Four Little Nightmares

Chapter 9: Get Closer

(Hi, author here, quick gore warning before we get started. Not too much but enough to mention it. Okay, continue reading!)

[Seven's POV]

I might have just had the best meal of my entire life. The kitchen was absolutely filled with ingredients such as bread and tomatoes, which me and Mono spent like half an hour just indulging ourselves with. We were both starving, and just the feeling of getting food into our mouths was absolutely incredible. Everything tasted like 10 times better than usual. We avoided any meat products however, since let's be honest, they were probably all kids.

While we weren't stuffing food into our mouths however, we were freaking out about how we were actually able to not only save those kids, but freaking kill the chefs! Suddenly, everything seemed so peaceful, knowing that those things were finally gone. I finally felt comfortable, happy even, just sitting on the counter laughing with Mono. He was also pretty funny, considering how he didn't even talk to me the first two days.

We talked about everything; I told him what the kids were like and about Nosebleed and Bellyache, which he also thought were odd names. We had a chuckle about that one. He told me more about his adventures before the Maw, how he explored this place called the Pale City, got chased by porcelain kids in a school who he called Bullies, and barely managed to escape some teacher monster who's neck could stretch. I loved listening to everything he had to say; it was honestly super interesting and made me like him even more.

I had also managed to tell Mono a bit about Theo, how he had helped me escape and perished soon after. Mono was really empathetic and caring, and I don't think I've ever felt this... okay, like I truly had someone for once. I was so used to being alone, and Mono had somehow managed to make me less scared about everything, I could finally wake up every day and not have to worry about dying by myself. No matter what happened, he'd be there, and I wouldn't be alone.

I think it was safe to say that Mono was probably my best friend right now. I mean, theoretically he was my only friend, but like if he wasn't and I had other friends, he'd still be my best friend. Laughing with him was probably one of the best feelings I'd had in a while... gosh his laugh. It was... weird, like it made me feel things I didn't really get, but not exactly in a bad way? I still had no idea what was going on with me, why his voice made me feel the way it did, why him sleeping was super adorable, but whatever it was, I guess I didn't exactly hate it. I wonder if he feels the same way.

We had been on the counter lying against the wall for probably around two hours, just talking and making stupid jokes. That was like 30 minutes ago since right now we were walking through a hallway, but I remember we were both absolutely stuffed after eating whatever bread and stuff we could find, and Mono even took some extra just in case, putting them in his pockets. For some reason, that was the first time I truly acknowledged what he was wearing. His trench coat had like a billion different pockets as well as a hook near the top, which was probably to hold keys or something. He was also wearing some sort of fancy tan jeans with a collared shirt. I also finally realized I had never seen his face.

The whole bag thing was odd, but I guess I sort of shrugged it off until now. But when I saw him readjusting it after he filled his pockets with food, it kinda dawned on me that I had no idea how he looked. I also had no idea why he wore it in the first place. I didn't want to offend him or something by asking about it, but I figured it wouldn't be too bad if I just quickly asked. As long as I didn't push or anything. As we walked through a couple hallways, I recalled the conversation we had had earlier in the kitchen.

"Hey uh... Mono?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can I... ask something? If that's okay?"