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It’s today.
You can feel it.
The church bells ring in the distance.
Mom calls for you to wake, as if you aren’t already.
You do not rise from your bed. It drags you out.
Downstairs, Toriel waits, reading a book. She is concerned. You should eat, she says. You think of long tables, plated with a line of food for everyone. You think of how mediocre it is, how at your worst, it tastes like ash and makes you gag. How you force it down anyways. Stale brownies, cold chocolate chip cookies, bland juice. You think of when you were younger, and it tasted amazing. It’s for everyone, Kris. Slow down Your mother would say.
There is toast, as she said there was, on the table. You ignore it. You ignore the look she gives you. You ignore the chill of the house. You ignore the feeling of your chest rising.
…
You open the door.
On the way out, you drag your feet. The rubber of your sole rubs long against the metal of the door frame, and for a moment, you hear the screeching of pews against the scratched floors as dozens rise and are seated. Again. Again. Again
Outside, Susie waits, leaning against the front door window. You manage something like a smile. For a moment, you wonder why you couldn’t tell she was outside before. She’s right next to a window. Then, it occurs to you that you’ve never seen a window next to the front door. Not from the inside. You swallow.
“Took you long enough.” She says, kicking off the side of your house. Or maybe the thing that looks like your house? But it has to be your house. But the geometry doesn’t make sense. “You trying to sleep through the festival?”
Yes. You had been. Somehow, however, it didn’t seem to matter how long you stayed in bed, or how long you slept. The sun only went down far enough to be setting. Setting, yes, but never set.
“Noelle is waiting for you….” She turns away. You saw the look on her face. Worry. Everyone is worried about you. You know why. It still feels like your fault. “At the beach.” She finishes. Then, looking down at the ground, unwilling to meet your eyes, she adds: “We uh… already hung out.”
You smile. The wind blows through the trees, and distant tones sounds, the sharp trill of musical triangles. The shuddering of the noise.
“Guess you gotta… go.”
You nod, unwillingly. It will be painful. You drag your feet.
You are almost to the end of your houses drive in when you notice something. There is something here. You always registered it as a crack before, you realize. A jagged thing in the ground, that you jumped over as kids, yelling made up rhymes about the consequences of touching the crack. But it isn’t jagged. It never has been. It’s perfectly straight. It splits the world. Cuts between the drive in and the rest of hometown - like a leap in the world. Even the trees are not spared.
“Hey. wait a sec.”
You do not look back. You can’t.
“You uh… You wouldn’t… I mean.” There’s a short pause. “You wouldn’t want to see the festival first, would you?”
Your heart beats.
“Yeah, I saw everything with Noelle already. But, like… I still….” The wind blows, and the crack in the ground - no, the edge seems to settle somehow. Becoming less important for a moment. “But I still want to see how you’d react, y’know?”
She walks quickly towards you. You can practically see her smile. “Come’on! It’ll be fun!”
You both step past the edge, and suddenly are in the rest of hometown. There was nothing in between. Susie doesn't seem to notice.
You make your way to the Holiday house gate first. Idly, as Susie speaks, you look around for anything. You notice the gate to the Holiday house is not actually connected to anything. It simply stands in space, floating unsupported. Realistically, it doesn't block anything. You can just duck into the forest, and walk around to the other side. You don’t.
Further down into Hometown, Susie leads you to the Ferris wheel. You listen to her talk about her ride with Noelle. It sounds nice. She invites you on. You accept.
On the wheel, you’re sitting for a long moment, almost reaching the peak, before she finally speaks.
“Hey… Kris..” She’s staring out the window, eyes catching on the forest. You’re looking too. The forest doesn’t seem to extend as far as she sees it. At some point, it cuts off into nothing. Then the front of the church, then the forest, then nothing again. “Everything good?”
Susie looks back at you. You meet her eyes, not interested in looking at the world's edges any more than you have to. “It’s just… You seem kinda…”
You watch her stand up, and she grins. Then, she grabs the bars of the carriage - the ones they keep for people who are scared of it falling or something - and start shaking it, just a bit. “Kris! Did you feel that?”
You smile slightly.
Then she starts to shake it in earnest.
“EARTHQUAKE!!!”
You giggle.
She stops, and looks around, as if distressed. “ Damn! That was close, we almost - OH HELL IT’S THE AFTERSHOCKS!!”
“See… I knew that’d make you laugh.”
