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“Egg?”
Wemmbu sat up from the floor. The smell hit him before anything. A stale, dingy smell that wafted up from the moist carpet. Wemmbu’s brows furrowed as he rapidly stood up, a frown forming on his face as the carpet squelched softly under his shoes.
The walls were a muted uncomfortable yellow. Whatever hallway he looked down, he could see no door or any sort of exit. The soft buzzing overhead was his only companion as he slowly made his way through every room and corridor. Wemmbu looked back, just to see that the rooms behind him were completely different to where he had come from. A bone deep shiver made its way down his back, a small sheen of sweat forming on his skin. Just where the hell was he?
Wemmbu leaned against one of the walls, rubbing his temples and glaring at the light overhead as he tried to remember how he’d even gotten here in the first place. The last thing he could remember was that he and Egg were messing around on some stupid free game they found on Steam. Wemmbu had kicked the wall behind his desk a little too hard and that had sent his flimsy little plastic chair crashing down onto the floor. Did he get a concussion from that fall? That would be stupid. But it’d explain how he found himself in this weird space that changed the second he turned around. It looked like some sort of fever dream.
With that solution in his mind, settling his concerns down, he started aimlessly walking through the next doorway. Wemmbu was confident that Egg would realise that something was wrong and would call an ambulance or something. He just needed to wait until he woke up in some hospital, and everything would be fine. “Right?”
Wall after wall.
constant buzzing after buzzing.
more yellow, that stupid muted yellow.
His shoes had been soaked by this point, his socks slightly damp and irritating.
Wemmbu didn’t know how long he was here for. He’d tried checking his phone, but it was completely dead. Wemmbu had also encountered some bottles, mostly blue ones, but he hadn’t actually drunk from them. Sure, he was in a dream, but he didn’t feel like dying before they woke him up. So, despite how thirsty he was, he decided to just pick them up and carry them around. He’d collected four colours of bottles so far. Blue, grey, green and red. He was hoping that he’d find a purple one at some point. This was basically the only thing that kept him from going insane here. Having a goal was nice.
In front of Wemmbu, came a large open room. He stepped inside cautiously. The floor was normal here. It was soft, and dry. Wemmbu immediately took his shoes and socks off, wringing the water out of his socks before putting them on the floor to dry a little. Was it a stupid idea to walk around barefoot in a place he didn’t know? Yeah maybe, but he was willing to risk a potential tetnus infection over a guaranteed fungal infection.
Wemmbu paused when he finally looked up to check out the room. There was another person? Wemmbu’s eyes widened for a second before he actually took a closer look at the guy on the floor. W had to stop himself from bursting out laughing. The guy was asleep, snoring loudly with an “I paused my game to be here” shirt and scuffed pajama bottoms that had a hole crudely cut in them to get his tail through. Wemmbu was considering how to wake this weirdo before someone else walked in.
This one looked a lot more stern and professional, if you ignored the colourful plumage behind him, anyway. He walked towards Wemmbu with some grace, his white coat gently swaying by his sides.
“Hello. I’m surprised you found this room. I’m Parrot. You are..?”
“Wemmnu.” he responded, shaking Parrot’s offered hand, “you know this room? Or, well, this place?”
Sure, it could’ve been a dream, but it still would be useful if he got some information on this place.
“Whatever you’re thinking, this place is real. As surreal as it seems. You teleported into here somehow, and I doubt you’ll find a way out soon. Most ordinary people die here.”
Wemmbu’s face contorted into a mix of disbelief and skepticism. He opened his mouth to respond before a loud shrieking started to get closer. Wemmbu’s grip tightened on the necklace in his pocket, his body tensing up as he stared at the entrance the noise was coming from. A flurry of black and rainbow shot past him before it stumbled to the floor, a mix of panicked cries for help and claiming that something was after him. In the commotion, the guy who was previously sleeping had jolted awake, now a second voice joining into the shouting. He was claiming something about them kidnapping him. Wemmbu glared at the two, wanting to shout back, to tell them to shut up maybe punch some sense into them, but it’ll be futile. Parrot sat down next to the panic voidling on the floor, explaining something softly to him, too quiet to be heard by the other two. That made the previously sleeping guy shout more.
