#don’t tell me he’s in a drill vid i’ll die

[captainschmoe]

I Will Survive [Beta] - Chapter 6: Drop Down

[A/N: If you came here hoping for some relief from the angst of the last chapter, prepare to be severely disappointed. Sorry, no refunds.]

[Summary: In which Felix, Marzia, Edgar, and Maya try to keep Sean sane, and Sean gives the voice a name.]

[Previous - Next]

“Sean?”

The void. The voice. They were back. “Hey, little buddy.”

The voice laughed nervously. “Um, I was able to get a hold of you a little faster this time, so we’ll have more time to talk.”

“Hey,” Sean interjected, “I’ve been wanting to know, what’s your name?”

The voice paused. “I... don’t have one.”

“You don’t?”

“Hm-mm.”

“Do you want one?”

The voice quietly gasped. “Really?” they asked with a hint of childlike joy. “You’d do that for me?”

“Sure! Let’s see...” Sean thought about the properties of the voice. Yet he still had a hard time pinning down anything about it other than the fact that it was young-adult-sounding and that it echoed through the space around them.

...Well, what about that?

“What about something like ‘Echo?’ Since your voice echoes? I don’t know...”

The voice laughed sheepishly.

“It’s dumb, I know.”

“No, I kinda like it! Echo’s my name now!”

Sean laughed along. “Echo, my little buddy!” He bounced happily in place. If only Echo had a body, too. Then maybe they’d both be bouncing.

Not for long, though. Not with Sean’s sudden recollection of the events from his waking life.

“Hey,” he asked more somberly. “Do you know... Is Signe all right?”

Echo made a small sound that he guessed was them clicking their tongue. “...No. She’s not.”

Sean’s heart sank. Oh.

“Your... other friend’s hurting, too.”

“Mark?”

“Him, yeah...” It was clear they weren’t comfortable telling him more than the bare minimum. Sean didn’t ask for the details - not that he really wanted to know them himself.

“There’s going to be more, too. More from your community.”

“What- What do you mean, ‘more?’“

“Anti’s not done.”

“You mean, like-”

“Agh, you’re gonna get taken out of here soon. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

What determines when I come and go? God, this was frustrating.

“Goodbye, Sean.”

No time to get an answer. “Goodbye, Echo.”

Sean woke up on the sofa, flopped over with his head at a weird angle against the arm. Did not do any favors for his neck, ow. But his arms were free. He kicked his legs. Also free.

Signe.

With a newfound burst of energy, he bolted down the hallway, where he last remembered Signe running to escape from whatever torment watching the video was giving her. He frantically burst into every room, even double-checking on the way back. No sign of her.

Not again!

Upstairs. Sean tripped as he rushed upstairs, which only served to piss him off. Before even making it fully to the top, he saw the door to the cinema room ahead wide open, revealing its contents and stopping him in his tracks.

“No! Jesus Christ!”

Sean’s fist busted a hole in the wall. Didn’t care. God, he even knew it was coming. He knew something bad was waiting for him and he was still horrified nonetheless.

Sean sank down against the wall where he stood, hand covering his tear-soaked eyes. Why her? What did she do? What did Anti do? Dare he go inside and find out?

He dared. Shaking, legs ready to give out. But he dared. And the sight only got exponentially worse with every step he took. Sean couldn’t remember the last time he felt this queasy. Even including just the other night. If there was anything in the world that could sicken him more than the sight of the girl he poured his heart into being turned to blackened stone... it would probably kill him on the spot.

Sean saw the remote lying on the floor next to her. The battery cover was open, and one of the batteries was missing. Was... was that the weapon? Did Anti possess her to swallow a battery?

He didn’t want to see any more of Anti’s handiwork, and yet he couldn’t look away. Signe was frozen in her last moment, either screaming or choking in pain and fear. Sean knelt down - nearly toppling over - and gingerly laid his soaked hand on her stone hair. He wished he hadn’t. It made him even more nauseous. God, not again.

He couldn’t. He had to get out of here. Before he puked on the floor.

