***
Chapter 6
Help me, Please
***
Andraia stared at the scene in front of her in a state of pure horror.
She wanted to close the door, shut it out, but when she turned around, she
found the room in the exact same state as the hallways outside. On the
blackboard, which was covered in goo and had fallen on the floor, were
these words: "Told you so."
This puzzled her, until she remembered what USED to be written on the
board "Sometimes the promise is more comfort than the fullfillment of it."
Then she remembered the note she had found earlier.
"Pianos have keys...."
The music had been the key to...................wherever this was. This
whole situation was some kind of puzzle. And this puzzle knew her. It
WANTED her to solve it.
"Enzo........" she whispered quietly.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the hallway. Her steps made a
hollow tapping sound as she moved. Whatever was on the floor was sticky,
so she felt a slight pull on her shoe with each step. Frisket followed
closely, and quietly behind. The dog seemed genuinely afraid.
The noise was driving her crazy. The electronic whine of the monsters, and
all the sounds they made moving around, were spooky, disgusting, and
overwhelming.
She ducked into the first doorway she saw, and was surrounded by about
five of them. Now having a flashlight, she could see what they looked
like. They were small, skinless lifeforms, their exposed muscles reminding
her of Zaytan from the game. They had expressionless faces, mouths dropped
as if in surprise, but eyes not showing it. Those eyes were so blank....
They were holding knives, and slowly moved toward her in a zombieish
fashion.
Frisket jumped on them. Andraia was too close to the dog to use the sword,
so she extended her nails and proceeded to rip through the monsters
nearby.
They were taken care of rather quickly.
Now that the fight was over, Andraia looked around. They were in what
seemingly used to be a library. Books were scattered all over the floor.
She noticed just then that she was standing on one.
On the page it said:
A dark, dark tale:
In the dark, dark woods there was a dark, dark house.
In the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark hall.
In the dark, dark hall there were some dark, dark stairs.
Over the dark, dark stairs tehre was a dark, dark room.
In the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard.
In the dark, dark cupboard there was a dark, dark corner.
In the dark, dark corner there was a dark, dark box.
In the dark, dark box there was...........A MOUSE!
Andraia remembered this story. Enzo told it to her. That was a funny tale
in itself. Just at the punchline, Mouse had snuck up on him.......
***
Flashback
***
"......In the dark, dark box there was............"
"ME!" Mouse yelled while tickling him under the armpits. Andraia and Mouse
both laughed as he jumped about ten feet.
"You should have seen the look on his face!" Andraia said while laughing
out loud.
"Oh, don't worry, sugar, I will. I just gotta get me the security videos
for the room. Maybe if we get back online, I'll send 'em to 'Net's
Funniest Videos........"
If the look on Enzo's face hadn't been priceless before, it definitely was
now.
Dot had entered the room to find Mouse and Andraia in a game of "Monkey in
the Middle" with a video disk, with Enzo desperately trying to catch it.
***
End Flashback
***
Despite her situation, Andraia laughed. Any happy memory right now was
like a miracle from heaven. Frisket looked up at her, with those puppy
eyes. Andraia sometimes wondered if dogs understood more than they let on.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a small squeaking sound. On ordinary rat
was poking its nose around the piles of books, looking for who knows what.
Frisket growled, but Andraia held him back. The dog quieted down as the
rat pushed one of the books away with its tiny hands to reveal a small box
and a nest of baby rats.
How something so cute could be hidden inside this twisted perversion of
the system was beyond her. It was almost as if the rats represented hope
itself.
The mother rat looked up at her, staring with its shiny black eyes. It
pushed the book back over the box, and walked right up to Andraia. It then
turned around, walked a short distance, then turned back to Andraia,
looking at her as if wating for an answer.
Maybe she was supposed to follow the rat?
The rat led her through another hall, then down a new set of stairs. When
she got to the first floor, the rat continued down a set of basement
stairs. There hadn't been basement stairs in the hall she started from.
The hallways were disturbing. Somewhere behind the rotted walls, she
thought she could see hanging corpses. Wasn't that technically impossible?
Unless they were still alive...........eeeewwwww............
The rat stopped at a door. It stood on its hind legs, waving its hands in
the air, as if to indicate the door.
"Thank you." Andraia didn't know what else to say. She'd been helped by a
rat?
The rat nodded............or seemed to, and scurried off. Maybe the rodent
had been that glad to see something other than a monster?
Andraia opened the door and looked inside. It seemed to be a small room
with some machinery running. The floor inside was less stable then the
flooring in the other places in the school. Even the metal grate and
fences were rotting in front of her, and only darkness was past them.
