Chapter 7: 9-12-9-5-4-20-15-25-15-21

As Callie leapt toward me, ready to swat me down with her claws and kill me with her touch, I soon remembered that I had the kitchen knife that I took from the butchering room and gripped it tightly, proceeding to throw it at the Squid Sister as she dived toward me.

And to my surprise, despite Callie not having a physical body due to being a hallucination, the knife managed to lodge into one of her glowing eyes as she falls onto the ground below her, screaming loudly as her screams echo through the supermarket while flailing around. The shadowy inklings along with Cuttlefish's hallucination seeming to be driven back, as they run back into the darkness from where they came from. Meanwhile, Callie's hallucination is swatting the air around her with her claws while trying to pull the knife out that I threw into her eye. I quickly managed to get up to my feet, and ran through the parking lot outside of the supermarket while hiding from Callie in the darkness.

I soon saw something that caught my eye, however. I managed to spot a white light amongst the darkness at the center of the parking lot, and ran toward it, just before I saw the kitchen knife I used earlier on Callie flying toward me. I barely managed to avoid it, and looked back to Callie's hallucination having placed one of her gloves over her left eye as she lets out a roar and charges toward me at a fast pace as I jump into the light, the world around me turning completely white as I wake up to see a pair of medics around me along with several people looking relieved and happy to see me alive inside of the supermarket where I passed out.

I soon let out choking sounds upon waking up, feeling as though something was stuck in my throat as one of the medics gave me a bottle of water to drink to clear my throat. I gladly thanked him, and opened the cap of the bottle as I began drinking the water, one of the medics proceeding to talk.

"We thought you were gone for a moment there, and were about to take you to the hospital! Is everything alright now, sir?" The man helps me up as everyone around me look at me with relieved and happy expressions on them, glad that I managed to live through the hallucination they don't know I experienced.

"Y-yeah, I am. What the hell just happened to me?" I asked the medics, and they told me that someone called 911 and told about what happened to me, saying that I was suffering a blackout or an epilepsy attack judging by how I was twitching on the ground after I passed out. I wanted to tell everyone around me about the hallucinations of Callie and Cuttlefish that I experienced, but I know they wouldn't believe me, and just think I was insane. I instead thanked the medics for helping me, the pair smiling at me as they went back to their ambulance and drove off to the hospital.

I soon picked up my wares laying on the ground, and placed them in my bag as I paid for the items and went back to my car outside, seeing that the world around me has returned to normal. Another trip through a hallucination that nearly killed me, and I was lucky that I survived to tell a tale for my friend as I drove off to my house where Denver was waiting for me to check on the new "update" for my Splatoon copy.

I arrived home shortly afterward, seeing my friend standing outside of my house and looking at his phone as he looks up after hearing the sound of my car parking near the driveway. I got out, and smiled at him while holding my bag of groceries that I picked up.

"Hey, Sam! How's work been?" He asks me happily while I find my keys for the door, letting out a sigh as I proceed to unlock the entrance door.

"Ugh... I've been blocked off from working there for a while." I say annoyed, stepping inside of my house while placing my shopping bag on the ground and taking off my sweater and coat.

"Blocked off? What happened?" Denver steps inside of the house as well, removing his shoes as he walks inside while looking at me with a curious look as I walk inside of the kitchen to set my groceries nearby the sink.

"I know you're not going to believe me when I say this, but it's true. So bear with me, alright, dude?" We both sit down by the table, as I begin telling him about the hallucinations I've had as of late. He doesn't believe me at first, but as I went into greater details of what happened during the hallucinations I had, he was somewhat freaked out. As I was starting to ramble, he held his index finger upward as he signaled me to stop.

"Alright, I get it, Sam. You've had hallucinations and nightmares due to a lack of sleep. Remember, Callie and Cuttlefish are just video game characters, alright?" I barely manage to calm down, but that calmness was soon gone as soon as I noticed Cuttlefish laying on the ground in the dark hallway behind my friend as I gulped and let out an exhale as I looked down.

