Turns out, leaving is as easy as could be. Mainly because they didn’t lock the door to their cell at all. Hero thinks that is probably because they are too small to reach the lock.
The unfortunate part though is how many moles were guarding the place. After knocking one that was right outside their cell out the group made their way forward.
“Hey, that looks like a button I could hit,” Kel muttered under his breath.
“Please don’t hit random buttons.” Hero warned. It was too late though as Kel threw a ball he had in his pocket right at the button.
The sound of something lowering could be heard to their left.
“That better be a good thing or I swear to god…” Aubrey grumbled.
They peeked around the corner to take a look, spotting an area where there used to be spikes being clear and a mole with an ax tapped to it.
“Pfff, look at that guy-” Kel whispered under his breath.
“Kel. Be quiet.” Aubrey shushed him.
Kel only rolled his eyes in response and headshot the mole with his ball. “There, no more mole. May we continue?”
A sigh rang out from the group as they continued ahead, seeing a flamingo near the door. The flamingo let out a squawk, “Up is a special hell for you, my dear!” It squawked again, “Signed, Sweetheart!”
“Lovely.” Hero deadpanned as Kel opened the gate.
“Kel!” Aubrey scolded, whacking him on the head.
“What did I do this time?” Kel asked.
Aubrey looked through the gateway, “You are lucky this doesn’t actually have enemies in it.”
Cardboard boxes were laying around with a jukebox on the floor next to a decorated mirror. For some reason, there was also dog food and a water bowl on the ground. A telescope was pointed to stars that were painted on the wall that for some reason smelled like melting plastic and a bookcase filled with astronomy books.
Astronomy huh…
~~~~~~
“Look at the stars Sunny! Aren’t they so pretty?” Mari asked her younger brother who sat in awe under the stars.
Tonight Hero, Mari, Kel, and Sunny were in the hangout spot all by themselves. Aubrey and Basil had to sadly go home early.
“They’re...nice….” Sunny leaned into Mari who was giving him a side hug.
"You can say that again! The stars are awesome tonight!” Kel agreed
"Hey Sunny, maybe you can become an astronaut when you are older! That way you can get a closer look at the stars!” Hero grinned.
Sunny let out a little hum as he looked at the stars, “...maybe…”
~~~~~~
Omori walked over to the shelves of books to see if he could open them. Sadly, all the books were glued shut.
Guess no one is reading them anytime soon.
“This telescope has its lens covered in tape…” Aubrey pointed out.
“I just realized something,” Kel began, “This is hell for Spaceboy!”
“Oh! That makes sense!” Aubrey nodded.
Hero pressed play on the jukebox and it began playing the special mixtape Spaceboy made for Sweetheart. He then moved to the mirror and realized it was purposely designed to make the person looking at it seem ugly.
“...This is a very toxic environment…” Hero muttered.
“How?” Kel asked, somehow now picking up on how bad this room is.
“Well, the jukebox only plays music that would make Spaceboy think of Sweetheart. The mirror is used to make him think he is ugly and not good enough. He is forced to eat and drink from dog bowls, the books are unreadable and the telescope is unusable.” Hero pointed out all of the flaws this room has.
Omori looked a bit shocked at Hero’s observations and Kel’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You know, I am regretting not letting Spaceboy beat her up if he was treated like this.” Aubrey sighed, “Poor dude…”
“Alright, let’s get going. There isn’t anything here for us.” Hero stated.
After beating up some more guards the group made it to the bottom left of the area, finding yet another heart-shaped button right next to a door with spikes. The group pressed the button and the spikes lowered, allowing them to open the gate.
They walked inside to find two sprout moles sitting next to a trap door and a skeleton laying down against the wall. Not creepy at all…
“Uh, hey little guys, is that trap door unlocked?” Kel asked.
“I don’t know, hold on…” one of the sprout moles kicked open the door, “Nope!”
“Um, sweet, we are just gonna head in. Okay?” Hero asked nervously, hoping they wouldn't attack.
“Sure! Go ahead!” The other mole smiled.
The group looked at each other as they began to climb down the hatch. Heading upwards they found a button that could be hit with Kel’s ball.
“Kel, you’re up!” Hero patted him on the shoulder.
“Sweet!” Kel grabbed his ball and threw it against the button. The spikes blocking their way to continue lowered along with another pair of spikes that were out of sight.
“Nice job, Kel!” Hero gave a thumbs up.
