The Cards that Keep Turning

Chapter 11 ~ The Sounds

Third Person - Archie Baker (Baker) P.O.V

The only sound...

*Tick*

That could be heard...

*Tock*

Was just a ticking time bomb...

*Tick*

The ticking time bomb had been there...

*Tock*

For more than a week, and he couldn't change that...

Baker was starting to accept the fact that his friends weren't coming back for him, not this time. The disappearance of his friends was something he had to accept once more, he didn't wanted to, but there weren't many options to chose from really. If Baker wanted to see his friends once more, he had to play by the unforgiving rules of this dangerous card game. Thoughts had constantly flooded his mind, thoughts about how he should have just accepted the fate of him and his friends, but he didn't... he couldn't live without his friends, so he played.

The Studio was as silent as ever, not one sound was made. The only sound that could be heard was the violent buzzing of the old air conditioning system, nothing more. The sound of silence was killing the boy, he was used to the screams and bellowing of his friends, he missed that. He missed how Hughes would sit and play the piano, which is now covered in a thin layer of dust with the piano lid down. Baker had missed how busy the Studio was, how noise filled it was, but now silence had taken over, consuming him just like the darkness had.

Laying half-conscious in the middle of the Studio, Baker had thought about how everything was slowly disappearing, how it was all going wrong. His friends had not been gone longer than a few days, it was wrong, all of it.

Small and soft cries had escaped his chapped lips, with a little bit of blood dripping out. With the lack of sleep Baker had grown slower, with the lack of food Baker had grown paler and sicker, with the lack of water Baker had grown dizzy and wobbly and the loss of feeling in most of his body parts had sent him spiralling to the ground, not being able to move as easily as he once did. It wasn't right, without his friends he wasn't right, nothing was. It was all a secret to everyone.

The small yet obvious whimpers had eventually died down, only to bring the annoyingly loud sound of the buzzing of the air vents to come into hearing. The violent shaking of the air vents had become worse, turning into something more devil like. Without having time to think or react to the noise, Baker was hit hard in the back of the head, creating a more painful headache, earning a few groans as well as little droplets of blood. The sound of the air vents had been replaced with the ringing of what had seemed to be a bell, a bell that was placed in the middle of Bakers head on a non-stop timer. As well as the ringing, heavy panting had replaced the urge to cry, as well as the action of squeezing his eyes shut and scrunching his nose into a tight ball had stopped any tears from falling.

Wanting to investigate what had hit the back of his head, Baker had slowly rolled over to face what, or possibly who, had hit him. Being confused wasn't something that was knew amongst the group members, it was very much an everyday reaction, but this time it was acceptable as for Baker had been presented with a metal sheet... a metal sheet?

*Where did this come from?* Baker thought as one of his hands was still on his head.

Feeling his skin heat up, Baker had tossed his head and turned his body in most directions to find the strange heat that was touching his body. Although, Baker hadn't needed to turn to far as for he came eye to eye with a bright light, almost causing immediate blindness. Baker had brought his weak hand up in front of his eyes to block out the vibrant colours of the light.

Baker brought his hand into view, trying to block out whatever light he could, although that hadn't brought him much protection. The heat was still penetrating his pale yet spotty skin, making many of his illness worse, especially his headache. When it came to overheating, the group and himself were used to it due to the amount of song and dance they had practiced each afternoon, but this situation had seemed different. It was different this time as for Baker's body was a lot weaker then he was a week ago, he was stronger then, but weaker now.

The vibrant colours of the lights had grown stronger, shining over Bakers hand making his body more heated and weaker then before. The heat of the light had only made Baker more shaky and unsteady then before, his hand slowly falling as a result of it. On the more brighter side of things, the ringing that had taken place in Baker's head had been taken over completely, making another noise come into hearing, and it was none other then the violent shaking from before. The violent shaking that came from the air vents had returned once more, except there was a difference. The only difference being is that the shaking had become more powerful and brutal then before. Although Baker hadn't seemed to be too fazed by the sound, he was more concerned about his shaky hand as for it had fallen beside his limp body, giving the light an opportunity to blind his eyes whether they were open or closed.

Amongst all the other noises, pained groans had risen above the mess of the Studio. Trying to endure it, being hard as it may, it wasn't easy as for his head was pounding hard against the floor that it had felt as if dozens of rocks were thrown straight at his head. His limbs had fallen to ground, limp and not being able to be moved, as well as his legs and one of his arms shaking in an inhuman way.  And lastly, Baker's vision had gone all out of whack, black spots appearing all over the place. Baker had started to freak out, not knowing if the spots he had seen were appearing on the walls, roof and ground or if his vision was playing up, either way Baker wasn't in a good state, he hadn't been for a few day.

The Lights, The Sounds, The Black Spots... Why have they suddenly come into action?

Before Baker could question or think anything else... he blacked out...

He can't hear, can't see and can't feel anything.

Did Baker just... Die?