The sun had already set, and Plural walked hand-in-hand across the city with Tatters. She was feeling butterflies in her stomach the whole way back, ever since her darling gave her that flower and said those sweet words to her back on that hill. Plural couldn't remember if her high school sweetheart ever told her anything nearly as sweet as that.
She was so caught up in the moment, she'd completely forgotten that they came to the fair by car, which was still parked in the parking lot all the way back. But that was a problem for future Plural. Right now, she was enjoying the butterflies in her stomach, and she had good reason to believe Tatters felt the same way.
Every now and then, they'd shift their hands when they were getting uncomfortable, but never did they let go. The two hardly spoke during their romantic walk, but their hands did the talking. Whenever their fingers slipped, Tatters always made sure to properly wrap them back around Plural's hand.
In the other, Plural still carried the blue flower, intent on keeping it for the rest of her life, never to forget this night. Technically, she hadn't yet confessed. If anything, the flower was proof that Tatters was the one who laid her feelings bare instead.
Plural paid no attention to her surroundings and instead ran fantasies in her head again. But these were nothing like the ones that made her feel so insecure not too long ago. They were the opposite of that, and they were about what would happen after getting home and closing the door behind.
A kiss? Sharing the bed? Or would that be too soon?
A dreamy-eyed Plural was pulled back to reality when Tatters took her arm for a sharp turn and into an eerie, dark alley. But rather than feel intimidated, she couldn't help but giggle.
"What is it?" Tatters asked.
Plural tightened her fingers and swung Tatters' hand back and forth.
"Just that I'd never go into a dark alley like this by myself."
Tatters looked at her in confusion.
"But I have you. Hehe," Plural continued and swung Tatters' hand with increasing zest.
In response, Tatters blushed and smiled at her feet.
"I've… never felt this way before," Tatters spoke timidly. "Before…" she glanced up and looked Plural in the eyes, "before I met you."
"I…" Plural interjected, then stepped in front of Tatters, slid the flower into her hair and took her other hand, "feel the same about you!"
"Really!?" Tatters asked excitedly.
"All of it!"
"That time outside the bunker?"
Plural looked up, pressed her finger against her lip and made a thinking face.
"For me it was the hot springs!"
Tatters started giggling. Plural took a step forward until the two giggled together in their dark alley with both hands touching.
"We—" Tatters said hesitantly. "We are talking about… the same thing, right?"
"I hope so," Plural replied with a flirty look.
Tatters anxiously looked at Plural. "Y-You have to be clear… with me."
"Okay," Plural closed her eyes and exhaled, "I'm in looove with you!"
Tatters, stunned, stared at Plural with her mouth half open and her cheeks red.
"That's what I wanted to tell you all night," Plural said with a wink.
Tatters closed her eyes and squealed with joy.
"C'mon!" Plural said as she released one hand and pulled her darling down the alley. "I like seeing this side of you!"
To express her joy, Plural started hopping, excessively swinging Tatters' hand back and forth in an attempt to get her to join in. The look on Tatters' face suggested she was considering it.
"No one's gonna see us!" Plural appealed.
Tatters swallowed and blushed, looking like she had to overcome some kind of mental barrier before she could act this girly. But just as they turned a corner, her face turned serious as she looked ahead and slowed down to a halt, tugging Plural's hand so she stopped too.
Plural looked back at Tatters, giving her an inquisitive look to see why she was so alarmed, then followed her eyes and looked ahead.
Something was clearly wrong. The alleyway up ahead went on forever, disappearing into a dark fog after some hundred meters. Plural looked back to find the same infinite, dark alley on the other side, even though they'd just turned a corner a second ago.
"What's happening, Tats?" Plural asked with an uneasy tone.
They stepped closer together, and Tatters pulled Plural's shoulder against her own.
"Stay close to me."
Subtly, that same heavy skittering they heard in the haunted house came back again, sounding as if it moved in circles around them.
The two frantically looked around to find the source of the sound but found it to be impossibly phasing in and out of the surrounding buildings.
"It's just mind games. It's not real," Tatters muttered and pushed Plural closer to her chest.
"But we can't leave, can we?"
