Winding Away

Mangled

Matt couldn't sleep. Who could when they were knocked out by their friend, tied to a chair, and left alone with no food, water, or idea of what their future fate was? It was nerve-racking.

Matt didn't know how much time passed until he heard the door open. Footsteps echoed in the room, getting louder and louder until they stopped near Matt. "Still awake, huh?" The voice sent a shiver down Matt's spine.

"Nate, please let me go. Please. Please let me go," Matt begged, his words muffled by the gag.

Nate snickered. "Aw, you wanna be let go?" he asked in that way people talk to babies as he lifted the blindfold off Matt's face. Matt saw now that Nate had makeup all over his face. There was black makeup covering his eyelids and the skin around his eyes. There was also bluish makeup streaked down his face from his eyes to the bottom of his face.

"Yes. Please."

"Now why would I do that?"

"We're friends!"

Nate twitched at these words. His expression softened. "Matt. I'm sorry. I don't want to do this." He held his head and groaned. "...help...me..." Then the brief moment of Nate, the true Nate, was gone. "Oh no. It appears Nate has just revealed himself. Now you know about the struggles he's facing."

"W-What? What's going on?"

"Be quiet." Nate, or whoever this was, tightened the gag around Matt's mouth. "What's going on is rather complicated. You see, I'm a demon. But now that I'm possessing Nate, as well as just sharing a body with him, I've become somewhat of a second personality. Though I'm mostly still a demon that makes Nate Smith's life a living nightmare. Now I'm not going to give you what you want very often. But I'll at least tell you my name. Not only because it's just a common thing to do and you should know the name of everyone you meet, but because I'm sure you don't want to consider me Nate. The name I've adopted since possessing him is Natemare."

Matt stared up at Natemare with a look of pure fear. Natemare laughed. "You don't look too happy with your current position. Don't worry, you'll be having fun in just a moment. I'm almost ready to record the music video. By the way, thank you for making that little video calling for help. It was a great preview of Mangled. Nate's fans are excited."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked, actually asking, "Mmm mm mmf mim?"

"I have no idea what you just said," Natemare said. "Though I guess you're curious about the video. I fixed it up. Added some static to make it seem even more like you were in a situation where you didn't have much. Put a short clip of myself at the end. And finally I named it "help" and left it uncapitalized as if you'd been hurrying to upload it and get people's help. So far, people seem to think you're just an extremely good actor. I guess it's not that hard to believe considering you were in theater. Want to know what the music video is about?"

Matt shrugged. He didn't care. He'd like to know if it involved him getting hurt and/or killed, but what good would that do? He couldn't escape anyway.

Escape was impossible.

One minute later...

Natemare re-entered the room with a red classic desk phone and a chair identical to the one Matt was sitting in. He unfolded the chair and put it down next to Matt. Then he place the phone on the seat. "I don't have much time, so I'll explain quickly," the demon said. "You were at a pizzeria talking to some guy. The guy kidnapped you and tied you to a chair. Now the guy, who resembles Marionette, is singing around his captive, whose blindfold and gag are made to look like Mangle. Any questions? No? Good!" He hadn't even waited for an answer. Not like Matt could give one anyway.