That popped in my recommendations, and I couldn't believe I was seven years late to hear it... This stuff is FIYAH!
Warning! (those are rare, you know.): Blood! Gore! like... a lot!
And uhhhh. It's too dangerous to go alone, here take this with you.
It will help you through!
3318 words, here w go again...
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Mono ran as fast as he could without slipping a single glance backward. That sickly feeling stuck with him as made for the faint blue light at the end of the room. In the back of his mind, he constantly questioned his sanity. Who was I talking to all this time? A skeleton?! A ghost?! Was it all just an illusion?! No, that can't be it, what happened back there was far too real to be an illusion. Mono has seen so much queer stuff this past week, things he still couldn't wrap his mind around, he thought they were just part of this twisted world. But this just struck differently, what's dead ought to stay that way.
He burst out of the small office and pulled the door shut until he heard the lock click. He leaned his back against the wooden surface and slid down on the floor. He reached under his paper bag and rubbed his temple, taking heavy breaths. With his other hand, he pulled his coat close to his chest, breathing in her scent. It smelled horrible, a mix of blood, mud, and dust. But it was hers nonetheless. He felt It feed his willpower and strengthened his resolve. Slightly nodding, Mono slid the sleeves of the coat through his arms and lifted it to his shoulders.
He stood up and looked around, Mono found himself in what looked like a storage room, where the light of the moon shone through the half-open window just above a pile of boxes laden with books. It seemed to him that it was the only way out, so he treaded carefully towards it, sure not to step on anything sharp as he went on. Despite his best effort, his foot fell on something pointy. He made a tiny pained sound in his throat, he looked down to see that it was a porcelain shard from one of those dolls.
Mono furrowed his brows, to his left, hidden in the shadows, laid a lifeless doll. Its head was cracked open. Mono's heart sank the moment he saw blood trickling down from the sharp edges. Signs of a struggle, she fought back, she can't be far. His eyes shot towards the window, Not long now, I'm coming, Six.
He quickened his pace passing the towering stacks of papers and squeezing through the narrow gaps between the boxes until he was below the window. Wasting no time, he gripped the cavity in the boxes and started climbing, then book by book, he hooked his fingers and toes on their edges and hauled himself upwards until he reached the window sill.
The biting wind hissed past him, cutting through his skin like ice shards. He took cover behind the corner of the window and waited a few moments for the gust to pass. Once the wind ceased howling, Mono stepped out of the window. He gulped, feeling the vertigo kicking in. A plank stretched from this window to the next building. It had tears in the middle, threatening to split at any moment. Sweat beaded on Mono's scalp as his hands began to quiver at his sides. d-did they really come through here? is there no other way?
He glanced back at the room behind him, going back means meeting that woman head-on. Oh to hell with it all! Reluctantly, Mono placed his foot on the wooden plank, then one light step after the other he made it halfway, trying as hard as he could to not look down. Eventually, that feeling overpowered him, his eyes slipped downwards. OH BOY, that too high! Below him was a dumpster filled with black bags and a few dolls with missing limbs and smashed heads, it appears that Six had recently fought them off here too, as one doll down there was missing half its body as it struggled and crawled through the bags.
Mono quickly tore his eye away as soon as the world started spinning around him. The plank creaked under him, and he froze. His legs won't move, it's like they weren't there at all. The wood cracked and splinters fell. RUN YOU MORON! Mono bolted towards the window, his hands stretched in front of him. The plank split in half, and Mono felt the surface beneath him falling. He screamed and leaped into the air. He gripped the sill by only a hair's breadth. His breath escaped in heavy gasps. He reached with his other hand to grab the edge, then with great effort, he managed to lift himself to safety.
huffing erratically, Mono slipped one last glance downwards and swallowed hard, I gotta stop doing this...
He followed the trail of porcelain shards scattered on the floor. It led him through more hallways, more narrow gaps, and past many more ransacked classrooms. Until he found what he was looking for, and he didn't like the sight of it. Not one bit. Over there, in the middle of the hall, tied to a wooden beam, was Six.
Mono's breath stuck in his throat when he saw her battered and bleeding, he felt his heart shatter into a thousand pieces, W-What did they do to you? Her black hair fell over her face, hiding her seemingly pained expression. Blood fell from her forehead and trickled down to her cheek. Her legs had new cuts and bruises after being shoved and dragged against the rough surface of so long.
"S-Six?" The words nearly escaped his lips. Her head moved slightly upwards, then fell back down. Mono felt tears stinging his eyes as his chest became heavy with guilt. "Six!" he called again, louder. But despite that, his voice was still a whisper.
She made a small pained sound as she lifted her head up once more. Her hair fell back, revealing her face. One eye was pressed shut, while the other went wide open the moment she saw him. Her lips quivered, muttering tiny 'Ha's as tears trickled out of one eye.
"Mo-Mono...?"
"I finally found you!" Mono said, and Six's lips pulled into a pained smile, but that smile quickly disappeared as Mono began to approach her. She shook her head left and right anxiously, "Don't worry. It's alright, I'm here now. I'm gonna get you out of this... nothing will ever hurt you again..." He said as he kept heading towards her.
