Chapter Text
Welcome, to the dictionary of the damned. This is a place, a not so bad all things considered kind of place. One tiny problem. It's quite literally hell. Well, that's an exaggeration. This is almost as bad as hell. The christians weren't that far off funnily enough. I've personally never believed in a god of any kind. I sure as hell do now. When we die we all go to one place. Well sort of, I was unfortunately kicked to the slums of the truest medium place. Honestly serves me right, I wasn't the best person up there, but yet again I wasn't bad. I think dying was quite enough punishment for what I've done. The people here don't think like that. There are three sectors to this god forsaken place. Epiphany, Soul, and Brimstone. I live in the slums of True Soul. The three layers go from good, ehh, to pure and utter agony. Contrary to popular belief, brimstone isn't as red and fiery as most people imagine it. Quite the contrary actually. Blinding lights that give you pounding headaches, sounds that make you want to rip your ears off. People you know walk the streets, taunting you with false hopes of escape. Then you get dragged by the ankles right on back. I know because I've been there. I bet you're trying to guess what kind of horrid crime I committed to end up there for even a second. Don't waste your thoughts. Not like they're limited or anything, I never got why people say that. I'm getting off track. So, Soul, not too bad of a place all things considered. Food, clean water, housing, for most that is. Soul is quite overpopulated. You never think about how many “medium” people there are in the world until you die. I am the one that helps with that problem.
We are known as reapers here. The balance of our souls was too heavy to put us on either side of the spectrum. Most of us have committed some of the worst sins, and done the greatest deeds. We reap the foundlings. Foundlings are what happens when a soul overstays its welcome here. A lot of people don't reincarnate when given the chance, so they turn into these. Basically what we do is forcefully reincarnate them. The god of this land gives us the innate ability to not turn into those things. If we rebel or oppose them in any way however, we are sent immediately to brimstone to be disposed of. I don't know what happens after that and I certainly don't want to find out any time soon. Different reapers are given different weapons. My weapon of choice is an axe. Most reapers say I should have picked something better like a gun or something bigger, but they're not the smartest. Every weapon has its kinks and flaws, like how my axe is flimsier because it's mostly wood. Reapers long ago found out how to exploit this. Once you get used to a weapon you're basically guaranteed to use it for the rest of your career. So reapers put some of their innate ability to survive from the god to make a kind of power up we call a ‘‘lifeline’’. If something is perfect there is nothing that you can give to it to make it perfect for you. The more beat up and banged around your weapon is the more power you can put into it, thus making the power up stronger. With guns it's harder to do that without making them explode or just be straight up unusable, so their lifelines wouldn't be that strong if at all. My axe has dents, scratches, a knot in the wood of the handle. That's what makes a perfect weapon. So, enough yapping. Let's meet my friends and their instruments of chaos. First we have Plimoth, she picked a scythe because she didn't know we had options. She's not the sharpest bulb in the knife drawer but she doesn't regret her choice one bit. She never does. She’s the most energetic of the team and is one of the public's favorite reapers. Next up is Devian, he picked a plain old sword. He was unaware he couldn't change his pick. Again, very smart people we have here. He says he hates that he picked that rickety old sword but you'd have to pry him kicking and screaming away from that thing. He doesn't let anyone even think of touching it. He is played off as very childish in most situations because of his age. Then we have Flake, or as the resident dumbass says, “That one stick guy”. Flake picked a staff for their weapon, I think you can tell where the nickname came from. She’s an older reaper than me and has far more experience. She's more male passing so a lot of the newbie reapers call her a guy. She honestly doesn't mind but still. It's kind of weird hearing them call her a man all the time.
Next up is the stupid one, Oracle. Fitting name for such a colossal idiot right? He picked a hammer. I can't tell if he's been hit upside the head with it a couple more times than regular or what but he is not the person to pick for taking out just one guy. He cant aim for sh1t and wipes out houses with his attacks. He specialises in wiping out big, or big crowds of, foundlings. I personally think he brags way too much about the foundlings he takes out. Nobody has the heart to tell him those foundlings are very weak, just very large.
Last up in my group is bangle. Bangle is my favorite and the best member of my team in my opinion. She picked a chainsaw, how. sick. is. That. The only con of her weapon is it has a timer. Her chainsaw shorts out after about an hour of combat. It can still be used for bludgeoning damage after that tho. I haven’t ever seen her chainsaw short out but apparently it sparks when its stops. She is so awesome. Anyways, that's my sector. I would tell you everybody in the other sectors but i dont have time. Anyways, stop looking at me telling the story and watch for yourself.
