So, here it is! The next installment of Ao Oni: The Black Veleveteen. I tell you, Writer's Block is a jerk. Sorry this was delayed, but I hope you had a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, too!
Inspiration: the origional Ao Oni game, the awesome game Haunting Grounds that I really need to play again (especially Hewie), Slendertubbies, and several Creepypastas I read over the break.
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Horror in the Shed
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Nikoru sat up, eyes wide and hair wild.
Black and purple was all she saw. The floor—or whatever she was lying on—was slippery and soft. She felt as if the world were tilting underneath her sprawled legs, and constant flashes hurt her eyes and made her dizzy. Where was she? This wasn't the mansion.
She'd been on the stairs just a moment ago, hiding from…that thing. It was hovering before the door that must have been that playroom Hiroshi had mentioned. She watched it melt through the door like a water would through a sponge, leaving a blue stain on the wood. She had turned away, her back pressed against the wall, and sat quietly, one hand covering her mouth. That was all she could remember.
She cautiously began to stand but her knees buckled as the world abruptly flipped sideways. It was as if a rug had been pulled out from under her; she tumbled, did a back flip, and landed on her back, in that order. Maybe without the back flip, but yeah, it happened. Bewildered, she sat and accessed her surroundings once more: atmosphere filled with black and flashes, a slippery but soft floor, a tilting, abstract universe that filled her with maddening confusion.
Please tell me I'm not in a freaking belly or mouth or something, Nikoru thought callously. I'm not Jonas and there's no way in hell there'd be a giant whale in a mansion. The world tilted again and she jerked—her bottom sunk into the floor. With a startled yelp, Nikoru jumped up and rolled onto her side.
She lay there perfectly still, inhaling deeply and waiting. A few moments passed and Nikoru's heart sunk; the closet had been a close call, but this was obviously another story entirely. There might not be an escape this time.
"Okay," she mumbled, a finality in her undertones. She relaxed and dropped her face onto the ground, surrendering herself to whatever was to come next. "I'm gone. I'm signed out." She shivered as she sunk into the floor again; it was sucking her into something dark and silky. She shifted, uncomfortable, but then relaxed again, thinking it would be easier to suffocate to death rather than wait to be succumbed to something worse. "I'm out."
Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted and the heavy scent of must reached her nose. The slippery ground became thick and soppy and an unwelcome substance slathered her eyelids and began climbing up the inside of her nose.
Nikoru's reflexes reacted faster than her brain could register and she reeled back onto her knees, startled. The stuff was slimy and just plain gross. Repulsed, she blew her nose on her jacket's sleeve and wiped whatever it was off of her nose, then rubbed her eyes. She snorted in disgust and fingered her bangs out of her eyes.
Mud. It was everywhere—on her jacket, on her hands, on her jeans, up her nose.
"The fuck!" She exclaimed. She rose to her haunches so fast she stumbled and propelled backward.
Then realization hit her—mud. Mud?
Mud!
She looked wildly around, forgetting she was as dirty as a pig. She even forgot her own name for a moment.
Under the gray, cloudy sky, there was the mansion, but it was the backside. It looked…condemned from the back; the shutters were torn off and strewn across the ground and the windows, once glassed in, were shattered. Such a contrast from the front.
And if that wasn't bad, the yard was even worse.
It was overgrown; weeds had claimed possession over the winding, twisting trees, and there were shrubs ranging from three feet to twenty feet tall. They towered like giants, baring their barren sticks like teeth. Fencing the yard was a tall picket-fence. It had been eroded and rotted from rain and loomed precariously around here, blocking whatever was beyond. The solitude it created could have driven one mad with loneliness—but, far off to the left, there was a gate. Nikoru could see the yellowed hinges they were so large.
Her jaw dropped. "Unbelievable," she whispered in awe. "I'm outside. Oh, God, I'm out. I'm out." As she stood she chanted those words, incredulous. "I'm out! I'm alive! I can leave now!"
She began running towards the gate, a relieved smile stretched wide across her lips. But then she stopped and looked back at the house. A sense of longing overtook her.
"No," she murmured, disappointed. "I can't leave. Damn." It was almost painful to turn away from the unlocked gate that would secure her freedom, her sanity. But she wasn't done yet.
Anyone else would have feigned courage, just to put on an admirable show to the ghosts that observed them. But Nikoru was made of more stuff than that; she was feigning courage for those who were dearest to her. Though her head was pounding, her stomach was wrenching, and her legs were shaking, she knew she couldn't just leave. That would mean death for the others. She'd need to muster up all the courage she had to stay.
"I can't leave them," she sighed grimly.
Bark!
Nikoru stilled, listening intently. There was a grove in the back corner, the willow branches draped over a small wooden shack as molded as the picket-fence. There was a square cutout on the side facing her that looked to be a window, but it was boarded up by thick slabs of plywood.
"Dog?" Nikoru shouted. "Are you a dog?"
Bark! Aroof! Whimper.
It sounded as if it were wounded. Without thinking, Nikoru rushed towards the shed. Her jeans caught on a thorn bush and she ripped herself free, nearly stumbling in the process. The dog yelped, its eager voice disturbing the atmosphere like ripples in a pond. Though it sounded anguished, it was also a sort of…light. It was the one thing that actually touched Nikoru. It was the key to her sanity; a single torch in this dangerous, confusing place.
