"I never gave up hoping, that you would come along. How bleak it seemed, till you fond me. So now I sing this song."
"... I know that song." The sentence was muffled from having my head pressed against the cot in my cell, glancing between the wooden beams of the wall at Marie. For days, I had been there, with only the drawings I'd done on the paper for entertainment. I was hungry, and the few uncooked cans of bacon soup slipped to me were not doing me any favors. Thank goodness for that washroom behind the wall panel... couldn't even stomach that.
I was getting weak. I had been knocked out so many times, that time itself had become to lose meaning. And how far was I, beneath the studio? "Everyone knows that song." I blinked, hearing the soft reply from the cartoon.
"Who are you...? Why are you here?"
"I intercepted a letter from my dad's old friend... now I'm trapped here, same as you." It made sense we both knew the song. Marie, from one of her old cartoons, sang it. Mom never really enjoyed Circus Baby, but she always had a soft spot for the angel sisters. She specifically learned the song lyrics to sing me to sleep as a kid, whenever I had a nightmare.
"Then you know more than we do," Marie said, studying the strange inky symbols she was writing on the wall opposite of my cage.
"One minute, we don't even exist... just... thoughts. And the next minute... this place."
"... are you gonna let me out of here?" I didn't like this. True, Marie didn't seem evil, like... like the other one, who k-kill... butchered Freddy. She was obviously acting to protect herself, as I was something different. But I couldn't last down there for much longer. The ink, and the food... I knew I was getting weaker. Physically, mentally, and especially emotionally.
"Down here, strangers aren't good things. How can we trust you? We don't even know what you are."
"My name is Marylin... and my father worked here, thirty years ago." I waited for a response, as for a few seconds, she was viciously writing out new details.
"I... I honestly don't know my name... so they call me Marie or Autumn Angel. But I'm no angel." Because calling her an angel... put her in the same category as that abomination.
"You go back and rest. We'll talk again later." Her face shifted to one of pity, albeit very faint. "You look like you need it."
"It's only for a few hours. No need to worry. I won't go far..."
I could hear Marie's voice, instructing what must've been Freddy. He wasn't my Freddy, no. N... no one could replace him, so my behavior around this new Freddy was... forcefully limited. Plus, he... did not seem to like me.
"Only up to level six. Just stay here."
Freddy, by the gap in conversation, seemed to not like that idea. Either being forced to play babysitter, or having his friend head out on her own.
"Keep an eye on Marylin, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise."
The door clicked shut, followed by a metallic clang... and then silence once again.
I stood at the boarded door, staring down Freddy on a seat across from me. His ax thumped against his metallic palm, and I silently studied the wires that connected to it, and up to a metal pad on his shoulder.
I was losing my mind, surely. Health dropping bit by bit each time I fell asleep, and he didn't even care to check in on me properly?
I trudged back to my cot, and flopped down on it.
I could make out his narrowed eyes through a crack in the wall, having paused in the repeated movement. We both locked eyes, before the next heavy clang echoed throughout the room. I relented to darkness once again, but with the reminder of Freddy just outside the makeshift wall...
"Marylin?"
"Hmm?" I got up off the floor from reviewing my drawings, and found Marie at my boarded door with... a bowl of bacon soup?
"Here. You must be hungry. Sorry... it's all we have." I saw steam drift up from it, showing that unlike the cans in the room with me, the bowl was obviously cooked.
She offered me a small smile, and turned to walk away. She could've said more, and it looked like she wanted to, but chose to keep it short due to the reminder I was a 'prisoner'. She knew I wasn't eating well, and she could see I was unable to stomach what I had been feeding myself.
I reached forward, eager to take the food, only for a hand to slam down and block me.
Freddy. He watched Marie turn the corner, to the other side of the room where a bookshelf kept her hidden, and he slowly turned back to me.
Then, with a flick, he sent the bowl and soup flying to the floor. The dish shattered on impact, and the soup spread across the floor. Freddy's black brow deepened, and he pointed a finger at me with his metal hand, before tightening it in a fist. The shifting of joints was loud as day, and so was his message.
He would not like me, even if Marie showed me kindness. To him, I would always be a threat to what they'd known. Freddy stormed off in the opposite direction to the right, and slammed the door on the way out.
"... jerk."
"I know you're watching me... it's just... a little creepy."
"It isn't like I have anything else to do," I replied, arms crossed on the beam.
"What are you writing there, anyway? Why the walls?"
"For some poor souls down here, it's the only way they can be heard."
"But you don't want to touch the ink for too long! It can claim you... pull you back. That's how I met Jules."
I-excuse me, Jules? Since when was there... did she mean Freddy?
"I was messing with things I shouldn't have been and he... he was there."
"Why do you call him 'Jules'? I thought his name was Freddy," I asked, genuinely curious.
"He just seems to respond to it." Did that mean he told her, or...?
"Well, I don't think he likes me all that much." Marie paused in her writing, and turned to look at me.
"Let me show you something... a while back, I was mapping out one of the upper levels..." she wandered over to me, flashing back to a memory.
"... when I noticed something reflecting off a piece of glass. I held up the glass, looked through, and on the wall behind me was a hidden message!"
"A what?"
Marie reached into a subspace pocket, and handed me an odd device. It was sort of like a crudely made mirror on a mount, with a string of small lights running around it and making an odd humming noise.
"Right there in plain sight! So I kept looking... and found more and more messages everywhere in the studio! But you can't see them with your eyes." I hesitated, but picked it up. Lifting the mirror to my face, I didn't expect to see anything. So what a surprise... when I found a glowing halo above Marie's head.
Of course... how could I ignore the ominous message in the background? "She will leave you for dead," did not make me feel any better.
"I don't know who's leaving them, but I think they know how to get out of here."
"Where does it all go?"
"... nowhere." Marie's head drooped. "I followed them for a long time... just leads me in circles. I don't think I'm meant to leave this place, Marylin." She stepped away from me, shaking her head at the horrible idea. Of being trapped there, just as... I was fearing.
"But maybe... you are."
"I-I'm sorry, what? Me?" She thought I was able to leave? Then why wouldn't she let me out?
As if reading my thoughts, or the question was plain on my face, she answered, "Jules thinks you're dangerous."
"But what do you think of me?"
"I... I think... you're the hope I've been waiting for." I was the... hope? What part of me seemed like that deserved a title? The woman on the other side wielded a machete and had a commanding aura.
I was always passing out from injuries or shock, and... and losing friends along the way.
She released the board, and began to retreat to the wall, seeing that I was deeply thinking over her words.
"Go to sleep. Maybe tomorrow will be better."
"... goodnight... Autumn." Marie paused mid-step, but by the time she turned around, I had already given in to my dreams once again.