"STOP!" She cried, her eye twitching with fear. Six's voice froze him stiff, she gestured with her head upwards. Mono looked at the ceiling and saw a bulky chunk of wood just above where Six was, and tied to its lower part, were sets of razor-sharp kitchen knives.
The floorboards... Mono felt sweat sliding down his spine, shilling him to the blood. One misstep and she's dead. What scared him the most, was that the floorboards were perfectly aligned, not a single plank was out of place. At this point, anything could spring the trap, "Alright... I'll figure something out..." he said, in a reassuring tone. "Just hang in there a little longer, okay?"
Six bit her lower lip and nodded slowly. Mono looked around for a moment, searching the corners and glancing under the lockers, and while he was at it something creaked under his foot. The sound of mechanism echoed all around them, making dust fall from the ceiling. Mono gasped.
"MONO NO!" Six screamed as the hunk of wood shook above her. But it never swung towards her. It was as like, a warning. Six let out a ragged breath as her tiny form trembled like a reed in the wind.
"Sorry! Sorry...!" Mono said, feeling that same weight from back there crushing him again. Come on there has to be a way... was there a trick to it? Any secret switch that could stop the mechanism from triggering? Mono wished for that guiding voice from back then, if only it hinted that something like this was going to happen, but what difference would it have made?
A few minutes later, Mono still couldn't see a way to disable the trap nor could he find a way around without springing it. In the back of his mind, something called out to him, wasn't it high time to use it? Mono looked around a bit more, but still nothing. He had hoped it would never have to come to this. "Right then..." he muttered to himself, his hands reaching for his paper bag.
"MONO ABOVE!" Six shouted.
Alerted, Mono's eyes snapped upwards. A doll leaped from the top of the locker and was falling straight at him. In its hands, it had a steel pipe twice Mono's size, yet that student wilded it with hardly any effort. Mono rolled out of the way as the student caved in the wooden floor. No no! Not now! Mono crawled back and kept a safe distance from that particular student. Unlike the rest, this thing seemed bigger and way meaner, and as it stood up straight lifting the pipe with one hand and tapping it against the other, Mono found himself nothing more than a mere puppy compared to that hound.
It charged at him, with the steel pipe flying behind it. Mono ducked, the blow missing him by a hair's breadth. Mono swung his foot and kicked the doll in the shins, it barely flinched at that. Oh no. The doll grabbed him with one arm and tossed him to the other side of the room, his back violently slamming against the locker, knocking the breath out of his lungs. Mono fell to the ground, gasping for air.
"MONO!" Six's voice rang in his ears. He tried to get up, but pain suddenly shot up his spine, he stopped on his knees, trying to get a grip. As if one of them wasn't enough, more and more dolls crawled out of the cracks in the walls, all sniggering and taunting. Mono gritted his teeth, desperately trying to get back on his feet.
Something grabbed him under his arms from behind and lifted him up. It locked him in place, "LET GO!" Mono screamed as he kicked and trashed with his legs. But the doll held him still. Mono's eyes widened as he saw the one holding the pipe approaching him. He tried struggling, throwing his body this way and that in a desperate attempt to break free from the student's clutches. The student in front of him charged, its steel pipe ready to shatter Mono's skull.
Mono drove his elbow in the chest of the student holding him, it screeched as it let go of him. Mono dove out of the way as the pipe came hurling into the air and smashing the head of the student that had been holding him.
Mono had no time to think, the student grunted in rage after realizing it had struck one of its own. It charged at him again, swinging its steel pipe at him blindly. Mono crawled and rolled, evading those vicious blows, and as he did, he stepped yet on another floorboard that triggered that trap's mechanism. The hunk of wood shook once more, Six screamed and pierced her eyes shut. But still, it didn't swing at her, another warning...
Mono's eyes flared with rage, suddenly forgetting about the pain. He turned and glared at the student with the pipe, who was trying to pull it out of the floor. Now's my chance! He sprung to his feet and charged at it. Before it could react Mono leaped and locked his arms around its neck. It growled and left the pipe embedded in the floor. Mono tightened his grip and pulled at it will all his might.
The doll panicked, its arms waving everywhere, trying to reach for Mono on its back, but he would shift his body to the other side, safely swinging away from its clutches. But with one move of its hand, it swiped Mono's paper bag off his head and tossed it away. NO!
The dolls all around the room cheered about as if this was some sort of show.
Mono felt it weaken under his grip, GOOD! Finish it off! But the doll suddenly shifted like a wild bull, it roared and swung itself around violently. "PIPE DOWN!" Mono shouted. The doll stood up and lunged itself backward at the lockers, Mono looked back and his eyes widened when he saw the lockers approaching with terrifying speed. This was gonna hurt like hell.
The doll rammed Mono against the locker, making Six gasp aloud. Mono felt something crack inside him, and before he knew it he was coughing blood. It hurt to breathe, his vision became spotted, but it was not enough to stop him. Mono let out a warcry as swung his right arm with all the strength he had at the doll's head. It went straight through it. "I SAID PIPE DOWN!" Mono screamed, pulling out his bloodied hand.