"I don't know… how it's doing this…"
Then, she stopped looking around and stared into the distance with her eyes slowly opening up wide, as if coming to some sort of realization.
"It's… scared…" Tatters whispered.
Plural turned to look at Tatters' face and spotted a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Hey," she said with a soothing tone, wiping up the tear with her finger.
Tatters looked at Plural's finger in shock.
"No. This isn't… mine," she mumbled cryptically as she moved her own hand to feel her wet cheek. "It's—"
Then, the air around them shook. Plural found the sensation similar to when Jenny teleported her and she'd lose her orientation for a split second, as if the whole world had just moved a couple of centimeters to the side.
"Imagine my surprise…" a male voice sounded from behind.
The two girls looked to see who it was, only to find that the world had returned to normal. The dark fog had disappeared, and the entrance to the alleyway was only ten meters behind them. Whatever that strange experience was, with the alleyway going on forever, they hadn't moved a single step in the real world.
There stood a man, at the entrance to the alleyway.
"When I thought to find the doll," the man continued, "only to be served a pair of lost birds."
The man didn't look like a local. He wore golden chains and classical robes, like a king from an ancient civilization.
He started moving forwards, approaching the two.
The closer the man came, the more nauseated Plural became.
His neck was eerily long. Not by much, but enough to be off-putting.
His ears were unnatural and pointy.
When Plural looked into His eyes, all she could see was endless depth, like she was staring into outer space. She couldn't believe what she was experiencing. The man's eyes contained as much depth as the universe itself.
Suddenly, Tatters grabbed Plural's head and buried her face in her chest.
"Don't look!"
Plural was already shaking, and she held Tatters tightly, unable to see the visitor. It was only now that she realized that merely looking at the man was doing something strange to her head and making her feel sick.
For all she knew, Tatters was still looking Him straight in the eyes. Plural could feel her heart racing against her head, and she, too, was shaking.
Plural carefully glanced to the side to catch a glimpse of His feet, seeing that the man was now standing right in front of them.
"It's not you," the man said with an intrigued tone.
Then, He turned around. Plural took the opportunity to get a better look, and she saw the man was now facing away from them, looking at a strange, pale entity standing at the end of the alleyway, blocking the exit.
Plural couldn't believe her eyes. Aside from some minor differences, it looked just like the picture in the Necronomicon. Was she suddenly able to see the ghost that haunted Tatters?
Then, she looked up at Tatters, who stood there with her eyes wide, like she was having the exact same reaction Plural did when she looked the man in the eyes. Except Tatters didn't look away at all. Her face was pale, and she was shaking vigorously.
"So, the lost bird is you?" the man asked the pale thing with a commanding tone. "What are you doing all the way out here?"
He started walking back the way he came, approaching the pale ghost without a hint of fear.
"Dreamers should stay in the dream."
Then, the world shifted again.
It was as if Plural had blacked out and missed an entire minute worth of events. Now, the pale ghost was squirming on the ground, and the man was standing over it, pressing its torso into the ground with His foot.
In an impossible manner, the ghost's body started warping and turning translucent, stretching and circling towards the man as if being absorbed, not unlike a planet venturing too close to a black hole and being stripped of its mass. The ghost's mass moved around the man and disappeared in a way Plural couldn't quite understand.
All the while, Plural was standing frozen with her hands wrapped around thin air. Tatters was lying face down on the ground, clutching her abdomen and screaming in pain.
"Tats!" Plural panicked and hunched down, putting her hands on her friend but not knowing what to do with them. "Where does it hurt?"
But Tatters was in no condition to communicate, instead screaming as if something inside of her was causing her incredible pain. In a panic, Plural's eyes went to the squirming pale ghost. The thing twitched like it was in pain, just like Tatters. Plural looked back and forth between the two and realized Tatters wasn't just going crazy from looking the man in the eyes.
"Tats, please! You're scaring me!"
Plural's arm started shaking, and her head went to right. The alleyway's other exit. A way out.
One more time, Plural looked back at Tatters, then back at the way out. She knew what she had to do, but her body wouldn't obey her commands. And this wasn't the first time, either.
Like when she allowed Circus to be kidnapped out of her own home, even though Jenny was two words away. Or, when she dumped Tatters at the abandoned skatepark earlier this week, even though the poor blonde had just saved her life.
