Little nightmares: nightmare across time chapter 2: the mirror to shadows

Once morning arrived, six and Hilda had awakened to the shining sun and exited Hilda's room to see Johanna making breakfast "good morning Hilda, six!" She greeted "your pancakes will be ready in a few minutes." "Thanks mum" Hilda thanked "now let's get to work on the mirror!" Hilda then pulled out the notebook and began researching the mirror and its power "this book is very precise…" six said "hmm… no… no… aha! Here! 'After close observation I have discovered how the mirror can work. The mirrors act as a two way conduit in order for one mirror to activate the other must as well. To activate the mirrors themselves they both must be activated at certain hours, midnight specially, if the even a minute passes by the mirrors will shut off and cannot be reactivated until they both are at midnight or midday.'" "Well I got that but how do we activate the mirror itself?" Asked six "hmm says here 'to see how to activate the mirror itself see footnote on page 34.'" Hilda then turned to the page and saw the footnote "why'd we even need to look at some footnote in the first place?" Asked six "trust me following the footnotes are EXTREMELY important… learned that the hard way…." Hilda shivered on the last note before continuing "'to make sure the mirrors activate both must be under the natural lights.'" After their research Johanna served Hilda and six their breakfast just before Hilda began to eat six immediately devoured her's in mere seconds surprising both Hilda and her mother as six simply burped a little… "sorry I get these chronic hunger attacks and practically go feral and eat the nearest edible thing I see… which resulted in cannibalism on my mother once…." Six explained as both Hilda and her mother went silent.

After that bizarre ordeal Hilda and six recruited their friends and went to the library where they were in the hidden room where they unlocked the mirror and waited for it to be midday "so six while we wait… what exactly is your world like?" David asked "my world? Well…" six went silent before continuing "it was something like yours… for a while… then the signal tower appeared… The tower somehow emulated a frequency that manipulated the environment and people turned them into rampant monsters and wastelands my friends and family mutated into distorted monstrosities. Only some handfuls of children weren't affected and we've been trying to survive but some of us barely got away alive…." She started to shed a couple of tears, the others tried to cheer her up… "don't worry six we'll help you out… and get your friend back!" Hilda confirmed "thanks guys i really appreciate this!" Six said softly, whipping her tears. "So what's mono like?" "Mono? Oh he and I go back!" Six answered "before I met him I was a prisoner of the hunter he was probably going to stuff me and add me to his sick and twisted collection… The only thing that gave me hope was a music box. Then one day someone busted the door open with an axe and then he was there, I thought he was a deranged maniac coming to kill me! But then he lended my hand and with his help I managed to escape the hunter and we ended up shooting him in the leg!" Everyone went silent "relax he survived!"

Meanwhile in the pale world mono spent the last night thinking of ways to escape from the cabin "and then I'll- no no no that'll never work!" Suddenly the hunter showed up and placed an old television on the ground "found this while shooting a bear, have some entertainment before you're screwed." The hunter then turned it on before leaving. Mono felt very uneasy around televisions because of the strange anomalous events that unfolded during the last two times the tv suddenly flashed to life showing the hunter's living room where the mirror was leaning toward a chair, mono was hesitant but placed his hand on the screen anyway instead of teleporting him to the hallway it instead flashed him to the living room mono saw this opportunity and grabbed the mirror and made a break for it. After escaping the hunter's cabin he got as far as he could, until he hit the swampland he hid in an old cabin he hid the mirror inside a briefcase before catching his breath "well this is definitely some desa vu…" he sighed then he heard the hunter wheezing and breathing heavily mono immediately checked the outside and saw the hunter lantern in hand he scouted the forest searching for mono he hid behind the walls and shivered slightly the hunter crept closer towards the cabin before leaving the area mono sighed in relief until a board fell making a loud noise and the hunter's gunfire started to breach the cabin the hunter began to enter the cabin mono immediately hid in the briefcase laying on the mirror soon the hunter opened the case…

At the same time the group watched the clock "almost midday!" Hilda announced the others then opened the door to the hidden room just enough to get sunlight to shine on the mirror soon they all stood in front of the mirror it started to ripple and glow again and blast forth glitches everywhere this time it showed a child with a bag over his head he was struggling to fed off the hunter six immediately took notice "mono! Right here!" She yelled and the child took notice "six! How did you get in there?!" The child asked, panicking "just push enough force against the glass!" The child then did what six said and pressed against the glass with his feet the mirror began to glow and brighten before the child fell through the mirror and landed on six the boy got up on his knees and saw six they both got up on their feet and hugged each other "glad to see you're safe!" Six said gleefully "yeah! I was almost dead meat!" Mono then turned to the mirror as it started to glow again "uh i thought you said that mono was your friend that needs rescuing?" Hilda questioned "we did!" "Then who's coming through the mirror?" David's question was shortly answered by another figure emerging, the lights fated and the figure revealed itself to be the hunter he stood in front of the children wheezing heavily. "Uh… six? mono? Who is this guy?" David asked terrified mono and six stood in shock at what they were witnessing as the hunter had crossed into their world "the hunter…." Mono said softly "everyone. Back away slowly." Six whispered "his vision is based on movement, i saw this in a movie once." The hunter pulled out his gun "that's not only insulting. But it's also untrue." He immediately started shooting at both six and mono as they ran for their lives "ok maybe that movie was about dinosaurs!"

