𝑸𝒖𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒎 𝑻𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝑩𝑺𝑫 𝒙 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓)

17. 💙

BSD REALITY / THE BACKROOMS

"Oh god! What is going on?" A panicked look struck his soft face.

"I dunno! Why is my body acting glitchy in this way?" My stomach had vanished—well, not entirely—but every few seconds a glitch would show up. Almost like a 3D computer bug. How could this be happening? I was unable to feel anything, which just served to further confuse the issue. My stomach should have been there when Carlos swept his palm through it, but it passed through without any difficulty.

"I-I don't understand!" He stared at his hand before looking back at my stomach, "How is this happening?" Carlos questioned, not anticipating a response. We sat there stunned for a couple more minutes before the glitching ceased. The feeling in my body slowly came back to me. I wriggled around, getting used to it again.

The two of us sat there, a mixture of terrified and shocked emotions lingered around us.

"So uh, should we address the elephant in the room?" Carlos coughed to grab my attention, he shifted his body towards mine and our eyes met.

"What elephant...?" I asked, searching around the room for this elephant. Maybe he was hallucinating this animal, nothing that big could fit in this room, not without me noticing it.

"Oh Y/N! You're hilarious sometimes!" He burst out laughing, and ended up wiping tears from his eyes. For once his expressions resembled genuine happiness. His eyes shined brightly, warming my heart. Carlos had a smile that would make grumpy, old men crack a grin. I had no idea why he was laughing like this, but at least he was happy. I stared at him, extremely confused.

"What, why? There's no elephant?" I asked, double checking for the huge grey animals.

"Never mind Y/N! It's to complicated to explain to a six year old. You'll understand when you're a bit older. Anyway, how's your stomach?" He chuckled, a cheesy smile plastered on his face.

"It's okay I think, much better now!" I returned his smile. We both went silent again, not awkward silence though, it was peaceful.

💙

The world around me faded in and out. How long had I been sleeping? My vision blurred, I could only catch the outline of Carlos. His messy hair covered most of his face, but I could still see his rosy cheeks.

Just as my vision began to come back, something weird in the corner of my eye struck my focus. Just like the glitch on my stomach, yet this time it was up in the corner of the room. As it glitched I started to see a circle form, like a portal to another universe! Before getting up to inspect it, I woke up Carlos. He would be there if anything bad happened.

"Huh?" Carlos rose up so his back was fully against the wall, and he rubbed his eyes furiously. When he lay eyes on the weird glitch in front of him, I could see his body tense up.

"Look it's a portal! This could take us home!" I shouted out, eager to try the portal.

"Or it could take us somewhere even more dangerous then here. How do you know it's a portal Y/N?" He asked, changing his focus to me.

"Well it looks like the ones I read about! My mummy would read books to me every night, and show pictures! One book I read was about a boy travelling through portals, and they looked just like this!" Truth be told it did look just like the ones in my books. Apart from the glitching outside, everything was the same. A huge circle the size of me, with different scenery. This was no fake, it just had to be a portal!

"I still don't trust it Y/N, we shouldn't go near it," He said, taking a few steps back, and dragging me along.

"Why? This could be our way home!" I protested. He quickly denied the chance and took me to the other corner of the room. Carlos hand was wrapped around my wrist, very tightly. We stayed like this for another couple minutes before the glitch started to get smaller, and eventually disappear. The tears started to swell at my eyes, what if that was our chance home? Sir Alastor promised he'd let me go home, so I'd see my family again.

At least I'd got my dolly. She stayed with me wherever I went. As Dazai said, I should always keep her close. She's the only thing left from my reality and I treasure her. It's easy to take my dolly around with me, because she was only small.

"I'm sorry for being so harsh Y/N, I didn't mean to come off that way. It's just, that portal could be dangerous and I wouldn't want to risk losing you." His grip on my wrist finally loosened. Carlos pulled me in for a hug, a long one. At that moment everything was just fine.

"It's okay Carlos, I forgive you!" My arms wrapped around his shoulders, and I gave him a big squeeze before letting go, "Maybe we should go looking for some more ladder bits?" I proposed. He smiled while nodding, then stood up, ready to go. Carlos grabbed my hand and lead me through the wide hallways, always keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

It didn't take us long to stumble across a huge piece of the ladder. It was at least two steps. It seemed getting up to the vent would be easier then we first thought.

"Perfect! We're so much closer to getting out of here!" Carlos exclaimed. I jumped with excitement as we continued to walk around, exploring the areas. We didn't find anything else on our little trip, but it was successful.

We found another little spot for us to hide in, away from the monster. It was near a big arrow, which lead to the vent. Carlos dropped off the ladder pieces to the bottom of the vent, it was a safe spot to keep them until we found all the bits. Then we'd construct the ladder and climb up into the vent! At least that was the plan.

💙

REAL LIFE

Alastor's POV

"How many times do I have to tell you Ivan, I give up! I don't care whether that brat Carlos lives or dies! I lost hope ever since 2528 died!" The rasp in my voice grew as tears flooded my eyes. I hadn't seen Ivan since the last time I went to my lab. A few weeks after Carlos was put in the backrooms, I stopped showing up to work. Drowning myself in as much alcohol as possible was my only goal for the day. Even getting out of bed was a struggle, but downing a bottle of vodka was never a problem.

"Sir please, you've become an alcoholic! I don't want to see you like this!" Ivan snatched the glass out of my hand and threw it against the wall. A loud Smash echoed through my house.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE!" My breaking point was far behind us now, the anger blinding my eyes. I stood up from my armchair and gripped his collar, pushing him up against the wall.

"Please Sir! I've got some big news, you just have to come to the lab!" He chocked out.

"What? I already told you I don't care!" I spat in his face, pushing him into the wall further.

"It's an improvement on 2528!" He pleaded, losing his breath now. 2528....? But she was dead. Ivan was lying.

"Liar!" I snarled. Ivan's face was extremely red now. He tried to say something, but only a few muffled chokes followed. The look is his eyes made me sick, how pathetic of him. Such pleading eyes, full of hope.

"Ple-Please!" His voice barely came out as a whisper. I decided to give him a chance and let his scrawny collar go. His body fell to the carpet, around the broken glass and alcohol. I could see Ivan rubbing his neck and slowly bringing his body back up to my height.

"Sir Alastor, please come to the lab, just this time," he whispered. The desperation in his voice leaked through, how pathetic! I turned up my nose, sighed and finally gave in.

"Fine, but not for long!" I strictly told him. He nodded eagerly, and out we went, heading back to the lab.

It didn't take us long to arrive at the lab, as we walked in a wave of nostalgia washed over me. The sickness in my stomach grew the further we ventured in.

"Over here Sir, look closely at test subject 2529," He pointed at our tracker on 2529.

"He's not dead?" I asked.

"Yup, but look next to him!" He moved his finger to...another tracker. That's not right. Wait... Test subject 2528?!

"She's alive!?"

A/N - This chapter is so bad- Anyway I hope you enjoyed <3