She spotted a figure huddled in the corner. Frisket happily barked and
rushed ahead of her. Andraia knew that cuold only mean one thing.
"Enzo!"
She rushed up to him. He was in much worse shape then before. He shivered
and mumbled in a state of fitful sleep. His skin was damp and hot to the
touch. Andraia cradled him, feeling tears coming on almost immediately.
She'd found him, but would she get him out of this alive?
He groaned, then opened his good eye. As soon as he recognized Andraia, he
sat up and hugged her tightly, crying into her shoulder like a small,
scared child.
Suddenly, the scenery began to melt away into what appeared to be a normal
boiler room.
But then, a roar of anger came from somewhere, and the twisted version of
the world returned in an instant, more degraded than before.
And the floor collapsed below her.
But? This was a basement!
She landed on something hard. Enzo was a few feet in front of her, and
Frisket was nowhere to be seen.
A pair of glowing white eyes were visible in the darkness.
"Your influence on him is stronger than I imagined," said a voice from the
direction of the eyes.
"Andraia! Don't let her infect you!" Enzo called out. Andraia lept as some
strange tentacle lashed out at her. Andraia dodged.
"What's wrong little girl? Don't wanna go to sleep just yet? It doesn't
matter, the more fearful you are, the more powerful I become when I
finally have you," said the virus as she lashed out at her again.
This time, Andraia slashed at the tentacles. Liquid poured from the
severed appendages as the virus screamed.
The virus dissappeared altogether. Then, so did everything else.
Everything went dark.
Andraia woke up in the school music room. Frisket was gone, Enzo was gone,
Glitch was spitting out some angry gibberish about interference, and the
darkness was gone......
The music room was a normal school room, bathed in a faint white light
from sunlight reflecting off the snowfall outside. It was still foggy, in
fact, even inside the room it was foggy. But it was........normal.
"She feeds off fear. Was that her, or some illusion? Glitch? Are you okay?"
More angry gibberish, but the keytool finally beeped that it was fine.
"Did it happen? Or was it some kind of nightmare?"
Glitch had been out cold from the interference, and couldn't answer.
"Glitch, is Enzo okay?"
The map again. He was at the principal office. How...........?
"Okay, then. Let's get out of here."
Chapter 6
Help me, Please
***
Andraia stared at the scene in front of her in a state of pure horror.
She wanted to close the door, shut it out, but when she turned around, she
found the room in the exact same state as the hallways outside. On the
blackboard, which was covered in goo and had fallen on the floor, were
these words: "Told you so."
This puzzled her, until she remembered what USED to be written on the
board "Sometimes the promise is more comfort than the fullfillment of it."
Then she remembered the note she had found earlier.
"Pianos have keys...."
The music had been the key to...................wherever this was. This
whole situation was some kind of puzzle. And this puzzle knew her. It
WANTED her to solve it.
"Enzo........" she whispered quietly.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the hallway. Her steps made a
hollow tapping sound as she moved. Whatever was on the floor was sticky,
so she felt a slight pull on her shoe with each step. Frisket followed
closely, and quietly behind. The dog seemed genuinely afraid.
The noise was driving her crazy. The electronic whine of the monsters, and
all the sounds they made moving around, were spooky, disgusting, and
overwhelming.
She ducked into the first doorway she saw, and was surrounded by about
five of them. Now having a flashlight, she could see what they looked
like. They were small, skinless lifeforms, their exposed muscles reminding
her of Zaytan from the game. They had expressionless faces, mouths dropped
as if in surprise, but eyes not showing it. Those eyes were so blank....
They were holding knives, and slowly moved toward her in a zombieish
fashion.
Frisket jumped on them. Andraia was too close to the dog to use the sword,
so she extended her nails and proceeded to rip through the monsters
nearby.
They were taken care of rather quickly.
Now that the fight was over, Andraia looked around. They were in what
seemingly used to be a library. Books were scattered all over the floor.
She noticed just then that she was standing on one.
On the page it said:
A dark, dark tale:
In the dark, dark woods there was a dark, dark house.
In the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark hall.
In the dark, dark hall there were some dark, dark stairs.
Over the dark, dark stairs tehre was a dark, dark room.
In the dark, dark room there was a dark, dark cupboard.
In the dark, dark cupboard there was a dark, dark corner.
In the dark, dark corner there was a dark, dark box.
In the dark, dark box there was...........A MOUSE!
Andraia remembered this story. Enzo told it to her. That was a funny tale
in itself. Just at the punchline, Mouse had snuck up on him.......
