Breaking The Loop

Chapter Two

      I close the door quickly and slide the lock shut. Mono runs over and climbs up onto a crate, he jumps up and pulls the shotgun down as the Hunter breaks through the door. I pick up the barrel of the shotgun and aim it at his face. "THIS IS FOR LOCKING ME UP BITCH!" I scream. Mono pulls the trigger behind me, there's a burst of fire as the bullet is fired, and me and Mono get thrown back from the recoil. My ears are ringing and I touch a finger to see if I'm bleeding any. Luckily I didn't bust my eardrums. I look over to see Mono with a hand against his head as he slows shakes it, trying to clear the ringing. Finally the ringing fades away and Mono asks me a question.

     "Why did you yell that to him?" I remember my last words to the Hunter.
 
     "He locked me up in that room with a music box to entertain me. I was scared and upset. Frankly I was mad." Mono laughs.

     "How about we get out of here?" He asks. I nod and we climb out of the window to the beach. We go over to the broken door and push it into the water. I climb on quickly with Mono right behind me. We travel slowly through the ocean. At some point I start to get cold. To be fair we're in the middle of the ocean with fog surrounding us. Mono must of seen me shivering because he walks over and puts an arm around me. I smile as he shares his warmth.

     "You know, I don't understand why I was scared of you before." I say. He just shrugs.

     "Human instinct is to be scared of people we don't know. The logical side of our brain tells us that they haven't hurt us yet so we still have a chance of being safe. The fearful side of out brain tells us that we never really know anyone, so it overrules the logical side and makes us scared." I turn to him.

     "You sound like a psychiatrist." He laughs.

     "Nah, I'd be bored doing that job. I'd rather just explore the world even if it's messed up." I see some tvs floating in the water and I wonder if Mono has any clue as to what his future is supposed to hold. But I remember, I'm here. I get to make the decision to drop him or not. And I am definitely pulling him up.

     Suddenly a city looms out of the fog at us. It's crumbling and warping due to the Signal Tower. We both stand up and I slip my hand into Mono's. Again, the screen could not tell me how big the city is in person. The city is huge, dwarfing all the regular cities in my world. Soon our makeshift raft slides onto the beach and we get off of it. I see a tv in the distance that usually has a glitching remain next to it but they don't actually exist so the tv stands alone. Me and Mono walk into an open doorway entering the Pale City.

     As we walk inside the door closes behind us and look up to see the gaping hole in the ceiling. I see hanging tvs and the clothes of a Watcher who met their fate. Me and Mono walk past it and jump through a hole in the wall. We jump down from the boxes on the other side of the hole and walk across the street to the dinner window. It most likely would've been a barber shop, where there would've been a barber if the game developers didn't cut him out.

     I'm also kinda glad they cut him out though, giant scissors, no thank you. We walk past the empty seats with clothes in them and we walk through the small hallway into the room with all the tvs piled ontop of one another. I know there's a pulley system on the other side of a small window and I want to use it.
 
     "Hey Mono, think you can boost me up through there?" He nods and goes under the window. He cups his hands and I let him boost me up through the window into the next room. I see the tv I climb on to get on the noose like rope and I see the tv I push off another tv, to pull me up to the next floor. I climb on top of the TV and jump grabbing onto the noose for dear life. I know I have to kick it three times after swinging once to get momentum. I swing back and when I go forward I get close to the tv. I swing back again and this time I hit the tv with my feet. It makes a loud banging sound.

     I hit it again and I realize my feet are going to hate me with all the running, climbing, hitting stuff, and jumping. I hit it one last time and get pulled up swiftly to the next floor. I swing back again and let go of the noose when I'm close enough to the floor to land safely. I run through a small hall and see Mono looking up, most likely worried. "HI!" I call down waving. He waves back. "Get onto the tv!" I yell down pointing to the tv with the rope. He climbs onto the right tv and I push off a tv on my level dragging Mono up to the floor above me. I go back to the staircase and climb up some stairs before they end in a gap. Mono's on one side while I'm stranded on the other.

     Mono holds out his hand and I know he's going to catch me. Before I can change my mind I jump across the gap and Mono grabs my hand before I fall. He pulls me up but his grip slips so he quickly wraps his other arm around my waist. After he pulls me up we're kinda hugging. I let go of his hand and he takes his arm from my waist.

     We walk up the stairs and come across a beam we have to cross to go up some more stairs. I go first not bothering putting out my arms for balance, I've always been good at the balance beam, just this time it means death if I fall.

     I see the small gap I have to jump and I easily clear it before walking across the rest of the beam and up the stairs waiting for Mono. He has to put out his arms for balance and I feel bad for showing off. We walk under some boards trying to board up a doorway into a room with clothes hanging from a noose. His body was taken by the Signal Tower after he killed himself. I see a partially broken door in front of us and remember this is the tv sence.

     Mono has to go alone. He slips through the door and I hear static on the other side. After a minute I hear him tuning the signal and fixing the image of the hallway. I slip through the boards to see him get sucked into the tv.

     I see him on screen walking towards the door. The door his future self is behind. I go over to the tv and press my hands against it. Somehow my hands melt through the screen and I feel around until I find what I think are Mono's shoulders. I pull him out and we fall to the floor together as the tv shuts off. We sits up and look at each other. "That was weird." I say. He nods and we both stand up. I see a window behind Mono and I grab his wrist pulling him over to it.

     "Come on, we can get out this way." We climb through the window and fall onto and overfilled dumpster. We jump down from that and walk forward right to the chain link fence barring off the school.

     I suggest we move the dumpster in front of us to see if anything is behind it. After we move it a hole in the fence is shown. We crawl through it into the playground of the school. I've always wanted to be here. Suddenly making through the game doesn't seem so important. I want to check out this playground. First I go over to the ball and kick it through the goal. I then head over to the seesaw and walk across it with Mono, then I do the one thing I've always wanted to do in game but never could. I sit down on the swing and grab onto the chains. "Hey Mono, will you push me?" He nods and soon I'm laughing with joy as I'm swinging high into the air.

     I can't believe I'm swinging on the swing in Little Nightmares Two. It's amazing and fun. Soon I get done and we wander around the playground. We sit on the bench with the books and bag. We go over to the dumpster with the broken tricycle, and out of curiosity I look over the overturned trashcan like Six did but I see nothing. Once we're done we walk over to the handkerchiefs tied together and climb up them. We reach the top and I remember something I got and achievement for. I run down the hallway and turn into the room with all the bunkbeds. "JAY WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE MIGHT BE MONSTERS!" Yells Mono. I ignore him and pick up the paper airplane next to the very last bunkbed.

     I walk out of the room with the paper airplane in my hand and I go back over to the window. Careful so as not to smash it, I climb up onto the windowsill, and throw the paper airplane. It flies straight before doing two loops in the air and gliding away. "Fly free my friend." I say as I watch it glide out of sight. I turn to see Mono with his hands on his hips.

     "That was the most stupidest thing I've ever saw, you could've gotten yourself killed." I shrug.

     "I want one thing in this world to be free." He posture relaxes and I can hear a smile in his voice.

     "You're such a rebel, you risked you life to save a paper airplane."

     "And I'd do it again!" I exclaime loudly spreading my arms for a dramatic effect. I jump down from the windowsill and me and Mono start laughing.