Even her passive behavior of this past evening could be traced back to that same cowardice.
Plural swallowed, hunched over Tatters and tried to grab her by the shoulders so she could carry her away from the terrifying man and the ghost. But as she lifted her torso, her body started giving off a strange buzzing sensation, and Tatters screamed even louder.
It was like Plural was hurting her by lifting her up, and the screams of her dearest friend caused her to shut down into the very cowardly state she was trying to overcome. As a result, she dropped Tatters back down to the ground and fell to her knees, bursting into tears.
"I'm sorry! I don't know what to do!"
Thump
Up ahead, the man had shifted His attention away from the pale ghost and instead stared at His left arm in amazement. It was severed at the elbow, with a blue flame burning at the wound and the remainder of His forearm fallen to the ground.
"Hmm?" He muttered with great intrigue.
Then, He looked over His shoulder at Tatters, who was no longer screaming but still breathing heavily and unable to communicate. As soon as His eyes turned her way, Plural covered her face in a panic.
"I-I'm sorry!" she repeated, as if begging to be spared.
Unbothered by the loss of His forearm, the man turned around and slowly walked over to Tatters. Plural couldn't help but watch from the corners of her eyes, even if it meant she'd go mad.
"Hng… No!" she cried and crawled in front of Tatters in a meager gesture of protection.
As if aware of what Plural was doing, Tatters writhed in pain again.
At the same time, a barrier of blue flames appeared between the man and the two girls, blocking His way. The man froze in place, then pulled His leg out of the flames, revealing He'd now also lost His right foot and part of His lower leg.
Despite that, He relaxed and stood up straight without the need for His right foot to be touching the ground. He opened His eyes wider and gave Tatters an intense look, like He was staring straight into her soul, before turning back around as if following an invisible thread that led from Tatters straight to the pale ghost.
Then, He started laughing.
"Just how much did you eat?" He asked with a hint of excitement in His voice.
Plural carefully lowered her hands, just in time to see the man blowing on the remains of His burning arm. In the next moment, the blue flames were gone, and His arm was completely healed, as if nothing had ever happened to it. He walked the few steps back to His other victim, revealing His foot had returned to its original state too.
Silently, Plural turned around to face Tatters, who wasn't screaming anymore, and prodded her shoulder with her shaky arms.
"H-Hey…. say something…" she pleaded with tears and other fluids running all over her face.
Still no response.
Plural pinched her eyes closed and hunched over until her face was resting on Tatters' back.
"P-Please don't leave me alone."
Up ahead, the man crouched and impaled the pale ghost's torso with His bare hand, eventually pulling something out that looked like the thing's heart. It was attached to the thing's body by threads, like blood vessels, that tore the more the heart was pulled out.
At the same time, Tatters started screaming again. But this time, it was even worse. It wasn't just pain, it sounded like Tatters was dying along with the ghost.
Plural, deep inside, knew enough to make the connection, and watched helplessly as the stranger gutted her beloved familiar by pulling her heart straight out of her body.
As the last of the vessels came off the heart, the ghost's body stopped twitching and started dissipating like ash in the wind. At the same time, Tatters stopped screaming and made a horrifying choking sound like something out of a horror movie. Shortly after, she went limp and collapsed on the ground with her lifeless eyes wide open.
Then there was silence.
Plural was completely frozen in shock and disbelief. Her face had gotten pale, and her arms, which were clutching the blue flower against her chest, were shaking uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, the man stood up and gazed into the heart with a look of wonder on His face. Slowly, that look turned into a twisted smile, and the man started laughing uncontrollably.
At this point, the events in the alleyway, and especially the man's laughter, had attracted a crowd on the street. Eventually, the man stopped His laughter and opened his eyes to behold an audience of passersby having stopped to take a look at Him, causing them to step back and react in shock.
"Why waste such fine stock?" He said with a grin.
Then, He blew on the heart like He did His arm, making it disappear like ash in the wind.
"I'll help you give it all back…"
The man closed His eyes and raised His arms with a peaceful smile on His face.
Then, everyone in the world screamed at once.
« Part 2 - END »