CHAPTER #1.
The day I died.
So, let's address the elephant in the room. How did I die? Well, I died in a pretty lame way. I got run over. I know, I know, super dumb way to die right? Anyways, no one ever tells you what happens after you die. It's not just black. It's not some sort of waiting room. It's a loading screen. Yep, a loading screen. Glad there aren't any ads after you die at least. Anyways, after i died it was a loading screen. After that I remember a little name prompt? I didn't even remember my name, so I just put Monna. It's been my name ever since. No last name, just Monna. It's kinda awkward after you pick your name. You just kinda appear. Since I'm a reaper I “spawned” in HQ.
You spawn in a dedicated office for weaponry assignment. Just a long hallway with one sign telling you to “pick one weapon you're comfortable with”. I obviously picked an axe. After that is the bosses office. The boss isn't the most friendly guy at first but he warms up to you.
“Good morning.. Monna.” The boss said
“You're clearly new here, if it wasn't already evident, you're dead. I see you read the sign well enough also.”
“Im… dead?” (i know, dumb question)
“Yes. Your report here says you died in a car accident. I thought you might know that you're dead already, it seems you died on impact.”
“...so what's with the weapon thing?”
“Ah, yes, I was getting to that. You're a reaper. You committed an act, or multiple acts. That made the scale of moral and immoral ‘snap’ so to speak. Your actions were too heavy to brush off. In other words, you did some fvcked up shit.”
“What did I do?”
“That just so happens to be classified information, so we wiped everything ‘unnecessary’ from your memory. Things like your name, age when you died, and other life details like family and friends along with what you did. Head into the next room and squint yourself with the others”
“Others? What- Hey! I have more questions! Li-like, which religion was correct? Is this heaven, or hell, or somewhere else? HEY-”
I was then shoved into the next room.
I was greeted by Flake, she was the team leader at the time.
“Oh! The newbie boss was talking about! An axe? Interesting choice.. Anyways, hello! What's your name, newbie?
“Monna..”
“Why hello Monna, I'm Flake. I'll be your group leader. These are your coworkers! Wait, not coworkers, that's too formal.. Teammates? Yeah that sounds about right, teammates!”
“So. What are your names?”
“Right! Names! This right here is Devian!”
Flake dragged a teenage looking boy over. He was clinging to his sword like a scared baby sloth.
“He’s new just like you, so don't get intimidated. Just don't touch his sword. He WILL stab you if you touch it. I sadly know from experience.”
“what do you mean ‘experience’..?”
Plimoth lifts up her shirt to reveal a large stab wound scar.
“HOLY. ARE YOU OK??”
“Yeah, I mean, you can't die twice but that still hurt.”
Flake glares at Devian, he looks guiltily back.
“Anyways Devian, enough of me talking. Go introduce yourself.”
Devian stared at me like a deer in headlights before stuttering out a pathetic introduction. I could almost feel the fear emanating off of this poor little boy.
“H-hi. im, uh, Devian. Nice to meet you..”
“Sorry, I couldn't hear that last part. Could you say that again?”
“HI. I'M DEVIAN, NICE TO MEET YOU.”
Devian then proceeds to speed walk into his room.
“sighh, yeah he's like that. He’ll warm up to you in no time, I'm sure of it. Anyways these are the others! You got..”
I spaced out so hard after that that I didn't remember a single other name. They’re all boring unmentionables anyways. After that I got escorted to my room by Flake. The room had a very strange sense of familiarity to it. I recognised the smell but couldn't pin point it. Something like a mix of pine and vanilla with notes of something else. The room was strangely almost exactly how I pictured it. That made me strangely disappointed. I walked in and flopped myself down on the bed. The ceiling has those stupid little plastic glow-in-the-dark stars. That WAS something i was going to add but oh well. Quite strange they come pre-installed. I look on the nightstand to the left of me, it has a lamp. Huh. another thing I was going to add. I started looking around more. A bookshelf with what I believe was my favorite book series. A fan pointed right at the bed. A mirror next to the door. I got up from the bed, I swear, I blinked and the bed had curtains and a wooden upper frame. It looks like the room was slowly adding things until it was how I wanted it to be. Pretty nice for a place that would throw me out at the most convenience. Anyways, I laid down in my bed, taking in the sunlight. Sunlight? I sit up. There's a window right across from my bed. How?- that's the hallway? That window should lead to the hallway. I get up and walk outside my room. No sign of a window on the other side. This place is confusing. How would that window even work? I head back into my room. The window is too high to climb through. I look to the right and see a ladder materialize slowly in the corner. I grab it and bring it over to the window. I climb the ladder to get a closer look at the window. Who the hell is that? There's a person outside. Who..? The window was shockingly unlocked. I climb through. What are they doing? There's a swingset. They’re just swinging on it. Feels weirdly… Real, in here. I hear knocking, someone's at my door. I climbed out of the window and shut it.