"Sam, is something wrong?" He turns to look behind him, and as soon as he does, Cuttlefish disappears as he looks back at me with a confused look.

"Sorry, I think I just saw something in the hallway. Anyways, I'll go light up the house, alright? Then I'll show you the new Splatoon update I mentioned about yesterday." I got up from my chair, and turned on all the lights around my house, not wanting to lose my sanity from looking at the hallucinations. I even went down to my basement and turned on the lights there, just to keep my house completely secure from Callie and Cuttlefish so they won't even have a place to stay in my house.

I soon called Denver to come to my room, and as he did, I turned on my Wii U and was treated to the Quick Start menu, seeing only the Splatoon icon on the menu along with the Settings option.

"So, what is this new update about?" He sits next to me on my sofa, staring at the television as the intro screen for Splatoon came up. Suddenly, something strange happened. My friend and I were confused, as we saw that my television flickering a bit, until it just turned into complete static as I got up from my sofa and sighed in annoyance.

"God damnit, HDMI cable must've unplugged itself." I walked toward my television, and checked the backside of it, seeing that it has indeed been unplugged. I didn't really remember unplugging it before, so I plugged it back in, and my friend only let out a confused sound upon seeing what was on the screen.

The screen showed Cap'n Cuttlefish's house like usual, except that it completely dark with the front door having been opened while the Splatoon logo was nowhere to be seen. There were still the "Press ZL + ZR buttons to start!" words. I was nervous of what was going to happen, until I heard my friend tell me to just start the game, as he was intrigued by this new update that I had that he didn't, as I pressed the two corresponding buttons.

As usual, the camera panned inside of the house, and I saw my character wake up all by himself on his bed. There weren't any signs of Callie or Marie whatsoever while the only sounds I could hear were my character's footsteps, the rain outside and the occasional lightning strikes as Denver just looked interested.

"I've never seen anything like this before, Sam... is this the new singleplayer campaign you were talking about?" He asked, as I turned to look at him. "Yeah, this is." I bluntly responded as I moved my inkling to the door, only to be met with a dark and decrepit hallway as Denver just stared at the television, watching me move my character.

"This seems a bit too out of place for a game like Splatoon, to be honest. Where's the action and fun?" He snarkly said, crossing his arms as I just rolled my eyes and responded to his question. "There's a lot of out of place stuff in this singleplayer campaign. Ranging from weird, glitched stuff to some strangely designed maps. It would just take too long for me to explain everything to you." I wanted to explain more about the campaign, until both of us heard something come from the game, and we soon saw my character staring at me with the same smile on his face.

"Hey, that actually looks kind of cute." Denver says, smiling at my inkling while I just stared at my character with an unfriendly look, knowing what he has done that Denver doesn't. Soon after, an objective appears that grabs my attention as well as my friend's.

Find Marie

"Find Marie, huh? Is she somewhere around the house, or something?" Denver sees me move my inkling through the corridor to where the stairs are, seeing the door being left wide open, and no signs of Marie's boots anywhere.

"I don't think so. I can't see her boots where the entrance is, and the door for the entrance is wide open." I say as I move my inkling toward the door, and he opens it by himself. Denver didn't think too much of it, but I knew what was up as I look at my Gamepad, and attempt to select the "Lobby" icon to just get this over with.

It was grayed out, but I noticed something different on the Gamepad. The shops from before that were grayed out are now in color, and I could choose them at free will. So I decided to go check out the items I could buy, just out of curiosity.

Recommended Music: Undertale - But Nobody Came

As soon as the screen showed the shop my character entered, I was immediately hit with nervousness and was starting to get afraid already. There was nothing whatsoever. No items, no shopkeeper, and the shop was completely darkened. There was one item that I found after pressing various buttons on the Gamepad: A note. My friend was curious as to what it said, and so I opened it, and began reading through it.

"Some inkling girl with white tentacles came running inside here, screaming her head off about someone named "Sam" coming for her. She seemed desperate for a hiding place, judging by her tone as I immediately called the cops and they soon arrived as the girl began explaining everything.

