Chapter 6: An Unpleasant Sight
"Some doors are best left unopened."
The afternoon arrived, and a young pink squid awakened underneath warm blankets. She stretched, yawned, and then finally opened her eyes. Awaiting her was a smiling Marie.
"You're awake!" She said happily, jumping on the oversized bed with joy. Marie had woken up real early after Sake set her to bed the night prior, and had been patiently waiting for her cousin to wake up ever since.
Callie looked dazed and confused, only for her to sit up abruptly with a frightened expression. "M-Marie! The shadow men! They—"
"It's ok!" Marie interrupted, gesturing for Callie to look around.
The two were lying on a large bed in a pleasant pink-colored bedroom. The dresser to the side of the room was adorned with multiple common household objects, and the big closet on the other side contained a variety of men's and women's clothing.
"We're safe now, and we're gonna go home soon!" Marie assured her cousin, whose expression only grew more confused.
"I don't—" Before Callie could voice her concerns, the room's door squeaked open. She soon let out a bloodcurdling screech at the sight of who entered.
"Really? I know I'm not an inkling, but that's just rude," Sake said with a frown.
Marie raised her hands and tried to calm her cousin. "Callie! Calm down! He's not gonna hurt us. He saved us!"
Callie went silent for a moment. "H-he did?" she questioned, a fearful look stuck in her eyes.
"Mhm!" Marie nodded. "His name's Sake. He beat up the bad men and said he'll take us home!" She explained, to which Sake nodded in confirmation.
"She's right. I even brought you here to sleep on this nice warm bed." He said, patting the foot of the bed.
Callie's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. She looked down at the covers, gripping them tightly. "S-sorry for screaming, mister Sake, sir. T-thank you for saving us."
Sake waved his hand. "No need to apologize, pink one. It's normal for creatures such as yourselves to get startled by my appearance. I admire your bravery though! I'd expect a fourteen-year-old to scream louder."
Marie turned to Sake. "We're seven." She corrected.
Sake raised a brow. "Seven?" He asked in a skeptical tone. Both cousins nodded in agreement. "Huh, that's...strange..." He tapped his chin with a sharp claw, which Callie tried hard to ignore.
"E-excuse me, Mr. Sake, sir?"
Sake's ears twitched. "Yes?"
"Marie said you're gonna take us home. Is that true?"
Sake smiled, revealing his row of yellow, jagged, sharp teeth. Callie stifled back a scream at the sight of his maw. "Of course I am! But uh... something came up, so I'll only be able to take you back later tonight. You don't mind that, do you?"
Marie finally sat down on the bed next to her cousin. "Nope! Not if we go back today." She answered for both of them, and Sake clasped his hands together.
"Good."
Marie smiled at Sake, and he returned the smile with his own. She'd then turn back to Callie, who was blankly staring between the two.
Her cousin was acting weird. Normally, she'd be the friendliest of the two and much more talkative. But now, she was practically mimicking a mannequin. Then again, could anyone blame her? After what happened, she was probably still recovering from the shock of it all. Sake's unusual appearance didn't seem to help.
Suddenly, Callie leaned back with widened eyes, sinking deeper into the pillow she laid on. "What?" Marie followed Callie's gaze and looked to her side. She jolted in surprise, as Sake was right in her face. His movements were silent—she didn't even feel his presence.
A low sniffling noise came from Sake as he stared intently at Marie. Had it not been for him saving them earlier, she would've been creeped out.
"I-Is something wrong?" She asked worriedly, wondering what could make Sake act so strangely.
"No. Not at all. I was just checking something." He pulled back, and his black lips curled into a small smile.
Marie was hit with the sudden realization that Sake was sniffing her just then. Did she smell bad? She raised her arm and sniffed herself, just to make sure.
"Now then, I have to go take care of a few things." Sake said, making his way to the door. "I'll be back later. Don't leave this room under any circumstance. Got it?"
Callie and Marie nodded. "Don't worry! We won't." The latter cheerily replied.
After giving a quick nod, Sake disappeared behind the door, leaving the two cousins alone.
It took a minute, but Callie eventually felt comfortable enough to speak freely again. And of course, she bombarded Marie with a bunch of questions like: What happened? Where were they? Who was Sake? Stuff like that. Marie did her best to console Callie and answered every one of her questions to the best of her abilities.
Their talk lasted for an hour and a half before Callie's stomach interrupted them with a loud growl. "Marie..." she murmured, looking at her cousin.
"Hungry?" Marie easily guessed, to which Callie nodded. "Alright." She hopped off the bed and started making her way to the door, only for Callie to sputter out words.
"W-what are you doing?!" she said fearfully, reaching a hand out to Marie.
"What? I'm going to go get you something to eat. It's not like I have anything on me," Marie replied with a raised brow, as if stating the obvious.
"B-but Mr. Sake said to stay here..."
"Oh, calm down. I'm sure he won't mind." Marie smiled cheekily. "I'll be quick. He won't even know I was gone!" Her comment didn't ease Callie in the slightest. In fact, it caused her to huddle under the covers a little further. "I'll be right back, I promise!"
