Chapter Text
5 PM
It’s snowing outside.
Winter always ensures it’s dark by the time Smitty gets any energy to leave his house, but every day seems like a test of isolation when he’s by himself. No amount of kind greetings to delivery drivers, cashiers, baristas, etc., will bypass the heaviness that settles in his bones.
It’s not like everyone is ignoring him, per se, but it’s getting harder and harder to organize a hangout either in-person or online. Everyone’s just busy and it’s…exhausting to keep getting constant rejection after rejection.
Smitty’s honestly not sure how much longer he can take.
Everyone’s invisible on Discord, social medias are relatively silent, and his phone hasn’t buzzed in a few days. Their Steam accounts haven’t been active in nearly a week. He wanders through his house on the worst snowy days and makes sure he eats a few snacks and keeps himself alive.
“Social interaction is cringe anyways,” he mumbles under his breath about a week into the radio silence, hip-checking his fridge door to close it. “Who needs it? It’s not like anyone’s here to hear my shit jokes as it is, but it’s fine, so who—”
Over on his dining table, Smitty’s phone rings. He freezes with a piece of string cheese in his hand, eyeing down the phone like it’s a plague. “The fuck,” he complains, heading on over to see who it is. “And on a Friday night?”
The phone screen says “Kryoz”, and Smitty’s grin lights up his whole face. He immediately answers and puts it on speaker, going to open his string cheese. “What’s up bitch?”
“Yo,” John responds, seemingly unruffled as always. Honestly, John’s the most likely to leave their phone on silent for a long time without realizing it. Droid’s a close second, especially after that time that he vanished for three weeks and everyone thought he died. “Been a hot minute, but I got a favor to ask you. Have you heard from anyone else lately?”
Smitty’s mouth tugs down as he thinks of everyone in his usual groups not responding to him lately. “Nope. I’ve heard nothing from Puffer or anyone else, along with Vanoss and his group. Haven’t heard shit from them.”
“Word,” Kryoz sighs, sounding like he’s going further away. “So, weird question, but have you heard from Matt lately? I was busy sewing some of my clothes a few days ago and I asked him to send something, but I just came outta my focused mode and I thought he was still here.”
“Same thing as before,” Smitty deadpans, still a bit miffed. “Apparently they all played Backrooms like, a week ago, and I don’t think I got the invite.”
“That might’ve been for the best,” John admits, sounding like he’s buried in something. “I got invited to that session but I joined pretty late, and they had already vanished, so I thought I’d do the sensible thing and follow them. I think I’m the only one who brought my phone fully charged though.”
Smitty pauses to take all of this in. It sounds like he’s trying to allude to something, but that’s just how his good friend is. On some days it’s great, but sometimes it’s insufferable. “Kryoz. What the FUCK are you talking about.”
“Y’know how the Backrooms has you like, go into them in some weird way?” John replies, rustling on his end of the call. “Like you could accidentally send someone or yourself on Lethal Company into those empty corridors?”
“Yeah?” Smitty asks, hoping that Kryoz doesn’t get distracted in his story. Pressing for the point of it would make Kryoz keep avoiding the issue, and normally Smitty would fuck with him about it, but his patience is a bit stretched. “So everyone played Backrooms, and that means…”
“It deadass worked,” John says, sounding like he’s whispering in a library. “They played the game and got sucked into the actual Backrooms. I only know this because I did the exact same thing.”
Smitty pauses from where he’s opening the string cheese. “So let me get this straight,” he says, wondering if he’s slowly hallucinating from carbon monoxide poisoning. “You went to play the Backrooms with all our other idiot friends, and got sucked into the actual game. You’re saying that everyone’s been radio silent because they’re in another dimension, basically.”
“Yep. Knew you’d get it.” John says nonchalantly. “I brought my phone to the recording session since I figured I’d order delivery while everyone else was dying, but it works here, weirdly enough. Anyways, there’s a lot of books where I’m at, which sucks because I can’t read, but it’s quiet as fuck here so it ain’t the worst.”
The Canadian opens his mouth and then closes it again. Life…is weird, as he knows, and there’s probably such things as ghosts and spirits and all sorts of weird shit, but saying that a video game kidnapped his friends?
He opens his laptop and puts Kryoz on speaker, listening to his friend continue talking as he goes to check Steam. “So yeah, I ended up in some weird ass bookstore. I’m pretty sure it’s endless or I would’ve found the exit by now. You played more than I did; thoughts?”
Smitty has played a decent amount of that game, but he’s pretty confident Evan’s up there too since he had a tendency to drag Brian and a few others into a session that was…supposed to be recorded a few days ago…and now they’re missing too.
Well. Smitty’s nothing if not resilient, and he makes sure his phone starts charging as he goes to pack a small bag with clothes and snacks. “If I find a way to get in,” he says slowly, making sure he can recall the facts he needs about this particular realm. “Do we have a chance of dying? Are there going to be monsters that rip us apart and we need to figure out puzzles to get out? Because I don’t think any of us are that good under pressure, but I want to ask so I can leave a note here or something.”
There’s a beat of silence, and John replies, “Honestly? I don’t think so. Everything feels kinda peaceful here. I haven’t left this bookstore because I haven’t wanted to, I guess. I think everyone else worked together to get outta here but I’m sure we can puzzle it out when you get here—whoa, that’s sick as hell.”
