Camp Murder (Inanimate Insanity)

Chapter 27: Simple.

(Hey y'all! Be sure to check out the art I did for this chapter at the end of the chapter. I wont put it here in case of spoilers.
Also this is not an april fools joke oops sorry)

"Is there anything else you want to ask?"

The voice that spoke was barely recognisable to Fan. He stared into the trees ahead of him, eyes glazed, almost as if he were one of the bodies that had tumbled to his feet moments before.

Had it just been moments? Or had hours passed?

Fan gazed up from the forest. He noted that the sky was dark and looming, stretching to cover the entirety of the camp. Stars glittered above him, calm and peaceful - almost respectful.

"All of this happened..." The boy's voice was thin. "...yet the world keeps moving. The stars keep shining. The earth stays in orbit." His breath hitched with the familiar sting of tears - yet they didn't fall.

A gentle hand brushed his shoulder, causing Fan to flinch away. "Look. D'you remember what constellation that is?" The woman next to him motioned her hands towards the sky. Fan didn't want to look.
He spoke, "Was that real? Did that even happen?"
"Huh?"
"The stars... Did we look at the stars? Together? Or was that fake?"
Test Tube, taken aback, pondered the question for a moment. "Well, gee, Fan... It happened."
"But you didn't feel... anything?"

The taller didn't reply. A gentle evening breeze drifted past the two, locking them in silence. Until Fan spoke.

"Where is Paintbrush?"

He shocked himself with the lack of urgency in his voice. Shouldn't he care more? That's his friend, right?

Test Tube laughed but it was forced and pathetic. "A hundred or so miles from here. My best guess is getting the police."
"What?" The shorter gasped, turning to look at Test Tube's mangled face for the first time in a while. "What's- What's gonna happen to you?"
She replied with a shrug.

Getting to her feet, Test Tube brushed the dirt from her legs and offered a hand to Fan. "Things get really complicated from here. Uh... d'you mind coming with me for a second?"
With nothing to lose, Fan complied. She could be taking him to stab his guts out - but for some crazy, crazy reason, he doubted that.

The pair walked through the still forest, only sound being crickets and the hollow thump of Fan's heart in his ears. Tall shadows soon grew into familiar bushes, adorned with vines and nettles. A clearing. The clearing.

"This is where you killed Tissues."

Test Tube tensed with the weight of the statement. She coughed awkwardly, choosing to ignore it. Fan was lead beneath the overgrown tree that had once held Tissues' body.

"Listen." Test Tube's eyes were focused intently on Fan, hands gripped tightly to his torn hoodie. "Like I said, th-this is gonna get really complicated. For me. For you."
Fan raised an eyebrow. "Uh..."
"Fan... I won't let you be dragged down with my shipload. You've done too much for me - for all of us. Golly, you deserve the entire world!"
"...What are you saying?"
"When..." The scientist paused to take a shaky breath. "When you get out of here, things will be wrong. Disorienting. There is no world outside of this place - at least, not for you and me."

With that, Test Tube took Fan's face with shaking hands, pressing her forehead against his own. She spoke in a whisper, tears wetting both her and Fan's cheeks.

"I'm sorry."

A moment of confusion, a moment of mania, a moment of horror.

A wave of intense pain shook Fan to the core. It plagued every inch of his body from his toes to his fingertips, unbearable and unforgiving. Letting out a choked scream, he stumbled backwards and fell to his knees. He could barely see what had happened, eyesight growing foggier by the second.

Hands clutched Fan's stomach. Cold. A cold, slim object. He knew immediately: a knife.

No time to think, time to act. Adrenaline rushed into Fan's veins as he lunged at Test Tube. His hand gripped her throat like a deranged animal hunting it's prey.

He had forgotten his morals. He had forgotten himself. All of that was replaced with rage. Rage at being taken advantage of for so long, rage for the fake feeling of stability he'd been given, rage for those who'd lost their lives.

For so long, nothing in Fan's life had felt real. He'd never been present, rather on the outside looking in. But this was real. He was sure of it.

The two crashed to the ground with a thud, Test Tube's throat entrapped by Fan's fingers. Both hands. He tightened his grip. He was going to kill her.

"F-ack!"

The scientist sputtered and wretched. Her pale skin grew paler, bluer. Her tired eyes bulged with terror. Weak hands scratched at his, but there wasn't a chance. Test Tube's consciousness depleted rapidly.

Never, in a million years, nor a million foresights, could she have predicted this. This wasn't part of the plan.

As quickly as she had arrived into his life, Test Tube was gone.

After the adrenaline had worn off, he let out an unholy sob at the sight before him. Fan ripped his hands away from the flushed purple throat and toppled beside the lifeless body of his former best friend.

A breathtaking sight met his eyes; one unlike he had ever seen before. Was this what Test Tube was going to show him? Was she going to send him off to this?

A space amongst the trees revealed the previously intimidating sky, now bright and intense - and beautiful. Aurora borealis. The northern lights. Fan had never seen anything so astonishing. Almost as much so as Test Tube, he thought.

He watched as hues of turquoise and fushia interlocked, gracefully scattered across the galaxy.

There was one thing he had to do before he went. Shakily tearing a luminous piece of yellow notebook paper from his pocket, Fan scrawled a message on the back using the only pen he had; his blood.

With a content smile, Fan allowed his eyelids to flutter shut. He could finally rest.

For the first time ever, the world was not foreign. There was no reason, no consequence. In the here and the now, the world was beautiful. Simple.