FicWad

((Update: I really appreciate all of you who are reading this as it's always been my dream to be a novelist. This will likely be one of my longer chapters, but it'll be worth it in the end. ^^

Here is the theme for this chapter, as it's what I listened to as I wrote it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N98adGUqDVU

And as always, I hope you enjoy!))

Reeling over the day's events, Frisk fell back into her bed with a heaving sigh. Pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger, she fought against the headache forming behind her eyes. Pulling a phone from her pocket, she began flipping through messages on a social media site. "Junk..... More junk..... Shit..... Junk....." The hand holding the device dropped to the bed which caused the phone to bounce away from her palm. She scoffed. Eight long hours of dealing with people complaining that their merchandise doesn't work, or that they over paid for something... it tended to eat at one's nerves after a while. "Why are people never happy with what they have?" she groused. There were multiple layers to that complaint, but it wasn't a subject she wanted to wrap her mind around at the moment. No. All she wanted to do was.....

Tired eyes opened, and finally rounded at the sight laid out before her. Frisk gasped, tripping over her own feet and nearly falling on her rear. Her back slapped against the wall, pain lancing through her shoulder and ripping down her arm. She crumpled haphazardly to the floor, huddled in a quivering heap. Tears stung her eyes, clinging to her lashes as they dared to fall. She gaped at what lay in front her. The exact spot where she'd left off the night before. The same star hovering.... What did all this mean?

Frisk used the wall as leverage to prop herself back up, grimacing from the pain in her arm. Finally gaining her balance, she continuing cautiously down the hallway. It was long.... very long. The strangest part about it however, was how quiet it was. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that someone was watching her, but without any signs of life anywhere, she was starting to think it was all in her head. Where was everyone? Upon reaching the next room, Frisk noticed several small, colored objects scattered about. Both stood next to large, purple pillars; cracked and decaying from lack of care. Around the corner, more spikes came into view that barred the entrance to the next room. She walked up to a plaque on the wall, noticing an ongoing pattern with these types of puzzles. A gentle hand wiped away some of the dirt and dust so she could see it better. The riddle read "A switch is a switch, no matter which way you look at it." Frisk scanned the walls, but found nothing. Sighing, she leaned up against a pillar, looking down at the small colored object protruding from the ground. None of that riddle made any sense. She shook her head, closing her eyes to think. Those colored things must do something. Turning her gaze back down to that small blue object, a smile formed as she studied it, kneeling down to flip the switch sitting on top that she hadn't noticed before. It made a 'clack' and Frisk smiled triumphantly, looking toward the spikes across the room. Her expression faltered... They were still there. Growing impatient, she realized there were 2 plaques in this room. "Great." she huffed. It was then that the brunette surmised that she should have known these puzzles weren't going to get easier as she went along. Making her way to the second plaque, she read....

"Riding Hood is Sad because her grandmother is a Jealous harpy."

Frisk stared confusedly. "What in the actual fuck is this?!" Since when did Grandchildren call their Grandparents something so foul as a harpy?

Okay, she'd take it back. This was definitely not fun. It was as annoying as it was time consuming. Was it normal to pick up in a dream where one had left off the night before? Maybe she'd have to go see a shrink when this was all over. It would appear, Frisk felt, that this had to be some sort of internal punishment for hiding her emotions for so long behind a face blank with feigned stoicism. "Way to go all analytical, Dr. Dumbass. You know exactly why you're having reoccurring nightmares, yet you can't solve a simple riddle," she thought. Taking another look, there appeared to be three pillars in this room, but only two of those little colored switches poking out. One blue, one green. Scratching her head, Frisk sighed and turned back to study the plaque. It was then that something struck her. There was a word on here that should have been capitalized and wasn't, then other words with no relevance or reason for capitalization that had it anyhow. She looked to the first. Riding Hood. The only Riding Hood Frisk was familiar with was the one from the story, Red Riding Hood....