Ugh... Standing up made him dizzy. His shoulder collided with the door frame as he stumbled out of the cinema room, and he had an iron grip on the railing as he slowly, carefully, descended downstairs. Needed to sit down. He chose the recliner against the other wall of the living room. Something different.

Okay, Sean. Breathe. You went over this with her. She knows the drill. She’ll be back. You just have to wait.

...

Wait. What about...

Last night... last night, after he’d uploaded the second video - so after 8 p.m. - that’s when he was last with Signe, he saw the weird tweets, the two of them watched the video, she ran off... And that’s when she screamed and went silent. There was no doubt in his mind that’s when she was taken down. And... noticing and reading the clock on the wall...

It was now 6:24 the next morning. And she still wasn’t-

Oh, no.

No.

No no no no no no no...

That was fucking wrong! There’s no way he lost her! There’s no way that... That she... This...

Is Signe all right?

...No, she’s not.

Sean buried his face into the space he made with the crook of his elbow and the arm of the recliner to muffle his screams.

A buzz on the floor roused Sean out of his stupor. Why was it... Oh, right. It got flung out of his hand while he was seizing - seizing? - last night. As much as he didn’t feel like getting up, it wouldn’t do anyone any good to ignore it and make them worry.

It was Robin.

Jack!! Are you okay?? Your last vid worries me!!

Not really

Jack whats wrong? Please tell me

Sean’s thumbs refused to type any sentence with “Signe” in it. Without thinking, he wound up sending Anti needs to die.

Jack whats wrong??? I can help you but I need to know.

The closest he managed to get was He got her last night.

Did she not come back yet?

No.

There was a significant lapse in time with no return message from Robin. Sean leaned back, staring blankly towards one of her cacti on the windowsill. What if he’d never see her again? Never hear her voice? Never touch or kiss her, never poke fun at her klutziness, or listen to her gush over Pokemon, or take her on adventures in other countries, or give her new nicknames, or put a smile on her face, or do videos with her, or or or...

Buzz.

Thank God Robin finally responded. It snapped him out of his destructive mindset. Felix and Marzia are coming over to your place okay? I don’t want you to be alone.

Seriously, Robin? You don’t have to drag them into this.

Theyre already on their way. Theyre okay with it. They agree with me.

Robin...

I care about you Jack and so do they.

Well... Sigh... Of course his friends care about him. Why wouldn’t they. Nevertheless, the gesture brought a lump to his throat. Good thing the two of them were texting, because he’d definitely be a blubbering mess trying to speak out loud.

Thank you, Robin.

Anytime.

Ding-dong.

That must be them. He must have been a sorry sight for them to see. Not the best greeting. But if Robin told them enough information to make them want to come over at the drop of a hat, they probably forgave him. Marzia didn’t even say hello with words, only a hug. Felix was holding both of their pugs. They even brought them along? Really?

Sean’s brain wasn’t in the right place to remember all the details of their conversation. Just that it was ultimately determined that they would spend at least tonight here, if not longer, to keep him from losing his mind in this hellhole - definitely why they brought the dogs. Also that they would shut the door to the cinema room, as no one really wanted to see the carnage; it would just inflame their thoughts even more. Not before taping a note on the inside of the door saying they were there in the house, just in case she came to, of course. No sense scaring her with an empty home.

Sean lay flat on his back on his own guest bed, trying to rest his eyes against the warm glow of a different room. Maya had been by his side for quite a while now. Probably she didn’t get up and move around much due to old age, but it was nice regardless having a little furry friend he could cuddle with. It made him feel better. Not great, or even good. But like... like he’d just gotten a profusely bleeding wound tightly bandaged. Not healed, but under some degree of control. The first step in the right direction.

“Jack?” Sean was almost startled, having not noticed Marzia poking her head in.

“Yeah?”

“We got some food.”

“Thanks,” Sean said with a smile. He gingerly set Maya down onto the floor and followed Marzia to the dining room. Looked like they’d ordered some pizza. They were the guests, though. He kind of felt bad about that. They really didn’t have to do this much for him.

