ErrorInk:To Be Enemies Or Not To Be Enemies

Chapter 25: Not Another One!

Weeks go by. I've made a sure point to at least visit Ink twice a day to make sure he's doing okay. I've made a mini-schedule of times for each day, telling when Sci is making observations of us and when he isn't. I go when he isn't so that he doesn't bother us. It seems to make Ink happy, stuck in the blank space. I've asked him if he's tried painting it over to make him feel better, but he has told me he has failed at that. He told me that every time he does and it begins to get colorful and cozy, one snap from Sci when he sees this sends it back to square one. Blank. He doesn't really see a point on wasting his paint if it's being erased. But he does seem happy to watch UnderNovela with me. There have been times when I'm in my room and I'm lost in thought or dealing with my cracked eye. Usually I'd be bored or feeling truly isolated. Then Ink would hop in my window and join me as I have with him. He's memorized Sci's routine, and that says a lot because of his memory.

Ink still has the rough nights and nightmares, though won't say anything about them and I don't tell him what I see while he has these, afraid of what it could mean for him or scaring him more. I've caught him holding the puppet of me whenever he has these nightmares, and it seems to calm him a bit. Truth be told, I do the same with my puppet of him on the nights he hasn't had nightmares. I've had to come and wake him up, but soon the nightmares have ceased slightly. Whenever they do happen, Ink comes to my room after finding out about the path and times the barriers fall. He would come beside me and hold my arm tight. I'd be sure to hold him protectively whenever this happens, or crack a joke to cheer him up. It's become a cycle of visits now. It's our form of entertaining ourselves in these dumb isolation areas. It lit up our boring days here. Not a single visit from anyone, though we have gotten calls. Inky and I have begun to suspect that Sci is not allowing anyone to visit, using the visiting area to only observe us despite the name.

But one day, today to be exact, something changed. I was resting with Ink beside me and had just gotten him back to sleep, this nightmare really got him down. By now we had both covered our cracks. I began to doze and soon was in a dream. Well, one that I thought was a dream. I was in my Anti-Void again and messing around with my strings when I heard footsteps. I look up to see a glitched up kid walking over. They kinda looked like the other kid with the height but I couldn't see much besides their glitchy silhouette and bright red eyes with a grin. They were dragging Ink behind them.

"GrEetInGs, ErRor. LeT's pLay a GaMe, sHalL wE? It'lL bE fUn!"The child giggles, throwing Ink down and slashing him with a knife.

I shoot up in my bed, waking up from the bad dream almost immediately. I cover my mouth with my hand to hold back my yell that I knew I almost instinctively did. I look over at Ink. Still resting. Still holding my arm. Still here and safe. I sigh with relief. But there was still questions in my head. Who was that kid? Where'd they come from? Are they real? What do they want? Are they like the last one? But none could be answered, I still knew nothing.

I felt the pain in my cracked eye again but when I lifted my hand to feel the patch of it that I put on, there was a feeling of something on my head. Something soft and hanging low. I felt around it a bit and knew what it was. Animal ears, cat to be exact if my guess is right. I jolted from shock. Not another one of these tricks! They're taunting me! I lift my scarf up to hide the ears and I simply checked the eye by patting the patch until it stops hurting. Like patting a small fire with a wet blanket or towel until it went out.

That's when I heard yelling. It was muffled but I quickly realized who it was and was overjoyed. All I have to do is keep my scarf up and they won't know.

"No, wait! You can't!"I hear Science yell

"ThAt's iT, ScIeNce! I aM sEeiNg mY bROtHEr aNd yOu cAn'T sToP mE! WeThEr yOu lIKe iT oR nOt!"I hear my bro shout