replace your used tiles. Kitty took a moment to see your word and look at his own letters. You wondered if you should correct his spelling, if he made any spelling mistakes, or just leave it be. Considering you weren't going to be here for long, and the fact that spelling didn't really matter in the Backrooms anyway, you decided not to mention it. You liked seeing Kitty happy. That's what mattered more.
Kitty finally placed down his word, spelling "slip" using your L, then reaching to replace his used tiles. You looked down at your own. Now you had V, S, N, I, F, T, and H. You had a few word options again. You decided to go with "pins", using his letter P.
The game continued on until the board was quite full. It was time for you to place another word. You had the opportunity to use several words on the board to form one word of your choice with your letters. You now had S, J, E, R, U, O, A. After carefully looking at your options. You finally placed down a few letters, overall spelling the word "restaurant". As you sifted through the last few letters, you noticed Kitty look at your word and tilt his head. He then looked at you.
"Do you know what that is?" You asked. Kitty shook his head.
"A restaurant. In my universe, it's a place you can go to get food. There's different kinds. For the most part, you can go to a restaurant and they'll take you to a table. Then they give you a menu so you can see what food they have. They write down what you want, then make it for you. Once it's ready, they bring it to you for you to eat." Kitty perked up a bit as he seemed to understand. He then pointed to you and tilted his head.
"Did I ever go to a restaurant?" You asked. He nodded.
"I did sometimes. Restaurants can be a lot of money sometimes, so I couldn't go very often. Usually only for special occasions like birthdays or celebrating something." Kitty nodded as he understood. Something about telling Kitty about your life made you feel... happier. You enjoyed recalling memories to retell them to him. He always seemed interested in what you had to say. That alone made you feel good. A part of you wished you could bring Kitty back to your world with you so you could show him everything. You knew he would love it, but also knew it would be extremely dangerous for him. The world could barely accept each other for their differences, let alone a whole other species. If Kitty was considered a species.
You and Kitty finally went back to the game, taking a few more turns until all the tiles had been used. You looked at the scores. Kitty had won. He raised his arms in the air in victory, like the champion he was. You couldn't help but chuckle. It was adorable.
"For someone who doesn't talk, you sure know a lot of words. Big words, at that. Nice job." Kitty nodded and gestured towards you and other non-existent visitors.
"Do the people talk to you when they come here?" Kitty nodded. This, you were happy to hear. Though, the way he hesitated his nod, made you rethink.
"Do they talk to you.. like I do?" Kitty hesitated again, lowering his head a bit as he shook it.
"I guess.." you sighed. "People.. they just don't think much of things that aren't... human. Don't feel bad about it, though. Sometimes they treat other humans that way, too." Kitty pointed to you, then to himself, nodding. Then he tilted his head. After a moment of trying to figure out what he meant, Kitty pointed to you, then pointed away and shook his head.
"I'm... not like them?" He nodded, then repeated his motion from before.
"Why... why am I.. good to you?" He nodded.
"Well... why shouldn't I be? Just because you're different doesn't mean I should be an ass towards you. It's only right to be kind, no matter if someone is different. Kitty gestured to himself, then pointed at you, shaking his head.
"You might not be human, but you have feelings, right?" Kitty nodded slightly.
"I should respect that. I don't want to hurt you in any way. You being something from a whole other universe doesn't give me a pass for being a bad person towards you. That's just morals." Kitty nodded, then placed a hand... tenticle... over where his heart would be, if he was human.
"You've been really nice to me, too, you know. You don't have to be," you said, realizing you should be careful of your words. You were in the Backrooms, after all.
"I mean... I'm glad you are. I'm glad you haven't tried to harm me, but... I'm nothing like you, either." Kitty placed both hands over his heart, then gestured to you.
"You.. like me?" Kitty nodded. You smiled.
"I'm glad, then. I like you, too, Kitty. You're very sweet." Kitty placed his hands over his heart again. You could tell he was glad that you liked him as well. It was hard not to. Although at first glance, Kitty might seem scary, something about him was just.. endearing. Charming. You didn't know what, but it didn't matter to you, either.
You helped Kitty put away the game, making sure no letters were lost.
"Hey, crazy idea.." you started. Kitty paid attention to you as you both were putting the pieces away.
"Since YouTube works.. maybe I can show you some things from my world? If you want." Kitty perked up and nodded excitedly. You chuckled a bit.
"You like that idea?" He nodded again. "I wish I could show you in person, honestly. But I guess through a T.V. will have to do." Once the game was put away, the two of you headed to the living room. Kitty sat beside you, excited to go in-home sight seeing. You turned the T.V. on and headed to YouTube. You decided to start small, so you searched for a 4K video of clouds passing by. Kitty was instantly hooked.
"These are clouds. They're up in the sky. When I was a kid, I loved to watch them go by and see what shapes they made." Kitty leaned forward as he watched. You loved seeing him so invested in something as simple as clouds. Child-like wonder.
"People love these in my world. They even wish they could touch the clouds. Some people try to catch them. They just look so soft." You watched as Kitty stood and slowly approached the T.V., watching the clouds pass by in the sky. You couldn't help but smile. Kitty paused for a moment, then slowly raised his arms towards the screen. You raised an eyebrow curiously. You jumped as Kitty suddenly hit the screen trying to grab a cloud. He looked down at his hands to see them empty. You couldn't help but laugh. Kitty turned to look at you.
"It's a screen, Kitty. I know it looks so clear as if it's real, but it's just a very good quality video." Kitty retracted his arms and went to sit back down, a little saddened he didn't catch a cloud. You patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry. Everyone tries, but no one can actually catch one." Kitty nodded as you then went to search for the next video. Seeing how he acted with clouds, you wondered how he would act to something super cute. As soon as the video started, Kitty threw his hands up to his head, perking up, then to where his mouth would be and leaned forward. You smiled. Cuteness overload.
"This.. is a kitten. Tons of people have them as pets where I'm from." Kitty turned to you, gesturing to himself and the kitten. "Yeah, I think people named you after this. Well, a certain cat, but.. still. At least, it seemed that way, when we all thought the Backrooms and the entities in them weren't real. Did.. people just start calling you Kitty or Mr. Kitty?" Kitty nodded. "Oh.. so we did name you. And you just went with it?" Kitty nodded and placed a hand over his heart. "You liked the name?" He nodded again. "I think it suits you," you smiled. Kitty looked at the kitten again. He pointed to it, then to you.
"I had a cat, yeah," you nodded. "We named her Marbles. She was bigger than this one, but the same color." You smiled a bit as you remembered her. "She loved climbing on everything. Surprisingly, she loved attention, too. Maybe that was her way of getting it." Your smile finally dropped. "I miss her." Kitty lowered his head a bit, then, hesitantly, patted your shoulder like you patted his earlier. You smiled a bit as you looked up at him.
"Thanks, Kitty."