They teleported back to Black Space after finding another red hand. Kel took this chance to throw up in the empty picnic basket. Weirdly enough, after he finished the puke disappeared.
Basil wasn’t as emotionally distraught as last time. He knew the message Sunny was trying to convey. Though he did feel weird with only one arm.
He waved it around a bit, some ash falling through the makeshift bandage. He wondered why his body was made of ash and none of the others were. He could see black stains on Aubrey’s bandages meaning she had some type of blood. Maybe it’s just some weird thing. Why does he care anyway? Wasn't like this was his actual body.
Hero was busy comforting Kel and Aubrey looked like she was restraining herself from freaking out and destroying the place. He didn’t blame her.
She should beat him to death. She deserves to do so.
He blinked.
Everyone else began rapidly looking around.
Oh, it seems like they can sometimes hear his thoughts. That isn’t good. He should refrain from thinking like that.
“What the fuck was that!? Come out, coward!” Aubrey readied her fist.
No one came out.
“Was...Was that voice talking about Aubrey?” Kel asked, rubbing his throat nervously.
“Why does it want her to beat someone up?” Hero muttered.
“I ain’t beating up anyone so scram!” Aubrey continued to yell.
Geez, this is awkward. Can’t they just act like they didn’t hear that?
Omori seemed to feel the same way because he walked to another door, clearly not wanting to stay in this room any longer.
Everyone else seemed to agree.
~~~~~~
The next room wasn’t anything Kel could have prepared for.
It was freezing and there were multiple Mari drawings in the sky, aimlessly floating around having her hanging by her hair. It looked like a poor sketch more than anything.
There was a trial on the ground that the group followed until they ran into Stranger.
They stood near a fishbowl that was tilted sideways, the fish flopping on the ground. Kel felt his heartache. So he remembered that...
~~~~~~
“Hey, guys? What’s wrong I heard something crash and- oh!” Mari’s voice cut off when she saw Basil, Kel, and Sunny crying around a broken fishbowl. The fish was flopping on the ground, desperately trying to find water to live.
“What happened?” She asked them, her voice filled with concern yet firm.
“I was..I was playing around with Basil and Sunny... and I bumped into the shelf.” Kel sniffled.
“Alright, let’s see here-” Mari walked forward and picked up the fish in her hand, moving to the kitchen quickly and grabbing a cup. She turned on the faucet and put the fish in the cup as she filled it up.
She placed the cup on the table and sighed in relief, “Alright, now I will go pick up the glass. You three stay out of trouble alright, and please move your playing outside.”
Basil, Sunny, and Kel all nodded in shame as they ran outside.
~~~~~~
Basil felt awful that day but Mari reassured him accidents happen and that what happened wasn’t his fault. She said that he could make up for it by helping her around the kitchen which he gladly did. Kel helped both of them out as well, deciding that it was mainly his fault for running into the shelf.
Stranger turned and faced Basil once again, “Oh, you’re back. Back then we wanted to save what was left, but even after everything you still left us,” He faced Omori, “Sunny.”
“We waited so long for you to come back. Even seeing you now, it’s hard to think straight. I can feel our heart hurting and I want to cover my face and hide. There are many things we wish to say, but no words can come out.”
Stranger’s eyes filled with pain, “I just...we waited so long for you to come back Sunny. You never did.”
He disappeared.
Kel felt weird. Despite this being Sunny’s dreamworld or whatever, Stranger sounds like he is speaking Basil’s thoughts. Perhaps they are connected? That would make sense but wouldn’t that mean they are all connected? It’s weird to think about.
Omori grabbed the key and they teleported back to Black Space. There was no need for a break so they walked into the next door.
Trees stood and surrounded them, making a path forward to a small tree stump with a hole in the middle. Omori walked forward and two hands popped out, slowly pushing someone out of the stump.
“Hey, guys! I think I blacked out again...but don’t worry! I hid the moment I woke up!” Dream Basil grinned, pulling himself fully out of the stump.
Not again…
“So, I guess since you guys are here we’re going to continue looking around! I think I spotted a raft up ahead so we could just go check it out!” Dream Basil recommended.
Omori nodded and walked ahead, the rest following behind. The raft was small, but if they squeeze on they should be able to fit. He sat next to Dream Basil and regular Basil. The ride began off small, and it was actually kind of peaceful. He then spotted something floating in the water.
He slowly reached in and picked it up.
It was another mask.
