Chapter 16: Satisfaction of Disturbance
[Tw: Some Disturbing Thoughts/Intrusive Thoughts, Dissociation, Torture Methods Used By The Ghosts - Just a Frightening Situation in General; Be Careful :)]
"Hello?"
Xavier led the way down, followed by a semi-eager Mariam with all the equipment residing on her shoulders.
Once his food touched down, he felt a wave of anger pull him back - like an ocean wave pulling a shell against the sand. Mariam shuffled back on her step, pursing her lips in guilt.
"Xavier? Xavier?" Mariam asked insistently in his ear. He didn't respond, only fingering up the wall. "Xavier! God damnit, I knew this was a bad idea," She yelled. She yanked him back by his hoodie, producing a little yelp.
"Mariam!" Xavier yelled back to her but retracted his statement upon seeing a tense crease in her usually smart features. "Are you ok?" Xavier nodded. "Good. I think we should go, I'm done with this place," Mariam said, already stepping up in the next one.
"Wait! I think we should-"
A slap of pain echoed across the two's faces, as they doubled back in pain. It leveled out after a few moments before striking again. The next one was more painful than the last. Xavier fell like a limbless human down the steps, his arms not being able to catch him as he fell.
"Xavier!"
Mariam flees down the stairs in that was fueled by the sheer adrenaline pushing through her veins. She cradled him fast and pulled up his body against hers. As the last step of her process, she slapped him - hard - of her own accord. He jolted to life, ghastly screaming filling the room. It was almost as if he was in a coma-like state; his screaming was like a mechanical system with glass eyes that shone like pearls.
From the light, Mariam could hear a screech of a few chairs before the sound of rushed conversation concentrating outside, seeking confirmation of the darkness. Mariam yelled it was fine as reflex but she wasn't sure that was correct.
He finished the banshee-like screaming before, gasping, his eyes blinking to life. He grasped the air for comfort, like a newborn baby trying to feel the world, before finding Mariam's pale and sweaty skin.
Xavier turned his head to meet her eyes and smiled, yet it was as faint as a ghostly whisper against a crowd. "Mariam?" He whispered. "Uh huh, I'm here. Are you able to stand?" He nodded.
"Good. We're going. Now," She said, tugging him up on his feet. "But Mariam! We can't leave yet-" He stopped when he ran out of fuel, leaning against the door to regain strength. "See? You're not even able to get out a full sentence," She snipped back. But Xavier was not ready to leave.
"But- But don't you want to find out about the spirits or demons or whatever the fuck they are? When Serena asked you earlier-"
"Wait, how did you know Serena asked me to not go down here?"
"Because I knew she would tell you. She's too overprotective of you, how could she not?"
Mariam's face tingled with red but she purses her lips, wiling it to go away. She gestured for Xavier to continue with his reasoning, taking up a more oppressive stance.
"Anyway, I know you'd be pissed at not being allowed to go down. And that's why you followed me. But Serena's investigating upstairs, she won't hear us. We can get out of here before she comes discovers us," Xavier continued.
Mariam felt like she was just stripped naked, where everyone could see her. "I- I don't want to upset her, though, because remember what happened that night? She has a impossibly good reason to forbid us to not go!" She shouted.
Xavier was readying himself another shot but the room started to grow darker as seconds passed to him. His eyes flitted for something to help gather his thoughts - a trigger object, if you will - yet, they remained restless. After a couple minutes, he relinquish his fort and surrendered, throwing up his arms.
Mariam looked pleased and started up the stairs, pulling Xavier gently along with her. She reached the door and went to grab the knob, but her hand missed. She swiped at air. She realized it had gotten darker here; it was almost as if they were swimming in oil.
She went again and after a few tries, felt a shockingly cold metal. Mariam lingered the tips of her fingers, not letting them take full control. She felt another presence against her body, hot breath wisp against her neck, dissolving as quickly as she felt it.
Her fingers took a mind of its own and gripped the metal as hard they could, and twisted it. Twist, twist, twist. Like it's a neck-
Mariam faltered against the metal, pressing against the wall. "Like a neck?" She whispered on the last drawls of breath she had?" From somewhere, there was shuffling and a loud stomp. She tried to whip herself around to survey but she was only met with oil.
"A neck? Mariam, are you ok?" The girl flexed her fingers against the oil and received the touch of warm skin against hers. She sighed in relief.
