Happy Holidays everyone! Last chapter before Christmas, hope you enjoy!
"For the third time, my computer screen froze and I couldn't wind up the music box! I didn't drag the thing over here." Ky snapped at Sarah as he helped her carry the puppet back to the box.
"There is no way I could have possibly walked that far." She replied dully. Ky sighed.
"Well I don't know what you want me to do about it. I-"
"Can you just shut up?" Sarah interrupted Ky and turned around. She was glaring.
"You are scaring me lately, Ky. All this stuff about, ghosts and murders, and I don't like it Ky. I thought you were joking before, but now you are telling me this stupid Marionette came out of it's box and ran all the way to your office? I call bull." As soon as she finished speaking, blood began to drip from her nose. She quickly turned away from Ky again and they carried the Marionette back to the Prize Corner.
"Nosebleed?" Ky asked, suspicious.
"No kidding, Sherlock." Sarah replied sarcastically. Ky stared at the back of her head, her hair seeming more red than usual.
Sarah never got nosebleeds.
Ky shrugged it off and they walked the rest of the way in silence. When they arrived at the box, Sarah gently lowered the Marionette inside and re-attached its strings. Ky stood by and idly watched.
"Ready to go?" Sarah asked dully, not making eye contact. Ky scowled and replied,
"Yeah, but fist I have a question."
"Yeah, sure."
"Why did you come here so early?" Ky asked. Sarah shrugged and started walking towards the door. She left her toolbox on the Prize Corner counter.
"Um, Sarah?"
"Yes?"
"Your toolbox."
"Oh, yes." Sarah said quietly with a smile, and walked to pick it up. When she did, her shoulder sagged under its weight. Now Ky was utterly confused.
"Sarah, what is wrong with you?" Ky asked sternly, holding his sister's shoulders. Sarah stared at him immensely with a look of pleading. Suddenly, she gasped and went limp, and out of shock Ky dropped her. Her toolbox clattered to the floor, opening and spilling tools everywhere. Her eyes were dull, and blood slowly leaked from the corners of her mouth.
"S-Sarah?" Ky stuttered, not moving. He didn't know why. He couldn't.
"You see, a life force is a powerful thing." A raspy, gurgling voice hissed from behind him. Ky whirled around to see the Marionette staring down at him.
"It is the most precious thing something can receive, no matter if it is stolen or not." It informed, it's voice cracking, raspy, and it gurgled, as if it were choking. But the thing that was most confusing to Ky was that it's mouth moved as it talked. He was frozen in fear as he listened.
"I'm simply doing their life force's a favor. There is no one to save."
"No!" Ky bursted out, against his will. The Marionette stared down at him.
"Whose side are you on?" It asked, it's voice almost sounding sarcastic. But he soon realized it wasn't talking to him. It was talking to itself.
"I see…"
"Well, you see, I would love to agree with you, but I simply cannot."
Suddenly pinprick white pupils appeared in the Marionette's eye sockets. Ky still didn't move.
"You need-No, don't listen-Leave now-Stay and play with-Egghead!" The Marionette's voice switched out between the raspy, gurgling one, and a child's voice. It was at war with itself.
"Leave her alone!" Ky screamed against his will. But what he hadn't realized is that the two were no longer by the Prize Corner, but in Parts and Service.
"No! Enough!" The Marionette yelled, and pushed Ky over, he landed hard on the cement floor.
"Time to end this." The Marionette started laughing, and it stepped towards Ky slowly. Before it lunged at him, it said in a cheerful tone,
"Goodnight, Ky."
Ky screamed and shot up in his bed, sweat pouring down his face. His dreams were getting worse, and Ky was breathing heavily trying to get his heart rate down. Sarah burst into his room.
"Ky! What's wrong? Are you okay?" Sarah stuttered. Ky stared at her for a few seconds, then hopped out of his bed, tossing the covers back.
"I need to change." He exclaimed quickly, and shooed Sarah away. He needed to take care of something at the pizzeria.
Ky quickly walked down the sidewalk, his heart still pounding from the dream.
What was all that stuff the Marionette was talking about? Life forces? What the heck?
Ky shook his head and walked faster. He got a few side-glances, but he didn't care. Things just got deeper, and Ky was scared. Really, really scared.
He soon arrived at the pizzeria and slowly walked through the door. As it got colder outside, less and less people showed up, so the place was relatively clear, save a few parties. Ky quickly walked past the main area, trying to go unnoticed to Delaney's desk.
"Hey Ky! What's up?" Delaney asked cheerfully.
"I need to see the registers." Ky demanded quietly, looking out for any people who may be listening. Delaney scowled at him.