The group moved forward before Omori suddenly stopped near a wall.
“Huh? What is up Omori?” Kel asked, walking near him.
Omori put his hand through a crack on the wall before slowly crawling his way into the rest of the crack, he made the motion for everyone to follow him.
Hero wasn’t even sure he would fit into the crack but was pleasantly surprised when he did.
“Woah! Sweet! Nice job, Omori!” Kel praised when he reached the other side.
Omori only gave Kel a thumbs up in return.
There was a ladder that led them out another trap door into a room with three skeletons and a hole in the wall. Two chained to the wall and one laying on the ground.
“You know, I have been stuck down here for so long, I feel like I can barely move a muscle.” One of the skeletons spoke.
“Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t-” “I can hear ya you know!” The skeleton berated Kel who was trying not to laugh.
“Kel, don’t make fun of the elderly!” Aubrey joked under her breath.
“HEY! I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW I AM 20 YEARS OLD!” The skeleton somehow let out a puff of air, “Kids these days…”
Omori walked through the hole in the wall with the others only for them to spot the shadow monster yet again. Like always the monster disappeared before anyone could say anything. There were more skeletons in the room with them, chained to the wall and some wearing bows similar to Aubrey’s.
“I feel very welcomed here…” Aubrey muttered.
They walked forward only to find more skeletons strapped to medieval torture racks and guards prowling around.
“Doesn’t this just seem like a fun time?” Kel whispered with a sigh.
“Sure does.” Aubrey sarcastically agreed.
“On the count of three. One, two, THREE-!” Hero and the others ran out and ambushed the group of guards, making sure to knock all of them out.
“Gee, next time we run into another group like that, don’t start a sudden countdown.” Aubrey glared at Hero.
“Sorry, I just want to leave this place as soon as possible…” Hero sighed to himself.
“...Hey I know this might be a weird thing to bring up but are we being watched?” Kel asked the group.
“What makes you ask that?” Hero shot him a confused look.
“Just the eyes in the wall.” Kel shrugged.
“What eyes- OH MY GOD.” Aubrey realized that yes, eyes were staring at them through holes in the wall.
The eyes, realizing that they could be seen, immediately disappeared.
“Nice job Aubrey, you scared them away.” Kel scolded.
“WELL MAYBE IF YOU TOLD US SOONER-”
“Okay, okay, please stop fighting. They might not even be friendly and be grabbing guards. There is nothing in this room we need so can we please leave without you two fighting?” Hero begged.
“Fine…”
“Okay…”
~~~~~~
He died again. Each time he does he can’t tell if it hurts more or if it hurts less. All he knows is that the pain disappears and he is forced to walk through another door again.
Stop crying. You deserved this. Come on, stop being a wuss. Open another door.
His hands shook as he grabbed the knob and slowly turned it. This one looked like their old hangout spot, peaceful and relaxing.
He knew better by now.
He wondered what was next. Maybe he would be dragged into the lake and have his legs torn off so he couldn’t try swimming to freedom. He doesn’t even know how to swim but the dreams like making his deaths as brutal as possible.
Because you had to make her death worse as well.
He sat down on the docks, his bare feet brushing against the surface of the water. He heard footsteps approach from behind him.
His breath hitched in his throat as he felt the presence sit behind him.
“Why do you do this to yourself…?” A voice asks.
It feels familiar and warm, a voice he should know but can’t recall. He dislikes it. It shouldn’t be nice to him.
“I deserve it.” He answers.
“Do you?” It asks, rubbing his back carefully as if trying to soothe him.
“Yes.” He shouldn’t be treated with respect. Why hasn’t this thing killed him yet?
“Are you sure?” It began to rub his shoulders comfortably. He despised it.
“Yes.” He responded. Why won’t it just leave him alone?
“Do you think that he would agree with this?”
“...I don’t know what he thinks of me…” He responded truthfully. Was this thing trying to provoke him?
“Do you think she would have wanted you to be like this?” It asked its final question.
“...”
“I know, you don’t want to hear this but-”
“Shut up. Of course, she wouldn’t. I still deserve it, no matter what she thinks.” He did. He knows he did. Why can’t this damn thing except that?
“...You do not-”
“I SAID SHUT UP!” He turned around and shoved the presence away from him. He heard it fall and fall and fall and fall. A scream rang out with the final thud from the presence.
Cries and shouts rang out as he realized what he had just done. He shoved her and it was his fault.