"Xavier? Is this you?"
"Yes, it's me. We're right next to each other, like we were before."
Her mind sprinted to the loud stomp that sounded from the infinite plane of possibility, quietly gasping. The first reason she thought of was Xavier, but she had heard him before and could tell immediately it was next to her.
Titana and Salamander.
They're here.
The dark swallowed up any reasoning for logic; anything could happen, anything. Any little sound, step, scream could be any four of them and if Xavier split up, it really would limit any sense.
Mariam pressed herself against the wall, reveling in the touch of the unsympathetic concrete wall that seemed to bring her to life. Everything in this room was cold it seemed. Even the spirits.
She fully noted the frenzied, metallic sound of knobs against the door before a wallowed sigh escaped into the oil.
"Mar? Mar! C'mon, speak, you're freaking me out. I cant get the door open and- and are you listening?" Snipers of warmth she felt brush against her, signaling her friend's presence.
Finally, she unsheathed herself from the wall and started down the stairs. The lower she climbed, the more she felt she was freezing. By the time her foot made contact with the plane, Mariam was almost shivering. She called up to Xavier and from somewhere, and Mariam heard the slight voice diluted from the oil reach her.
One creak, two creak, three creak, four creak - before another tingly feeling of warmth puff remnants grazed her neck again. She whipped around to the direction of the root of the breaths but when she reached out her hand, it grabbed the cold. Another of the same actions repeated itself as something descended down and met her again - except it carried with itself the warmth; Mariam felt the promise of the world upstairs in her touch.
Now curious from what was in front of her before, she swiped again and landed on a ligament - cold like a corpse. She screamed, her hand flying back and knocking into a sweet sound of wood before coming upon the oil again.
"Xavier, where are you?!"
"Is everything alright down there?"
Mariam wanted to scream for help but it seemed she had exhausted her air supply; ingesting cold oil was not healthy, she supposed. She heard a large intake of breath that was released again upon her face, yet it was as if it was normal air.
It wasn't Xavier.
Fitting herself against the wall, Mariam began to look against the murky oil crowding her vision for at least something of semblance to Xavier. Yet the oil stubbornly poisoned her vision with its darkness.
The oil, again, changed its form to synthesize for a large limb again and waved itself near her before settling itself down again upon her resting arm. It brushed against her arm, the little hairs pricking up one by one because of the intense warmth, as it - barely making contact with her arm - casually strolled down her arm, before renouncing the apprehension and gathering up the full of her hand in its transparent arm. Mariam let out the remaining air out and let the oil poison it, before abruptly taking away her arm.
"XAVIER!"
A shrilling scream resounded against the concrete walls that sprouted up against the walls of oblivion. The last little wave hit her face, a refreshing mingle of contact of another before it dissipated in seconds. In the murky oil, she could hear the shuffling of steps before a loud crash.
Higher up, the voices outside their world of darkness grew panicked but it was again drained from the adulterated, thick liquids drowning them in silence.
Mariam bit her lip and turned her attention on the now silent void before her. She desperately searched for any movement, and to her surprise, a glint of another metal shone out. Her head immediately shouted from her to go, go, go but her feet stayed stuck in the oil.
Mostly because something's stepping on her feet.
Whatever was in front of her, it stayed strong. The oil monster cultivated more of the dark to puddle around her feet, as she struggled. Another thing of hair brushed against her forehead that only stayed for a moment but withstood time.
Once it left her, Mariam collapsed down to the ground with a thick thump, feeling the dense oil pushing down on her skull as she struggled to stay awake. The oil was draining her energy, abusing her enough to fall down to weakling status.
Aren't you a stupid little weakling? A powerful mage like yourself, cowering before me? My dear, N-
She perked up against the word, her eyes searching for any indication of the thing that spoke yet it was as obscure as always. She dropped her head as immediately as it came up, the dense air strangling her throat. It came upon the rest of her limps, piling on her hands and knees, pinning her down to the root of the void.
Mariam felt like she was drowning; lying on the void dissociated her from the world, letting the girl to deep into the darkness. Become one, become one.
-let the pain, let the pain stop. go, go, go-
"MARIAM!"
"xavier...?"
She let out her poisoned breath bleed out her mouth, the petite increases of diameter of stomach decreasing as her mouth opened wider. Another small glint beam against the murky oil alerted her troubled vision in front of her.
