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“And I won!” He grins from ear to ear, “again. Seriously, are you that bad at chess?”
“Yep. You sir, have bested me.” He mentions dryly, looking down at his tech that’s adjusted on his wrist.
“Sir? Now that is a new one!”
“Nardo, no please don’t!”
Leo runs out of the room to flex upon his newfound nickname to his family. “Hey everyone!! I now have a new nickname from Donnie - it’s sir!
“Time to add to the board!” Mikey giggly says adding it to the chalkboard, which shows such a large array of nicknames he's been given. ‘
Effeminate fellow’
‘Idiot’
‘Dumb dumb’
‘Tortoise with no hair’
‘Mr inferiority complex’
‘One of them’
‘Fruit cup’
‘Crest toothpaste’
And the list continues on with similar variations.
Donnie sort of stares at the chess board, trying to analyze how on the pizza supreme sky that Leon somehow managed to win. Did he eat the pieces? Did he get rid of them? Did he portal them somewhere?
As he looks and tries to remember any missing or notably bad playing strategies Leo had demonstrated.
Nothing seemed off. Until he remembered the bishop, it was moved twice in one play. “Wait leo! You misplayed the game.”
“Whattt? No I wouldn’t, I’m actually the best at chess. You’re just a poor loser.”
“But you-!”
He cuts him off again, “This is why I don’t ever play chess with you, you ruin the fun!”
Donnie just is left in a bewildered state of confusion. Thinking while Shelldon comes around, his monotonous voice speaks about the strategy of his brother. That too, he will be more than likely to win the next game.
“Hey where did dad go?” Raph asks while they all meet in the center of their home. Setting up to watch yet another movie for their movie night; It’s Raph’s turn. To the right of the Tv there is a long list of movies that are banned or are on thin ice.
“From what I heard? I think he and April were going to hang out. I think.” Mikey chimes into the conversation, looking at the two brothers. Donnie still won’t admit his defeat for the fifth time this week.
“Hmmm, you know what will make this even better movie night?” Leo mentions.
“To invite Casey?” Mikey asks with beaming enthusiasm.
“Nooo, to get some pizza! I’ll portal in and portal out- I won’t miss any of your movie!” He mentions and creates one of those portals with his ōdachi.
A blue glimmering ring summons, making a circle filled with the same color. Then the wormhole starts dragging them in, “No no no not again!”
The pull was so great and was at a huge force, it stripped them all from their main living room. Then they were falling, drifting for a second through an unknown region. The colors for a flash were neon blue, and then transitioned to a cream yellow.
A musty smell is in there too, affiliated with mold; almost a stale one too. There are walls of walls beyond, looking close to being nonexistent of an end. Not an end in sight.
Welcome to the back rooms! :)
There was nothing to see on end except walls and walls which continued the same eye bleeding repetitive pattern.
“Oh great! He got us portal jacked again!” A voice behind Raph grumbled, it must’ve been Donnie since he tends to be pessimistic.
He continues to look down at his wrist to play around with his tech, “and great nothing works!”
“Man, don’t worry Donnie, somehow Mikey and Leo will find us.”
“Somehow? Ok but let’s hope that Leo still has his ōdachi cause if we’re stuck in here, I’m going to kill him!” He begins to yell.
“Ok little man.”
“Little man? That’s all you call me?” He asks, while walking away towards a wall with etchings into it.
“Well I never really spent much time with you, so yeah.” Raph zones out for a second and once he’s out of that trance he runs up to meet his brother. “Woah. What does it say?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” The lines etched into the wallpaper of the room, it tends to look rigid and old. Old enough as if it were to become timeless.
As Donnie stares at the wall, hearing creaks and stomping in the background, behind them. Slowly gaining closer. The buzzing from the lights around them slowly becomes white noise.
Zoning out and back staring at the attempted words which are stabbed into the mundane and meaningless wallpaper.
‘You’ll be stuck here for eternity. Have fun navigating the back rooms while it lasts!’
“What?” Donnie raises his voice looking at it in bewilderment, “of course Leo caused this.” As he turns around, the same exact wording and phrase is inscribed in every wall.
A meaningless repetition.
As he turns to look at the time, or to see his phone. Surprise, surprise: his phone is dead and so is his battery in the watch. “We’re screwed Raph.”
“You sure about that?”
