Night Two (Frank + Gary)

Frank, Gary, wake up!

Frank Hunter and Gary Lake awoke in a yellow and pink bed respectively. They crawled out and looked at each other. Then they looked around the room. They wandered around for a few minutes.

“You know what’s going on?” Gary asked.

“Nope. I’d guess--”

“Boo!” Another Frank grabbed Gary’s shoulders and startled him.

“Hey, Frank,” said Frank.

“There’s a weird trick to get out of here, so I’ll just get to it. You guys should prepare yourselves… what’s beyond that door will shake you up.”

“What does that mean?” Frank asked Gary while his future self pressed himself against a wall.

Gary stared aghast at Frank.

“Right. You don’t know I time travel yet. So, Gary… I time travel. And I hear you can see, like… everything?” Frank started tapping a rhythm on his leg.

“Mostly, but we’ve entered a shroud. I quit being able to see when the game started and it only gets darker.”

Frank gasped with genuine interest. “What’s that mean?”

Gary shrugged. “I can’t see it.”

“Right.” Frank looked down as Future Frank continued to fumble around on the wall. “You all right over there?”

“No… on the other side of this wall, it’s… unnerving,” Future Frank sighed.

“What did you see?” Gary asked.

“Uh… you never quite put the pieces together, I don’t think. And I don’t think I plan on telling you, either. It’s nothing personal, I just… uh… yeah. Here’s… the door.” Future Frank pressed a discreet panel in the wall and it fell forward. “Well, uh.. Back to the future, heh…” He walked through the opening. Gary and Present Frank felt a rush of wind as a blast of energy annihilated Future Frank's abandoned time clone. Gary gasped and took a step back, and suddenly a powerful flash of light came from a pedestal in the next room.

The two approached it timidly and gazed into the light. It did not hurt their eyes as much as it did their minds. It was as though they were trying to comprehend all time and space at once. Gary put his hands on the it mechanically. When he did, his hand clutched the ball of light as though his life depended on his holding the orb. An image of what Jake and Tabitha were doing at the moment formed in the light. Gary began trembling.

“What’s wrong?” Frank asked, putting a hand on Gary’s shoulder.

“That… that thing!” Gary cried. The orb showed several other scenes involving Jake. Gary cried as he watched his best friend running through his own home at night from an unseen threat, shivering in the darkness, unable to leave; hiding under the covers in his bed, and finally standing petrified in the dream room.

“What is it?” Frank asked again with more worry. Gary looked at him with a panicked expression.

“I can’t tell you everything, but,” Gary looked back into the orb, “that is the single most terrifying, most traumatizing hallucination Jake has ever experienced. And it seems he accidentally brought it to life!” The orb now shifted its all-seeing gaze to Alexis and Constantina.

“CH!” Frank shouted, grabbing Gary’s arms.

A dark fog began to drift through the gaping hole in the wall by which CH sat. A tall, distorted silhouette entered. Gary was afraid to see, but he could not stop himself from watching. The orb tried to clear the fog, but only partially succeeded. The deformed shadow looked straight through the orb into Gary’s eyes. Its eyes glowed bright purple, and its mouth opened into a wide, glowing white, eerie grin. Then it threw its head back and let out a terrible screech that was heard through the orb.

“Alexis?” Frank whispered, shaking.

The orb then turned to Alexis’ past. A denser black fog filled it, but Gary’s curiosity cleared it. The orb only revealed a series of symbols: a lit cigar, a large fist clutching a lock of brunette hair, and the shadows of a tall, muscular man and a short, thin woman. This last image lingered for a bit. The longer it sat there, the more violent it felt. The silence seemed to thicken. Frank’s ears began to ring and his tapped rhythm quickened. Gary’s felt his body heat leak through his hands into the warm orb. The terrible beast into which Alexis transformed grew from the floor and loomed over the man. Suddenly it tore his head off, and the orb exploded with a sound like a gunshot, flinging the boys across the room. The ceiling began to cave in, but the boys still had to catch their breath. After a few moments, Frank leapt to his feet and began pacing, beating a fast rhythm with both his hands.