It was Devian at the door, I could see a Flakes cloak peeking out from a door across the hall. Flake was trying to get Devian to introduce himself. It almost sounded like he was reading off a script he memorized, it was really funny.
“Hello, Devian.”
“H-hi Monna, i just wanted to say sorry for earlier. I didn't give you a goo- PROPER introduction.
I'm Devian, n-nice to meet you.”
One hell of a good actor. I wouldn't be able to tell right away if it weren't for Flake slipping flashcards under the door every time he messed up.
“Yeah, nice to meet you kid. I'm Monna. We could take a seat in my room or somewhere else if you wanna talk though. I don't like standing much.”
I glanced furiously at Flake through the crack in the door she was looking through.
“S-sure, lets head in my room then”
“Whatever you say.”
We walked down the hall a bit and came to a door with caution tape wrapped around it. How original. The doorway was quite short. When I ducked into the room it was a lot better than I expected. Cleanest room I've ever seen from a teenage boy. There wasn't a single bare spot on the walls. They were covered, and I mean COVERED, in band posters. There were shelves screwed in over the posters holding records and album art along with various other merchandise scattered around the room. There was a desk with a computer on it in the far left corner. It's now that I noticed he's been wearing a band t-shirt and headphones this entire time.
I cannot emphasize enough the amount of band merch this little kid has. Some of it might also be anime merch but if it is it's a music anime. He has a medium sized bed, nothing remarkable about it other than the fact that there's minimal to no merchandise on there. He's got a custom painted guitar on the wall. It looks sufficiently used too. There's a music stand with some messily written sheet music on it. Now that I look around there's a lot of paper in here. Looks like crumpled sheet music. There's a drum set in the corner. It's almost deafeningly quiet here. Almost like the walls are noise canceling. Devian is standing around his room kicking balls of crumpled sheet music. He seems to be waiting for me to start a conversation.
“Soo.. I see you like music..”
“Yeah, sorry about earlier. Flake thinks she's my mom or something. I'm Devian, it's nice to meet you.”
“You seem a lot less.. How do I put this.. Scared?”
“Yeah, I'm not much of a public speaker. I prefer one-on-one talks, y’know?”
“I get it, you're just an anxious kid.”
“Do you like music?”
“Uhhh, I like it a normal amount. Why?"
He takes his guitar off the wall mount and grabs a pick.
“You wanna hear a song I made?”
“Why not i guess, not like i got anything else to do”
He pulls his chair away from his desk and brings the music stand over. He does a couple cords to warm up, then plays a pleasant little melody. It's sweet and gives a sense of nostalgia for a time I never personally knew.
“You like it? It's a little melody I made. It reminded me of you for some reason. I've made a little song for everyone in the system so far. That one was supposed to be an angel song though. I guess it wasn't quite right for angels, they're more.. majestic.”
“Angels? I thought this place wasn't really christian..?”
“OHHH right, you haven't been on a mission yet.”
“Mission?”
“Did the boss not tell you? He has a bad habit of ushering newbies out. He doesn't like talking to younger members like us.”
“Yeah, all i was told is im a ‘reaper’ because i did ‘some fvcked up shit’ when i was alive.”
“Yeah, sounds like what he told me. Ahem. We help people who stay here too long, reincarnate.
One small thing however, they kind of turn into big scary monster things..”
“What. You've got to be kidding me.”
“Nope. You have to fight them. The thing is, we kinda get this really cool thing called ‘lifeline’. We basically get super cool weapon powerups.”
“Good joke, you're a REAL funny one. Now tell me what we ACTUALLY do. Is it like community work or something..”