“Oh, I can’t possibly be any more serious.” He raises his voice, flailing his arms around, only to be met with Raph’s confused glare. “I wasn’t being sarcastic that time.”
—<
“Ack!” Leo falls and rubs his head, now noticing the new vicinity. “Donnie?” He stays put, sitting on the ground, looking anywhere for his prized odachi.
The room looked dimly lit, the tiles on the ground resembled the similar black and white ones, even a black rug is cut to match a pathway. No light is in front of that, even the pillars are white speckled with black lines segmenting into squares.
The only lights shown in the room he's positioned in, are the small circular ones on the ceiling. Placed one after another as the level of the ceiling lowers. Looking similar to a movie theatre, or a theatre in general.
“Oh boy.” He mutters, looking around. No one around him, except a high, booming scream coming closer towards him, “and there’s Angelo.”
He was running almost at lightning speed, as if he was running from something, “Leo? C'mon we gotta go!”
He starts to laugh to himself, throwing his arms to his side “Ha great prank guys! This is all a setup isn’t it?”
“Leo- it’s not!” His shrieks continued onward through the hall as he passed Leo. The picturesque room is left with a trail of paper behind him.
“Yeah, as if.” He scoffs, looking away to continue. He might as well follow Mikey, albeit he's screaming for whatever reason, he might know where exactly they are.
As he starts to pick up the pace, needing to catch up with his brother (and find his odachi while he’s at it) the area begins to shift, the theatre forming into an open street.
The stop lights continue and being completely alone and devoid of anything. His heart rate accelerated through both fear and uncertainty.
The posters which once hung on the wall are gone. They went out of existence, supposedly. What once was, is now what was.
“Mikey, hey wait up!” He yells, arm stitching outward to make sure he can’t leave his sight. But still it seems he is being lost in his hindsight.
“Wait a second, what are we running from?”
The hall seemed to become skinnier and longer. As if being stretched and being suffocated which felt quite cumbersome.
He started to become weary and paranoid if being completely honest. The feeling of someone behind him is fleeting, but not fiction.
As he turns behind him, there it is. A humanoid sentient being (is it even human) with a large sum of body hair, being black. Their fangs gnashing against the other, being dead set on attacking the two others in front of it.
“Oh boy.” He utters as he notices something similar near him, his lost ōdachi. It was placed right on the ground in front of him.
The lights began to flicker and some exploded. The wails from Mikey were far away from his position, all he can do is hope he is safe as well as his two other brothers.
As he lunges forward to obtain his prized ōdachi, and then face to face to the entity.
It looked poorly mangled, once being a human. It’s anatomy out of place, severely skinny near the stomach, and strong angled claws where the normal finger and toenails should be placed.
No tail of any kind, but the look of it was a wretched and nauseating one.
Close to a dog, but more human.
It growls at him, getting ready to pounce on leo and to gnaw on his green skin.
One distinct thing that stood out in this area, the words on the ground. The inscribed words, ‘do not let it bite, you’ll suffer the same fate as it is enduring currently. It’s like a parasite.’
“What a bunch of junk. And what breed of dog are you?” He laughs under his breath, keeping his composure intact.
Then it jumps at him, opening its mouth to bite and spread this illness. But with Leon’s quick wits and impulse, he formed a portal.
The blue frame placed between the two of them as a barrier. Even then he made another so that the projection would be a continuous loop. Never to annoy or threaten them again.
The sounds of the hound only were howling and yelping. In pain and in tearing apart. No other sounds, only the light ones of someone walking. Then a light tap on his shoulder and he flinched.
“God! Mikey you gotta stop doing that.” He smiles to himself looking at his younger brother.
“Well I’m proud you were able to manage that thing. All we gotta do now is search for Donnie and Raph.”
“Yeah.” “But first we have to leave! I’m tired of that hell-hound. It’s a crazy dog.”
“He won’t bite you.” He smiles mocking Leo.
“He was about to! I was close to chopping it in half in my panicked frenzy!” He sighs glaring at it again.
“We gotta be getting out of here soon.” Raph mentions glancing towards everything.
Every wall and floor looked the same. Close to being similar. Head beginning to feel hazy and full. Even heavy.
Even the same rumbling noise around there sounded. Going off every so often. Definitely noises coming from behind, resembling footsteps. Even an inscription before them was with the words, ‘leave as early as you can. You’ll thank me later.’
“Raph? RAPH?” He yells at him while behind them stood a tall figure. Its face looked mangled, and was right above the two.Tall as the video game character: Slenderman.