***
Flashback
***
"......In the dark, dark box there was............"
"ME!" Mouse yelled while tickling him under the armpits. Andraia and Mouse
both laughed as he jumped about ten feet.
"You should have seen the look on his face!" Andraia said while laughing
out loud.
"Oh, don't worry, sugar, I will. I just gotta get me the security videos
for the room. Maybe if we get back online, I'll send 'em to 'Net's
Funniest Videos........"
If the look on Enzo's face hadn't been priceless before, it definitely was
now.
Dot had entered the room to find Mouse and Andraia in a game of "Monkey in
the Middle" with a video disk, with Enzo desperately trying to catch it.
***
End Flashback
***
Despite her situation, Andraia laughed. Any happy memory right now was
like a miracle from heaven. Frisket looked up at her, with those puppy
eyes. Andraia sometimes wondered if dogs understood more than they let on.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a small squeaking sound. On ordinary rat
was poking its nose around the piles of books, looking for who knows what.
Frisket growled, but Andraia held him back. The dog quieted down as the
rat pushed one of the books away with its tiny hands to reveal a small box
and a nest of baby rats.
How something so cute could be hidden inside this twisted perversion of
the system was beyond her. It was almost as if the rats represented hope
itself.
The mother rat looked up at her, staring with its shiny black eyes. It
pushed the book back over the box, and walked right up to Andraia. It then
turned around, walked a short distance, then turned back to Andraia,
looking at her as if wating for an answer.
Maybe she was supposed to follow the rat?
The rat led her through another hall, then down a new set of stairs. When
she got to the first floor, the rat continued down a set of basement
stairs. There hadn't been basement stairs in the hall she started from.
The hallways were disturbing. Somewhere behind the rotted walls, she
thought she could see hanging corpses. Wasn't that technically impossible?
Unless they were still alive...........eeeewwwww............
The rat stopped at a door. It stood on its hind legs, waving its hands in
the air, as if to indicate the door.
"Thank you." Andraia didn't know what else to say. She'd been helped by a
rat?
The rat nodded............or seemed to, and scurried off. Maybe the rodent
had been that glad to see something other than a monster?
Andraia opened the door and looked inside. It seemed to be a small room
with some machinery running. The floor inside was less stable then the
flooring in the other places in the school. Even the metal grate and
fences were rotting in front of her, and only darkness was past them.
She spotted a figure huddled in the corner. Frisket happily barked and
rushed ahead of her. Andraia knew that cuold only mean one thing.
"Enzo!"
She rushed up to him. He was in much worse shape then before. He shivered
and mumbled in a state of fitful sleep. His skin was damp and hot to the
touch. Andraia cradled him, feeling tears coming on almost immediately.
She'd found him, but would she get him out of this alive?
He groaned, then opened his good eye. As soon as he recognized Andraia, he
sat up and hugged her tightly, crying into her shoulder like a small,
scared child.
Suddenly, the scenery began to melt away into what appeared to be a normal
boiler room.
But then, a roar of anger came from somewhere, and the twisted version of
the world returned in an instant, more degraded than before.
And the floor collapsed below her.
But? This was a basement!
She landed on something hard. Enzo was a few feet in front of her, and
Frisket was nowhere to be seen.
A pair of glowing white eyes were visible in the darkness.
"Your influence on him is stronger than I imagined," said a voice from the
direction of the eyes.
"Andraia! Don't let her infect you!" Enzo called out. Andraia lept as some
strange tentacle lashed out at her. Andraia dodged.
"What's wrong little girl? Don't wanna go to sleep just yet? It doesn't
matter, the more fearful you are, the more powerful I become when I
finally have you," said the virus as she lashed out at her again.
This time, Andraia slashed at the tentacles. Liquid poured from the
severed appendages as the virus screamed.
The virus dissappeared altogether. Then, so did everything else.
Everything went dark.
Andraia woke up in the school music room. Frisket was gone, Enzo was gone,
Glitch was spitting out some angry gibberish about interference, and the
darkness was gone......
The music room was a normal school room, bathed in a faint white light
from sunlight reflecting off the snowfall outside. It was still foggy, in
fact, even inside the room it was foggy. But it was........normal.
"She feeds off fear. Was that her, or some illusion? Glitch? Are you okay?"
More angry gibberish, but the keytool finally beeped that it was fine.
"Did it happen? Or was it some kind of nightmare?"
Glitch had been out cold from the interference, and couldn't answer.
"Glitch, is Enzo okay?"
The map again. He was at the principal office. How...........?
"Okay, then. Let's get out of here."