“Nope. We fight big scary monster things. Period point blank.”
“Well GOD DAMNIT. I knew this was a little too good to be true, WHY WOULD OUR ROOMS BE SO PERFECT. I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO NOT TRIP ON FLAT SURFACES.”
Devian put his guitar back and watched me have a mental crisis swinging an axe around for the next 30 minutes.
I only stopped when Flake walked in and my axe got lodged a foot deep in her side.
“Am I interrupting something?..”
“...d-do you not? *sigh* Flake. There is an axe. In your side.”
“Yeah… I can tell…”
Flake looks down disappointedly at the axe lodged in the side of her ribs. Flake takes a second to stare before removing my axe and handing it back to me. It was still moist with blood. The blood was green though. Last time I checked, that's not the color of normal blood.
“Hey, uh, whats with the.. Green.. Stuff?”
“Yeah, I forgot to tell you. I didn't think it was relevant but your blood is green now. Everyone’s is. If you're good with pain you could give your finger a little prick. I'm off to go get a new shirt.
AND go to the infirmary.”
Flake proceeded to put their hand over the rapidly gushing wound and walk out, leaving a trail of green. I picked up my axe and wiped it off on my pants. I was curious if everyone's blood really was green. I used my axe to slice my upper forearm a bit. Yes, my blood was green, but it was more teal than the bright green of Flake's blood. Devian must have seen me looking a bit confused.
“Oh yeah, everyone's blood is a different shade of green depending on how morally gray they were when they were alive. That's my running theory at least. I don't know why but I just kinda feel like that's what it means.”
“Hey Devian, wanna see my room? I dont know, i just feel like this place knows my mind better than i do. It might help you get a sense of who I am. Y’know, so you're not as nervous talking to me around others.”
“Sure.”
I walked Devian over to my room. I opened the door and was hit with the scent of familiarity.
“Your room smells like books, and.. Gunpowder? Also what's with the window, wha- is that?
Nevermind.”
I look around. There's a considerable amount of more stuff. There's some art on the walls, I can't tell what it is but it very clearly isn't abstract art. It's almost like I can't comprehend the subject of the painting. There are some shelves with character figures on them. I can't tell who the characters are in the slightest. There are some paper mache planets hanging from the ceiling. They don't seem to be normal though. It seems like they have something in them. I’ll check that out later. The walls are jet black now. The floor is also a very soft carpet. There's a computer on the desk now. It has a website pulled up? The website seems to be some sort of document with a book in progress. What? It closed itself out. I saw words appearing in real time, but I couldn't make them out.. Whatever.
“Your room is weird, it makes my head hurt.. Do you not hear that ringing? It's so loud.”
“What? Yeah, I don't hear any ringing.”
“It's ear piercing, and that's saying something coming from me of all people. Are you SURE you can't hear that?”
“Yep, still nothing”
I see Devian flip up his headphones before quickly taking them off. There's blood running from his ears now.
“Jesus Devian, are you ok?”
His pupils were getting wider and his knees started to buckle. I caught him before he hit the floor.
“Devian? DEVIAN? Are you ok??”
Devian passed out.
I carried him out of my room just as Flake was coming back. Perfect timing. Flake started sprinting down the hall until she reached us.
“GOD MONNA I LEAVE YOU TWO ALONE FOR 5 MINUTES”
“I-i don't know, he just passed out. What was I supposed to do??”
“HOW DID YOU EVE- Monna. Why are his ears bleeding..?”
“He put on his headphones for a second and next thing i knew-”
“Monna. No. HOW are his ears bleeding.”
Devian lifts his hands. They’re shaking. Bad.
“Devian what happened.”
“I could ask the same thing…”
He puts one of his hands up to his ear. He pulls his hand back and sees the blood dripping down his fingers. He then proceeds to pass out again. Devian’s not very good with blood.
Now that I think back he looked a little lightheaded when I hit Flake. He was burying his head in a pillow. I think he was trying not to faint when I was checking if my blood was green. This must have sent him over the edge in terms of blood toleration for the day. Flake lets out a long sigh.
“Guess we gotta go back to the infirmary.. This might be good for helping you out with the layout of the building. I'll tell you what the different places are along the way.”
I followed Flake as they told me what I could have guessed based on the signs on the doors. Along with other interesting facts, like they serve breakfast all day in the cafeteria. How riveting.
