All Monsters Are Human

act three: IV

WARNING: gore (it's imaginary, but kinda heavy description)
a/n: enjoy getting your heart broken
also, sudden third person pov, but irdc anymore tbh
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"Run away with me."

"I-I..."
"Why are you suddenly asking me that?"

"I know it may be too much to ask of you, but could you think about it?"

"Victor..." I started. What should I say?
"This is a lot to take in."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"No, y-you don't have to be. I just...I really gotta think about this for a while."

"It is fine. Forget about it. Please just forget about it."

"Victor I-"

I said forget about it.

"I'm so sorry."

you never should have asked.

Drip.drip.drip.

"...What...Where am I?"
"Where did Victor go...?"

Lucas had only blinked, and he was suddenly whisked into a dark, dreary place, no longer in his room. Victor was nowhere to be seen.

He scrambled to his feet, and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Victor!?" he called into the darkness.
His voice echoed back to him.

He trudged along the hallway into the seemingly endless pit of darkness, his footsteps loud and clear in the deathly silence.

It was too dark to see anything, Lucas should've just turned around.

He hit his face into something hanging from the ceiling.

Drip.drip.drip.

"What....." he stumbled back to touch his face.

b-blood??!

Lucas almost vomited upon seeing thick, dark red blood dripping down his fingers.

"Like what you see?"

Lucas froze. He wasn't alone.
Someone was behind him, and it was not Victor.
"Ain't he magnificent? Just a marvelous work of art."

Lucas did not dare turn around to face the voice. He squinted to see what was in front of him.

"I suggest you don't scream."
"It'll know you're scared if you do."

Tears began to form in Lucas' eyes as he covered his mouth in terror.

Drip. drip.
Victor's body hung from a noose, blood dripping down from his head to his toes.
A big, bloody upside-down cross was carved on his still chest. his limbs were decorated with violent red slashes that shone even in darkness.

"Don't scream."

Lucas could feel the fear bubbling in his throat, begging to be let out. He fell to his knees, and cowered in utter horror.

"P-please tell me t-this isn't real..."
"What d-did this t-to him....."

An inhuman screech echoed from the other end of the hallway. The boy felt his blood run cold as an icy chill made it's way down his spine.

"Go. Run little rabbit."

Lucas finally turned.
He screamed. Louder than he ever did in his life.
What did he see? Maybe it is best that you do not know.

He took off down the hallway away from the noise. Every time his feet pounded against the carpeted, damp ground, it sent an earthquake that coursed through his legs violently.
All was chaos, the vague, fleshy coloured framed pictures and portraits along the hallway made no sense to him.
His still-working heart hammered in his ribcage, his lungs trying with all their might to grab the air from outside to fuel his body.

Someone help....please!
I'm so scared.... I'm so scared.....

He only dared to stop running long after he was drained of all of his energy. Lucas' chest heaved, and his legs ached, but he was somewhat relieved that he could no longer hear the... creature chasing after him.

He sits in front of a painting, trying to gain his energy back.
"Where's Victor... I've got to find him... there's no way....that body...was Victor..."
He tried to get up, but he couldn't.

"...U-Um...." he felt his back heat up.
"W-What...!"
He turned his head, and thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
He was sinking into the painting, the warm blues and blacks of it enveloping his entire body.
Then he was transported into a starry, starry night.

"Oh, where am I now?!" Lucas struggled to get up.
He looks above, the stars seemed to flow along with dark navy sky, illuminating it with a warm yellow glow.

"So ethereal looking..." he gasped in awe.

The continues down the bumpy path past a giant black figure that resembled a pine tree. But who knows what it is. Maybe Mr Van Gogh did, but not anyone else.
Eventually, he stumbled upon a village, and they were people in it.

"Um, excuse me mister have y-"

The man strolled past Lucas without so much as a nod of acknowledgement. But alas, what can you expect? He is painted after all! Nothing more than just a figment of imagination.

Lucas quickly began losing hope as more and more painted persons ignored him. They did not speak for their mouths did not exist, and their lips were nothing more than just an artist's brush stroke. Just a dot of colour that refuses to move.

He finally stumbled upon an empty street. No people. No scary monsters.
Lucas sat in a dark alleyway, curling himself up in confusion and despair.
 
"How am I going to get out of here...."
"Is all of this even real..." he muttered quietly to himself.
Despite being stuck in a painting, he felt that it was quite tranquil and calming to stay here under the starry night sky instead of needing to constantly run from a monster in the dark hallway.

Swirling...swirling stars...the warmth of the light scatters.
A constant, moving sky....

Eventually, the constant motion of everything made a tired Lucas feel very...very dizzy...

It's like everything is melting together...
nodding off....

And just like that he fell asleep right where he was sitting, under the dreamy, moving sky.

then, stop.
time stands still.

Every brush stroke, every hue of colour slowed to a halt. The only movement that existed was the rising and falling of Lucas' shoulders as he laid fast asleep.

what melancholic silence.
that sinking feeling when everything around you stops.

slowly....

you wake.

He opened his eyes to the ceiling of his own bedroom. no longer was he stuck in a starry night, but he was back in reality.

"Victor?" he called out, looking around his room. The mysterious ghost boy was nowhere to be seen.
a soft blue sticky note was left on the boy's nightstand.

I love you.
Goodbye.
-V

~

Act 3: I've Got You, Love.
end.