"Could this maybe wait until after hours?"
"No!" Ky responded quickly. Delaney exhaled dramatically and started opening up things on her computer.
"You need to understand this may take a while." Delaney informed, agitated. Ky nodded and continued looking around for people listening.
"So, while we are waiting, may I ask why you need these?" Delaney asked casually, but quietly. Ky shook his head. Delaney smiled and leaned forwards on her desk.
"Please?" She asked. Ky paused, then sighed and leaned in casually, then whispered,
"I keep having these…nightmares, I guess. But, they are so real, I got pushed in one, and I felt the concrete."
Delaney scowled, then asked,
"When was this?"
"When I went to sleep after Sarah drove me home."
Delaney nodded, then sat back down and clicked on her computer, then made eye contact with Ky.
"Okay, the names are Scott and Andrew Florence, Valerie David and Ethan and Hope Roosevelt. Their phone numbers, some other stuff, but here is what is really interesting-" Delaney was cut off by a sudden buzzing on her computer. Ky ran around the desk to see the computer screen that Delaney was desperately trying to gain control off. Ky gasped.
Text was appearing rapidly across the screen, one word over and over again, and Delaney was clicking, pressing 'delete', and even trying to shut the dang thing off.
The word was SAVEH.
"Oh, screw this!" Delaney exclaimed, and bent down in her chair and unplugged the computer. The screen went dark, along with the rapidly appearing and buzzing text.
"Wh-What was that?" Asked Ky nervously, his hands shaking in his pocket.
"I'm not sure, I th-" Delaney started, but was cut off by the screen on the monitor flickering on. Delaney held the cord in her hand. Ky started sweating as the static started to fade, revealing more words.
"You Can't." Is what the screen read?
Delaney started shaking and dropped the cord. As soon as it hit the ground, the static stopped, and the screen went dark.
"What the fr-"
Delaney started, but then Ky ran out of the room and the pizzeria. He ran down the sidewalk, sweat dripping down his face. He had to stop himself from screaming in fear.
He didn't stop running until he got back to his house.
Sarah wasn't there.
"Sarah!" Ky yelled into the house and slammed the door shut. He got no response. Ky shook his head and threw off his coat, then stomped up the stairs to his room, panicking.
Ky stumbled around his bedroom, but finally found a pen and notepad, and sat down on the ground. His hands sweating, he nervously wrote down 'SAVEH' across the paper.
After that, he wrote '1975' underneath it. Beside that, he wrote '1987.'
Ky quickly noticed there was a two-year difference between the two dates, so to be safe. He wrote the number 2 down underneath the years.
He must have stared at that paper for twenty minutes, pen in mouth, before Sarah walked in the room. When Ky looked up to her, he noticed her appearance had changed slightly.
Her hair seemed to be redder, and her eyes were bloodshot. She had dark circled around her eyes, and she looked as if she hadn't slept in days. Maybe it was just Ky, but she seemed skinnier than she normally was.
"What are you doing?" She asked. Ky shook his head and looked down at his paper.
"I'm uh, I'm trying to figure out these clues…"
"Clues for what?" Sarah asked again as she came and sat down next to him on the carpet. Ky glanced at her, then back at the notepad.
"Um, these clues keep popping up everywhere, but mostly this one," Ky circled SAVEH. Sarah stared at it for a second, then picked up the notepad and examined it. She then turned to stare at Ky.
"Maybe SAVEH isn't a word, but part of one. Like, the first few letters, or the first word in a phrase, something like that. What are these numbers?" Sarah asked, and pointed to the numbers. Ky took the notepad back from his sister and explained,
"They're dates, and the two is just the years' difference."
Sarah nodded, then stood up and walked out the door, without saying another word.
Ky stared at her, and then realized she looked exactly as she did now as in his dream. Ky gasped to himself and quickly stood up and ran to Sarah downstairs, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading the cartoons in the paper. Ky sat down across from her.
"Will you get me a glass of milk?" She asked, putting the paper down. Ky scowled at her.
"You hate milk." He asked dully, suspicious. She shrugged and continued reading.
"I just feel like it. Please?"
Ky sighed and stood up to pour her a glass of milk. He then placed it down beside her on the table and retook his seat.
"Drink it all, milk is expensive." He said quietly. Sarah didn't respond and drunk the whole glass in one gulp, her face hidden behind the paper. Ky stared at her blankly, the things he had written down swimming through his thoughts.
Sure, the animatronics scared him and the Marionette terrified him. But the thing that scared him the most was that he was almost certain something was going to happen to his sister.