We finally get to the infirmary and we meet the nurse, Mint.
“What is it this time. If you have another stab wound you can just go ahead and turn around now. I'm not treating another one this early in the day. I haven't even had breakfast.”
“No, its Devian, his ears started bleeding.”
“Makes sense with how loud his music plays. I can hear it from across the cafeteria when he wears his headphones. I told him to stop playing his music so loud.
Lets see… wha-”
“What is it? Is he ok?”
“It looks like he has gash wounds. in his ears. It looks like someone was ripping at the walls of his ears with a wire brush..?”
“I don't know if this helps at all but he also passed out. I caught him before he hit the floor but he didn't seem too good.” Monna says.
“Oh, I didn't see you there. Who are you?”
“Newbie” Flake and Monna say simultaneously.
“I see. Do you have any clues on what might have caused this?”
“I mean, he was in my room and he said he heard ear piercing ringing.”
“Ah, rookie mistake.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Can I examine you real quick, Monna was it?”
“Yeah”
Mint looked me up and down, then proceeded to take out a sickle and lodged it right where my heart would be. Neon blue blood started spilling profusely from my chest as I felt my consciousness fade. I woke up, I was in that field outside the window of my room. There didn't seem to be a way to get out so I kind of just sat there for a second. I saw the swingset. There was still someone swinging on them so I started walking over. The closer I looked, the more I recognised the person on the swing, as me. It looked nothing like me. Somehow I just knew, in my heart of hearts, that that was me. Another version of me at least. Before I knew it I was sprinting at them. The swing stayed relatively the same distance no matter how fast I ran. There was a light humming in the air. Like a soothing melody. I just kept running. Seemingly never getting tired. The swing getting closer by such small increments that I can't even give a measurement. Then pop. I'm back at the doctor's office. Everyone is looking at me like I just killed someone. Everyone except mint.
“Yep, I thought so. Do you have a window in your room by chance?”
“You honestly could have asked that first. Y'know, instead of STABING ME.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you or do you not.”
“Yes. I have a window in my room.”
“Good. Follow me.”
Flake’s (and now Devian’s) disturbed looks turned into looks of confusion as I walked into the back room of the office.
“So, you’re an angel. Did a damn good job of hiding it from those friends of yours.”
“..Im a what now?”
“Oh don't play dumb with me, the chance of you not remembering is 1 in a million. You should have died back there. Spit it out. You're an angel.”
“I don't even know what an angel is down- up- WHEREVER this place is?!”
“Oh god, you really don't know do you.”
“NO!?”
“Lets go to your room. I need to fully confirm something.”
“Anything but you stabbing me again.”
I proceeded to bring mint to my room. The walls were a more pleasant dusk color. The stars on the ceiling were more transparent and the lighting was a bit dimmer. Mint took out two sickles this time, and started stabbing at my wall.
“Why do you need to stab my walls again? Or do you just like stabbing things.”
“Shush.”
I gave a disappointed look at Mint as they continued making me a new window. When they finally stabbed through the other side, they dragged their sickles down my wall and cut a large square hole out of it. The hole in the wall looked like it led to the same place as the window but not quite. It looked.. Different. Not in any particularly different way at a first glance. The more I looked into it, the more I felt almost drawn to it. Once I managed to shake myself out of it, Mint had already made one and a half more holes in my wall; and was now digging into the ceiling.
“What are you even trying to do here?”
“Didnt i tell you to shush?”
“Right...”
Mint had finally finished hacking a hole in my ceiling. She threw her sickle through the hole in the ceiling, with surprising strength I might add, and it popped out of the second hole she made. The sickle seemed to have lost all of its kinetic energy. A throw of that strength, and seeing how fast it came out the other hole, it would have lodged itself in the wall beside me. Mint then proceeded to throw it limply through the first hole. It shattered through the window and lodged itself about a foot deep in my wall. For reference, that's about the entire sickle blade and an inch of the handle.
“So did you just come here to wreck my walls or does this mean something."
“Yes, why else would I be doing this? For fun? Anywho, remember how I said you're an angel? You were a member of the upper heaven-spire.”
Mint muttered ‘nepo baby’ under their breath.
