Static Suspense
Chell's sweating hand slipped down the railing as she tried desperately to keep her sister from falling to the flooded floor, far below.
"I can't hold on for much longer!" Cara-Mia cried, her grip slipping from Chell's hand-
Chell pushed her long fall boots against the almost vertical catwalk, and climbed up it, clutching at Cara-Mia's palm with the little strength she could muster. Her sister found the railing and her nails scraped against the rust as she made a grab for it-
Escaping death hand in hand, the sisters climbed onto a concrete surface, panting. As they pulled each other into a hug of relief, Chell heard a voice scream below her-
"AAAAARGH! No no no, stop it!"
Chell span round and fell to her knees, squinting through the rusting holes in the metal floor of the catwalk. Doug was holding Wheatley millimetres above the water, a mad grin spread across his face-
Grabbing Cara-Mia by the shoulder, Chell pointed to them earnestly.
"Stop that!" Cara-Mia cried shrilly, dark eyes wide with fear. "Don't do it! You could kill him!"
Doug's insane smile faltered as he stared up at her angrily.
"He took my cube!" He shouted bitterly, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. "The first ever cube..."
"I said I'm sorry mate!" Wheatley yelled in reply. "It's not my fault, She made me do it. You know what She's like-"
"MORON!" Doug's eyes lit up with a feverish, ice-cold rage as his knuckles paled, his clenched fist wrapped around one of Wheatley's handles; his arm jolted back, and flew forward in a graceful arch, as if in slow motion-
ZZZZZZT.
Doug froze, his loosening grip on Wheatley tightening again, his face contorted into a silent scream of pain as his eyes rolled and his body twitched, burning bolts of electricity coursing through him-
Heavy eyelids fell over his bright blue eyes, his grimace of agony relaxing; his grip on Wheatley slackened and his arm dropped limply to the ground. His thin, lank body followed, crumpled in a heap, just the way they had found him.
A shocked silence filled the room, it's heavy weight pressing in on Chell's eardrums.
Cara-Mia was the first to break the silence. "You- you..." She began, but trailed off, lost for words.
"Yes," Wheatley replied, unusually hushed.
Everything had turned upside-down; it was like an extremely alien dream. Chell knew Wheatley had tried to kill before, but never... never with the real intention...
Breathless, she stared down at the tiny core. The only thing she could think was how surreal it was; such a small, harmless little thing doing that.
"I- I'm a murderer," Wheatley finally said. His expressionless voice echoed eerily through the old, stony halls, now haunted by the ranting ghost of a madman...
Chell pushed herself up, staring numbly at the body below her. Picking up her portal gun, dully surprised at how it had stayed at the top of the catwalk, she shot an indigo portal into the wall opposite and walked through.
Chell picked Wheatley up gingerly, and Doug's bony hand flopped from Wheatley's handle onto his stomach.
Looking at his expressionless face impassively, Chell was surprised at how old the man looked. His skin looked like parchment stretched across his skull; madness etched into every wrinkle and shadow.
But still, something felt familiar.
"I- I- let's get out of here," Wheatley stammered, as Chell carried him through the portal. What did it look like she was doing? She glared at him, emotion slowly coming back to her.
"Why?" Cara-Mia asked him angrily as she took him from Chell.
"I didn't mean to," Wheatley replied in a small voice, fidgeting in her arms. "I truly didn't want to kill him. I- I was just defending myself!"
Chell would normally have seen his point but at the moment she couldn't even look at him. He'd finally gone too far... Finally he'd done what he'd been holding back for years. He'd actually killed someone.
"Sorry," Wheatley muttered, still unusually quiet. His silence unsettled Chell as they strode along the dimly lit corridor.
After a while of walking, a metal door shone ahead of them; Chell saw her own reflection scowling back at her as she tried to look through the small window in the door.
As they approached it, the door slid open with a hiss, and graffiti on the walls glared at them, silently watching as the sisters stepped warily through the doorway.
The door slammed shut behind them.
"Oh, it's so good you're back," A musical voice echoed through the dark room...