sweet talk

i carried it well

chapter three

Rigby woke to darkness.

It was a sort of darkness that sent shivers down your spine, rolled over you like the waves of the darkest parts of the ocean, made you wonder... as the small raccoon looked around, he could barely understand what was going on. All he knew was that it was dark.

Stepped back, he felt his foot sink down into something sticky. It felt cold, like mud, and he quickly turned around, stumbling back in disgust. What was that? All he could see was darkness.

When he stepped back again, he bumped into someone. Someone familiar. He turned around and looked up to see Mordecai. Relief filled his mind, but it vanished quickly as he gazed at the other. Something felt off. The tall bird crouched down so they were face to face, and he whispered something, but Rigby couldn't hear. The figure's eyes were pools of black, and etched something like fear into Rigby's soul.

"What did you say?" The raccoon's voice sounded as if he was talking under water.

The bird began talking again, but still no words came from his mouth. It was terrifying. Rigby hated it. He tried to move, to run, but as soon as he turned, the figure grabbed his arm, hard, and whispered something more, something harsher.

And then he opened his mouth, and swallowed Rigby, throwing him into a void of nothing but black.

----

Rigby screamed, and sat up, gasping for breath, drenched in a cold sweat. For a split second, his eyes were still seeing darkness, but then they adjusted and the room filled with light. Mordecai was standing at his bed, eyes wide. "Dude! Are you okay?! I've been trying to wake you up and you just started screaming!"

Rigby blinked away his sleep, and looked at Mordecai, and then to the door, where he could hear Benson yelling and banging on the door for them to "wake up" and "get down here or your fired" and "why are you two always late?!" Rigby scrambled from his safe haven of clothes and blanket, and then turned on Mordecai. "Why didn't you wake me up?!"

"I was trying to! But you were in a deep sleep or something-- and then you started screaming and it scared the balls out of me!" Mordecai spat back.

Rigby ran to the door, ignoring Mordecai's explanation, and swung open the door, facing a really angry Benson.

"What the heck?!" His boss yelled, face reddening. "It's almost ten o'clock! YOU TWO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE OUTSIDE TWO HOURS AGO--!"

Rigby sighed, exasperated, and crossed his arms. "Its my fault, okay? I slept in and Mordecai couldn't wake me up!" He snapped back, his eyes narrowing slightly. He was beginning to regret ever being a part of this park job.

Benson sighed, loudly, and threw his hands in the air. "Whatever! Just be outside in two minutes or I'm for sure going to fire you!" He spat. He turned, and stomped downstairs, leaving Rigby to turn to Mordecai with a diverted smile. But the blue jay didn't at all seemed amused. "You're acting like being fired is funny," he snapped.