If this "Sam" inkling has been associated with the disappearances of the inkling boys and girls lately, then he mustn't get any of my weapons whatsoever. I have to warn the other shopkeepers, and tell them to evacuate. This place isn't safe anymore..."

"-R"

My friend just laughed at that note, saying how ridiculous that an inkling named after me was after one of the Squid Sisters, and began calling me an "Inkling Girl Lover" in a teasing manner, to which I bluntly told him to keep his mouth shut and proceeded to head to the next shop since there was nothing else for me to see in the current shop I was in.

Like the previous shop, the clothing store was empty, confusing both me and Denver. But since he was an S rank player, he simply rolled his eyes and sighed while shaking his head.

"Is this campaign seriously trying to be scary? Because if it is, it's not working at all." He crosses his arms, while I just started to get annoyed of him at this point. There was another note I found after pressing the same button that opened up the note in the weapon's shop, and I read through it.

"One of the shopkeepers came rushing in today, telling me that an inkling boy going by the name of "Sam" was coming soon, and was associated with the disappearances of the inkling boys and girls.

I didn't really believe him at first, but when one of the Squid Sisters whom I recognized as Marie came in and looked as though she was on the verge of tears and looked emotionally destroyed, I changed my mind completely after seeing the truth in her eyes. I bet, that "Sam" has taken everyone from her, including her sister and parents.

I really hope, that justice for Sam will be swift and painful."

"-U"

Denver just remained silent, not even saying anything. But I could tell, that he was unaffected by the note I read, and just waited for me to go to the next shop.

"Dude, don't you even realize what my character has done in this singleplayer campaign?" I asked him, and he just nodded as he responded to my question.

"Yeah, your character that YOU controlled killed them and all that on his own doing. But that's ridiculous, you did that on your own accord, and video game characters can't control themselves." He said, looking back at the television as I just moved onto the next shop.

And just like the previous two, the hat shop was also empty and dark. Denver at this point began to look bored, his eyelids being only half open and having a bored look on him while I continued to play the game. And like the last shop, the hat shop also had a note. But this one caught me off guard, as once opening it, it revealed a small line of text that sent some shivers down my spine.

"My daughter hasn't even shown up to help me today with the hats after she went to play some Turf Wars with her friends yesterday. Where is she? I'm so worried about her..."

-O"

"Hold on, let me get myself some soda, alright?" Denver says, sounding uninterested as he gets up from his bed while I just looked at him, disappointed. I soon let out a sigh as he left the room. My attention was soon attracted to the telvision as I heard a chuckle come from it as I saw my inkling look at me through the television.

"Your friend sounds uninterested, doesn't he?" My character says with Callie's voice as I jump in shock, and I soon talk to him with the Gamepad.

"How did you know that Denver was watching you, you murderer!?" I said disturbed, only for my character to let out a slight chuckle as he speaks in another voice. Cuttlefish's voice.

"You know so little about me, don't you, Sam? Very well... when Denver comes back, I'll show him something that'll frighten him." He forms the same, damned grin at me as I heard the footsteps of my friend outside, and he soon steps inside of my room with a can of Coca Cola in his hand, sitting next to me.

"Alright, so are we ready to go see the fourth and final shop, Sam?" He says, taking a sip from his drink as I press the icon with shoes on it. And this time, it was completely different.

A loud, static noise erupted my television as we both jumped completely in shock, and didn't get to see what the shop looked like at the time. I grabbed the nearby remote, and muted my television completely. I soon looked at Denver, and saw that he had spilt his drink on his shirt as he looked somewhat angrily at his shirt.

"Really!? That loud noise had to make me ruin my shirt!?" He gets up from my sofa, and lets out a sigh afterward as he walks to the door, looking somewhat annoyed.

