Chapter Text
Chapter 12: Down Down Down Into the Abyss
He felt that agonising pain all over.
It hurt so much.
His body being moved all but like putty in the instigator’s hands.
But he couldn’t do anything.
He could only stay there, suspended, victim to the torture.
He slowly but surely felt his mind slip away just like his body.
All but c on su me d by t he ink …
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Shawn still didn’t feel great, even if he had gotten up earlier, he still hadn’t been in tip-top shape.
The sudden feeling of his body being thrown harshly on its back onto a hard surface certainly didn’t help much.
He opened his eyes to find everyone standing over him.
Intimidating much?
They didn’t need to make him feel shorter than he already was.
That would be plain, bloody bullying.
He already felt strangely a little shorter than usual, but that could have just been the sheer size of what had attacked them, sizing him up in his mind. He knew they probably didn't mean to, but to him it felt like they were rubbing in their height a little by standing over him like that.
Suddenly a pair of fingers started snapping in his face.
“I know you can hear me. Get up Shawn” Allison said sternly.
“God, this was the second time, would he man up a little?!” Allison thought as she watched everyone back away from the toy maker as Tom helped him up.
“The real question is, where have we ended up this time?” she unanimously asked everyone while panning over them.
Before someone could answer her question though, she noticed a discrepancy in the crowd and apparently so did Lacie.
“Huh, where’s the janitor? Didn’t he fall into those puddles like we did?” the woman asked.
As everyone realised this fact, all the gears in everyone’s heads went to work, especially a certain two.
But in Lacie’s head, she was thinking of something else.
She didn’t mean to be selfish about such a situation of apparently losing track of one of them but, she couldn’t just help but feel like she was forgetting something… or was it maybe someone?
“Hey wait a second… this happened before!” Shawn shouted out over everyone.
“Do pray tell, what could you possibly mean Mr. Flynn?” Grant questioned.
“I mean, this happened before when we were separated! I was in the bathroom with Wally, when all of a sudden, the ink grabbed at him and pulled him under before I had time to react! That puddle didn’t so much as glance at me when it did that. The point is I think those puddles might’ve been targeting the poor lad!”
“Wait, puddles can’t glance..”
“You know what I mean!”
“I think that's how we found him with you guys when we rejoined. The ink took him there for whatever reason…” Tom confirmed.
“That’s great and all-” Allison cut in “-so can we look for him later? I think it is an important matter and all, but we should be worrying about ourselves right now.” she finished while pointing behind her.
Everyone’s eyes followed that direction until they saw what was in front of them.
A railing in front of them and beyond it, below a pit of ink flooding the hidden floor, at the opposite end of the pit there were also two open hallways opposite each other and seeming to have visible lights coming from further inside them.
“We could go down there and investigate? It would be good to know more about this place since we’re kinda stuck here, but I don’t think anyone’s gonna be willing to wade over in all that ink…” Susie thought to herself, hand on her chin.
“Ew…” she accidentally blurted out.
She didn’t think it mattered much, everyone else definitely felt the same way and what with all the trouble that annoying stuff had given them.
“Hey, can any of yall see what that is down there?” Lacie cut in through the silence.
The mechanic had leaned over the railing and pointed at a sepia toned dot in the black sea below. Upon looking harder, that dot had turned into a crate with an unknown object sitting on top of it, just floating there in the ink.
“Is that one of those tape recorders on top of it?” Tom asked, squinting harder than before at the crate.
When he pointed that out, they all moved to lean over the railing next to confirm that indeed, there was a tape recorder just sitting there.
Privy to anyone or anything.
“What could a lil’ thing like that be doin’ all the way down… wherever we are?” Lacie said.
“Aren’t those the things Mister Drew gave to the employees to record in their own time?” Grant clarified.
“Wait really? Does that mean we could get in on someone’s dirty secrets?!” Shawn exclaimed, excited.
“I don’t think now is the right time for that Shawn…” Allison piped up from beside him sounding disappointed.
CRICK
“Huh? What was that noise?”
CRACK
“Thats sounds oddly like-”
SNAP
“- the sound of wood snapping under pressure-”
“AHHHHHHH-”
“MISS BENTON!” Grant called out.
SPLASH
…
The ink splattered around Lacie as her body plunged beneath, but as soon as she did, she quickly regained her senses as she scrambled back up to the surface above the thick liquid.
‘ Oh god, I think I got some of it in my mouth!’ she thought as she entered a coughing fit, swaying in her steps a bit.
“Are you alright down there?” she heard Susie's voice shout out from behind her.
She turned around to see the platform she just fell from towering over her with everyone leaning over to see her, concerned lining their faces.
“Yeah, I'm fine!” she shouted back.
‘ I think..’ she thought internally as she looked at the ink she had coughed up onto her hand.
“Oh… alright!” Susie replied, still shouting for reassurance. Because even though she had agreed verbally, her face was still looking at Lacie with concern.
She heard whispering before the woman above turned back to her.
“Do you think you’ll be able to hold up down there a little longer down there? We’ll find a way to get you back up!”
She nodded in confirmation as Susie turned her back to her once again.
As she stood there, it really soaked in how gross the ink felt on her as her legs and lower midsection stayed submerged.
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“So… how are we going to get her back up?” Susie directed at everyone.
…
A heated discussion ensued, the most ridiculous of ideas being thrown around, but was cut short by Lacie’s screams from below
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Lacie had stood there awkwardly as everyone else muttered to each other above her.
She wrapped her arms around her as she shivered from the cold ink lapping around her waist. She silently idled there, waiting for a solution to hoist her back up to the others. She really would rather be in the company of those (mostly) imbeciles than no one at all.
Then all of a sudden, she felt something wet on her left shoulder.
She froze up.
She slowly and shakily turned her head to that same left shoulder.
Her face turned stark white as she saw the humanoid inky hand gripping her, and when she looked further and saw what it was attached to..
She screeched in terror.