“What was that?!” Gary gasped.

“Alex… she uh… y’know. I should go back and tell past us what to do.” With that, Frank threw himself back in time, but a copy remained.

“Uh… Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“When are you going to go back?”

“I did. Whenever I travel through time, I leave copies of myself. I know to stay still so he has a body to jump back into without creating another clone.”

“So… would you be willing to talk about what we just saw?”

“Man, I don’t know. I mean, I’ve made some conclusions, but I could be wrong. And I hope dearly that I am wrong.”

“What are your conclusions? I can’t even guess!”

“Maybe the light gave you a power boost? Can you look and find out?”

“No… for just a moment, I felt I could see everything. I even saw the end of the game, but then… there was what looked like green lightning. It streaked through all of time and space! Then I was blind. Back to how I was before the light.”

A stiff breeze swept through the room as Frank hopped back into his body. “Sorry, I took a bit. When that blast of energy hit, I met a strange… entity. It told me to appear at this time instead of when I left. The being made me trust it with its very presence… so I did as it said.”

“It’s all good,” Gary sighed, looking up at the wrecked ceiling. “Figure we could climb the debris out of here?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

They clambered up falling chunks of the ceiling and walls. Gary cut his hand on a shard of the orb and felt a surge of power enter him. When they finally reached the roof, they saw something destroying the roof of the adjacent dream room. Frank only saw a black fog, but Gary could clearly see Alexis’ shadow monster eating the roof. It carefully lifted CH and set her on a solid part of the roof.

“Constantina’s safe,” Gary said, putting a hand on Frank’s shoulder.

Alexis crawled on the roof and then transformed back into herself. The shroud then lifted. Frank and Gary looked past the girls and saw Jake and Tabitha staring into the Void, chuckling when they noticed the rest of the party. They waved awkwardly.

End Night Two (Frank + Gary)



They all stood on separate building, recovering from their various recent traumas. They looked at each other for a moment, but then they turned their eyes back to the Void. It soothed them while intimidating them. As they watched, a group of six glowing beings streaked into view. They stopped and floated closer to the kids. The beings each glowed a different color. They were of a generally humanoid shape, but they had no distinct features. Colorful energy emanated from them like fog from a lake. Their voices boomed throughout all existence, somehow giving the impression of their colors.

Look at them! This is the moment!

I remember this. I was so scared. I wondered who the weird entities were. I wondered how the creepy purple one understood me so well. And here I am, scaring the poor boy again!

Right! This is back when I thought I hated you. Even now I can feel his fear. And I can feel what she feels too. Hang in there, Kat, er… Tabitha.

Oh crap. This was back when I was… less controlled. I was terrified… don’t give up, Alex!

Oh. I was depressed just then. All I can tell you is-- No! Sorry, CH. You can’t tell her the thing. It’ll mess them up.

Heh. Yeah. You’d be the one to know. Just hang in there, CH. The thing you’re worried about… it’s not your fault. There’s some freaky head stuff going on out here, so don’t worry.

Come on! We have to… do the thing!

Man. You and I didn’t even give any advice! Frank, don’t give overwhelmed. It will end well; it must.

I should say something too, I guess. You don’t have to go it alone, Gary. Friendship goes two ways.

Jake, you’re fantastic as you are. You don’t have to change.

All right! Let’s go!

The purple being that radiated black put its tendril-esque arms forward forward and threw them apart. A rip in the Void appeared and revealed a grassy landscape that would have been inviting were it not for the green lightning flashing about.

Super end-of-the-world death match part two! Let’s go!

The beings flew through the opening and shut the rift behind them. The kids were agog. They started to try to process what they just saw, but they all awoke to their alarms going off.

End Night Two

Author's Note

Still a little late, but I'm trying to get back on schedule! Also, if you're having trouble to read the colored text, just highlight it and it'll be easier.