LIMINALITY

Chapter 8.

Sadie woke up, turquoise lights shining in her eyes. She groaned quietly and rolled over to where she wasn't facing the light. She noticed that Ivory was lying next to her, asleep. Sadie wrapped her arms around her and pressed her thighs up against the back of her legs, pulling her closer. It was cold in the level they were in, so Sadie just resulted in using Ivory as warmth. She got bored of just lying there so she decided to try and wake her girlfriend up. "Ivorryyy..." She whispered and snuggled her face into her neck, "Iv, wake up." She muttered. Though, that didn't work so Sadie began lightly pecking Ivory's neck with kisses to try and wake her up. "Sadie, stop it; I'm tired.." She heard Ivory say in a low, tired voice. "But I'm bored and I wanna hang out with you." Sadie giggled and brushed her hair out of her face, "you're so pretty." She said and kissed her cheek. "Go back to bed.." Ivory turned over to where she was looking at her. "Hi," Sadie grinned. "You don't give up, do you?" Ivory sighed and smiled softly. "Yep. I always get what I want." Sadie replied as she sat up, throwing the blanket over Ivory's head. She groaned and pushed the blanket off of her, "did you have a good sleep?" She asked. "Yeah, I did." Sadie stood up and stretched her arms, "What about you?" She asked, "I had a nightmare, that's why I went over and slept with you." Ivory muttered, "awe...don't worry, nightmares won't hurt you as long as I'm around. If anything tries to hurt you, I'll beat you up. Just like I did to Dominick." Sadie hugged her, "by the way, you do know that you can snuggle with me, we don't have to sleep away from each other." She added, "alright.." Ivory smiled as her face turned from pale to red. Just then, Ivory felt herself being lifted from the ground, "SADIE, PUT ME DOWN-" She shouted and kicked her feet in the air, Sadie didn't say anything and instead just ran up the stairs while making sure not to drop Ivory. "wh- SADIE DON'T YOU DARE-" She realized what Sadie was gonna do. "THIS OUGHTA WAKE YOU UP!" Sadie shouted as she threw her into the slide. "Heh, she's gonna kill me isn't she..?" She muttered to herself and went down the slide. When she emerged from it, she saw an angry Ivory sitting on the ledge staring at her. "Now I'm soaking wet." She huffed. "Oh, c'mon. You were all drowsy and stuff- I needed to wake you up somehow." Sadie grinned. "Whatever," Ivory said and kicked her foot, splashing Sadie. "Oh, so that's what you want?" She said and splashed her back. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you get." Ivory grinned and jumped in the water, causing a big splash. They were drenching each other in water after Ivory declared a splash war. They were having fun, being so carefree. They haven't been like this since they were little kids. There'd always be some kind of stress at school or at home with their parents or with aggravating, angsty teens at their school. Ivory only liked going to school to get away from her parents and their high standards, and to see Sadie of course. School was the only time that she really got to see her, they never spent the night at each other's houses since Sadie's house smelt like smoke, or her mom was drinking alcohol. Ivory's house was a no-go too since her parents are extremely strict and don't let her have friends over.

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After about thirty minutes of goofing around in the pool, the girls got out and dried off. Unfortunately, they didn't have any towels so they just had to air dry their bodies. "What would happen if you tried to open a window?" Sadie wondered and looked over to one of the windows displaying nothing but an empty void. "I'm not sure..it may be dangerous, though." Ivory said. Sadie stood up, not even the slightest bit scared and walked over to the back wall. "I guess there's only one way to find out." She said and stood up on her tip-toes, trying to push up the window with her hands and arm strength. To her avail, nothing happened. "It won't open..." She muttered and sighed heavily, growing impatient. "Let me try." Ivory stood up and walked over to the window, putting her hands on the ledge and pushed up. "Yeah, this thing is not gonna open." She said and let her hands drop to her sides. "Hmmm.." Sadie hummed and walked around, picking at her nails. She didn't like staying in one place for a while, especially not a small place like the level she was in. She liked adventure, finding new places. "I'm soooo bored." She huffed and plopped herself down on the ground. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here soon." Ivory smiled. She was also quite worried, though. She didn't have much hope that they'd get out. Unlike the warehouse level, which had a very large area to explore, the place they were in was just two rooms. No doors at all. "There has to be a way to trigger something.." Sadie whispered to herself and looked up at the ceiling. It was white and tiled, having the same turquoise tint that the rest of the room did. She then looked over to the pool again, studying it carefully. She looked over to one of the dark corners of the room and saw something, something she didn't before. "Is that... a diving board?" She said, curiously. "Hm?" Ivory perked her head up. "Yeah, look over there!" Sadie pointed to the corner and got up off of the floor. She walked over to the dark corner and crouched down, looking at the diving board. "You think if I jump on it, I'll die?" She asked and looked up at Ivory. "I dunno..." Ivory said and gently put her hand on the board and pushed down, testing it. "It seems pretty sturdy, I guess. If you stand on it and it breaks, you'll just fall into the pool so..." She explained. Sadie nodded and grinned. She put one foot on the board, and hesitantly stood on it, both of her feet on top of the board now. "I mean, I haven't fallen yet so.. oh, hey-! Maybe if I jump in the pool, I'll no-clip out of this joint. You think it'll work?" She asked. "Seems like a good plan to me." Ivory smiled and nodded. "Alright...oneee....twooo..." She bent her legs, getting ready to dive, "three.!" She dove into the water and sure enough....

She was gone.

"Sadie?" Ivory called out and looked into the water. Sadie was nowhere to be found. "I- I guess it did work.." She was shocked. Ivory looked over to the diving board and sighed, "My turn, I suppose." She stepped onto the board reluctantly and looked down into the pool waters. The turquoise light seemed brighter for a reason Ivory couldn't figure out. She held her breath and dived into the water.

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