"I'm going to wipe this stain off for a moment. You just sit there, and don't do anything. I want to see what the note for the shop has to say." He leaves the room, as I stare at the television and see my inkling looking at me again with the smile. The shop looked completely distorted, bent and there was static behind my character. I was about to say something, until he cut me off.

"Well, that was fun watching your friend spill his drink, wasn't it?" He tilts his head to the left, and I soon let out a disturbed sound of disgust as I hear him chuckle quietly again. I hear the sound of my friend cleaning off the cola on his shirt as I hear my character talk to me again in a demanding voice.

"Now quit wasting my time, and read the last note when your friend comes back. We need to find Marie..." He grins his smile, and I just stared at him with a neutral, but untrusting expression. I heard my friend come back some seconds later, and he let out a confused sound as he looked at the shop my character is in with disbelief.

"What the fuck?" Denver uttered quietly as he sat next to me, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

"What happened to the shop?" He asked, as I began reading the last note in the distorted and glitched shop. And it confused both of us as it just had two words.

"Help us..."

"-F"

The screen suddenly went completely black afterward, until it showed the Lobby menu a few seconds later. However, there was one thing that caught my attention while looking at the battle selection screen.

The music was completely gone, and the lights in the lobby area were gone as well. Only the faint appearance of my inkling can be seen as he's standing in the darkness, still having the grin on his face as if nothing was wrong. The only choice I had was "Regular Battle", while the rest of the modes couldn't be selected, and I couldn't leave the lobby even if I pressed the B button or the Gamepad, which had all of its icons grayed out.

Preparing myself to see what would happen next, I shakingly pressed the Regular Battle option, and the loading screen came up. Still no music.

I was introduced to the lobby, but there were no people there as I could start hearing the sound of something hitting my window. I turned to see what it was, and saw that it was starting to rain outside as I looked back at my television, seeing that no people are even on the lobby I am in.

"Sam, I can't believe I am saying this, but I'm feeling a bit nervous now." He said with paranoia in his voice, and I could see his eyes now having nervousness in them as he attempted to laugh it off. I grabbed the remote, and slowly turned the volume back up as we heard the sound of silence emit from the screen. Then, another boom of static is heard as 7 players suddenly joined the lobby I was in out of nowhere, and something was clearly wrong once they came in.

Their names were a glitched and jumbled mess, and their levels were 99, which was impossible to get, since the max level was 50 as I heard a loud, distorted and weird track that sounds like it used all of the songs of the Splatoon soundtrack. Amongst the names and glitches, one player name stuck out for me that sent shivers down my spine once I saw it before the map began loading.

"Emily"

I didn't really want to go to details on why that name was important to me at first, but it had something to do with my past as I barely managed to say something while looking at the name.

"No way..." I said quietly, but then I realized something. Maybe it wasn't whom I was thinking of, and maybe just someone else who was named Emily. But why would that name even be shown among the jumbled and glitched names in the first place? I was pondering on that question for a while, until the map showed up. A map that made me widen my eyes in fear as I soon realize, that this was an apartment complex.

I don't really want to get my personal life into this whole story, but this map alone made me want to talk about another subject that still haunts me whenever I think about it, followed by the fact that this game began to mock me at this point of my life.

Recommended Music: Undertale OST - Undertale

If you all couldn't guess already, Emily was the name of one of my girlfriends I had fond memories of staying and spending with during my time with her during and after our high school years together. Her personality just screamed out shy, laidback and quiet, and she wouldn't talk to anyone that she didn't know, including some of the teachers and classmates she and I were in.

Initially, we both started out as regular friends when we met one another when I moved to my high school after finishing primary school, where she and I politely introduced ourselves and sometimes talked to each other during recess as we both felt completely different to our other classmates. My classmates always looked down at me for not being as "fresh and cool" as they were, and loved to pick on me as they thought I was different like Emily was.

