Fates Intertwined

Chapter 16: Close Encounter

Sam and Momo had only been in town for an hour before fate decided that it was time to push things forward again. Standing in one of the closed up shops was what looked like a fresh grave. Neither had a good idea of how or why.

    “Well...alright? That’s probably a trap…”

    “Well no, Sam. It’s just one of those weird modern art exhibits. Of course, it’s a trap...though who would have set it up and why? Seems...oddly obvious of a location.”

    Both studied the pile of dirt. Given it was somewhat dark in the building it was hard to make out how long of a stretch it was but it was definitely there. How it had been made was even less obvious as there was no clear means of entering the space and none of the glass was shattered indicating someone broke in. There was no way the building was built around this pile either as it looked too out of place. 

    It took the man a moment but he realized he knew that there used to be a bakery here at a time but it closed down for undisclosed reasons so that thing, whatever might have been hiding in the dirt, wasn’t there before the bakery was. Something else entered his head the longer he stared. 

    [I]“The monsters are freed.”

    “We need to go home. Now.”

    “What’s wrong?”

    The short woman looked up to see her friend’s face was a mask of uncontrollable fear. He knew what that pile of dirt meant and she didn’t ask. The two turned and ran as the pile started to shift, a yellow hand reaching into the air. Glass shattered behind them and a familiar yet off ringing filled the air. Whatever it was, it was awake and ready to hunt.

    “SHIT!”

    If he was scared before, he was terrified now as he’d never directly confronted one of these...things before so he had no idea what it was capable of. A thought popped into his head but it quickly left him. There WAS a way to beat it. Though the how of it was still not clear.

    “Come now Sam...is that any way to talk to your wife?”

    He came to a sudden stop and nearly pulled Momo’s arm out of her socket due to the force. It was the same thing that nearly got him in Henry’s house. This was it, the monster that was using his dead lover’s voice.

    “Fuck off you pile of-”

    Sam let out a choked sob. It looked just like her. Right down to the smallest detail. The thing before him was, almost, a perfect clone of Caroline. Red hair was done in a ponytail, soft green eyes watching him, soft lips curled in a smile. It almost fooled him.

    Almost.

    “Sorry but Caroline's dead so why don’t you crawl back into the pit of hell you came from?”

    The short woman stood silently, brown eyes studying the thing before her. All she saw was a twisted version of Chica superimposed over what was a bunch of machine parts and machinery when she focused hard enough. It made her sick just trying to focus so she stayed quiet and kept her eyes off of the thing.

    “Aww, Sam...don’t you want to come give me a hug? It’s been so long…”

    “Fuck. Off. Tell whoever made you to burn in hell as well.”

    “I can’t do that Sam. Especially since William’s dead but...he sends his regards anyway!”

    The illusion faded and now all that stood before him was what he could only call Twisted Chica. It was Chica yes but her covering was melted and the cupcake was sticking out of her shoulder like it had become a part of her. The ringing was still there meaning this wasn’t it’s actual form but damn did it look like a nightmare.

    A nightmare...Then…

    “Sam let’s go!”

    Momo, being the smart woman she is, had left Sam to get her car from down the street, it was a Nissan Fairlady Z from the seventies but still ran...barely. It was falling apart due to an inability to get it fixed properly. Sam kept saying he’d fix it up for her but always got distracted. Now, he’d get it fixed asap as they kinda needed a car to get away from whatever this thing was and well. Neither wanted to know how fast it could move.

    “Sorry, but I got a date.”

    With that, the man bolted for the plum purple car and threw himself in. The driver didn’t wait for the man to get buckled up as the monster was closing the gap far faster than logically possible. 

    “Holy shit Sam. What. The. Fuck. Was that?!”

    “That? That’s a deadly mistake.”

    The thing stood in the middle of the road, staring into the mirror. If it had a mouth that it could move, it likely would have been smiling. Neither person spoke for a few blocks before Momo finally broke the silence.

    “Sam. What...what have we gotten into?”

    “Something that goes further back than I realized.”