LIMINALITY

Chapter 12.

"Hopefully not long." Sadie shrugged. "I wonder if we'll make it." Ivory said, seriousness in her tone. "Iv, d-don't say that, of course we will..." Sadie looked at her, making eye contact. Ivory nodded and grabbed the backpack, pulling out a half filled water bottle and took a small sip. "It's so hot here.." She sighed. "Yeah..." Sadie stood up, "We have to get going now, c'mon." She said and helped Ivory up. They walked out of the cabin and began walking left.

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The heat was driving the two girls mad. Ivory had thrown up at least twice due to the violent shaking. "We're gonna get through this, okay?" Sadie assured her. Ivory nodded and sighed, wiping sweat off of her forehead. They weren't talking much since they wanted to preserve their water and every time they opened their mouth, it went all dry. Sadie slipped her hand in Ivory's in an attempt to comfort her. She wasn't doing so great, Ivory never handled heat really well. She easily got heat strokes. Once they both went to an amusement park and Ivory had to sit out for most of it because the sun was blazing that day. Though, Sadie stayed with her the whole time holding an ice pack up to her head because she didn't want her to be alone. Ivory ended up falling asleep on her shoulder and she carried her to her mom's car when they left. It's been only two hours and they've drunk three water bottles, leaving only three left plus the Almond Water. Ivory began doubting they'd make it out alive. She wanted to believe Sadie, but she was losing hope. They were running out of water sources and had very little batteries left. And it was incredibly dark in the place they were in. But soon enough, they encountered a somewhat different area than the one they were recently in. It was more open spaced, and unfortunately; hotter. There were puddles of a mysterious liquid laying on parts of the ground. "What is this stuff..." Ivory muttered, almost bending down to touch it before Sadie quickly pulled her away, "Don't touch that-! That's acid.." She warned. "O-Oh, sorry.." Ivory apologized, stepping over the acid puddle.

They walked around the open space for a while until they found something interesting.

A huge pool of acid with chunks of chewed up food inside of the pool. "This must be the stomach, then.." Sadie looked down into the acid, "How will we get across?" Ivory asked.
"Um... I dunno.." She replied and stood up straight, looking around. "Maybe I can just.." Sadie took a leap, jumping onto a carrot. "Sadie, what the hell?! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Warned Ivory, worried for her girlfriend's safety. "Don't worry, Iv. Grab my hand, we can use this as a makeshift boat." She held out her hand, looking at Ivory. She was reluctant, but trusted her so she took her hand and hopped onto the carrot boat. "See? That wasn't so bad." Sadie said and looked at Ivory who was holding onto her for dear life. "Well, what now?" She asked. "Um... I haven't figured that out yet."

"WHA- SO WE'RE JUST STUCK ON THIS CARROT?" Ivory panicked, "Don't worry, Iv, we can just find something to use as an oar.." Sadie sighed and looked around, "Uh... I would use my hands but I don't really feel like burning them off right now." She chuckled at her own joke, "Stop joking at a time like this, Sadie." Ivory huffed and began rocking the 'boat' so it moved forward slightly, "Oh. Hey, that works-" Sadie grinned and rocked the boat as well, "NOT THAT AGGRESSIVELY, YOU'RE GONNA FLIP THE WHOLE THING OVER!"

"I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna- I'm a very careful person." Sadie said sarcastically and stopped rocking.

Slowly but surely, they made it across the acid pool. "Finally..." Said Ivory, she stepped off of the carrot and onto the ground of flesh. "That was fun." Said Sadie as she hopped off of the carrot as well. "Fun? Sadie, we almost died." Ivory crossed her arms and sat down, taking a break. "We did not, I was very careful." She sat down next to her. "Do you think it's safe to sleep here?" Ivory asked, yawning, "I mean, you have me around. If anything tries to bother you, I'll fight it with my bare hands." Sadie grinned, "Alright.." She chuckled and laid her head down on her lap, immediately falling asleep.

— — —

Ivory awoke and looked up at Sadie who was asleep, up against a wall. She smiled softly and sat up, wiping sweat from her forehead. "God, it's so hot here..." She huffed and stood up. She decided that she wasn't gonna wake Sadie up, "She looks so peaceful..." She whispered, stroking her hair. Ivory looked around, still the same fleshy surroundings and still the same terrible smell of ammonia. She sat back down, wanting to preserve her energy considering the two would be walking around for quite a while. Ivory wasn't used to walking every single day, non-stop like she has been for the past...month or so. She didn't know how long Sadie and her have been in the Backrooms together. She lost count after a little while. Most likely, she would just be at school or in her bed, sleeping if she never had taken up Sadie's offer on going into the cave. Though, she was glad she did because if she didn't, Sadie would have gone by herself..

"Iv?"

"Good morning, Sadie."

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