Wait... that's it! That was the right color! Then again, no. There were no red switches in this room. Only blue and green. That didn't make any sense. With nothing but time on her hands, Frisk walked around the two pillars with visible switches, then to the other pillar. Earlier, she hadn't bothered to look behind it because there had been no need. Now though, she had every reason, and was rewarded for the effort. "Found you!" she exclaimed, reaching down and flipping it with a 'Clack'. Then came the second, and as the sound filled her ears, Frisk did a victory dance. That second sound alone was confirmation enough that it'd worked. Walking back to the plaque, she continued reading, knowing that couldn't be the end because there were more capitalized words. "Hmm... Sadness is usually related to the color blue, so jealousy must be green...." Frisk thought about that a moment. It made sense since Jealousy is also described as the Green Eyed Monster. That meant there must be two more. Walking into the next room, she took a look around. It appeared similar to the last room, and yet different somehow. She easily spotted the blue switch. Pressing it caused the spikes to drop, and Frisk knew she had her answer. That's exactly what the riddle was meant to convey. The next room had switches, but no spikes. Her brow rose, cautiously waving a hand over the area where the spikes should have been. Nothing happened. Carefully, she stepped over the holey metal plates and into the next room. There where... four rooms with switches? Glancing over, she spotted the spikes and walked to the green switch. They dropped the moment she pressed it.

"Thank God."

Frisk hoped she was near the end of this place. These riddles were only getting harder, and her biggest fear was getting stuck on one with the inability to move forward. In the middle of the hall, there were several rows of scuffed ground with two doors. Inside the doorways was nothing more than an onyx abyss. She couldn't see a thing, and wasn't about to try. Instead, she stepped on the sketchy surface, one foot sinking through and dragging the rest of her body along for the fall. She hit the ground hard, an audible thud resounding through the small room. "Oww!!!!" she cried, pushing herself painfully into a sitting position. She'd fallen almost face down, and her chest now burned with every breath, air coming in ragged pants. This room was small with nothing more than some leaves, those same blue flowers and two doorways like the ones above. As she looked from one to the other, it became clear which she should take. The light in the room gave way to the slightest vision of a stair at the bottom near the doorway. She stepped inside and began to ascend when she could have sworn she heard something coming from the doorway above. Frisk froze. She didn't move... she couldn't breathe... Heart now within her stomach, she wanted to call out to see if someone was here to help. With a quick inhale, she opened her mouth... but then thought better of it. What if it was something or someone that would hurt her? She waited, and when she was sure there was nothing else out there, she quit the staircase as quietly as she could. Poking her head carefully out the doorway to see if anyone was still there, she sighed with relief.

Nothing.......

........ Yep! She was paranoid now.

Most of the rooms after that were fairly easy to get through. It was the ones that forced her to fall through the floor that were getting old. Fast. She'd fallen on her ass, front half, back half and everywhere in between. At this point, she was scuffed up, dirty and her muscles were pleading to just stop. Knowing she couldn't though, Frisk continued until she came to a room with a giant tree. She started walking toward it when one of the blue flowers, larger than the others, seemed to get sucked into the ground. She'd caught it from the corner of her eye, but couldn't be sure. That couldn't happen, could it? Then came a small voice.

"You have to go back..." it said. "He'll kill you."

Frisk turned her head from side to side, looking. She then did a complete 180 and still. Nothing. "Down here." came the voice again, making her look down. Did that flower just... speak to her? "Go back! He's co-..."

The flower didn't finish what it was saying. Instead, it was just as she'd thought. The flower could somehow suck itself down underground to move around. It was kind of cool, yet creepy all at once. What was it talking about though? Who would kill her? She backed out of the room and went instead down the other direction only to find another hovering star. Yes. If she touched the star, it would wake her up. That way, whatever was coming for her wouldn't be able to. She'd be awake, and this would all go away. Hurriedly, Frisk reached out, touching the Save option. Once again, the light began to swallow her... then fell away to complete and utter blackness. So dark was it, she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face.