The doll fell to its knees without making a sound, Mono drove it to the ground, grabbing what remained of its head and bashing it relentlessly against the floor, until there was nothing left of it but shards. Mono sat back wheezing, he lifted his right hand and saw pieces of porcelain stuck in it. It began to tremble as he picked them out one by one, his teeth gritting from the pain. This is the worst I've ever felt...
He reached to rub the sweat off his face, then made a small gasp as he realized he didn't have his paper bag on. He looked around for it, he found it lying there by the lockers on his left. As he went for it, dolls jumped from the lockers and landed on it, crumpling the paper bag with their feet all while laughing and taunting. Mono's eye twitched, feeling the surge of blood through his veins. Now you crossed the line.
With his bloodied hand he pulled the steep pipe out of the floor, glaring menacingly at them. Everything hurts, he wanted nothing more but for this to end. He dragged the pipe along the floor as he drew closer to the students, waiting for them to lunge. But somehow they knew better than to do that.
"MONO! BEHIND YOU!" Six's voice came echoed from behind him. Mono turned, but he was too late. His breath drove out of his body as something sharp jammed inside his waist. "NO! NO! MONO!" Her cries rang in his ears. His strengths left him, the steel pipe fell out of his hands as he dropped to his knees gasping for air. With his hand reached for where the pain is coming from, and felt something sticking to it. Then he brought his trembling towards his face only to see it coated in dark crimson. Oh, you've got to be joking...
He looked back and saw that the doll he had bashed his skull on the floor was standing up once again, headless. In its hand, it held a porcelain shard drenched with his blood. OH, this really is a joke...
His hair fell to his face, he could see Six's expression, it hurt him more than his wounds did. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes. Well... sorry you had to see me like this.
With a final attempt to fight back, he grabbed the steel pipe off the floor and grinned. Now it truly felt like lifting an anvil. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and try to kill me," he said beckoning. He didn't know how long his body would last, but for now, he would fight with what's left.
The headless doll charged at him, and Mono stood his ground. Keeping his pipe at the ready. He saw the shard in its hand flying past him. In return, Mono swung at the doll's feet and shattered them to pieces. It dropped and crashed in the distance.
Something stung in Mono's throat, his eyes darted left and right in panic as he realized what happened. His neck was cut open. He choked and gagged, and fell to the floor. With his hand, he reached for the wound and kept pressure on it. Tears fell from his eyes. Cold... cold... I'm scared. What's going to happen now?
He glanced up at Six one last time, she was screaming, but all he heard was wooshing and ringing. She's still there... What are you doing lying on the floor? Get up and fight! Die later! Oh hell, this is truly the worst day ever...
Mono's eyes shone a bright blue, and the sound of static and buzzing filled the room. He floated smoothly back to his feet, feeling the electricity coursing through his body. It never had to be this way...
The lockers' doors opened and closed violently and began to shake violently. the ceiling overhead cracked and got bent inwards. The hunk of wood blew into a million pieces, leaving behind only the razor-sharp knives. They floated towards Mono and hovered to his side and stayed there at the ready. Mono coughed blood and held out his hand in front of him, sparks dancing between his fingers. The dolls all drew back in fear. "That's unfortunate. Should've killed me when you had the chance..."
Mono closed his fist, and the knives flew with lightning speed at the dolls, impaling their heads and sticking them to the walls. The lockers rose and smashed the ceiling overhead, crushing every student that stood on top of them. Some turned to flee, tripping and falling and crawling back into their vents, but Mono waved a hand and the vents were torn out and were crumpled as easily as paper. He waved his hand again and pulled the dolls out of their hiding, and brought them all floating in one spot in the air. They screamed and whimpered, some were even begging. Once he had all of them in his grip, his fingers began shutting slowly. They howled in pain as they were forcibly crushed against each other. They all shattered at once, turned to nothing more than dust. Mono relaxed his fingers, letting their remains fall over the floor.
His feet shuffled against the floor, towards the remaining few dolls who sat there quivering in fear. "Who's... next?" he pointed with his finger towards an unfortunate student. Its head exploded at once. "Will it be you?!" he said pointing at another. "OR YOU!?" His energy was spent, all he could do was bluff now.
The dolls ran out of the hall, leaving the both of them. Mono wheezed, and forced himself to stop coughing, he had only one more thing left to do. He went towards his paper bag, picked it off the floor and wiped the dust away, then gently slipped it back on his head before turning his attention to Six.
Both her eyes were wide, fear, shock, sorrow, despair. All of that was written across her face. Mono couldn't help but smile as he struggled towards her. "Hey..." he managed weakly. Tears fell from her cheeks as she gritted her teeth.
With whatever power he had left, he waved his hand. And the rope around her came loose. Ah! finally. It's done. He made for her, but suddenly he lost his balance and fell. His face didn't meet the ground but something soft, a shoulder. Gentle hands wrapped themselves around his body. "Oh... This... isn't so bad..." He sighed, closing his eyes.
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Yeah. Uhhh... sorry bout dat, congratulations on making it this far!
Cookie?🍪