Paige jolted awake, their heart pounding out of their chest. What the sheol just happened? Was that a dream? It had to be; nothing about the past 48 hours made any sense. No one had picked them up off the street, they didn't eat anything or read any scripts, they didn't teach the children, they didn't hurt the children. It was all just a dream, right?
No. No it wasn't. Paige found themself sitting on an extremely colorful couch, in a room that seemed oddly empty, despite still being crammed full of knickknacks and pictures on the walls. They felt a sickening goo running through their veins, and they hoped to God that THAT hadn't happened... because of what they'd done. But it wouldn't, right? They didn't know they'd be hurting those kids... They didn't...
They DID notice Roy sitting across the room in a green chair. He was almost completely still, only really noticeable from his breathing. He... he knew about this. He had to. He did this to them. He MADE them do this. The sickening feeling in the pit of Paige's stomach was replaced by a boiling rage.
"What. The hell. Was that?!" they demanded.
Roy stayed silent.
"I- I did NOT sign up for- for whatever the FUCK that was!" the object sputtered wildly. "I- how did- why did that- WHY?!"
Roy stayed silent.
Paige groaned in frustration and stomped their feet, shoving themself out of their chair. This wasn't fair, nothing made any sense and now he wasn't even explaining himself! It took half a mind to not just throw one of those pictures on the wall at him.
"Y- you're horrid, you know that? You're disgusting, a- and freakish, and sick! I don't know what your little game is but I don't want ANY part of it! You don't have to pay me, I don't want your damn money! I wanna go home and you are gonna let me out of this hellhole RIGHT NOW!"
Paige was trying terribly hard to be angry and intimidating enough to be set free. Honestly, they didn't know what their plan was from this point on, but there wasn't much else they could do.
Roy stood up.
"I should have known better than to pick you. But I still need you."
"No! I'm not going along with whatever you have planned!"
"Don't worry. You don't have a choice in the matter."
Paige watched the man reach into his pocket and pull out a long, shiny, brand new screwdriver. It's point was unnecessarily sharp and the gleam in Roy's eyes told Paige exactly what was gonna happen next. They swallowed. It's okay.
I can still make it.
If there was one defining feature about Paige, it was their skills in self preservation. And cowardice.
Roy burst towards Paige, screwdriver in hand and hurtled it straight at their head. They swung to the left and let it get lodged in the couch, grabbing Roy's jaw and kneeing him hard enough to dislocate it. Paige crawled on top of the couch and tried to balance on top as Roy pried his weapon free. The man glared at them with such an intense and unsettling rage that the object nearly fell backwards at the sight of his lolling jaw. He was much MUCH taller than them so he didn't even have to climb the couch to get on Paige's level. They pressed themself against the wall behind them but felt the cool sensation of glass instead. A window!
Paige kicked Roy straight in the ribs, sending him flying backwards, as they simultaneously slammed themselves backwards against the window, shattering it and falling backwards out the house and into the raining outdoors.
They didn't have time to celebrate the minor escape. Paige shoved themself to their feet and sprinted away from the house, across the sopping wet grass and into the woods that surrounded the few houses in this world. They ran and ran and ran but there was nowhere to go. There was no way out. They were stuck in this world forever, or at least until Roy let them out.
Paige realized, in their heart, that they would never go home.
...
No one saw Paige for a very long time. Some say it was weeks. Some say it was months. Some say it was years. They stayed on the outskirts of Roy's virtual world and watched him bring in more and more objects to sing and slaughter. They considered trying to help some of the new teachers but argued against it in favor of their own safety. It was for the best anyways. If they knew the kind of people Roy brought in, they wouldn't have even considered trying to save them. It still stung, knowing that all of those creatures were to be killed like they were meant to be. Self preservation.
It was just like they had become accustomed to previously. Lonely and hungry in the woods. But they would trade anything to be in the real world and not here. Watching. Always just... watching.
They watched in the window as Tony was brought in to sing. They watched from the floor of the forest as Shrignold lured in the youngest child. They watched in the distance, Roy bringing in what looked like a very small, very confused object child to work. Paige watched everything.
Until they couldn't anymore.
And someone finally saw Paige again.
But for us to see that...
We have to go back to the beginning.
Let's find out what the trio have been up to.