“What do you mean you don’t know where you are?!” Aubrey shouted.
“Aubrey! Calm down!” Kel tried to defend Basil.
“Ugh! Why does everything have to be so complicated!” She complained as she kicked at the ground.
Basil was starting to get nervous, backing up onto the dock as Aubrey’s eyes landed on him.
“Can you at least describe the area you were in?” She asked desperately as she turned towards him.
“N-No, it k-kept changing.” Basil lied. He didn’t want to tell her about the black void with the doors and the voice.
Especially the voice. He doesn’t want her to make fun of him about it.
To confirm that they don’t care.
He backed up some more as Aubrey walked closer as if she was a predator and he was her meal. The smell of the lake clogging his nose as mosquitoes flew by his legs, landing on him and piercing his skin. He wanted to go home.
“Really! Come on, there at least had to be somewhere you kept appearing at!” Aubrey yelled.
Basil racked his brain for any of the rooms he entered that seemed to be a constant. He ended up remembering the pink hallway.
“T-There was one room where I thought I saw you guys. The m-moment I tried to call out to you everything-” You all murdered me in cold blood “- was different. I was put in another room. I don’t remember what it looked like, sorry…” Basil muttered out the last part as Aubrey walked forward some more.
Basil walked backward more with fear in his eyes until-
His foot slipped.
He felt himself fall as Aubrey’s eyes widened. Everything seemed to be in slow motion.
Basil couldn’t swim.
That was a well-known fact.
He felt his heart stop in fear as the back of his head hit the water.
Is this how he dies? Not at all what he was expecting, yet he doesn’t feel like it is right to complain.
An awful death for an awful person.
He just hopes Aubrey doesn’t blame herself. It was his fault for backing up too much.
He turned around away from the surface and looked into the depths of the lake in hopes of dying quicker.
It would be easier this way.
What he didn’t expect was a face to look at him back with a terrifying smile.
~~~~~~
Aubrey felt her next words die in her throat as Basil fell into the water. Damn it! Why didn’t she try to stop him from moving backward?
“Fuck!” She swore under her breath as Basil fell deeper into the water as if he was being dragged down.
“Aubrey! What the heck!?” Kel shouted as he ran forward.
“Ya, ya, this is on me…” Aubrey muttered as she stared into the water. She began taking off her shoes before looking at the water again.
“...Was something in the water moving? It doesn’t look like Basil...ugh, whatever! Just save him already!” Aubrey berated herself in her mind.
Sunny ran forward as well, looking into the water to find any signs of Basil. He spotted him almost immediately, flailing his arms under the water, trying to return to the surface to no avail.
Though Sunny had a bad feeling as if something else was in there that wasn’t Basil. He bit his lip nervously.
I need to jump in. I need to save him.
“Ÿ̸̭o̸͔u̷͉̇ ̶͎̌ã̶ͅṙ̷̲e̴̲͑ ̴̙̕s̴͓̈́c̴̲͛a̴̹̾r̴͙e̵̟͘d̸̛̙ ̸͍̑ò̴̯f̴͚͆ ̸͕͌d̸͔̈r̷̩̄ỏ̶̥ẁ̸̮n̷̯̾i̸͚͛ǹ̵̼g̶͎̉”
Sunny hesitated, a shiver ran down his spine.
He is scared.
Aubrey took off her jacket and quickly dived into the water. She wasn’t going to let Basil drown because of her.
Kel followed suit, taking off his shoes in hopes of reaching Basil faster.
...Guess I needed to get over this fear someday…
Sunny sighed to himself as he took a few steps back before jumping into the water himself.
~~~~~~
Hero felt like his heart was going to explode.
He ran faster, through the park and the overgrown bushes and branches, entering the old hideout in time to see Sunny jump into the lake. On the dock were Kel’s shoes along with another pair of shoes and a jacket he didn’t recognize. Whether that was a good thing or not has yet to be decided.
He took off his shoes and jumped in with no second thoughts about it.
...Why did everything seem so...empty? No water movements, no shadows, just the water, and seaweed.
It was like no one was in the lake except him. His eyes scanned the bottom before noticing a small crack in the ground.
He moved to touch it.
The next thing he knew was that he was standing next to a lady with pink hair and Kel in Sunny’s house. Or at least, what looks to be Sunny’s house.
Everything was underwater, yet he could still breathe. A red light shined through a window behind him, allowing him to see where he was going.
“Kel?” Hero turned to his brother.
“Hero!?” Kel seemed shocked before he turned to look down the stairs.
Sunny was just ahead of them by a few steps, and Hero felt like he would be a fool not to follow.
He grabbed the railings as Kel and the pink-haired lady walked behind him, catching up with Sunny in a matter of seconds.
Sunny didn’t seem interested in anyone behind him. Staring ahead like someone was there.
That is because there was.
Mari was walking in front of him, wearing the same white dress Hero saw her in the library. She kept turning around as if to make sure they were all still following her.
Eventually, they made it to the bottom but Mari was still walking ahead of them. They walked behind Sunny, not uttering a single word as if simply speaking would make Mari disappear. Hero felt his heart pounding as his mind raced with millions of thoughts.
There was a bright light coming from the ceiling as Mari turned around, a knife was placed on the ground between her and Sunny.
Sunny bent down and picked up the knife as Mari gave the whole group a warm smile.
Her lips moved but no sound came out. Yet Hero could make out the words.
“I love you all.
Suddenly the room went dark and a distorted yet familiar laugh rang out, startling everyone there.
Hero felt water touch his face again as he immediately went to hold his breath. He felt something grab his leg and began to pull him down. He looked to see a manic smile and crazed eyes staring back at him. Basil was struggling and it looked like at any moment he would inhale the water.
Hero was horrified. What the hell was that thing? Why does it have Basil? Does it plan on drowning him? Hero couldn’t let that happen, no matter what.
He felt something land in his hand as a spatula appeared in it. He doesn’t know where he got it but it was something. He tried to attack it but the spatula went right through. The being laughed at his futile attempt and grabbed the spatula, breaking it into two pieces.
Shit, was there nothing he could do? If things continued the way they are going they’ll-
“Steady your heartbeat. Don’t be afraid. It’s not as scary as you think.”
A familiar voice rang in his mind. Hero forced his thoughts to cooperate with him. He grabbed the hand holding his leg and pulled it off him. He began to swim towards Basil as quickly as he could.
He was able to reach him and began pulling the hands off him. Basil seemed to recoil in fear, probably thinking Hero was another beast but Hero made sure to keep him in his grasp. The pink-haired lady and Kel have also seemed to tear the hands-off themselves. Sunny was still trapped though, struggling to keep holding his breath.
“You have to keep going. Don’t give up. No matter how impossible it seems.”
Hero saw Kel and the pink-haired girl making their way to Sunny. Knowing they would keep Sunny safe, Hero began to make his way to the surface with Basil in tow.
...Wait did Basil pass out?
SHIT.
He moved faster, pushing himself above the surface with Basil in his arms. He quickly checked over the boy, luckily there were minor injuries.
He looked back in the water to see Kel pulling up Sunny with the pink-haired girl in tow, making sure Kel didn’t drop him.
They broke to the surface practically gasping for air. Hero couldn’t blame them though, he was doing the same. Kel sat Sunny on the ground in front of him. The boy in question had his eyes shut as he breathed heavily.
Everyone sat in silence before the pink-haired girl shouted, “What. The. FUCK. Was that?!”
Hero wished he knew.