Smitty’s phone beeps, and he looks down to go check the notification. To his shock and amazement, a new group chat’s been created called The Backrooms Boys. Majority of his whole friend group is in there, and a few seconds later, one text with a selfie pops into existence.
Blarg: do u think if I swing hard enough and jump from the top I WONT take fall damage?
It’s a vaguely blurry photo of Matt, one green eye wide in the photo as he’s clearly in the air on a swing. The background is a playground that you’d see in a park closer to night, when the sun’s setting and everything seems unreal. Smitty stares down at it, trying to stifle the wave of relief that’s surging through him at seeing his oldest friend.
“That playground looks fire as hell,” Kryoz snorts, closer to the phone now. It sounds like he’s typing and sure enough, a photo of an endless hallway full of books shows up from him. “I didn’t think we had signal in here, but I’ll take it. No idea where he’s at though.”
“Then we’ll just have to hope this place takes us in order to our friends,” Smitty exhales, rubbing his eyes with relief. “Okay. I’m not playing the game to get in, so what’s another way to do this? A certain time? Something really specific?”
“Just noclip through a wall, maybe?” Kryoz suggests. “Oh hey, more of our friends are responding. That’s pretty good to know they’re still alive. Oh shit, Droid’s in an aquarium! That looks fucking awesome. Can we go there when you get here?”
“We’re going to pick Droid up while we’re there,” Smitty reminds him. “It’s not just about the aquarium. Although we can definitely go check out the gift shop.”
“Fuck yeah,” Kryoz murmurs, and Smitty goes to check the buzzing group chat.
Kryoz: ya just jump
Kryoz: no balls
Droid: yo check out this place it’s dope as hell
Droid’s current location is a long aquarium tunnel with no one in sight. Fish and various creatures swim on by, the reflection of the water leaving gorgeous ripples on the floor with endless corals and other background plants floating in the current.
Basically: Holy shit you guys are ALIVE?????? I thought it was just Scotty and I in here!!!
Wildcat: FOR FUCK’S SAKE CAN SOMEONE COME OVER HERE
Kryoz: you in danger big man?
Wildcat: fucking. no. but I can make endless barbeque here and I want someone to taste test this bitch. where the hell is everyone else.
Panda: I’m on a train?
Basically: Why are you questioning this
Panda: Well when i look outside its just clouds
Panda: Riddle me THAT motherfucker
Terroriser: OH YOU GUYS ARE ALIVE for fucks sake we lost Brock and everyone else that was in our group
Terroriser: ev’s beating my ass at air hockey BUT i have this mf beat in pinball
Delirious: oh shit
Delirious: im at mcdonalds
Wildcat: WHAT?
Basically: HUH??
Puffer: Hey does anyone need to wash clothes
Smitty’s trying to do the count in his head of everyone that went into the rooms, so he pulls up Steam and checks the groups. There’s Puffer with Droid, Grizzy, Pezzy, Blarg, and Kryoz, and on the other crew, Vanoss with Wildcat, Basically, Terroriser, Panda, Nogla, Fourzero, Delirious, and Moo. (That’s a crazy fucking list. Smitty really wants to know how he bribed several people to join him for this game.)
No sign of life from Grizzy, Pezzy, Nogla, or Moo, but Brian mentioned that they lost Brock, so he’s probably just busy doing something in a later room. The other three could be doing literally anything, so Smitty’s not holding his breath for a quick response.
“Noclip through a wall,” Smitty mumbles under his breath. “Yeah, that could work. Isn’t it just…find something that’s off and go through that? Or slip into a crack that shouldn’t be there?” He takes a glance around his kitchen while taking a bite of the string cheese. All his walls and doors look normal, even as he turns to—
Smitty’s breath catches.
There’s…
…There’s a door in the corner that’s never been there before.
Smitty slowly turns just in case, keeping it in the corner of his eye. It seemingly appeared into view out of nowhere, which is very concerning when there’s another place in your house that you’ve never seen before, but he just knows that this is the place to go when he leaves.
“Kinda curious about food in these other places,” John yawns on his end. “I’ve got an unlimited stock of water and sushi, which is really nice, but I’m kinda in the mood for something else. You think the next several rooms will have different food?”
Maybe the time to leave doesn’t really matter, since the door’s already there. Smitty secures the bag on his back and approaches the door, keeping it in his line of sight. “I sure hope so dude. I’m bringing snacks anyways if you want some. Also, I’ll go into more detail about it later, but I think I just found an entrance that I don’t need to fall asleep or play a game for. Is that weird?”
“Maybe, but is it weirder than actually being here? I don’t THINK so, loser.” Kryoz blows a raspberry through the receiver. “Hurry up and come on in, Smitty! We can get high and go to that aquarium.”
This is either a really weird dream, or I passed out and I’m hallucinating. Smitty reasons to himself. He blows a responding raspberry back and hangs up, sighing and making sure he pockets his phone charger as well.
Going on an impromptu scavenger hunt was not on Smitty’s to-do list today, but honestly? If it means he gets to hang out with his friends, then he’s not gonna complain. He reaches for the doorknob and rips it open, startling back when the smell of old and fresh books hit his senses. If that’s where John is, then he’s got no time to waste!
He sends one final text before stepping through and shutting the door behind him.
Smitty: on way to get y’all; bringing snacks and phone chargers for anyone who needs one. be there soon!
The clock on his wall stops ticking.