22 - Liminal Spaces and Empty Halls

*Characters: West, Willow, Stone, Jerry*

~Willow~

As Willow lounged on the couch and enjoyed a rare day off, she watched West cooking in the small kitchen of the staff room. She raised an eyebrow and glanced to the right as she heard Stone stir in the chair beside her, noticing how the other teen’s ears twitched repeatedly. “Hey West, look” Willow called out to the winged researcher “Hm?” West turned around, looking over at Stone.

“Oh, yeah she does that sometimes” West replied before turning back towards whatever she was cooking, Willow nodded and went back to using her phone. A dull thud made her jump, and when she sat up to look for the cause, Willow saw Stone now laying on the floor.

~Stone~

She woke with a start as she hit the ground, she must have rolled off the chair in her sleep. Stone blinked a few times, the light from the staff room ceiling momentarily blinding her. Something was off, she just wasn’t sure what, however Stone knew that there was something wrong.. She sat up and glanced around the room, only to realize both Willow and West weren’t there.

Stone tried to rationalize that they had just gone out for food or something, but she still couldn’t shake this feeling of strangeness that loomed over her. Stone stood and brushed herself off, pausing as she noticed the odd dream-like appearance of her hands and the room around her..

What the fuck was going on?..

~West~

She turned around once again as a thud came from behind her, and to her surprise West saw Willow sitting up on the couch, a confused expression on the teen’s face. West then noticed Willow was looking at something and she followed her gaze to see Stone on the floor. “What happened?..” West asked, setting down the fork in her hand and walking over to the two teens.

“Don’t know, she just kinda rolled off the chair” Willow replied, shrugging. West knelt beside the faun and gently shook her shoulder “Stone, hey you good?” West got no response from Stone, however the teen’s expression changed to one of confusion.

~Stone~

She decided to go find one of the others, and was almost to the door when there was suddenly a very noticeable silence surrounding her. “Okay, what the fuck? Willow? Brooks?” Stone called out, her voice echoing in the weirdly dim hallway “Anyone? Helloooo?”

After getting no response, Stone sighed and made her way along the hall ‘I swear if this is some stupid prank’ Stone thought as she peaked into room after room, finding no one. Stone jumped as a loud bang rang out, echoing through the hall like a ripple after a pebble.

She realized the sound had come from the direction of the medical wing, and as much as she hated to admit it: She’d be relieved to see the medical staff at this point.

~Willow~

She watched as West attempted to wake Stone, however it was to no avail. Suddenly Stone rolled onto her side, curling her legs towards her chest with a mildly worried expression visible on her face. Willow stood from the couch and stepped closer West and Stone, lightly nudging the other teen with her foot “Stone, time to get up” Willow stated as she continued to tap Stone’s back with her foot.

~Stone~

As she trotted down the hall, Stone heard a distorted series of muttering coming from the otherside of the medical wing’s doors. “Hello? Anyone in here?” She pushed open a door just enough to slip her head in and upon doing so, a heavy stench caused  Stone to gag. Despite how terrible it smelt in the room, Stone’s curiosity got the better of her and she pushed the door open wider and stepped in the medical wing.

“What the actual fuck is going on” Stone asked open air, not expecting an answer “and why the hell does it smell like something is just fucking up decomposing” She glanced around the room before noticing a reddish brownish mass in the corner of her eye. Stone tilted her head and was holding back a gag as she approached the lump due to the scent, however upon closer inspection: Stone’s stomach emptied its contents onto the tiled floor below.

~West~

“Stone? Hellooo?” West glanced up at the second teen, as she still continued to nudge the faun with her foot. “Willow knock it off, it’s clearly not working” Willow let out a small sigh “Oh come on West, you gotta admit it's a little funny”  West simply shook her head as she grabbed her radio from her pocket, connecting to the medical staff’s channel “Hey, uh I think we’re gonna need some help in one of the staff rooms”

“Why? What happened?” It was Jerry who answered

“well uh see I’m not sure, aside from Stone not responding after she fell off of one of the chairs”

“Was she knocked out or..” The confusion was clear over the radio

“No, she was sleep when she rolled off and hit the floor”

“Alright I’m on my way, which staff room are you in?”

