Puppet on Strings {|} a DHMIS reader-insert

{|} Mission: Health-possible - Chapter 4 {|}

I take a deep breath. "Wait, wait, wait, back up like... nineteen... and six steps. I think that's a number I'm ungodly amounts of dead right now," I pause a second. "Y'all know Mr. Sandman, Bring Me a Dream?"  Candice snickers. "Yea. Uh. We literally worked with him." She giggles. Larry squints at Felix, who drops him the instant he moves. "ow, fuck, uhm. Weren't... I think... uhhhh... subtract the three... carry the... the six..." He mumbles. "Mmmmm... food groups? I think?" Steve snaps. "Almost. Health. Y'know, the guys who killed the bird?" Larry 'oh's. "The bird's alive, though, so..." Felix, who was about to leave just then, slowly turns back to face the three of us. "What now?" 

I look at Harry, who looks back at me and shrugs. Ah, that's right, he wasn't there for that whole fiasco. I look at my restraints, best I can. I'm not a giraffe. Anyway. The knots aren't that well done. Must've been Candice's work. Or maybe Felix, he looks like a fucking horrid knot-tier. I mouth to Harry something along the lines of 'check your ropes'. I motion, best I can, at the ropes around his arms. He looks at his restraints, and then back at me. Harry looks down, seeming to have a small self-argument. I tune back into the 'interrogation'.

Larry has been shoved up against the wall, chipping his paint and cracking most of his ceramic-made parts. AKA his entire body! Lovely. Felix is quietly asking him questions, most of which I can't hear, and Larry is trying his best to not scream while not answering any. He- oh fuck. Harry shrieks like some sort of fucking demogorgon, silencing the entire room. All of our heads turn to his chair, which is empty. The ropes are ripped apart. "Oh, no." Candice sighs. Larry's lights click off, leaving us in complete darkness.

I feel my ropes being split apart, and someone- Harry- roughly pulling me up. "Hold on." He whispers. Oh, fun, piggyback ride time. I wrap my arms around his neck. And then he fucking dashes over to Larry and Felix, something, definitely not his arms, pushing the short man aside. I pull one arm away and grab the lamp forcefully. He 'eep's quietly, firmly attaching himself to my arm. "Got him." I whisper, and Harry does the fucking Flash dashing thing again, running through the doors leading out into the main bar. Completely empty. They're closed. "We gave 'em the slip. Better go while we can." I mumble. "Hopefully they didn't lock the front doors."

Harry chuckles, tightens his grip on my legs, and runs straight through the front doors, completely shattering the glass. "Oh shIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT-" I scream, and Harry makes a sharp turn, heading toward the apartment building.

{|} {|} {|} {|} {|} {|} {|} {|} {|} 

I unlock the apartment room, Larry walking in, physically shaking, then Harry, completely fine as... usual, and then myself. I am shooken. What the fuck was that? I lock the door, figuring I shouldn't ask. "Robin and Manny are asleep." Harry whispers, sitting down on my bed. "Aw, fuck, we have to share a bed, don't we?" I ask, in the same hushed tone. "Yup." He murmurs. Larry hops on my bedside table, stretches and then turns completely back into an object, lights off. Harry lays down next to Robin, hugging the bird like a teddy bear. 

I change into my bedclothes, going to lay down. I pull the covers up over everyone, trying to save a little extra for myself to serve as a pillow, since everyone else has one. Even if it's not an actual pillow. There's only one, anyway. I yawn. "holy fuck, today has been tiring." I mumble, shortly before letting myself fall asleep.

I open my eyes, looking at a sunset from on top of the apartment building's roof. Sitting next to me is... who is that? A shadowy figure, completely blacked out. White swirls cover where their eyes and mouth would have been, saying something to me. I can't figure out what, though. It's all nonsense. "What are you saying?" I ask. For a split second, their form becomes clear. It's me. What the fuck. Why... oh. 

"I'm saying you should try to have more fun, sis." That's... is that my brother? I don't have a brother. But he looks so much like me. [H/C] hair, soft blue eyes... "It's a whole wide world out there, and I want you to enjoy all of it, you know?" He looks at me with a smile. The words come to me, like I've said them before. "I think you want me to live your dream for you. But I want you to. And... I don't want you to go." I sigh.

"All things go in time, Y/N. People are like flowers. They bloom, they're beautiful, and then they're gone." He laughs. "Most people, at least." I feel tears start to prick at my eyes. I'm not even sad. I stand up, quietly walking behind the boy while he's distracted with talking. I hover behind him for a moment, before doing it.

I push him off the top of the building. He screams as he plummets down to his death. I don't know why I did it. "Why did I do it?" I whisper. "Why did you do it?" The voices start. They scream for an answer, asking, "Why did you do it? Why did you do it?" I sit back down here I was before. I only laugh, and push myself off the edge.

I gasp as I sit up, panting. I look around anxiously, only to find that I'm in my apartment. I look next to me to see the trio, all asleep. I look to my left to see Larry, also asleep. I let go of the breath I was holding in. 

I slide out of bed, careful not to wake the guys, and go to get a snack. As I'm assembling a late-night, oh, it's 4 AM... uh... early-morning PB&J, I hear someone yawn. I freeze, and slowly reach to put my shirt on, which was left on the floor. Small feet walk into the kitchen as I pull my shirt down. "Y/N?" I hear Manny say. "Oh... uh... hi, Manny." I don't look at him, cutting the edges off of my sandwich. "It's four in the morning, kiddo, you should... really go back to bed." He walks up beside me, standing on his toes to see what I'm making. "Can I have a sandwich?" Manny asks me, looking up with curious eyes.

I can't deny him, so I sigh and smile and make another sandwich. "You sleep good?" I guessed. "Yeah." The kid is tired. Me too. I finish his sandwich and hand him the slices, taking my own and, then a bite of my sandwich. Mmm. I sit down in the makeshift living room, the small flatscreen TV sitting there, black. "Hm. You wanna watch some cartoons?" I ask Manny as he sits down next to me. "Yeah!" He smiles. "Alrighty, then. Boomerang..." I flip through channels, eventually finding Boomerang. There's always cartoons on that one, no matter what time it is. 

"Oh, neat. An original Power Puff Girls marathon." I mumble, taking another bite of my sandwich. We sit in silence, watching the cartoon. I barely hear anything besides it, and especially not Harry. At least not before he speaks. "What are you doing up this early, Manny?" I jump, almost dropping my sandwich. The kid looks up at Harry. "Watching cartoons with Y/N." He smiles. "She made me a sandwich!" Harry looks over at me, and gives me a small nod. Is that his way of smiling, or something? I can't tell. He sits down beside me. "Power Puff Girls, huh."