“It makes sense why you don't know. Have you ever heard of a condition called DID? That, and numerous other personality disorders, are often caused by the soul fracturing or splitting under stress. I'm assuming you were someone with a condition like that in the life before your last one. Since the system registered you as a split or damaged soul, an angel managed to slip into the system and share a body with you. The angel soul, over time, merged with your own. Angels aren't the most docile creatures. They have a hostile and ‘higher than thou’ nature towards humans. Your room reflects the pure and utter nature of your soul how you think it would be represented. But the underlying factor of it still being your soul remains. The hostile nature of the angel soul fused with yours causes people to be inapplicably injured whenever they stay for too long. That window up there, and consequently the holes I made in your walls, lead to the preserved human part of your soul. Me throwing my sickles in was me testing how much the different entrances accepted the other half of your soul, i.e. the angel half. Or which ones were safe to enter.”
“..god that's a mouthful. So which ones ARE safe to enter?”
Mint points to the ceiling hole and the window, then points back at the other two.
“Those two are safe, but I still wouldn't recommend entering, the ceiling one would lock you in given the chance but you could force your way out relatively easily; and the window is just gonna keep you running towards that swing forever.
Those other two I wouldn't recommend going through ever. That first one's going to sap all your energy till you can't even breathe, And that other one will rip you apart atom by atom and reassemble you in the first one. I think you can see why you wouldn't want to go through that one”
“How did you figure that out, just from throwing your sickle in?”
Mint pointed at the first hole she made and the window.
“Though it doesn't look like it, there are two different worlds here. A hostile one, and a docile one. The docile one, or those two holes, [window and ceiling] are connected. The window has a strong force pushing outside objects out of the world. The other hole has a strong force pulling them in. that combined lodged my sickle in your wall. The other one killed all my sickle momentum, the only way it could have done that is if my sickle was completely sucked of all energy. And the other one was just a wild guess based off of what i've seen before. I'm basically saying it's a portal. I don't think there's any other way my sickle could have ended up over there in such a time with all that momentum loss. Speaking of loss of things, i think i should leave your room; I happen to be losing consciousness-”
Mint fell over on the floor unconscious, blood dripping from their nose. I slung them over my shoulder and carried them out of my room. I set them down on the carpet outside. Mint regained consciousness surprisingly fast.
“I see your room attacks the person's most prominent sense. Interesting. I'm off to go study some more things.”
“Oh boy..”
“Dont you ‘oh boy’ me, im a doctor. Your room is a medical anomaly. I WILL study it, thank you very much.”
Mint walked back to her office. Most likely to examine and heal Devian's wounds. I also decided to walk back to check and make sure devian's ok. Mint looked a bit irritated that I was following them but they didn't protest. When I got back Flake had left and Devian was sitting down on the examination table swinging his feet back and forth. Mint was somehow already examining Devian's ears. I noticed three small vials of blood resting on the table beside Mint. They were labeled left, right, and nose. It looks like she took blood samples from both of Devian's ears and her own nose. When did she take her own sample? Nonetheless, it looked like Devian was doing fine, so I walked into the waiting room. I was there for a minute or two before Devian walked out with a sticker on the back of his hand and a lollipop. He looked very happy.
“Hi monna! Before you ask, I'm doing just fine. Mint said all I have to do is cool it on the super loud music for now. That's kinda lame but at least it's nothing bad!”
“Hey, I have a question. How did Flake's wound heal so fast? It didn't look like her side was bandaged?”
“Oh yeah, I don't know either. Why don't we go ask her?”
“I would say we should ask Mint but I don't believe she's very social right now. At least I don't think so.”
“I’ll say, Monna, I don't think I've ever seen Mint so irritated. Did you do something to piss them off?”
“I don't think so, not on purpose at least. Now that I think about it, the wound from when Mint stabbed me is gone too. I really gotta ask her what thats about”
Devian went pale.
“Uh- are you ok Devian? You don't look too good. Is it something with your ears?”
“You don't- remember, do you..?”
“Remember what?”
His voice was shaking.
“Oh god..”
“Huh?”
“NOTHING! It's.. nothing.”
Devian then speedwalked away from me. We were around where I first walked out of the boss's office. It looked like there was a little girl wandering around. She looked vaguely lost. She was clutching a chainsaw. She seemed to be about 12-13. Her bangs were covering her eyes, it did look like she could see however. She looked new here, so I decided to walk up and introduce myself.
“Uh- Hi, I'm Monna. I don't believe I've seen you here before, are you lost?”
