I'm Not Her (Petscop AU)

Chapter 4

Care was stuck, and she couldn't get out.

To summarize her emotions into the simplest form, she felt scared, betrayed, and angry; but most importantly she felt lied to. All she could do was stare dumbfounded at the remains of the canvas. Not even the paintbrush was anywhere to be found.
Care lets out a nervous groan, gaze darting across the dimly lit bedroom. There were no visible windows; despite the exterior of the apartment having tons of them.
Why would the Shadow Man do this? Why would he suddenly trap her, hold her hostage when they seemed to be getting along so well only moments before. Care facepalms.
Oh she felt so stupid. She should've known better than to put her trust in some creepy, shadow figure who lived in a creepy, lifeless place. Thoughts were spinning around in her head, more or less reflective ones if anything else.

Had he tried capturing her the last time she was there? He hadn't destroyed the canvas that time. Maybe because he presumed she'd just stay put because she was so young.
What were his intentions, even? Were there other children stuck as well?

Care walks into the center of the used-to-be canvas room. She crouches down on her knees and presses her ear up against the floor. She heard nothing. She gets up and walks over to one of the walls, and then presses her ear up against that. Still nothing.
Well that was unfortunate. She'd have to improvise. Maybe coming up with a substitute for the canvas would work.
Her attention quickly shifts to the room's table. Next to the oddly-shaped red... shape, there was a box of crayons. Instead of feeling hopeful, Care's suspicions only rose higher. That seemed far too easy.
Her hand hovers over the box in hesitation before giving it the benefit of the doubt and picking it up. She freezes. When nothing happened, she decided that the coast was clear, and that the crayons weren't rigged with any sort of trap.
Now she had to find a large sheet of paper.
To her luck, the entire room was covered in wallpaper. Both the flooring and the walls were grey with the same, flower plus paint roller pattern.
Care was a quick thinker. That was one of the few things she genuinely liked about herself. There was no time for self-loathing at a time like this.
She waltzes up to the wall closest to the door and starts scraping away with her fingernail, not stopping until a strip came loose. She gave that strip a harsh pull, and it ripped straight off the wall; revealing its original creamy white color.

The single strip she just pulled off wouldn't be big enough, so she used the tear she had created as a grappling point. Using both of her hands this time, she gripped onto the edges and ripped as much of the wallpaper as she could. When she was finally satisfied with the amount, she heaved it all over to the empty easel and continued her work.

She thought things were going smoothly until she had finished setting up the makeshift canvas. Now she stood crouched down with a red crayon in hand, forcing an awkward smile.
She didn't know how to get to the reception.
It could've been anything. It could've been any face, any shape, anything at all.
The best thing she could do was doodle everything that came to mind.

♓︎■︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎❍︎♓︎⬧︎⬧︎♓︎□︎■︎

That was the really time consuming part.
She drew as many things she could think of. She tried a countless amount of faces, but they all only led to different bedrooms. Each bedroom had a motionless, faceless model of a child sitting on the bed. Care had tried communicating with them, but she never got a response. They must've been mere statues.

An hour had passed, and she still hadn't reached the reception.
Care was certain that she had ripped off wallpaper from every bedroom to exist. The canvas room floor was completely covered in wallpapers of various colors and patterns. Her red crayon had been grated down to barely seven centimeters, so she had to switch to a new color; which was blue.
Care slams her face against the easel after finding herself outside of yet another bedroom. She glares at the new faceless kid. It was a boy.