During our time spent at high school, me and Emily gradually began looking at each other more as the weeks and months went on, and even began talking to each other more during recesses. And this of course, lead our classmates, particularly the boys to start picking on us both for being "different" and "loners". Even after the teacher threatened to send them to detention and even sometimes to the principal, they still kept it up during recess hours. Eventually, both me and Emily were sent to a special classroom fit for only both of us after she was threatened and called out by nearly all the boys in the normal classroom during a recess for simply being the person she was, and this was where our relationship with each other began to spark, once we both knew that we both were free to talk to one another even during lessons in the classroom we both were in.

Me and Emily would have helped solve each other's assignments and studies that the teachers requested to us. One of them was the male teacher that threatened to send the boys to detention and the principal, and the other was a woman who loved seeing us both work together. Both teachers seemed so relaxed and happy whenever they were in the room with us both, and even accepted that we both could help each other's assignments they gave us in a way to improve our relationship.

Eventually, I couldn't hold my feelings toward Emily before christmas break, and told her how I felt about her after school while it was snowing. She only responded with a laugh, and not a mean-spirited one. She responded with a genuine and happy laugh as she told her feelings toward me as well as we both held each other's hands for the first time afterward. We completely blocked out the threats and names the boys would call us at this point, and even went on our first date together playing bowling and spending our Christmas Break with each other and sending each other presents for Christmas and spending our time together for New Year's.

However, all good things had to come to an end, and she wasn't her happy and usual self when we got back to school when 2015 started. I expected to see her happy and joyful self when she entered the special classroom after Christmas Break was over, only to see her having a tired and depressed look on her, as well as seeing some tear streaks down her face as I immediately went up to ask her what was wrong.

She said that she had a nightmare while sleeping during New Year's Eve, having dreamt about something indescribable running after her and grabbing her with its tentacles. I told her that it was just a nightmare, and proceeded to hug her while she did the same to me as we proceeded to do our usual school routine.

Things sadly worsened months later during June before the Summer Vacation on the 6th of June, a day and a week since Splatoon was launched. Me and Emily were playing said game together during the night alone, playing through the singleplayer campaign with both of us switching controllers whenever one of us got splatted by the octarians in the game. We both laughed whenever either one of us got splatted and had fun together before eventually stopping the game when we saw that we've stayed up much later than me and Emily expected as the clock read 3:04 AM. We both went to sleep on our own seperate beds after brushing our teeth, and looked at each other with grins on our faces.

I still remembered asking her a question that soon made me realize, who Marie's human voice belonged to in the game I was playing before falling asleep and getting her answer.

"Hey, Emily?" I heard my voice echo inside of my head, soon followed by Emily's.

"Yeah, Sam?" Her voice was faint and echoing, and that was when it hit me as I begin shaking my head to the sides in disbelief, eyes widened.

"Just out of curiosity, who is your favorite character from Splatoon?" I could hear myself giggling, before hearing Emily's voice say a sentence just as Denver snaps me back into reality before I could remember the rest of the story.

"Heh, isn't it obvious, Sam? It's Marie of the Squid Sisters!" I could hear her voice giggling as I felt Denver lightly punch my arm as I look at him, being snapped back into reality.

"Sam, are you going to start moving around, or something? Or are you just daydreaming?" He looked at me, curiosity and confusion in his voice as I proceed to take a deep breath, before responding to Denver, my voice being filled with regret and fear as I began moving my inkling toward the apartment complex.

"Y-yeah, sorry about that. Let's go, shall we?" My inkling opened the gates by himself, and took out his roller without any input from my Gamepad. I soon heard him let out a disturbing, quiet chuckle that came out of the television as he began walking toward the building where Marie, or dare I say, Emily is.

Author's Note: Well, there you go. This was quite a doozy to write.

You all know, who the third victim will be, and it's going to be quite heartwrenching for Marie fans. But... this is what has to be done to satisfy me, right? =)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bash Marie into nothing more than a puddle of ink as I move onto my next victim. And I'm just going to leave you sick people to wait for that to happen. Oh, but that's right. You all didn't read the memo, did you? There will be consequences for you, if you decide to stick with me to the end. But I can't change your sick, disgusting and demented ways a human behaves and thinks. =)