HIS FAULT, HIS FAULT, HIS FAULT, HIS FAULT HIS FAULT-
No...it wasn’t his fault...it was something behind him that shoved it. He would never do something like this on purpose.
W̶̧̮̞̦̥̖̤̘̺̗̱̮̞͓̅̏̈́͊͆̅̚͜͜ͅą̸̨̻͇͇̲̹̠̬̘͖͙̭̯̳̈̽͗̄́͒̈́́̌͂͑͂͘͝͠s̸̤̞̮͕̘̎̉͆̀͐̈́͑͐͛̉͌̃͒̅̈́̕̕͘͘͘ ̷̨̛̭͎̻̯̬̗̘͓͍̦̹̙̬̣̩̩͕͛̿͆̎͋̈͠͠t̵̩̖̜̹͓̥̟̯̞̼͌̎̓̈̊̊̈̈́͒͊̆͂͊͘̚͘̚͝h̷̫̾̌̅̋a̷̛͔̥͚͔̯̪̪͈̞͉̜͒̌̉͆̊̌̈̋̌͆̓̃̾́̊̂͂̚͝͠ͅţ̸͙̝͉͈̥̰͇̗̼̰̃̂͒͑͒̅͋͋̀͂̌͂͌̐̈́ͅ ̴̨̨̰̫͇͓̘̝̖̱̺͔̹̞̞̯̳̱̜̓̈̂͆̈̄̎̆̅̋̇̈́̅͠ͅw̸̟̝͔̱͚̰̗̉̆̄̇͆͝h̴̛̛̲͖̩͚̜̩͎̏̿̂̋́͗͂͛̄͛͛͆͋̊͘͘͝͠͝ͅą̵̧̧̢̹̝͈̮͖̺̺̣̦̠̮͇̹̗̰̜͕̿͐̇̒͆͊̋̌̉͘͜͝͝t̴̢̛̻̩͕̥͈̻̱̬̠͙̬̞͖̥̟̂̌̏̐̎̎̀͆̈̐̔̀̇͘͘͝ ̸̡̾͒̂͂͗̑̋̈́̎̈̐̔̽̍̕̕͠h̶̢̗̘̲̫͚͕̮͂̆̀͑͗͛̅̈̄̍̾͑̆͜ę̷̢̝̺̻̖̤̬͖̺̮̫̫̬̣̑̀͛̄͆ ̶̙̘̟̭̦̖͖̊̕͝f̵̧̢̧͚̩̘̘̼͕̪̻̬̉͐͂̔͌̈́̋̐͗͛͐̀̆̏́̉͗̋̍͜͠ȩ̸̛̩͎̘͓̗͇͍̫̯͚͎͔̝̱͔̦̦͂͋̌͑̇̂̎̍͗͗̉̐́͘͜͝͠͠͝ļ̷̛̬̟̋̃͐͋͒̄͊̓̓̓͒̓̈́͌̑̂̅̊̕t̴̢̨̡͎̗̮̪̘̱̣̲̮͎͉̻̜̦̱̳͚̱̊̄͋͊͒̃̃͆̓̀̋̇́̐͘̕̚͜͝͠͝ ̸̨̛̹͔̬̩̫͕̂͑̇̍͂̅͝t̷̡͖̭̲̫͍͙̲̩̘̓͆͐͆̽̏̑̀̇̅͐̏̀̐͗͝͠ḩ̵͖̳̦͖̺̪̀̔͛̓͒̃̊̊̋͆̔̋̾͂͌͛͐͌̕͝͠ͅȃ̶̢̯̥̹̲̞̙̩̥͆̑̏͠t̷̢̧̥̗̰͉͇̲̺̖͔͕͖͔̤̳̪͇̽̈̆̓̾͗͒̏̈͌̾̓̍̆̐̆͜͠͠ ̶̢̦̩̤̦͈̜̮͍̣̺̠͇̅̔̈͐͗̑̆͐͐̽͂͌̓̄̏͘͜͝d̶̪͕̥̜̟̱̓a̵͖̪̟̙̞̗̗̯̙̫͉͒̽̽̈́̉̕y̷̧̛̛̩̹̭̯̮͙̝̫̹̟̯̹̰̭̠̙̼̗̘̻̐̂͋͑̎̚͜ͅ?̶̯̑̔͌̽̈́̐̐̋͆͗̈́̓͜͠ͅ
A knife fell nearby.
He grabbed it and killed himself, awakening in the black room.
Time for another door.