generation loss oneshots

Scars. (Mental and Otherwise)

Button pushed. Ranboo sprinted for the exit sign, the only sounds they could hear were their heart pounding in their ears, and their rapid, frantic breathing. But just before they got to the door, they heard another sound.

"RANBOO!"

They stopped so quickly their shoes squeaked on the tiled floor. "Charlie?" They managed to choke out through their struggling lungs.

"Ranboo! Don't leave me here!"

Ranboo's hands twitched into fists as they took a step towards the sound. Then they paused. They saw Charlie die, didn't they? What if that wasn't actually who they thought it was? What if that was some trick being played to keep them here?

"Ranboo, please! It hurts!"

No, it couldn't be real. Charlie was dead.

Ranboo turned back to the door with the exit sign over it. "Sorry, Charlie..." they whispered, before walking towards the door.

"RANBOO, PLEASE! HELP ME!!" Charlie's voice shrieked. "DON'T LEAVE ME, PLEASE!"

The door opened and shut behind Ranboo, the sound echoing through the large room.

Charlie choked on tears, gasping from the pain through his sore throat. He couldn't believe Ranboo had just left him. He would be stuck here forever now, he was sure.

***

After a few hours, Charlie finally gave up trying to move himself out from under the wire monster. Everything hurt too much, and he could hardly even move his legs anyway, so it wasn't like he would be able to go anywhere even if he did manage to free himself. So instead, he covered his eyes with his bloody hands and tried not to cry, while hoping someone would find him. Anybody, even if it was someone from Showfall. And all the while, he couldn't stop thinking about how Ranboo had just left him. Even after Charlie had begged and screamed for help. The slamming of the door to the outside rang in his ears, over and over. The thing that hurt the most, other than getting nearly ripped to shreds by the wire monster, was that the door was so close. Access to the outside and freedom was so horrifyingly close that Charlie couldn't believe that he was stuck here, unable to reach it.

***

A few hours passed, though it wasn't like Charlie could tell, seeing as he had passed out from the pain and had been out for quite a while. The lights blinked back on and the wire monster's screen flickered back to life. It pulled its claws out of Charlie's stomach and side and stood, picking up the human in the process. It lumbered out of the room with him in its arms, dragging a trail of blood with it from the pool that had gathered under Charlie.

***

Charlie opened his eyes with a grimace, expecting horrific pain to consume him the second he did, though he wasn't sure why. Where was he again?

The only pain he got upon fully opening his eyes came from the bright light, searing into his retinas. He squinted and tried to sit up, but his arms were stuck down.

"Hello?" He called weakly, letting his head rest back onto the pillow under him.

"Oh, there you are! We thought you were definitely dead, good to see you making a comeback!" A cheerful voice said from just out of Charlie's line of sight.

"Where am I? What's happening?" Charlie squeaked out, unsure why his vocal cords felt like they hadn't been used in a while.

"Well, you've been out for a few weeks, gave us a good while to make sure you were all healed up!"

"Mmmph..." Charlie muttered, struggling to pull his arms up. "Am I tied down? Who are you?"

"Oh yes, sorry! You kept trying to move in your sleep, we didn't want you to hurt yourself!" The voice explained. "I'm Hetch."