The sudden nature of the disembodied voice sent chills down Felix's body. A shrill squeak escaped his throat.
"Relax, bro, it's just me."
Relief washed over him. He turned, only to see Piggy. At his same height. Pewdie processing mode kicked in for a few seconds; realization in three.. two…
"PIGGY! YOU'RE A HUMAN TOO?" he cried, not knowing whether to be happy or terrified.
"Yeeh, bro! Who do you think made Stephano that tall?" Huh. Pewdie had never thought to ask. He just kind of rolled with it.
"Well you weren't a human five minutes ago," he said. "Lookin' good, though." At those words, a smug grin split Piggy's face. A menacing, horrifying grin.
"You think so?" Piggy cooed, in a low voice. Pewdie immediately regretted saying anything. Before he could protest, Piggy was inches from his face.
"Whoa, bro, whoa," Pewdie demanded, pushing his face away with thin hands. "I'm not into that…" He thought of Stephano in that moment. "…kind of…. Stuff."
"Oh, but aren't you?" Piggy remarked. "I see the way you look at that French guy. I swear, man, it's as if you thought he was made of gold or something."
Pewdie shot him a "you-are-so-retarded" kind of look.
"You know what I mean. And I seen the way he look at you too. Don't hide it."
Pewdie stormed off without saying anything else.
Down the corridor he walked.
Stupid Piggy, he thought. How could he think that I'd…
A familiar crash sounded behind him. Looking back, bits of wood and dust were settling by a tattered wooden door. Pewdie rolled his eyes and ran, hiding behind a pile of barrels.
"Don't you dare fucking tell him where I am," Pewdie whispered. The barrels nodded, as if he could really trust them. Shockingly enough, they stayed quiet, and the Bro trotted by passively. Giving the barrels one last threatening stare, Pewdie retreated to the newly opened doorway, the Bro's latest victim.
Inside was a single door. He opened it slowly, expectantly, and slipped through the crack.
Another corridor. Effing brilliant. At his first step, his vision blurred and worsened, until he could only see plain white, and an echoing roar filled the room. He had learned from experience that it's best to stand still in times like this. When his vision returned to him, he could barely feel something leaking into his tennis shoes. Nearly petrified, he glanced downward.
Water.
At this point he felt it necessary to panic.
Flailing his arms and shouting out a string of Swedish words (probably not good ones), he sprinted to the nearest box and jumped up on it. That old splashing sound rung in his ears, like the last school bell toll of the year, that toll that won't leave your memory alone, and right when you think it's gone, it's August again. There's that bell; splash, splash. As if Felix needed another reason to hate water.
He hugged himself tight and, without him realizing, he squealed continuously, not taking his eyes off the place where it last stepped. There were no doors; only the corridor ahead. His lantern was still out and a layer of fog floated above him. He could hardly breathe, let alone see anything.
Attempting to cling to what sanity he had left, Pewdie began to look around for a lever, a switch, something to wrap his mind around, to distract from the fact that he was being chased. He jumped down and splashed his way to the next box, emitting a shrill noise as he did. To his right was a tall bookshelf, stocked with two books. He pulled out one with a dark blue cover – the label read "Anxious Screams" – and, after flipping through some of the pages, put it back on the shelf. He took the black one – "Fifty Shades of Grey" – and tossed it across the room without hesitation.
The water monster heard the resounding sploosh and made its way to where the book landed as Pewdie hopped down and sprinted off down the hall. He heard a growl of disapproval behind him and tried to force his tired legs to move faster. His feet started to lag behind the rest of him as he gained speed and he tripped and fell from a lack of friction. Scrambling to get up and whimpering relentlessly, he managed to stand again. The monster had caught up with him and slashed at his back, tearing his off-white T-shirt. The suddenness of the attack scared him more than anything and he backed against the corridor wall and dug his heels into the wall trimming. It seemed to work and the water monster stopped in its tracks, confused. Pewdie sighed in relief as quietly as he could, popping the cork off of a bottle of laudanum and gulping it down.
He took a deep breath and ran again. He ran without thinking to stop. He nearly shouted Stephano's name, expecting a reply, before he remembered again. He's gone. Pewdie was alone, and as much as he'd known the feeling, it never hurt him more than it did now.