“The one on the third floor”

[ ⚠️ ! Trigger Warning from here on ! ⚠️ ]

[If you are sensitive or are uncomfortable with the TW mentioned at the start of this tale, I advise you to go read another tale.]

[If you choose to stay and continue reading: Don’t blame me]

~Stone~

As Stone straightened herself up, the sight before her continued to make her stomach do acrobatics. The lump before her turned out to be a corpse -far too mangled and broken to recognize- that was in the late stages of decomposition, and the stench coming from it was making her head spin.

She glanced up sharply as she heard shuffling in front of her, and Stone struggled to hold onto what little was left in her stomach.  Stone could do nothing but stare at the new sight in front of her, the pale glow of it casting a sickly shine on the corpse at her feet.

~Jerry~

He let out a tired sigh as he pushed open the door, there was always something to do at this site. This place took the cake out of the few other sites he had worked at, when it came to injuries that occured. Dr.West must have heard him walk in, since the winged researcher stood and stepped away from the younger research staff.

He nodded to Dr.West and Willow as he knelt down and checked the faun’s pulse, before glancing back up “has this ever happened before?” Researcher Willow shrugged “not as far as we know” Jerry sat back on his heels trying to think.

~Stone~

Stone ended up losing the battle in keeping the last contents of her stomach, and leant over adding to the puddle between her and the mangled body. Her ears were pinned tightly against her head as she slowly attempted to back away, but fear crashed into her as the source of the glowing slowly turned to face her.

Stone couldn’t help but let out a terrified screech.

~Willow~

She could hear as Jerry’s foot tapped against the floor as he thought, when Willow watched as suddenly Jerry was kicked square in the chest by Stone’s hoof as the fae’s ears pinned themselves against her head and her expression changed from worry to fear.

She leant over and helped Jerry up as he coughed, brushing himself off. “Well, it seems like Dr.Stone’s stuck in a nightmare” Willow saw West’s head tilt “And how do we get her out of it?” Jerry rubbed his chin in thought “We’ll need a scent that she likes or is familiar with”

Willow quickly walked towards the cupboard of the mini kitchen and rummaged through it for a second or two, before pulling out one of Stone’s bottles of everapple ale. “Would this work?” She passed the medical staff “Worth a try I guess” He stated as he turned the bottle over in his hands.

~Stone~

Stone could hope that the thing hovering only a few feet away wasn’t able to smell fear, since wave after wave of fear and panic washed over her. There right in front of her was a massive creature that used large white bloodstained wings to hover a few inches off the tiled floor, however the wings weren’t attached to any part of it’s ‘body’.

The entity’s body was nothing more than a massive bloodshot eye, and surrounding the wings and eye were at least two sets of gold rings that twisted and turned like the gears of a machine. Stone jumped as something bumped into her from behind, and her eyes widened as she turned to face what had come into contact with her.

~West~

West folded and unfolded her wings as she watched Jerry prop Stone against a wall, waving the ale close to the teen’s face. She watched as Stone began to stir, the faun’s nose twitching occasionally.

~Stone~

She stumbled back as she came face to face with what looked like a highly decomposed corpse, and by the stench it gave off: it probably was. Stone let out a yelp as she tripped over the body on the floor, landing on her back with a thud. She heard what sounded like a soft chirp from above her, and looked up to see that the eye creature was hovering over her.

Stone let out a cry as she scrambled to stand, cursing heavily as she managed to stand. She went to place a hand on the wall to steady herself, but quickly pulled away from it as she felt something rubbery glide against it. Stone screamed once again as she saw what was on the walls: there were eyes embedded in the brick, and they followed as she moved.

Stone froze as she heard another soft chirp from the eye creature, turning slowly towards it.

It did not look too pleased, and Stone’s tail tucked between her legs as her breathing grew rapid.

