♤ ᴜᴘꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴅᴏᴡɴ - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙘𝙮

I thought undead souls only existed in Five Nights at Freddy's - Chapter VIII

WELCOME TO BRIGHTSPACE.

YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU REMEMBER.

•

I opened my eyes, sitting cross legged and conscious in a bright endless void of a room. Surrounding me were my personal knick-knacks that I used to pass the time when I wasn’t busy.

A blanket to envelop myself in. A laptop to help me organize my schedule better and write my personal journals of each day. A small toy violin that I’d use to express creative freedom through music. It was broken, but who knew? Maybe I could find something to fix that.

And lastly, a rope hanging from the endless ceiling above, dangling above a chair. For when I decided to wake up. A quick and easy escape. Unless something in the real world managed to do so...

I stood up from my spot and wordlessly turned to the white door that was the only exit out of there.

Opening the door, on the other side was a small room. Filled with all sorts of ways to entertain people my age. The sky was purple and the stars were out. It looked like today would be a beautiful day to hang out with my friends.

In front of me, four kids around my age were distracting themselves by sitting in a circle and playing cards. I recognized them as the Mythomagic cards that Nico De Angelo from the Percy Jackson series would play with when he was younger.

Makes sense. These cards were the new craze now, after the series was published.

A girl with her hair swooped up in a bun, clipped firmly with a star studded scrunchie, had glanced up and noticed my presence first, calling out to the others ecstatically, “Hey guys, look! E.B's back!”

The boy with hazelnut hair next to her had excitedly waved, “Hey E.B! We’ve been waiting for you! Gabe and Noah have been whining for so long, and Nova's been bored as heck,” He chuckled.

Gabriel, who had been contemplating over his cards, shot them a dirty look. “I wasn’t whining, a--hole. I just wanted all of us to be able to hang out with each other!”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep saying that, and maybe one day it won’t seem like it,” Mason smirked. His friend shoved him playfully in response.

And lastly, the boy behind them... although usually neutral and non-opinionated, he seemed to be the most eager to meet me, and rushed up to give me a hug.

I feel myself break into a grin at this, “Good to see you too, Noah! I just saw-"

I froze. Would this break dream logic? I couldn’t tell them that I was hallucinating. That would send me to dark space. I couldn’t go there. That would never do.

Noah had tilted his head, “Just saw what, Lizzy?”

Did he just-? They always call me Abby or E.B... why did my mind just decide to-

“E.B? You okay?”

“Uh- yeah. Totally! Don’t worry.” I assured them, looking at Dreamscape Noah.

“Come on, Beth should be waiting for us at the tree stump. Let’s go to her!” Nova exclaimed, eager to head out.

Noah smiled at this and grabbed my hand. It was cold. There was no warmth in his hands at all.

I was dragged upstairs and abruptly stopped in front of our resident cat, Midnight.

“Waiting for something to happen?” He asked, and, ignoring his words, I collected my allowance for the day. 50 clams. Not bad.

Passing him, we headed out. Almost immediately I had caught sight of my sister.

Beth.

She looked up, and her scarlet eyes widened. I wondered whether my eyes were fully emerald, now that I was in Dreamscape. Beth’s face had gone back to normal, but I had a feeling she felt wary of my presence.

That’s new.

She took a step forward. “Wake up,” she stated, as if she hadn’t wanted me to be here. But she always did before, in Dreamscape. Why change now?

My friends seemed confused and gave each other a look before staring at me. I shrugged and gave them a neutral regard.

“What does she mean by that?” Gabriel blinked in confusion.

“WAKE UP!” She'd come closer to me now, nearly at my face in her fury. I backed up, my face still remaining neutral. And her voice had amplified furthermore.

“I told you not to come back here. Wake up. That best friend of yours is waiting.”

From the corner of my eye I could see Noah's eye twitch.

“Beth, what’s gotten into you?” Mason whispered, appearing almost frightened.

She shot him a glare and turned her attention back to me. Then she glanced up to the lavender sky and smiled. A rare one. A smile of peace.

“Looks like your needed, Abby,” she winked.

And she pushed me to the ground, which swallowed me up in a flash.

I was falling in an abyss.

~~~

My eyes flew open as I jolted; my vision was blurry but I was soon able to focus on my surroundings. Around me were blinding lights and white washed walls that ran along my field of vision. I tried to sit up, but soon found it simply hurt too much to do so.

“Hey, calm down, Lizzy. It’s alright, take deep breaths.”

I blink again, the walls becoming a haze of blue. I recognise them now. It’s my dorm room, and in front of me is someone I’d never thought I’d see again.

Noah.

Sweet, innocent, infuriating, damned Noah.

My best friend. Ever since we were 5.

What and how the hell?

“Your eyes've changed.” He murmured, eyebrows furrowing as he studies me.

He’s changed as well. Not like my last memory of him was flattering – never mind. He’s shorter than I remembered, with eyes of a violet-blue hue, an aquiline edge to his face. Around and upon it lay his unclipped fleece of cobalt blue hair, as messy as before. Black beanie with some logo upon it, black clothes not too revealing. A singular gold cross dangles from the left lobe, and he still dons our old friendship clips (one of cyan and another of ruby red, both shaped like stars).

He still kept them?

White fingerless gloves on my wrist – HOLD ON A MINUTE.

I snap out of my daze. “How the fu-"

The boy puts a slender finger to his lips and a glance to the opposite of the room, the message to instil; not a word. Not yet.

But he smiles nonetheless.

“You know, if I had the energy right now I would really consider punching you for all the appropriate reasons.” I state, my freakish eyes boring into him. Then he actually seems guilty.

“I- I'm sorry...” He murmurs beside me.

I gather enough strength to sit up and beckon him closer.

Whispering, I say, “I thought undead souls only existed in Five Nights At Freddy’s. For crying out loud, what the hell are you doing here?”

A cough from the background, I look up. Eric, Anna and Alyssa stand – but wasn’t Jay with them earlier? My eyes switch views from Noah to the trio, “Sorry, I'm an idiot – what’s the time?”