“bro! Don’t just ignore me bro! Bro, if you’ve kidnapped me you might as well tell me where I am.”
They went on for a few more minutes before his tantrum died down after realising that nobody actually cared. He went sulking back into his corner, grumbling insults to himself and complaining about his situation. Eventually, Parrot stood up, helping the voidling up alongside him, before speaking to everyone.
“I’m assuming this is all of your first time here? Well, we’re currently in the backrooms, and this specific room we’re in is the only place on this floor where you can see other people. It’s fairly rare to encounter it though, so I’m surprised there’s so many of us here.”
Wemmbu’s eyebrows shot up skeptically. Parrot’s previous explanation still lingering in his head. He didn’t want to believe that this was indeed his reality now. his train of thought immediately shattered as he heard that annoying cat again.
“I don’t care about some stupid room bro! Just tell me how to get out of here!”
He’d moved up to Parrot, grabbing him and lifting him up off the floor before slamming him against the nearest wall. Parrot’s face had a brief flash of pain come across it before it went back to his stoic expression.
“Don’t threaten me. I was coming to that, if you had any semblance of patience. Put me down.”
The tiger-boy thought for a little, a low growl coming from deep in his throat. He dropped P to the floor reluctantly retreating from him a few steps. Parrot dusted himself off, before continuing.
“Getting out of here isn’t exactly easy, any exit will most likely just bring you into a different level. But there is a way to get out. But this happens to be one of the safer floors, so I suggest that we actually get to know each other and gather our bearings. Once we leave this room, we will likely never find it again, but if we play it safer, we can end up on the next floor together.”
The tiger grumbled some more, seemingly considering the guys point deciding it was the best option for him.
“Fine. But if you try to screw me over or if I find out that you’re lying to me, you’re so dead bro!”
The voidling suddenly jumped in the middle of the three, his backpack jingling softly.
“Well then, i’m Spoke! And I miss Mapicc very much so we better get out of here!”
“Flame. Or whatever. This is stupid bro.”
“It’s not that stupid. It’s the only thing we can do.”, Wemmbu rolled his eyes, glaring slightly at Flame, “but i’m Wemmbu.”
“And I’m Parrot.” The avian smiled for the first time since walking into this room, “I’ve been in the backrooms once before, so I know quite a bit about this place. Now, has anyone found anything of use? Or anything you’ve had on yourself before getting noclipped.”
Spoke took off his backpack and opened it, taking out the contents and putting them on the floor. A few books, notebooks, a pencil case, a dead phone and a lunchbox, the food inside was half eaten. Parrot followed suit taking three items out of his smaller shoulder bag. A blue bottle of something, some canned food and, humorously enough, a small bag of bird seed.
“Bro, there’s no way you actually eat bird seed bro. That’s actually so funny bro. Ain’t no way.”
“Well then, what do you contribute, hm?”
Parrot’s question seemed to shut Flame up, mumbling something about how he was asleep when he was noclipped. Wemmbu sighed before dumping the contents of his pockets onto the floor, the necklace that Egg gifted him, month old (but unopened) gum packet, and his dead phone, before putting down the four bottles that he’d found previously. Parrot seemed to light up a little at the sight of them.
“Well, the majority of this stuff is pretty useless, apart from Wemmbu’s bottles. You found these in here, correct?”
With Wemmbu’s nod of confirmation, Parrot continued on
“These contain almond water. Almond water in here takes care of both of your hungers and thirst. As long as the bottles aren’t damaged or opened, the almond water inside is safe to drink Depending on the bottle colour, it tastes different.”
Upon hearing that, Spoke grabbed the red bottle and took a big gulp, before immediately spitting it out and spluttering, trying to get the taste out of his mouth.
“This is actually disgusting! Eugh.. is it expired or something?”
Wemmbu took the bottle from Spoke, sniffing the contents. Nothing. He lifted the bottle to his lips before taking a small sip. His brows scrunched up and he licked his lips as he stared down at the bottle. It was a weird bitterness but mixed with a small tinge of sweetness, like covering a lemon in sugar. Flame snatched the bottle from him almost immediately
“Bro, both of you are such chungies bro. I bet it’s not even that bad.”
