Four Little Nightmares

Chapter 5: The Boy in the Bag

[Seven's POV]

The very first thing I noticed was the sensation in my head, which was a mix of pounding and stinging. I was lying on the dirty ground, my body thrown around in a weird position. My mind felt fuzzy, memories of what had happened slowly seeping back into my brain. 

I was in some place called the Maw, there was a lady in a mask, she turned me into a nome; I took my time to re-experience these moments in my head. The rest however... was faded. There was a girl in a yellow raincoat slouched over, clutching at her stomach, but the rest seemed distant. 

My hair brushed against my face as I slowly turned over onto my side, my brain searching for any more memories I might be missing. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes to see a large-ish room, with objects thrown around the place, a dim lamp lighting up the area, and a... boy? I brought my hands up to my face and turned them into fists, rubbing at my eyelids to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I wasn't. 

There was a boy not too far in front of me, wearing a brown trench coat one-buttoned at his neck that reached down to his knees. He wore a lighter brown shirt that was tucked into his pants, which was the same sickly brown color as his coat. But most interestingly, he wore a dirty paper bag on his head with two holes for him to see through. I tried to stutter out some words, and I eventually coughed out a weak "Who are you?" 

The boy seemed just as confused as I was, his eyes switching from me to his hands to finally a lump on the ground; a nome. My mind suddenly began to overflow with those missing memories I had forgotten. That girl with the yellow raincoat... she seemed hungry. I offered her something... a sausage was it? But she didn't take it. She... ate me. 

My heart began to pound at what felt like 100mph as I relived that moment. But one question kept popping up in my head. If she ate me and I died... how am I alive? How am I... a kid again? I looked back at the boy in front of me, who seemed a bit closer than before. I sat up and scooched myself back until I hit a wall before repeating myself a bit louder. "Who are you?"

He looked behind him for a second before turning back to face me. "I-I'm Mono," he said calmly, yet he still seemed confused. He took a step closer to which I responded by sticking my arms out, and he stepped back again. "What's your name?" he asked as he knelt down. 

"S-seven," I replied quietly. "What happened?"

The boy looked behind him again, this time focusing on the dead nome on the ground. "I honestly... don't know," he stated, before looking forward again. I think he was trying to make eye contact with me, but I couldn't really tell with his bag. "You kinda just... came out of that thing," he continued as he gestured over to the nome. 

I didn't know if he was saying the truth or not, but I didn't really have a reason to think he was lying. He seemed nice enough, but then again I had thought the same about that girl. Nevertheless, I reluctantly stood up and looked around the room. Sure enough, there was a sausage carelessly tossed aside near the nome. The boy got back up beside me, and I was sure he had a million questions he wanted to ask as well. 

"Why were you... dead?" he finally asked. Mono... finally asked. It just hit me that I knew his name. 

"I uh... got turned into a nome by the Lady, and I was put back he-"

"Whoa whoa slow down," Mono interrupted. "Nome? Lady? What are you talking about?"

"The... woman in the mask. She... runs the place?" It seemed crazy to me that he was in the Maw and didn't know any of this, yet he still looked at me as if I was speaking another language. "You don't know this?"

"I... can't say I do," he replied. "Who's the Lady?"

"She's some evil monster who's in control of this place, you know where we are right?"