“Bangle NEVER gets lost. How dare you assume the great BANGLE would get lost. Who are you? Where are we?”
“Straight to the point I guess.. I don't know the name of this place but I DO know we’re dead.”
“THE GREAT BANGLE NEVER DIES. Now tell me where I am or you WILL face my wrath.”
“I guess I could lead you to someone who might know? I have to ask them something anyway.”
“Lead away, peasant!”
I started walking down the hall of doors. There was one door that was quite obviously Bangles. It was a double wide door with stained glass windows at the top. The ceiling was higher in this specific spot to accommodate the sheer height of the door. I continued past that door until I saw what I assumed was Flake's door. I opened it to see Flake sitting on their bed writing in something. It looked like a journal. Flakes room was a fairly standard room, it had a bed and a desk like the rest of the rooms. There were woven tapestries on the walls of sunsets and mandalas. Stepping inside hits you with a wave of pleasant chill. Like stepping into a room with ac after taking a long walk in the sun. The ceiling has one big tapestry covering it, it has light blue fairy lights under it, giving the room a faint blue glow almost. The walls are a nice darker blue color, that might just be the lights though. They look up from their writing and the room gets brighter. It looks a lot more like we’re under a pool now. The light sparkles cooly on the dark hardwood floor.
“Oh, hi Monna. Did you need something?”
“I found this little girl wandering near where I showed up, is she new? She looked a little lost.”
“I AM THE GREAT BANGLE. BASK IN MY PRESENCE MORTAL.”
“..wha-”
“Where are we, peasant? This room is quite distasteful, I demand you change it. NOW.”
“Yeah. That's a newbie alright. Another one so soon?”
“I found her room if you want to talk there. Maybe she won't yell as much.”
“Probably for the best.”
“THE GREAT BANGLE WISHES TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS CONVERSATION. What are you filthy peasants talking about? I wish to know. Now.”
“Do you want to go see your room Bangle?”
“Yes. THE GREAT BANGLE wishes to see her room. Hopefully it's not as PATHETIC as this one.”
“Alright, lets go then!”
We walked to Bangle’s door. She looked a bit surprised that the massive door in the hall was hers.
“Is this really my room? 'I thought the door would be a little smaller…' The door could stand to be a bit bigger. This will suffice for now.”
Bangle started opening her door, it's almost like the door started shrinking the more she opened it. She only opened it just enough to get in but I caught a glimpse of the inside. It was just a regular room? It was very colorful and childish. Everything in the room felt almost like the backstage of a play also somehow? There were twin comedy masks on the walls, but that's all I caught. I went back to my room for a second to grab the ladder. I propped it against the door and looked through the stained glass window. When I looked, the inside looked almost nothing like what I saw through the door. Her room looked like a massive theater. It looked like there were mannequins in the audience. A little creepy if you ask me, but I digress. All of the stuff you would normally find in someone's room was on stage. It all looked like props. I could see Bangle at her desk. She was coloring. Another person walked on stage and she quickly hid the coloring book. It was just a mannequin walking on stage. She started pretending to play with some makeup she had at her desk. It looked like she took it from her mom, if she had one. The mannequin started vaguely scolding her. The curtains closed. And an intermission started. The lights in the theater turned on. I didn't notice them being off before. I stepped down from the ladder and looked at the stained glass. One door looked like it had a figure getting yelled at. The other door had the same figure playing by themselves cheerfully with a background of exquisite glass in a pattern that made it look shattered. Now that I remember, there were also carvings in the wood of the door around the edges. They looked pretty unassuming but there were carvings of toys on the right and carvings of mannequins, masks, and blunt weapons on the left. The stark contrast was a bit concerning. I wondered what kind of life Bangle had when they were alive. Based on the carvings it must have not been a good one.
“You should probably go to bead Monna, you don't exactly NEED to sleep here but its nice to have a schedule. Helps you keep your humanity a bit in this place.”
“Thanks Flake, ill go sleep then. Goodnight.”
“Sweet dreams Monna, don't let the foundlings bite. Hehe..”
Flake yawns and starts dragging her feet back to her room in a sleepy manner.
I figured that was my que to head to bed. I walked back to my room and plopped myself back down in bed. The walls were a very nice sunrise color. I stare into the window. Its almost like its drawing my gaze away from everything else. I slowly nod off, looking deeply into the window the entire time.
Today has ended.