It made her nostalgic.
Then the howling ceased. Finally reaching the shed, Nikoru peered into the window curiously, forgetting where she was—oblivious to the danger she was in. Spiderwebs hung loosely from the corners of the window and they fluttered in the light, humid wind. There was something right inside, pressed against the wall under the jutting sill. It looked like a frame lined with glass. There were stains everywhere and a crack in the top right corner, the part closest to her. Beyond that, she couldn't see; it was incredibly dark inside.
"Dog? Are you there?"
Woof! Whimper.
"Good Lord, dog, you sound awful!" She started to reach in when a web caught her hand and startled her. She pulled back and sniffed in the cold air. "Yeah, I'm an idiot, I shouldn't do that."
Wondering around the shed, Nikoru finally found a door on the backside. It was small and narrow; its hinges had been torn off, but it was held in place by a broom stick.
"Oh, that's what it's held up with?" Nikoru shook her head. "So lame. Dog, how did you not escape already?" She grabbed the broom stick. It was soppy, as if it had been drenched in water for months. One would have thought it had cracked in half from the weight of the door. Nikoru tugged it free.
The second the stick was removed, the door fell forward. Nikoru jumped back just as the door collapsed on the spot her toes had been. An explosion of dust and freezing cold air rushed out and blasted her in the face. She stumbled back a foot, covering her watering eyes with her arm, and sneezed.
"Damn door," she muttered acridly. From under the dirty sleeve, she could see several webs covering the backside of the door, filled with bugs and dirt. Several spiders scurried out from the darkness of the shed and headed for her shoe, drawn to the warmth. "Whoa!" Nikoru gasped, backing quickly away. The spiders lost interest and crawled around her. She soon lost sight of them as they disappeared into the grass. Paranoid and creeped out, Nikoru jumped on top of the door, preferring not to be crawled on.
A slight breeze blew at the back of her head and she turned. Still, the shed was dark, so dark it couldn't be humanly possible. The door was practically screaming, Don't enter, moron! But from the looks of it outside, it hadn't been that large. The dog had to be right inside.
But that didn't make it any less creepy.
"Hey, dog," Nikoru called softly. "Can you come out? I really don't want to go in…"
Whimper. Whimper. Woof!
Nikoru sighed; "Well, hell, here I go."
The dog continued to whine as she stepped inside, cautiously eyeing the walls and floor. It was humidly cold and dank in there, the worst place to keep a pet. Speaking of which, what could the dog be doing in there?
It has to be tied, Nikoru mused, or it would have run a long time ago.
Several more steps in and the atmosphere changed drastically. It had gone from fragile to dense, as if a hoard of people were crowding Nikoru on all sides. The scent of rusting iron reached her nose. It was strong and gross and burned her eyes.
Through blurred eyes, she could just see an outlined figure off to her right. Instantly, she stilled and held her breath, trying to understand what she was seeing. After a few seconds, her eyes adjusted and the figure soon constructed a person. Nikoru's heart flew into her throat and apprehension gnawed at her stomach. The dog barked again, snapping Nikoru out of her haze.
Coincidentally, there was a small, red handy flashlight on some sort of counter beside her. She caught it out of the corner of her eye, but wasn't sure what it was either. Without removing her eyes from the figure, Nikoru reached down and groped it. Realizing it was a flashlight, she picked it up. She was hesitant—what would she reveal? Would she regret it?
After a short pause, Nikoru snapped the flashlight up and pointed it right at the figure then pushed the button on the bottom. The light swallowed all darkness within five feet and revealed a mannequin; it was tall and lean with crystal blue eyes and red, red lips. Nikoru breathed a sigh of relief, but paused and squinted at it, trying to decipher whether it was a guy or a girl.
Again, the dog barked and knocked Nikoru out of thought. She shook her head violently and itched her scalp.
"Okay, dog," she murmured, starting forward. "I'm comin' your way. I'll help you out, but you better thank the hell out of me. There are nasty spiders all over this hell hole and—"
She stopped, her eyes wide. Outside, this place had seemed so small. Inside…it had to be the size of her apartment. It was huge and long and there were different doorways, two per side from what she could see, but the light didn't reach whatever was inside. The front room she was standing in was lined with counter tops covered in rusted yard instruments, nails and screws, and a red caked saw. The items, though common for a gardener or for a caretaker of a large yard, disturbed Nikoru. This wasn't a shed—this was a freaky ass cabin in the woods or some shit.
She hurried forward, wanting to leave as soon as possible, and peeked into the first room, unable to help herself or her wandering eyes. It was barren and, like everywhere else, covered in dust. The floorboards were rotting; Nikoru was sure she'd fall through if she stepped on one. Turning, she looked into the next room. It looked the same as the first, but the floor was littered with nails and a hammer. The dog whimpered again, from further down the hall, and Nikoru moved on. Her flashlight revealed several more doors.
The next room on the left was stuffed with old, withered tree branches that seemed to had been used for firewood once, but Nikoru merely spared it a glance. The room across from it was empty, and the one beside it was, too; the room across emanated a sour smell and Nikoru grimaced with acute disgust.
"Yeah, you better be thankin' me, dog," she mumbled sardonically.