"It isn't time yet. You need to go back." came a disembodied voice. "Who's there?" Frisk called out. She could feel her pulse begin to race, an anxiety attack on the verge of explosion. The voice then went on. "You need to kill him. He's going to take you out, so you need to get him first." Frisk stood confused, not knowing what to do. "But... I don't want to hurt anyone." But the voice would have none of it. "No! You have to. If you die here, you die in the real world too." the voice was almost pleading, as if it wanted her to live. "I... I don't know if I can." came Frisk's meek response. "Try."

The darkness then lifted and she was once again standing next to what she now referred to as the 'Save Star'. Suddenly, she realized she was holding onto something. Looking down, she saw the glint of light that bounced from the metal's reflective surface and felt her breath hitch. Fingers recoiling, the knife dropped to the ground with a clatter. This was wrong. All wrong. Frisk shook her head, remembering what the voice had said. If she died here, she'd die in the real world too.... Should she try and protect herself? Grabbing the knife, she held fast and began walking back to the room with the tree. It was large, with beautiful red leaves that seemed to constantly fall like bloodied raindrops.

Great analogy....

When she rounded the tree and looked up, Frisk jumped, falling back into the rigid bark while clutching her chest. The knife dropped somewhere in the fallen leaves and was now entirely out of sight. Before her stood what appeared to be a Skeleton. He was oddly wearing modern clothes. An orange hoodie, half zipped with a white t-shirt and baggy black pants, which seemed to sag a bit at the waist. His eye was glowing a warm shade of orange, and his stare practically penetrated down to her very Soul. Next thing she knew, Frisk felt like she was being detached from her body, only to look down and see a hovering heart. It floated back toward her and moved however she moved. The skeleton smirked.

"You ain't going anywhere, girly. So don't get any ideas."

Out of thin air appeared twin skulls that looked like they could have once been giant Pitbulls. Frisk felt her body begin to convulse with fear. She tried to stand, but her knees shook so violently, she toppled backwards. The mouths of the giant skulls opened when the skeleton raised it's hands. To make it worse, rows of bones, silhouetted in orange, floated just overhead. The Skeleton's gaze turned menacing before his hand swiped down, hurling bones in her direction. Instinctively, one hand flew up over her face just before she was impaled by one after the other. If that wasn't enough, what could only be explained as electricity flooded every nerve in her body, overloading her to the very core. Everything began to go dark, faintly hearing the Skeleton's last words. "Dunked. Bitch." before she was enveloped in darkness.

Blinking a few times, she realized that despite being in total darkness, she was still consciously thinking and feeling. Frisk rubbed her palms together. She could feel that. Was this the afterlife?

"You moron!" It was the disembodied voice from before. "You didn't even TRY! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Frisk only shrank into herself, not knowing how to respond. "I... I'm sorry! I dropped the knife, and I didn't have time to find it..."

"No." the voice corrected her. "You didn't even try to find it. Next time, you'd better kill him. If you think you're the one in control here, you're sorely mistaken." Frisk felt cold all of a sudden, a chill running down her spine unlike anything she'd ever experienced. "If you don't do it yourself, I'll just have to do it for you. Remember that."

Before she could respond, her eyes shot open, taking in air as if it would run out any moment. The sound of crickets coming through her window alerted her that something was amiss. Was she back home, in her bed? First instinct was to feel around on her chest where the bones had pierced, but nothing was there. Confused, she reflected on what that voice had said. It told her that she'd die in real life if she died there. Obviously it had lied, and she remembered the irritation in it's tone when she'd failed. Still, who was she to fight what had killed her? Every time she closed her eyes, that orange glow was there... as though it were just biding it's time until she came back. She shuddered.

Blankets tangled up in her sweaty frame, she sighed. Home. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Frisk rose from the warmth of the bed and walked to the bathroom. Twisting the nozzle at the sink, cold water sputtered into life and streamed from the faucet. Shaking hands plunged into the chilly liquid and splashed it on her face. She rubbed at her eyes before looking in the mirror. Was she okay?

At this point, she wasn't sure. What she did know was that if she went to bed tonight and found herself back in that place, she may never allow herself to sleep again.