You finish laughing after a few more moments.
“Hey. Sit over on my side. The views better.”
You comply, and -
“The view of you being in a headlock, idiot!”
You grin, and do the first thing that comes to mind.
…
“Hey! Stop pretending to snore!” You don’t. “What am I to you guys, a big pillow? Wha- Don’t nod!”
You both laugh, and the ride comes to an end.
You exit the carriage, and Susie, still chuckling, looks you over, trying not to look nervous. “That was pretty fun, right?”
You nod.
You turn back to the festival. The balloons, the party triangles, they shift in the wind. There’s something wrong about it. You can’t quite put your finger on it. Susie nudges you, and look over to her smile, bright as ever. You pin it. There is no wind. You’re hair doesn’t blow and neither does hers. The balloons, the triangles, you don’t move in the wind. They just move. As you watch them, you realize it’s predictable. You can catch each movement before it happens. Rote. Like they’re on a timer. Click. Move. Click. Move. Click. Move. Click. Move. Repeat.
By the time you realize you’ve lost track of things, you’re at Sans’ cart. You don’t have the energy to be bothered by his general existence. The light doesn’t hit him right, you notice. It cuts off too early. Or maybe it cuts off too late for everything else? His shop doesn’t seem to have any shade at all, actually. It reminds you of the light cast over the church on Sunday morning. Always too short, somehow. There’s a ringing bell again. It seems closer than before.
Susie fills out a card he gave her, drawing you, her, and Ralsei on it.
You space out again.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE ANY?”
You look at Sans. He doesn’t have any icecream.
He grins, and gives a tiny shrug, looking at the cart next to him. “But the stand will, after it finishes churning.” He gives it a pat, and it shifts with a metallic clang. “In the meantime, why don’t you take… this?”
Susie stares at him, clearly unhappy. You take over, and step forward. He hands you a slice of bread. It crumbles slightly.
“Bread?” Susie asks. “Why do you have this?”
“To make icecream sandwiches?” Sans says, winking. As usual, you are certain he knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Huh… That’s kind of a good idea.”
You agree.
The two of you step away.
“Guess I gotta wait till the Icecream is finished.” She smiles at you. “I’ll still walk you to the beach though. You know…” Her smile wilts slightly. “When you’re ready, that is.”
You smile. You will never be ready.
She seems to take that as appreciation. It is, really. Somehow, you were worried she’d see something else, though. Deeper, maybe.
You see Temmie's art. There’s nothing drawn on it, but Susie says it’s great. So does it. You see the apartment buildings. There's nothing past the windows but darkness. You see the stand. Sans says he is there. He is not. He speaks as if from nothing.
Susie takes you to the octopus stand. It smells like sea salt. You do not understand the geometry of the stand. The angles are off. You look at the sign. There are markings, but you can’t read them. They are not words.
You check the school. There’s something on the ground. A point of shining light. You go to it, as if a moth.
Susie stops you. “Wait! Dude! Move your foot! Dollar coin on ground alert, idiot!” She yells. You move, obligingly. There is still nothing there. She crouches down, and grabs it. You don’t understand. How did she move like that? From one movement to the next, with nothing in between..?
The bells ring again. They are closer.
You step back once more. Susie doesn’t seem to notice. Instead, her speech just continues, unburdened. It feels…. Scripted. You can see it in your mind, when you look down. A spot, with an x in tape, stuck to the concrete. That’s where you’re supposed to stand.
You’re supposed to be there.
…
You walk away. Susie continues. You cross the edge. Susie continues. You make your way across town. Through the trees, you notice when things stop existing, the past them, and another row of trees, you catch the Mayors Office. The ladder is there. Rudy is there. He’s clearly fallen off, but he makes no sound, and no movements. You can already imagine what he might say. What he is supposed to say. Something like: Hey there kids! Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine, you’ll see. A little Holiday magic and I’ll be right as rain. Gotta get these lights up, see?”
You stare for a long moment. Too long, apparently, because suddenly, Susie is right next to you again. She doesn't comment on anything.
Before, you had seen small movements. Gestures, giggles, winks. Now, she stands strangely. Her arms at her sides. She’s looking straight forward, doing nothing. You take a deep breath, and move on.
You look up, high up, and see it there. The church bell. It’s moving. Like nothing else in the world, like nothing left in the world. It moves. Unburdened, and uninfluenced,
The church bells ring. They are in your ears.
