(1st person.MC)
I opened the fridge first, well, more like a mini fridge, and boy was it the mother load.
'Holy shit!'
The fridge was packed with lunches: a burger with Tator Tots and a Mounds bar in a paper bag with no name, Karen's lasagna and a New Coke in a standard metal lunch box, Bobby's nasty-smelling spinach garlic casserole with a Rollo and a 100 Grand bar in his Star Wars lunchbox. While the bottom of the mini fridge was lined with water bottles.
"Dang it, Bobby, hehehe." I couldn't help but whisper out loud, looking at Bobby's name.
'This should be enough for a while, now I gotta find a bag or something, don't know how long it'll be before the demos find me, so I gotta take these things with me.'
I start looking around to see if there's anything else I can use or if I can find a backpack or something to put it all in.
After a bit of searching i found some good stuff: a first aid kit, some matches, a bag of marbles, a wristwatch with Snoopy on it, and a chips brand I've never heard of. A bunch of stuff that could be useful, but no bag.
'Where the hell am I supposed to find a bag in this place? They didn't even have one in the lost and found. Guess I gotta hope it magically appears between the fucking couch cushions.'
I make my way back to the break room with the things I found, to see if I missed anything I could use, and lo and behold, I see it, a dark red backpack smushed between the couch cushions.
'… how the hell did I miss that, like actually am I blind, I guess I don't have my glasses bu-... wait a minute I can see fine now, ok either this place is magic, or it's all a bunch of well-placed coincidences, hm, or maybe not let's see.'
'Hmmmm, maybe I'll find a sword behind the couch.'
I quickly look behind the couch, seeing if my thoughts somehow manifested a sword behind the couch, only to see...nothing.
"Well, guess it was too good to be true."
I make my way over to the front of the couch and pull out the backpack. It was pretty large, at least large enough to hold all the things I found. I started putting everything away, and it somehow all fit perfectly. I even had enough space to fit a couple of water bottles.
Looking up from the backpack, I see a Calendar hanging on the wall above the couch with a 1980s digital clock right next to it, reading 12:45 pm. I look over the calendar and see all the days up to November 4th were crossed out.
'Well, would you look at that, it's a couple of days before Will should go missing, ain't that convenient? Well, not like I could really help him Tho I've got enough problems as is.'
'And the last thing I need is Henry Child Didiller sticking a fucking tentacle down my throat.' I shivered at the thought, 'I would much rather face a demo dog bear-handed than go through that.'
I sit back down on the couch and pull out Karen's lunch box, which I now notice has some butterflies only on one side. I got a container near the microwave that had some utensils and dug in.
"God damn Karen, that's not half bad."
'Maybe food just tastes different in the 1980's, or maybe it's the lack of all that healthy food bullshit, like I'm here for a good life, not a long one.'
After finishing Karen's lasagna, I started getting bored being held up in the library, so I did what anyone would do in a library: read.
I headed out of the break room and looked around; I was on the second floor of the library. To my left was a railing that formed a large U all the way to another room door. I could see down towards the first-floor lobby main entrance, with a bunch of bookshelves past the front desk. I make my way down the stairs, walking on the carpeted second floor. The carpet ended where the stairs began. The end of the stairs led to a polished-looking wooden floor.
After a bit, I made my way to the first bookshelf and my eye lands on (a splinter of the mind's eye) a Star Wars book. I reached out and touched it, and it's like a clarity washes over me, colors are the same but different, like I know what the book was about before I even touch the first page.
"Well, I'll be, that's new."
I noticed a Yoda bookmark sticking out of the first page and pulled it out and in big bold Star Wars font, it said.
"May the force be with you," I whisper
A shiver runs down my spine, then slowly it dissipates. I reach for another book, but nothing happened. Then I go through all the books on the shelf, and I feel nothing.
'Was it a one-time thing or am I just really into Star Wars?'
I shake my head and decide that it's gotta be a Flook and start to drift to other sections of the library, picking up any book that caught my eye or gave me any sort of feeling.
Out of the whole first floor, I only found 5 books, including the first book, A Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the second book (master of the Mind), the third (Survival for Dummies), the fourth (Back to Basics), and the fifth (Structures: or Why Things Don't Fall Down).
It was a decent number of books, which should be enough to kill time for a while. I make my way towards the stairs, and right as my foot hits the first step.
Bang!
My heart stops, I stop, I don't know why I stopped moving. I should be booking it up the stairs and locking the doors, boarding it with bookshelves, chairs, anything I could get my hands on, but I didn't. Like I knew, if I did it would find me faster,it would get me.
Bang Bang!!!
'Breathe, just breathe, god damn it, we'll go up the stairs quietly, make sure it doesn't hear us. God, why now'
I breathed out slowly, as quietly as I could, but it felt so loud, like me trying to be quiet is doing the opposite.
Silence…
'Ok I just gotta get up the stairs, as quiet as possible, I can do this probably.'
I make my way up the stairs, sneaking like I'm a kid again, like I did something wrong, and I can't let my mom catch me, can't let her find out.
One step, and the next
squeak...
a squeak from the step, it came out like a wisper like the world decided ya lets fuck with him now cuz why not, it's not like there's a fucking demo something trying to break its way in.
'I can't stop now, I'm fucked if it gets in.'
Somehow, I power through it step by step. Luckily, none of the other ones decided to make any noise. As I make it to the second floor, a wave of relief passes over me.
'Thank fucking god I made it, I'm safe, I'll be fine, just gotta-just gotta reach the door.'
I make my way to the break room, still being careful to avoid making any sound, and finally, after what felt like hours, I close the break room door behind me and slide my back down the door. Releasing a breath, I didn't know I was holding it.
'Ok, no time to wait, gotta barricade the door, cuz God I'm tired, when was the last time I slept. No better question how long have I been awake?'
I was dead tired, but I had to barricade the door, so I got up from the floor and started lifting a conveniently placed chair next to the couch, but I didn't dwell on it, I didn't have time to.
After fortifying the door, I took a seat on the for some reason extremely comfortable breakroom couch, and stared out the window, only to see a dark fog around 30 feet beyond the regular fog wall.
'Is it nighttime. Wait, does the upside down even have a day night cycle? You know what, never mind fuck it, it's not like it can get any worse than this.'
Then I felt it, a wave of drowsiness washing over me, more intense than before. I tried to fight it, tried to stay awake, but I lost, next thing I know I was knocked out, lying down on the couch with my books in my arms, and my backpack leaning next to the couch.
Unbeknownst to me, as I am fast asleep, a subtle glow comes from the books I took, and poof, they all disappear, like they never existed at all.
And a question lingers in the air long after it was spoken.
It's not like it can get any worse than this.
****
word count: 1535 before An
Authors notes
Yo guys its been a bit i planned on posting a chapter technically last week wednesday which has been my de facto publish time but i resently switched to linux since windwos was seaqriusly pissing me off and it was pretty ruff start i acedently broke my os while installing it cause i didnt read carfully when i was doing it and then the rediculus amount of snow and the shoveling i had to it all piledup and i forgot to proof read and fix mistakes i finished as fast as i could with the time i had so hopefully theres no mistakes and you enjoy this chapter.
ps. I wrote way too much for this chapter, so I ended it with a little bit of a cliffhanger, so I can use the rest for the next chapter, so you all will be getting 2 chapters this week