~Jerry~

As he waved the bottle under the researcher’s nose, Jerry was cautious not to be in range of her hooves not wanting to be kicked again.

~Stone~

The Creature made of rings suddenly let out a high pitched screech before rushing towards Stone. As the entity sped towards her, Stone raced towards the door: praying to 343 or whatever deity actually fucking existed that she had her pistol.

As Stone ran she noticed more and more corpses littered along the hall, the stench making her eyes water. She glanced down at her hands as she felt something trickle along her fingers, only to see the muscle and skin were  gone from them and silver flowed over the now visible bone.

There was another screech from the angel-like entity as it glided after Stone, the pitch ringing painfully in her ears. Stone let out a yelp as her foot caught on something and she went down, and upon seeing what had tripped her, Stone was slightly glad that her stomach had already emptied its contents just minutes before.

There at her feet was a mound of just straight up skin, no bones, no muscle.. Nothing but skin. While it usually took a lot for Stone to get like this -having a relatively strong stomach, given where she worked- this, this was too much because as she tried to stand, Stone realized that the mound was covered in what looked like mold, and dried bloodstains.

She finally managed to stand and panic washed over her, watching as the nightmare-inducing Eye rapidly approached.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit”  Stone swore with tears now running down her cheeks, as she shoved a set of doors and rushed down the hall. She slid around a corner and darted towards the door of the staff room, when suddenly the scent of Everapples grew stronger as she got closer to the door.

[ ⚠️ ! End of Trigger Warning ! ⚠️ ]

~West~

As they waited for any sort of response from Stone, West ran her fingers over the feathers of her wings. Suddenly there was a grunt from Jerry, as Stone sat up- now wide awake- and unintentionally caught him in the head with her horns. West went to take a step towards the teen’s breathing gradually slowed, but stopped as Stone suddenly scrambled to stand while rushing towards a nearby trash can.

“You okay there Stone?” West asked as the faun proceeded to stumble over to the sink, turn the faucet on and cupping water in her hands. “Y-yeah, I.. I’m f-fine”  She realized that the teen was shaking as she leaned over the sink, clearly trying to steady herself.

West gently placed a hand on Stone’s shoulder, only for the fae to pull away and lean back over the trash can from before. She was shocked: West knew Stone had issues with being touched but usually she wasn’t this sensitive, at least not with the Choas fam: so whatever Stone had seen in her nightmare had been rather fucked up.

~Jerry~

He gently applied pressure to his nose, making sure it wasn’t broken as he stood. After brushing himself off, Jerry made his way over to the fay. Jerry went to put a hand on the teen’s shoulder but was stopped by Researcher Willow “I wouldn’t try to touch her right now”

Jerry sighed “I know, but I have to make sure she’s okay”  He gently grabbed the teen’s shoulder and went to turn her towards him, when Dr.Stone forced herself back over the bin. “D-do not fu-fucking touch me” Dr.Stone snapped weakly at the medical staff, her shoulder’s tensing as she continued to shake. “Look, I know you don’t wanna be touched” Jerry stated calmly  “but if you corporate, the sooner I can leave you alone”

Jerry let go of the researcher’s shoulder and took a step back, giving her space “you can even hold on to the trash can, cause I can tell you need it right now”  Dr.Stone gave a shaky and slightly annoyed sigh, standing up while holding the bin close “Fine” was the only response Jerry got.

~Stone~

After being checked over quickly by Jerry, Stone sat back down on the floor and tried to process everything. She scooted over as West sat down next to her, handing her a glass of ale “Here, this might help” Stone nodded in thanks as she took a deep sip from the glass, her adrenaline slowly fading.

“Do you wanna talk about the nightmare, or whatever it was?” The older researcher asked, Stone shook her head “No, I.. I don’t think I really should”  West raised an eyebrow at her response “Trust me West, the shit I seen is fucked up, even for me” She saw West nod while standing up, making her way over to the kitchen “alright, anyways do you guys wanna order out or just cook something here?”

Both Willow and Stone opted for ordering out.