Unlike the happy and angry one, this one had a sad expression on its face. The mask felt heavy in his hands but it was probably nothing.
“Hey, Aubrey. I got another one.” Kel whispered.
She turned to face him and he handed the mask over. She gave a small nod and quickly stuffed it into her pocket with the angry one.
The raft began to near a log tunnel as Dream Basil turned to Omori.
“Hey, Omori. You know how I was going to say something on the elevator? I was wondering if I could say it now.” He nervously waited for permission.
They went into the tunnel and everything was silent.
Not a sound was uttered.
The raft drifted back out of the tunnel and Dream Basil was missing his head.
Everyone screamed and they all jumped off the raft as quick as they could, swimming back to regular land.
There was absolutely no warning for that one. What the fuck?
Omori made his way down and the rest followed quickly, wanting to leave the scene behind. Kel had a feeling it was going to happen again but that doesn’t mean he isn’t disgusted by it.
They got the keys and the hands appeared, teleporting the group back to Black Space. They all immediately collapsed, laying on the ground to process what just happened.
Dream Basil died again, Stranger might be Basil’s thoughts manifested, there was also that weird voice from earlier wishing for Aubrey to beat them up which still felt weird, and then there were the masks. What were the masks for? Why do they exist? Kel wished that he could just go to bed and think about it when he didn't feel exhausted but he was already asleep. The universe just seemed to like bullying him and his friends.
“Ughhhhh….” He and Aubrey groaned at the same time, both tired of everything.
“We’re almost done…” Hero decided to point out.
Kel sat up and looked around noticing Hero was right. There were four more doors left. They-They were almost done.
It was like the universe decided to listen to him for once. He hoped to god that Dream Basil won’t be in any of these rooms though. He doesn’t know if he could take seeing another brutal death upon him.
He stood up with Omori and they both walked to a door.
“We’re almost done. We can do this.” He whispered to himself, preparing himself for what was next. The rest joined them readying themselves as Omori opened the door.
Yeah, no if they thought they were ready for anything then they’re lying to themselves because now they were in a red room with black smoke. Around them were mirrors and red, bloody, floating faces that looked to be laughing. The key was right in front of them but instead of heading right to it, Omori walked to the nearest mirror and looked at his reflection.
His reflection was off.
It showed Sunny instead.
Omori clenched his fists and punched the mirror, shattering it with ease.
“Aye! Omori calm down!” Hero shouted.
Omori only turned to him with a deadpan look on his face.
The room grew darker thanks to what he did. There was another mirror nearby and Omori began walking towards it. The rest followed him, hoping to stop him just in case he tried to punch a mirror again.
He stood in front of the mirror and they looked over his shoulder to see his reflection.
Sunny stood there, blood dripping down the left side of his face. The others were in color instead of being monotone but their faces were covered with masks that looked exactly like the ones they were picking up.
Kel wore a happy one.
Aubrey wore an angry one.
Basil wore an afraid one.
Hero wore a sad one.
The masks looked like they were glued to their faces- no. They were their faces. It was horrifying to look at.
Omori once again balled his fist and punched the mirror. This time, no one yelled at him.
There were more mirrors that Omori tried to walk to but they prevented him, not wanting to see the terrifying versions of themselves again. Though Kel saw something in the distance that looked to be a figure. A tall figure. He felt like it was staring at them.
“Hey, do any of you see that?” he pointed to it.
Hero immediately froze with fear and Aubrey’s eyes filled with held-back rage. Kel felt a tear drip down his face only to realize what he was seeing.
The distorted Mari was back though this time she looked red and her mouth was much wider. She let out a distorted yell and began to charge at them.
Kel grabbed his brother and Aubrey’s hands and began running. Omori and Basil followed close behind and Omori reached his hand out to grab the key.
He made it and the hands appeared way quicker than normal, teleporting them back to Black Space.
Basil looked terrified, though now that Kel thinks about it, it was probably his first encounter with that beast. Aubrey took in a bunch of deep breaths as Hero decided to fall onto the ground from exhaustion. Kel’s eyes stung from the tears he was forced to shed.
God, he hated this place.
~~~~~~
Basil looked around nervously, he didn’t understand anything anymore. What was that thing that was chasing them down? It looked horrifying.
He also felt...weird looking at it. It made him feel...happy. It reminded him of good times yet he doesn’t understand why. He doesn’t know how such a bad thing could bring him a good feeling but he gave up questioning this place long ago. He should just accept it.