They ran through the streets with the hunter on their tails while frantically dodging gunfire they hid in an alleyway as the hunter stopped and searched for them before continuing down the road. Hilda and the others finally caught up to six and mono "care to explain who your lunatic friend was?" She asked "that was… the hunter… he's not very friendly…" six explained catching her breath "is he one of the monsters you talked about?" David asked "unfortunately yes!" Mono added on, suddenly hilda got a call on her phone she answered "hilda i need you to come home early the news says that there's a deranged maniac on the loose!" Johanna said over the other end the gang immediately went to hilda's house while frida and David went to theirs. the hunter took notice and started to follow them from the shadows….

Once the gang were at hilda's house six and mono slammed the door "so you said that there's a maniac on the loose mum?" Hilda asked, "Yes, take a look at this!" Johanna then turned the television to the news "this just in. trolburg is under assault by what appears to be a tall burly man carrying a shotgun in his hand." The reporter announced "the reward for the capture of this man has been pulled out as the safety patrol continues to search him down. Citizens of the city are to stay in their homes at all times until this man is apprehended." The news then showed an image of the hunter running through the streets with his shotgun. Hilda six and Mono's eyes widened upon hearing this "oh no…" "Hilda six did you have something to do with this man?" Johanna asked suspiciously "well… remember when I said that I'm from another dimension…?" Six said awkwardly "uh… yes?" "Well he's from there too…." Johanna went silent "are you saying that, that manic running around the city shooting anything it sees is from your dimension?!" She yelled before gunshots were heard outside the front door Johanna went to open the door only for it to be banged upon by someone on the other end "i know you're in there you little brats!" The hunter yelled on the other end as he continued to bang on the door the children frantically started to barricade the door with everything shelves desks and even the television the crew sighed in relief but then the hunter shot through the door with his gun leaving a large hole as he peeked his head through "HERE'S HUNTER!" he screamed as six mono and hilda six ran away from the hunter as he busted the door open and started shooting. They were cornered until mono got an idea he opened the window "COME ON AND GET ME SACK HEAD!" mono taunted "COME ON ANDALA! ANDALA!" The hunter became frustrated as mono made faces under his bag eventually he rushed towards the open window and accidentally fell off the edge just as mono jumped the other way the crew watched as the hunter fell to the solid ground and smashed into the concrete "is he dead?!" Hilda asked, frightened. The hunter let out a small painful groan leaving hilda to sigh in relief "you guys are seriously messed up…"

After cleaning up the hunter from the pavement a man dressed in a brown suit hat and gold cape greeted them "greetings i am edric alburg!" He proudly said "head of safety patrol and descendant of edmin "the troll slayer" alburg!" Six and mono turned to each other in confusion "never heard of you…." Six said with no emotion leaving Alburg surprised "they're not from around here…." Hilda explained "ok… in turn for helping me capture this madman!" Alburg showed the three the hunter being taken away by the police "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME YOU LITTLE F#&!S!" he swore alburg immediately covered the children's ears "language! There's children present! Anyway as a reward for your bold and slight attempt at manslaughter…" "it was more like first degree murder." "I present to you this check for $2000! For helping me apprehended this… creature!" Six immediately took the check and cheered with mono

Later that night the gang had rested after Johanna cashed the check "so we'll see if we can get you back to your dimension tomorrow!" Hilda announced "actually me and mono have been thinking about it and we want to stay here instead!" Six announced leaving Hilda surprised "we already talked to your mum and she said she'd be happy to!" Mono added on "but why? You don't exactly belong here!" "Like i said before my world isn't a fun place to live and we're the size of a toothpick in there so we thought why not live here instead!" Six explained "well I guess if you and my mum are okay with it…" Hilda said hesitantly before the three rested. After a few hours mono awakened to a bright light he opened the door and tip-toed not to wake anyone up he saw the television doing that same creepy static thing that lured him in as the events from the pale world repeated once more….

Inside the television mono was still in the desolate hallway he continued to run down the hall no questions asked "so far so good…" he said to himself but just before he was able to touch the strange door the television glitched and threw him out….

Mono was thrown out of television and onto the couch waking Johanna up "mono! What are you doing up this late?" She asked, rubbing her eyes "I don't know the television was on and lured me in!" Mono explained "well get back to bed i'll settle whatever that was later!" Mono then went to bed but could not sleep due to the strange anomalous events that were happening around him….