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Mono followed the distant, dreamy sound of a music box playing. He knew the sound well, it being the same melody that played from the box that Six had been with when he’d met her. It’d been a long time since he’d heard its comforting lullaby, but he knew it most likely didn’t mean well — not when it was in the tower.
He pushed open a door that glowed magenta, the sound louder than ever, and halted in shock.
The music box was wound and looped its song, but also huge. What was huger though, was the monstrous Six that crawled from the back of the room to the box and held it close to herself. Her breathing was distorted and her hair draped sharply over her face. Her arms bent and folded over themselves in abnormal places, with the limbs ending with disfigured hands. She was so enormous that she had to crouch as to not scrape her head across the ceiling.
Mono had seen plenty of horrors on his way here. He’d waded through disgusting swamps, fled from a horrendous teacher, dodged and weaved through creaky mannequins, and incinerated a hideous doctor. But this was somehow more horrifying than the rest.
He approached carefully, unsure if Six would be aggressive in this state. She seemed to be wary of him, tracking his every move, but had no intent of hurting him. When he came closer, near the box, she gently swiped him away, though he still fell back. He got back up and tried again, instead going to her hand instead of the box.
She made a soft sound, somewhat like an animal, when he touched her hand. He could feel the unnaturally placed joints in her fingers twitch and bend the digits into new, odd positions. It looked as though she got nervous at the contact, as she tried to retract. But Mono held fast. She began to panic, and he could imagine he was about to get swiped away again, though perhaps not as lightly. So he upturned her hand and moved his fingers across her palm.
“Do you remember this?” He signed the words onto her hand. She paused, and her fear seemed to dissipate. She moved the box closer to herself, her free hand tracing the rims and surfaces of it, but was calm. She appeared to be looking at him, or at least directing her attention to him. So he continued.
“You taught me how to sign in the attic. We were there for a while, but we knew how to hide and stay safe.
“We went everywhere together, did everything with each other. Even when things were scary, we knew we had each other.”
Her ragged breathing smoothed into deep inhales and slow exhales. Her fingers seemed less occupied with the music box.
“I know this isn’t you. This is what the tower wants you to be. So you lose the strength to leave.
“You don’t need this anymore. You’re stronger than that.” He reached for the box, but she made a disturbed grunt and hauled in closer. With the loss of her palms, he signed normally.
“If you want it, we’ll go back to the cabin. We’ll get your real one. I promise.”
She relaxed again, and Mono strived to keep her comfortable.
“I came here for you. I couldn’t leave you behind ever.”
He cautiously grabbed her hand again, and she let him. Her sounds were more akin to curious purring than scared panting.
“I love you.”
Despite the proportional differences between them, Mono spread his hand’s palm across hers and held her hand. He signed it again and again.
“I love you. I love you. I promise I do. Even when you’re keeping me away right now.”
She let out a soft cry and her hands hesitated to wrap around him, hovering nervously. The music box laid half-forgotten on the floor under her form. Mono glanced from it to the hammer across the room from them.
“I have to destroy it.”
She whimpered anxiously, but Mono squeezed her hand.
“We still have the one in the cabin,” he reminded her. It assured her, but her nerves were still present. She backed away to the opposite side of the room from the hammer, sliding the box towards Mono.
He retrieved the tool and braced for the reverberating impact. When he rammed it down to the metal, it made a huge crash at an ungodly volume. Above it was Six’s ear piercing shriek. Mono turned back and saw her huddled and shaking against the door — she was holding herself back.
“I’ll try to be quick.” He wasn’t sure if she saw, but wouldn’t waste time repeating himself.
He lifted the hammer over his head again and smashed it downwards. The same sound echoed, along with Six’s screams. He slammed every blow as hard as he could, praying it would break soon. And it did. The box crunched in an ugly way, and Six began to shrink.
Within seconds, she was back to her normal size. As she rose to her knees, struggling to get on her feet, Mono swept her up in a tight hug. He didn’t care for the ominous rumbling or countless eyes surrounding him, only his Six back with him. She slowly returned it, arms wrapping around him just as tightly.
“I love you,” he signed onto her hand again.
“I love you,” she repeated into his palm.
But the two quickly separated as the impending doom of the tower became obvious.
———
Six scrambled to escape the walls closing in around her. She jumped across crevices that oozed with flesh and eyes, fled from collapsing ceilings, and sprinted to the glowing doorway that promised an escape, even if temporary. Her heart pounded with pure fear and adrenaline. Her lungs felt as though they’d give at any moment. She felt the path under her crack and crumble and fall into an endlessly dark and malicious pit. But her tiny legs carried her the distance to make it to the door safely, even as a majority of the stone that used to be under her feet had disappeared into nothing. She turned to look at the peril she had escaped.
