The pictures stop, and then soon so do the pages. All around him, the clearing is starting to slow down, until the people in the distance are the only ones moving. Pete feels like he's being ripped apart. He grips his chest and falls to his knees, gasping, choking, crying out.
"Are you alright?" Comes a voice.
Pete whimpers and shakes his head.
"Hello? Are you okay?" Comes the voice again.
Pete's nails claw into the aching pit of hurt. What's wrong with me? , he thinks.
"What is it? Car accident? Shooting incident? C'mon, I can't just keep guessing-" the man makes a frustrated noise, then continues, "What's happened to you? Which character are you?"
Pete gasps out, "I-I," before another round of pain hits him and he doubles over, his head hitting the ground, dry dirt kicking up and dusting over his hair and pants. His throat is starting to feel raw, but he can't help but scream out.
Though his ears are starting to ring, he does hear whoever it is huff and say, "Fine, I'll start. I'm Patrick. Author left me and her fans waiting with a cliff hanger this chapter. And the last chapter. And the chapter before that. At first it-" Patrick's voice after that gets smaller and smaller before it dissipates completely.
When Pete comes to, he notices that his upper half's insides feel numb.
There's also a beautiful face smiling lightly above him, but he figures that the fact that he can barely feel the soft cushions under his body is probably more important.
"Hey there, sunshine." She whispers warmly, "Welcome to the land of the living."
Pete groans and mumbles in response.
She laughs and pats his arm, "Don't worry, dear; gave you some medicine to help ease your pain."
"Who're you?" Pete wonders, though when she smiles, he realizes he must have said it aloud.
"My name is Elisa Stump. You met my husband outside? He said you were in a lot of pain before you passed out. After a small check up I saw that your heart broke - you poor man! But don't worry, Author is a nice lady, I'm sure she'll fix you right up properly in the coming chapters!"
Pete wiggles around on the couch he was placed on, "Husband? I don't - I don't know who I met."
Elisa stands back up and calls out, "Patrick! He's awake!"
A moment later a short man - god, he might actually be shorter than Pete himself - walks into the room. He taps his fingers against his jeans, standing behind Elisa. He looks a little nervous.
"What's your name? I haven't seen you around." Patrick voice asks.
"Pete, I'm a new character."
Patrick nods his head, "I see. Are you doing okay there?" He asks.
Pete nods, "I guess. I don't know what happened."
"Author wrote something about your heart being broken. Now that their Word document is shut down, we're left with the aftermath. Unfortunate for you, broken hearts are the hardest to fix. Mine have been easy, Elisa has been throwing a ladder over the ridge lately so I climb up. Elisa's lucky. She hasn't had any scenarios lately, just been popping up in our home, here."
Pete gently raises his hand to his chest, feeling for his heart's beat. Still there, but after every thump-thump-thump there's a small annoying prickling feeling. "How do I fix it?" Pete asks.
Pete and Elisa share a look. "This one you'll just have to leave for Author, sweetie." Elisa says sadly.
