ROT

Chapter 2

"I TOLD YOU IT'S HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS!! JUST BECAUSE YOU MIGHT THINK YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT DOESN'T MEAN I DO!! SO JUST, JUST..." Bryce was on Liam's computer screen. He could see the wrinkles on his label, the reflection of the sun was shining on it. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, OK?!" Liam pushed his stool away from the chair and stood up. Scenty's tears rained down in his head.
I don't need this right now. He slipped through the vines in the entrance and out of the cave.

They just don't understand. Don't let it get to you. They just don't know this is all for the best. Liam's stomach began to rumble. He sighed. Another meal of fish and questionable berries. His favorite. At least fishing would help him calm down. He went back to his ramshackle hut and grabbed the spear he had left in the corner and went out to go stab some fish.

The dome still lay at the edge of the pond, the only physical reminder Airy used to inhabit this dimension. Liam had cleaned all the broken glass from the pond, even disposed of the broken pieces of Airy's body, but he kept the dome right where it had landed. It helped provide just the right amount of anger Liam needed to successfully accomplish this task. He was already angry at his friends for never trying to understand, so he only needed to glance at the dome a few times to stab enough fish. Liam sighed and went to go collect the berries.

The forest was only a few steps away from the pond, after all. This dimension seemed to get smaller every day. He grabbed a few berries, then headed back to cook his fish.

The eating area was quiet. Just him and his frying pan. Liam popped a berry in his mouth. Everytime he had this meal, which was almost every day, Liam chose the most poisonous-looking ones he could find. Every day he hoped they would send him to the Waiting Room. Every day he came out untouched. He didn't even think there were any berries that could kill anything in this dimension anymore. This meal had been eaten so many days in a row it was no longer food. It was just a way to make his hunger go away. Liam stared at the log across from him. His anger spiked. 
Why was it even there when there was nobody to sit on it? 
Liam's friends always had somebody by their side. Today alone, Moldy had comforted Scenty, and Bryce had come to defend them, both. They always had somebody next to them. Nobody was ever too far away from help on the Plane.
Liam was just trying to join their fun. He had kept them all connected, had helped strengthened their bonds, in a way, when you think about it!
So how am I the bad guy?!
Liam stood up. His hunger was gone. His plate broke immediately upon hitting the ground. Liam glared down at the fish heads scattered among the broken glass. They were stained red from the berries, almost appearing to bleed. 

"Everything I've done, everything in this, this inescapable cage of a dimension. I did for them." Liam's fists tightened. "I learned to respawn them. I saved them all from death forever, so they can, they can live forever."
The fish heads stood silent.
"It took me months, hell, most of that time was spent figuring out how the HELL AIRY'S COMPUTER WORKS!! I learned to respawn them, I learned how to use the computer, I even learned-" Liam stopped.
The fish heads seemed to turn to look at him. Liam stopped.
Dead fish don't do that. Dead fish can't do ANYTHING. This did not help anything. The air was already harder to breathe.

The fish heads all turned to look at him, blood-red juice dripping from their gills. "You learned what, Liam?" There was nothing but Liam
"I-I learned how to respawn them."
"You also learned how to send them back."
"Y-yes! But I don't know which universes-"
Liam felt vines, thorny vines clasped round his chest, cutting him off before he could finish. They were digging deep into his fabric and it hurt. 
The fish skeletons looked sad now. They sighed. "Oh, Liam, you sad, strange little man..." One thorn, two thorns, three thorns were now piercing Liam's flesh, but he couldn't see them. The intertwined fish Cerberus looked genuinely disappointed. It made its way over to Liam and stroked his chin (had it had hands before??)  "When are you going to realize you're just becoming Airy?"
Something cracked inside Liam. "NO!!!" He screamed so loud the vines retracted, his wounds healed. He bit down on the skeletons' fins. The three heads all cried out in pain and dissolved until they were just a splash of crimson on the floor. Liam fell to the ground, heart pounding. "No, no, I'll never be anything like that-that deranged man. Airy was a nobody. Airy was a psychopath. I'm better. I'm good. I just-"
He was somehow looking at three regular fish heads, on the ground, again. Everything was back to the way it had been before. Reality had reset. Liam stared at their lifeless bodies for a mere second. "I-I..."

Liam threw the bodies into the fire. It was time for bed, anyway.