The Lost Ones Book 2: Welcome Home

Chapter 46

Stampy felt like he'd been walking in circles and checking rooms for Jason for days now. He was starting to grow tired but stayed determined to find him. He was taking a break in a hidden corner when he heard a faint voice.

He poked around the corner cautiously only to spot Penelope coming out of a room, quietly humming to herself before both were caught off guard by a voice screaming out, "PENELOPE!"

It echoed down the halls loud and clear and Penelope quickly ran towards it, leaving the room she was in's door open a crack.

Stampy shuddered at the tone of the voice that had cried out but carefully moved to enter the room she left only to freeze, realizing it was the puppet room. He felt sick to his stomach again with all the eyes staring down at him and his tail tucked between his legs as he shakily moved forward, bringing himself to look at the cases full of what were supposed to be people... some of which he knew.

"Please... Please don't be in here...." He muttered. He brought himself to a stop when he spotted a familiar face and his eyes widened. "Quentin!" He cried out but quickly quieted himself. He hesitated before leaping up and digging his claws into the wood and struggled to climb up to his row where his case was. He gripped onto the sides as he stood on the ledge, looking in at his lifeless appearing friend, his ears drooping. "Kippy..." He muttered softly before looking around and taking a deep breath. "I'm going to get you out of here." He tapped on the glass, unsure if he would or could respond.

But he knew he was going to break him out. He had too.

A pair of painted eyes stared back at him, unmoving as the wooden corpse of the mudkip hung loosely by a set of strings.

Stampy took a deep breath and placed his claws against the glass and pressed, wincing at the noise of the scratches. But finally shattered the glass.

He moved inside the small space and tried to figure out how to get him out. He finally cut the strings holding him, not having any other way to get him out. He caught him when he fell and held onto him before leaping down, landing on his feet, wincing a little as he did. He set Quentin down on the floor, leaned against the wall. "Q-Quentin??"

Stampy swore that he saw a hint of emotion in the puppets face, yet he couldn't be sure it was just part of his imagination.

Stampy heard someone approaching and quietly picked him up again and ran out of the room quickly to find a place to hide.

The puppet was heavy, but luckily not as heavy as Quentin actually was. It stayed unmoving as Stampy moved it about.

Stampy quickly slipped into a room that was empty and closed the door with a sigh. "There..." He sat him down again and sat across from him. "Can... Can you hear me?" He asked. "I... I need to know... that I'm not alone... p-please... I can't do this alone..."

Nothing but silence crossed the two as the puppet limply sat in front of Stampy.

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, it blinked.

Stampy quickly jumped backward, withholding a scream of surprise before slowly lowering to the ground again, heart racing as he sat in a crouched position. "Q-Quentin? C-Can... can you hear me? Uh... blink twice if you can?"

Quentin's eyes had a look of surprise and confusion in them. He blinked twice before beginning to look around the room.

Stampy lit up. "Oh thank goodness! I'm not alone!" He quickly settled down before he got too excited. "You can't talk though, can you..." He asked softly. "So I guess it's yes, no, maybe, and don't know questions..." He noted. "Are... Well, obviously not completely but... are you okay?"