Edgar stared up at Sean as he ate. Sean stared back, chuckling a little. You want some of my pizza, little guy? Edgar cocked his head, as if reading Sean’s mind. He sneaked a little piece with some ham on it, Edgar gobbling it up in a split second. Spoiled boy. “Don’t tell Maya,” Sean whispered to him. Edgar continued to stare at him. Dammit. Now Sean felt guilty not giving him more.

“Jack,” Felix said, grabbing Sean’s attention away from the floor. He pointed at the TV, which Sean never payed any attention to. “Is that what you were talking about the other night?”

Sean went from not realizing to TV was on to almost not remembering there was pizza in front of him.

“...there’s no real explanation for it, and you’ve got people on one side who believe it’s a sign of end times, and others wondering if it’s a hoax.” The banner at the bottom read - oh, fuck - WOMAN TURNS TO STONE WHILE IN HOSPITAL.

“Did they say where it happened?”

“Somewhere in America,” Felix said. “Think they said Oregon?” He looked to Marzia for confirmation.

She nodded. “Think so.”

Sean’s hands dropped what they were doing to hold his chin, covering his mouth.

“...but people put on demonstrations for attention all the time,” one interviewed bystander tried to justify. “You know? It’s just... I guess I’m just not a big believer in supernatural stuff, but I really think there’s some kind of behind-the-scenes stuff that’s not being told here.”

Holy fucking Christ.

Anti attacking him, Sean, was bad, albeit tolerable and understandable. Going after Mark was uncalled for. Taking and keeping Signe was personally devastating. Now, targeting members of the community - if Echo was correct - was a different kind of line that shouldn’t have been crossed. Now there was no telling how many more would become victims, how quickly Anti could plow through a group of people 16 million strong...

“I can’t,” Sean said into his hands. He stood up from the table, not bothering to finish his food. “I’m making a vlog. I need to tell everyone what’s going on.” I need to keep them safe.

“What is up, my cranky crew? It’s Ethan from Crankgameplays, and today we’re in a game called The Monster Inside. It’s an audio-visual novella by Random Seed-”

I.̧.̡.̶ ̶am... h͏e͘re.̀

Ethan froze, eyes darting around the room. “What... was that?”

A low-pitched buzzing filled his right ear. He yanked his headphones off and pushed himself backwards in his chair, far away from the monitor. “Who’s there? Is it Anti?” he yelled at the monitor, standing up and giving it an accusatory finger point. “I know your secrets! Mark told me all about them!”

Are͞ y͢ou ͝s͟u͘re͟ abou͘t̀ t̨ha҉t̕?

The voice came from above this time, and in looking for it, Ethan noticed a dark spot on the ceiling. Water damage? Nah, probably just Anti fucking with him. But he wasn’t going to show this glitch bitch any fear! Unless it showed on his face anyway. Could Anti, like, smell it or something? Ethan adopted a more defensive stance. He wasn’t sure if he could actually take Anti down here and now, but damn if he wasn’t going to survive this ordeal.

“I ain’t afraid of you!”

Ç͡uţ̕e͘͞.̢

It came from behind now. The buzzing shifted into his left ear. Snowy spots danced in the air in front of him after Ethan spun around to look for the source. Nothing was there. He checked back for the water spot. Now it was dripping a black fluid. The visual snow persisted, growing more intense. So much so that it was starting to obscure and cover up the smaller objects on his desk. The buzzing bounced back to his right and reached deafening levels. Not scared. Not scared. Not scared. Fake it ‘til you make it.

“Come out and show your face, you chicken!”

Squelch.

A lance-shaped mass of that black fluid, flecked with green sparks and covered in hooked spines, pierced into his back and out through his stomach, and ripped itself back out, leaving his insides hollow. There was no blood or wound that Ethan saw as he collapsed and his spinning world turned to darkness, and no thought that sprouted in his mind too enveloped in shock, disbelief, and pain.

Y͠ou̵ ̛k̷n̶o͟w ̸̛ņ́o͏t̶̨͘h͏i̸ņ͞ģ.̷̕͝

(God loves me. God loves hating me.)