Marie swung the door open, causing Callie to toss the covers off herself. "Marie!" she yelled in a whisper while reaching a hand out to her, but made no attempts to leave the bed.
Marie gently closed the door behind her before Callie could protest.
She felt a little bad leaving Callie alone and disobeying Sake's explicit instructions. But Marie would die before letting her little cousin starve! Besides, Sake would surely understand.
Speaking of, where was he anyway? Sake had seemingly vanished and hadn't once checked up on them during his absence. Was he out of the cabin right now? Well, that worked out in her favor then. What Sake doesn't know won't hurt him.
Marie crept through the quiet halls of the cabin, looking for a pantry or kitchen. She hadn't gotten a good look at the cabin's layout when they first entered since it was dark, but with the sunlight lighting the place, she could see the cabin had a cozy appearance.
The floor was light brown and made of wood, like the ceiling, which was dark brown. The walls, which seemed to be made of smooth stone, were white.
Marie eventually stumbled into a hall with three doors: two on one side to the right and a single door to the left. The hall was a dead-on, so unless she made a wrong turn (which was likely) the pantry had to be one of these rooms. The single door to the left was cracked open, so she decided to check that room first.
As Marie approached the door, she heard strange noises coming from the other side. She paused and tuned into those noises, listening closely.
It sounded like someone... eating? Well, at least now she knew there was food on the other side. But did the person have to eat so sloppily? She could hear them chewing from a mile away!
She inched closer to the door, unsure of who was on the other side. She had a few guesses, one of which was confirmed when she heard a grunt come from the other side—A familiar-sounding grunt.
"Sake?" she mumbled and opened the door just enough to peek her head in.
Her hearts sank.
There was a terrible hue of purple ink everywhere. Even amongst the room's vast darkness, she could see it dripping off the stained bed sheets and wooden furniture.
At the center of the dark room were two bodies. One male, one female. Both inklings, like her. Their faces were stuck with mortified expressions. The worst part was their horribly mangled bodies.
Callie and Marie often watched Inkopolis turf war matches on TV, so the most violence Marie had ever seen were people casually popping like balloons. But here... these people weren't popped. They were torn—mainly in places where they shouldn't have been.
Sitting overtop the bodies was none other than Sake. The thing he had been snacking on was them. He effortlessly tore off the female inkling's hand with his claws and bit into part of it, ripping off a chunk of flesh, resulting in a terrible squelching sound and a spray of purple ink.
His teeth gnashed and chewed, putting Marie in a terrible trance. She wanted to scream, run, cry, vomit, and look away. But she couldn't do anything. So she sat there, staring at Sake as he devoured those poor people.
Without warning, Sake sneezed. The sudden action startled Marie, and she stepped back, causing the floorboards to let out an audible creak.
His head shot up at the noise, and in that same instance, Marie darted to the side, pressing her back up against the wall. Her hearts pounded in her chest like drums, and her breathing quickened exponentially.
Indescribable fear set in when she heard Sake stand up and approach the door. Each step he took was like a deafening explosion.
Marie forced her hands over her mouth, muffling her rapid breathing. It took every fiber of her being not to cry loudly. Her cheeks became wet with tears as Sake drew closer.
Instincts told her to run, but she couldn't. Fear had paralyzed her very soul.
Sake's footsteps abruptly stopped at the door. Marie only knew he was there because of his heavy breathing. She wholeheartedly expected him to open the door and see she was snooping, but to her utter surprise, he didn't. Instead, Sake closed the door, and she heard him walk back deeper into the room.
Marie slowly slid down the wall, practically gasping for air as sweat and tears dribbled down her face.
She couldn't wrap her head around the situation. Was Sake eating those inklings? How could he even stomach something like that? No... the better question is, did he kill them? No, he couldn't have. Sake said he was different from the rest of his people. He wouldn't kill anyone...
But now that Marie thought about it, that scream she heard last night sounded too high to belong to Sake...
Were... Were those bodies the cabin owners?
Marie desperately wanted to believe Sake wouldn't kill anyone, but the more mature side of her young brain had cogs and gears turning.
Sake was clearly eating those inklings. That would explain why he told Marie and Callie to stay in the room no matter what. He didn't want them to see him eating. Marie wasn't meant to see what she had seen.
If he was willing to hide things from the cousins, who's to say he wasn't willing to lie? Maybe he already has...
"S-screams..." Marie recalled the violent and haunting screams of the squidnappers. She thought it was all in her head, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe those screams were very real. But that would imply those bad men were killed by something...
Was that something Sake?
If so, why would Sake lie to her? Why kill all these people? More importantly, if he's going out of his way to save Callie and Marie, what does he want from them? Does he really want to bring them back home?
Marie had no idea what was going on anymore, nor did she have answers to any of the questions she thought of. There was only one thing she knew for sure.
She and Callie weren't safe here.