It’s time for mass.
You turn around, towards the lake, as the first note plays.
You don’t bother with the paths, you walk straight through the trees. When your foot hits the pitch black nothing that exists between the strips of Hometown, you don’t fall. A path of pure glass spawns beneath your feet. Susie disappears between areas.
When you reach the lakefront, she’s gone.
Instead, Noelle waits.
She lets out a slow breath. “Kris…. You came.” She stares out into the lake, the waves laps against her legs. You go to her side, and let the waters soak into your jeans, sticking them to your legs uncomfortably. Old oak leaves join them, pawing at the fabric of your skin through wet denim. “Ah…. aha….” She laughed, shoulders rising, her hair blowing in the wind. “What do you think… is over there? On the other side, Kris?”
You open your mouth. Nothing comes out.
She grabs your hand, and pulls lightly. Standing like you are, it tugs you into her shoulder. “Something better than this, right? That’s all that matters.”
You look out into the waters. At some point, there’s nothing but bright white light. You look around, at the trees, at the lake waters.
The illusion of a sunset. It loses clarity as you stare at it.
Noelle, steps forward, and turns toward you. “Kris…” She grabs your other hand. “No - whoever you want to be! I don’t need to be a Noelle anymore…. You don’t need to be a Kris!”
‘A’
You wonder if there are more. ‘A’ Hometown. ‘A’ Rudy. ‘A’ Susie. ‘A’ Kris. ‘A’ Noelle.
She points back towards the light. “Not as long as we have that! Not as long…” She smiles, a much more soft appearance than you are comfortable with right now. “Not as long as you’re telling me to…” Her grip tightens. “So…. just say it Kris… Tell me to do it. Anything. Let’s leave this place!”
Your mouth is still open. You say nothing. Your tongue does no work.
*PROCEED
It rings in your head. Pouncing on your thoughts, and stomping them down.
“Heh..” Noelle says.
You stare at her, as she takes a step back, closing her eyes.
What’s mass without a pastor? A sermon?
You look away from her as the both of you sink a few inches deeper into the water. The trees, oaks, are still. Completely, utterly still. You shiver. A phantom sensation, of course. You can’t move anymore. The leaves sit in frozen silence, their curved profiles like eyes staring at you from a distance, the twigs like horns and hands. The water, its waves, the shuttering nature of them. It feels like laughter.
*PROCEED
Another step. It’s up to your thighs now.
“Kris. Don’t let go of my hands.”
She holds you tighter. A vice grip squeezing your hands, pulling your skin taught over muscles. It hurts. The furthest tips of her hair, once caught in the wind, go still as they hit the water, bright yellow is colored green by the water, and darkens further as it’s weighed down.
*PROCEED
“Kris just…. Keep walking.”
*PROCEED
The water now laps at your chest.
You look behind her, and the world shifts. The bright white of the lake's middle begins to fall over you.
And the waters…
Begin to rush past you, deeper into the light.
Noelle glances back, making an unsteady jerk at the sudden movement, and gives a short laugh.
“Kris… ha… I wonder what that is?”
*PROCEED
This time, the word is not omnipresent. Instead, it comes from behind the light. You stare in the wall of bright white
Noelle smiles at you. Your face doesn’t move. You do not want it to. Hands still in hands, she leans back into the rush of waters, and lets it pull you both along.
The roaring of draining water fills your ears. Noelle breaths, like a sigh of joy and relief, as the rushing water starts to take them with.
You take a breath, maybe your last, taking in the scents. Salt. Wet leaves. Sweat. Apple and Candy cane shampoo. The smell of two dead bodies on the shore.
Or, well. One dead body. One dust pile scattered to the waters.
“Kris….”
*PROCEED
Your heads are overtaken by the water. The light dissipates. In its place, there is only a darkness.
The water begins to dip, deeper and deeper, the difference only markable by the brief moments above the water you are granted
You are reminded of a drain. Water swirling in, and pulling grime and muck along.
What’s at the bottom? In some ways, you already know. As you fall into the drain, you see the bottom pulse red, and light it casts blooms across the cavern walls. It’s fleshy and raw. Wet with water and mud, that in the light, seems a redder hue, as it drips from rows of wicked teeth.
You grin, despite it all, and the maw starts to close.
Your life… eaten by this thing.
Well. At least it’s finally official.