She saw Mono desperately trying to catch up to her.
The flesh tried to push itself through the doorway it laid confined behind, but even with the threat contained, Mono still had to cross the treacherous path. He approached the end of it, and Six instinctively crouched on her side of the ledge, offering her hand. As it fell under his steps, he took one last leap towards her, and she caught his hand. He dangled precariously over the echoing abyss. His laugh was nervous and breathless as he looked down at the stone falling, falling, falling…
“Wow,” he panted. “We did it.”
He looked up at Six, and she felt everything freeze with terror.
His kind, familiar eyes no longer looked to be his own, but instead to be similar to the dull static of the Thin Man. His messy hair looked eerily like the smoothed blackness groomed under a hat. His sharp face structured the sunken and hollow appearance she’d seen as she was taken. She’d never recognized it, but without the bag over his face, it was plain as day.
The pieces slotted so perfectly, so perfectly horrific, that it sent an overwhelming wave of emotions in her. One that was not ideal in this situation.
Anger (why would he do this to me? What did I do to deserve this?), confusion (how could this happen? How could he be the Thin Man when he’s right here?), sadness (I thought we were friends. Why would he hurt me?). All of them were splayed on her usually emotionless face. And Mono saw them all.
His relief wavered as he said a quiet, “hey?” He still was hanging by their joined hands, moments away from plummeting to a certain death.
She stared at him, and the emotions were rushing. Her breathing grew ragged and her arms shook. There was an overtaking desire to watch Mono fall, fall, fall…
But she blinked, and looked — really looked — at his face.
It was still Mono. Her friend. The one that helped when no one asked him to. The one that came to rescue her. The one with kind eyes and kind hands that pulled her from vulnerability in a tiny room in the woods.
The one that really loved her despite questionable tendencies.
The emotions quickly drained to make way for shame and worry. Wasting no time, she grabbed as much of him as she could and hauled him to safety. She snatched his hand into hers once more before anything could be asked, and she raced to the portal. She wanted to ignore the hot disappointment in herself, one that burned her eyes with tears and choked her throat with sobbing smoke. She only needed to save Mono to make up for what she’d even considered.
There was a blinding white, deafening noise, and then the crash of glass. The screen broke behind them, and they were left in a dimly lit room. The lumination filtered through broken boards above them, letting a soft glow into the little room. The two children heaved for breath.
“What was that?” Mono was the first to start a conversation — he always was. Six tried to ignore it. She was deadly afraid of talking about what had happened.
“Six?” He pushed a little more, anxiety edging his tone. “Hey?” But of course there was that familiar warmth that was easy to follow. Her hands began to sign shakily.
“I’m sorry,” she signed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“What happened?” He sat on his legs in front of her, head tilted curiously like an animal. Without the bag over his head, he was even easier to read. He’d always been very easy to understand, but more so now that she could see his eyes better and the expressions that were driven by his mouth.
“I saw the Thin Man,” she continued. “You were him. You were the Thin Man.”
Mono’s face turned shocked. “What? But… I killed him. That couldn’t have been me.”
“It was,” she went on, quicker and firmer. “I know it was. I don’t know how but it was you. I was so scared of you.”
Mono looked down at his hands in his lap.
“So you wanted to drop me?” He looked up to read Six’s hands.
“I wanted to hope you didn’t become the Thin Man. I thought…” she hesitated. “I thought killing you would be the answer. But I didn’t want to. Because you’re my... friend.” She had briefly paused at friend. She knew they had something more, but it wasn’t too clear what yet.
She didn’t expect to find a pair of arms wrapped around her so quickly nor so carefully. Mono’s body warmth seeped into hers comfortingly. His jacket was worn and loved. His fluffy hair brushed against the side of her face.
“You’re my friend too,” he said. “Thank you for saving me.”
“I wanted to kill you. How is that saving you?” She signed it into one of his palms.
“You saved me from something that wasn’t you. So thank you.”
Six didn’t have any arguments. She didn’t know how exactly to tell him there was a deep hunger in her that demanded to be sated, and part of that hunger came a natural violence that drove her to sadistic behaviors. He probably expected that last part, but the rest was so difficult to say.
So she’d say it another time. When she felt like she could.
“Thank you.” She returned the hug and buried her face into his neck. He pet her hair comfortingly.
“Thank you too.”