She stepped out of the void as she regained the sensation of limb movement again, feeling the glaring concrete floor and build up the stamina to go.
She wobbled at first then stood - actually stood - and let herself survey again. The screaming silence of the liquid stood its ground against her as it stopped and watched as she took one step, one step, two-two step, five steps, down to the rest of the void.
"MARIAMM! WHERE ARE YOU?"
The screaming again. Who is it?
"HEY!"
She screamed back.
"M-OOOUUUUUUCCCCCHHH!"
The spritz of spit sprayed her cheek from... from... the west? East? The girl spinned from the left, to the right, 180 - her eyes shaking as she tried to study her surroundings, but she couldn't.
-of course, you can't do shit-
A second shrill sound echoed, yet it sounded like it was eons away - as if in another life. The girl swiveled around to the noise, her eyes glassy from the oil poisoning. She opened her mouth but with it, she injected too much oil. It sickened her teeth as it dripped down into her throat, coating her esophagus with the black darkness that plugged the tube.
The girl dramatically hunched over, hacking so much that it felt like her bones would burst through. Her bones jolted back once the warmth reappeared again, the phantom hand caressing her over again.
This time, she could hear whispers.
The honied lisp of tongue drilling into her a satisfying comfort of safety, the murky liquid overcoming her even more as she downed down the poisoned sugar in the gallons.
"MARIAM! WHERE ARE YOU?"
The girl thrusted herself from the the now wintery grip still latched onto her arm, piling herself on the wall. Her heavy lids slotted her vision so very few, yet she could still see the glint of... xavier's necklace... yes, he was wearing one this morning... 100%.
Using the wall as the platform, she pushed off into the void again, her eyes trained against the bright, shining stair laying in the air as still as a knife.
-which would be good for some great knifeplay-
Her lids were lightweights now, the murky overcrowding her drifting away then swirling against her. The oil seemed mad that she had awaken from her coma...
The cold had now rushed against her, clenching her wrists that the girl was sure there'd be a scar later. The voice was in front of her.
"Mar, is that you? Please, kami, tell me that's you. I've been searching for you for forever and I- I- I'm so sorry."
She could feel the voice spoke with the drowsiness of runners finishing up a marathon.
-aw, darling, please. you think you can save both of you? thats crap; it's only one of you-
She let the poisoned oil inside her again, and let it speak for her. "X-X- don't worry, we'll get out of here. Yea, it's me... Mar-Mariam," The poisoned oil said. It clouded and gathered against the boy's face, not letting up.
"It is you! Oh thank kami, it's you! We gotta get out of here...-"
-well, why not him? hes an incredible mage; besides, he's more fun-
The boy in front of her - she recognized. His fire eyes checked her over and scurried over her image quickly, as he held on for dear life.
"-ariam, Mariam? Hey, did you answer my question?"
The oil flooded her body again, pushing against her skin, willing her to overflow. She hacked against her bones, against the boy who was dimly yelling into her ear.
Her bones broke from impact and she subsided to the void again, the darkness acting as her life support now. He was yelling into her ear but she paid more attention to the coolness gathering at her ankle, gripping her bone hard enough to fracture it.
-you look uncomfortable at the sight of me. know me from somewhere?-
It swayed back and forth between the ankles and the tip of her foot, before claiming a spot at the thigh.
It clenched. She screamed.
The oil was gasped in gallons as she fidgeted against the murky mess, still slightly remembering that she's probably kicking the boy.
- ... It wasn't before long, though, he was screaming ...
The girl burst off from the ground as a second firework was set off against her leg, jumping up from the murky waters. She got a moment to look at two figures, conjoined by the invisible bonds shared, sat across from each other on opposite sides of the room.
She sat back down.
The oil continued its ambush.
She breathed in the oil.
The pain subsided.
She subsided.
The boy on her lap cried.
The voices become loud again.
The furious slap of metallic sounded against the door.
She waited in the oil.
At first there was a water bucket.
The water bucket came down, down, down.
Cleaned out the place.
The two waited for the splash, but it never came.
Hands leached onto then and pulled them up.
Up the water fountain they went.
They looked back.
Both could've sworn they saw two pairs of eyes laughing maniacally at them.
So, um... sorry for the extremely long wait! I'm sick with COVID and I really didn't want to do shit, so yeah. Rough chapter, I know. Hope you enjoyed!
Have a good day/night, and I'll see you in the next one! Bye~!