They begin to scamper away, leaving tread marks being that quick. Any way out, any singular way out would work. It would serve as fine.
It doesn’t matter as long as their minds don’t feel as if they are being decomposed.
The flickers of the lights, the ancient hums induce fear and anticipation inside them. “Oh he’s after us! He’s behind us, right behind us!” Donnie shrieks, catching glances behind him and Raph occasionally.
As they turn corners the walls and flooring look so wrong and the same. No escape. It’s all the same. Panel lights being embedded into the tiled ceilings. The lighting being the same, and the rare occasion is it being dark. Becoming dimmer.
“Wait, am I going crazy or is it becoming darker?”
“No, well at least I don’t think so.” He sighs, looking down back at his communicator gear. The trackers being displayed on his screen. “Uh oh.”
“What wha- what do you mean by uh oh?” Raph mutters stuttering looking over at him. Looking over the corner, “It’s coming closer. Its beady eyes are staring at me!”
“Well you see Raph, there are multiple levels to where we are exactly. ‘This backrooms.’ The name makes sense.” He sighs looking to the right of him.
There it is. Its mangled corpse appeared only with the bones of a back, legs and arms standing there. No body is recognizable, only a sheer figure.
“Hey Donnie, there’s a flight of stairs over there. All we have to do is bolt for it.”
He nods at him, only to scurry away towards the stairway in the corridor.
The seemingly empty corridor.
Only the tramping behind them slowly was there, following their movements. Only for a moment it felt as though Donnie was being pulled back or swatted by a hand of it.
“Wha- NO? RAPH! Shit!” Donnie screams running while Raph had the head start.
His body positioning bent forward while the red one seemed to run straight up.
As the two make it up the stairs. The lights from before come to a halt.
The wall coloring shifted from being a monochrome yellow to a black and white.
The wood finishing on the railway, being a sangria to then no longer existing.
Sprinting up the stairs, almost tripping over each other with only the booming noise following them behind. “It’s right there!”
“I know I know!” Raph yells as he awaits for Donnie.
A trap door at the top to close it, and to ensure decent safety of visitors.
As they sit by the entrance of the new room, there’s a metallic noise above them. The missing sai’s of Raph were fixed into the ceiling.
As it comes plummeting down to the ground, cutting the air between it. It was close to stabbing Donnie’s leg if not for Raph grabbing it.
The new room didn’t look all that different but only similar to a desolate mall. Chairs being the forest green, strip lights of multiple colors, and even the occasional artificial plant.
Two levels, staircases and even elevators around. Besides that there’s the mechanism for going there excluding those; escalators.
But most of all. There was an ambiance there. Only a noise which resembled it. The background mall music.
Only them remaining. And a similar voice oozed from above.
“Oh thank god they’re still alive!” Mikey yells as they inch closer to the others, strolling on down to them.
“Wait a second no! Only Leo being here makes it an even worse living hell!”
“Hey!”
As they began to be setting in this makeshift camp. Only to remain in the group of four, they exchanged the experiences they endured. That their story isn’t any less or worse terrifying than the next.
How Leo closely was bit by a demon dog, and how Mikey had been scouring the rooms for either brother to hear him (he genuinely thought he was alone for 4 hours which was 20 minutes).
Even how Raph and Donnie were only figuring out a maze of uncertainty.
They will find a way back that’s for certain.But for now they need to rest and see if their mystic weapons can be of use still.
Epilogue?
“Hey, hey guys check this out!” Leo yells sliding into the room of his brothers, being obnoxious yet again.“You’re gonna think this is the coolest thing ever!”
“Nardo you thought glow in the dark lights are the coolest thing ever.” Donnie puffs out a unamused groan. Looking at the stretched corridor, and back at his family. Still expecting an answer from Leo, he gestures.
“Is it a brick oven?” Mikey mentions next attempting to keep the conversation going.
“Uh, noooo.” He mutters, “it’s pretty cool actually though! Come on guys!”
The three exchange glances to one another and back at Leo. Whatever he had in store, he was excited about it.
But again last time they were excited for something they were stuck in an 80’s fashion montage.
As he led the way running to a storefront and there was a wall hung with 4 mirrors. The same number as them all.
As each individual stepped up towards the mirror it was only shown a different version of them. Not a reflection, but a different iteration; almost as if a warped perception.