Calm and Calamity

Chapter 35

The music outside grew louder and louder. Wendy gazed down at the chain around her ankle that bound her to the wall, to this room. Her eyes then looked over to the door.

She wanted to join in on the dance, on the fun. But she knew that she wouldn't be allowed. She was restricted from leaving the room. It wasn't safe for her to be with strangers. Or was it the other way around?

Wendy sat down and leaned against the wall, hugging her nameless soft toy giraffe to her chest. If she were allowed to join them, then perhaps Dex and Kai would come and get her? If they thought that she wouldn't be overwhelmed, they would invite her outside to dance.

The wendigo waited in hope, her smile slowly fading as time passed. Then she heard several voices wish each other 'goodnight'. But that wasn't possible. If it were nighttime, then Klei would have visited and told her a story. But he hadn't. She hadn't seen him for some time. Or had she? It was difficult to determine how many days passed without windows. At least back in the cave, she had a slither of light from the entrance. She needed Klei to tell her a story.

What was it that Dex had said? Klei was too busy coddling the water nymphs. He didn't have time to see Wendy anymore.

It was the same for Dex too. He was starting to visit less frequently too, though Wendy could hear him and the imps from her room.

Perhaps Kai had found someone too. Someone more important than her.

They all had new people to play with, to look after. They no longer needed Wendy. They no longer wanted to be with her. And why would they?

The wendigo gazed down at herself, seeing her sickly white skin stretched thin over her skeleton. Her fingers travelled up to her gaunt face, following her sunken cheeks up to her balding head where only a few strands of black hair sprouted out.

It was this place. They should never have moved here. This place had done something to Klei, Dex, and Kai- changed them.

Wendy clutched tightly onto her nameless toy giraffe, the twisting feeling in her stomach worsening. It was emptier than usual, like she was hollow inside. She needed to fill it; the hunger demanded her to do so.

Sobbing, Wendy's dirtied nails gripped into the toy giraffe, and she tore the neck off with her teeth. After swallowing, she then devoured the rest of the giraffe. But even then, her stomach continued to growl. It only made the emptiness inside of her grow.

Her eyes slowly looked up at the rest of her soft toys; all of them neatly organised on the shelf.

Day: 544

After getting changed out of her pyjamas, Corinna cooked breakfast for Harmony, Calixte, and herself. She handed the amphibian his food, who was currently engrossed in reading a crime novel, then Corinna sat down next to Harmony on the floor in front of the fireplace.

Harmony smiled and thanked her girlfriend for the meal, then returned to looking through the polaroids she had taken from last night.

"I think that one's my favourite," Corinna giggled, pointing at the photo of the dance-off between Harmony and Sumit with the imps in the background copying Sumit's moves, acting as his back-up dancers.

"And I like this one," Harmony snorted, showing the picture of Corinna mid sneeze.

Corinna pouted and glared at Harmony. "And I don't." She attempted to snatch it, but Harmony held it up high and she was unable to reach it. After she finally gave up, Corinna returned to eating her food and watched Harmony place the polaroids into the photo album. About a quarter of the book had been filled already with cuttings and extracts from Harmony's old notebook of memories, alongside drawings of memories and a few random frogs to fill in the blanks. Corinna craned her shoulder, attempting to read a section, but Harmony shut the book.