With that, Flame drank the rest of the bottle in a few gulps, throwing the empty container onto the floor with an exaggerated sign of satisfaction
“See? I told you bro.”
Both Wemmbu and Spokw stared at him like he was crazy.
“You’re so weird, dude.”
Parrot grabbed the blue bottle from Wemmbu’s stash, began sipping on it slowly.
“The ones in the blue bottles are just normal almond water. They’re also the easiest to find. I prefer them over the others.”
Spole and Wemmbu looked at the remaining two bottles. Spoke grabbed the green one before taking a big sip. his eyes widened as he showed it to Parrot
“That one has caffeine in it. It works basically the same as coffee.”
Wemmbu took the remaining grey one, taking a sip. He grimaced and stuck his tongue out as the overwhelming sweetness assaulted his senses. He liked sugary stuff, don’t get him wrong, but this was way too much. He glanced up at Spoke
“you wanna like, swap?”
Spoke shrugged and nodded, handing Wemmbu the green bottle before taking the grey one and taking a sip, letting out a happy, satisfied “mmm!”
“So,” Parrot started “if we want to get to the next floor, you guys have to look for a room with a bunch of arches. One of them will take you to the next level. Also, if the floor ever feels like it’s starting to fill with more water, get the hell out of there. Getting stuck in the redrooms would be terrible. If the lights turn off, ignore it. You’ll be fine. The isolation effect means you won’t see anyone or anything. Also, if you think you hear anything, just ignore it. It just happens sometimes, but you’re not in any real danger. The only important thing is that you find the arch room.”
Spoke nodded eagerly, Flame just shrugged. Wemmbu thought about it for a bit, considering Parrot’s words of warning. Hearing stuff? Was that why Spoke initially ran in here screaming? And the “redrooms” seemed strange. Why would they be any more dangerous than the normal backrooms they were in now?
“So if we make our way to the next level, do we just wait for the other three?”
Parrot nodded at Spoke’s question, and Flame let out a groan.
“Seriously bro? Bro, that’s gonna be so boring. Can’t we at least explore the floor?”
“No. It’s safer if you just stay where you were left off. There’ll be entities on the floors after this one, and the majority of the entities want you guys dead. It’d be better if we wait for all of us to make our way in.”
Flame scoffed, turning his nose up at Parrot
“And who’s to say I won’t kill them first? They don’t call me the immortal demon for nothing bro!”
Wemmbu snorted, clasping his hand over his mouth as he tried to stifle his laugh at the absurd self-proclaimed title. Flame grit his team as he glared at Wemmbu.
“If you have something to say, say it to my face bro. I’ll show you my immortal demon side if you keep pissing me off bro.”
Wemmbu couldn’t do it anymore, he burst out laughing, holding onto the wall as he gasped for air. This set Flame off, making him threaten Wemmbu with his title yet again which just fueled him more.
“PFF- HAHA! THE IMMORTAL DEMON!” Wemmbu started choking on his spit, his face flushed as he hid his chest. Flame scoffed at him, muttering something about how it was “deserved”
Eventually, Wemmbu managed to catch his breath, taking Parrot’s bottle and taking a big swig
“So- are we going then. It’s better to get through this as soon as possible. Egg is waiting for me. Probably.”
Parrot took the bottle back, wiping the mouthpiece with his sleeve before putting it in his bag.
“Yeah. Let’s go. We should all pick a different doorway. It’ll probably do nothing, but it could probably prompt some cool fanart.”
“Yeah. Whatever.”
Flame rolled his eyes before stepping out into the closest doorway, completely vanishing from view the second he did. Spoke was next. He waved goodbye before walking to the doorway to the right of Flame’s. Wemmbu looked at Parrot, who’d already moved to stand in front of the next doorway.
“Don’t, like. Die. Or whatever. I know you said there’s no entities on this floor but yeah. You’re my only way out dude.”
Parrot just smiled before walking through, leaving W alone. The buzzing of the lights seemed louder now, more prominent. He was alone, and he had to make his way out with the little information Parrot had given him.
A small smile broke out on his face before taking a hold of himself and walking out of the room.