Chapter Text
𝄂𝄚𝅦𝄚𝄞‧₊˚♪ 𝄞𝄢₊˚⊹⋆.˚♬⋆.˚♫⋆｡ ♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹
som·nam·bu·lant
[sɒmˈnambjʊlənt] - adjective somnambulant (adjective)resembling or characteristic of a sleepwalker; sluggish: "a somnambulant stroll"" his somnambulant performance""The plot plods along at a somnambulant pace."
ׅ
𝄂𝄚𝅦𝄚𝄞‧₊˚♪ 𝄞𝄢₊˚⊹⋆.˚♬⋆.˚♫⋆｡ ♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹
Teddy Uris
Teddy woke up in a haze, but suddenly, an annoying, loud, pounding headache started. It felt like a boxer was repeatedly hitting his head over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, Teddy wiggled uncontrollably until he fell off the bed, he didn't know he was lying on one? Or at least he doesn't remember going home after the movie theater.
But as soon as his body said "Hi!" to the hard terrazzo flooring, he immediately snapped out of his sleep-induced haze, and he finally took a good look around his room....This wasn't Teddy Uris's room. The bed he fell off of? Not his. What about his clothes? Not his either, this. Wasnt. Teddy Uris's. Room. He was in a hospital room. When did he get to the hospital? Actually, scratch that. Why was he in a hospital room?
Teddy (Surprisingly) got up and immediately fell back down on his rear end. "Ow what the fuck...?" Teddy looked over, and pain immediately shot up his right arm; at least he could forget about his headache, but now he had a new problem.
A broken arm
Teddy looked, then lifted his arm and dropped it back down into the wall as if it were dead weight. "Fuck! definitely real.....what happened at the theater?" Teddy remembers the theater, but not what happened at the theater; he used his left arm to scratch his head.
He felt, gauze, layers upon layers of gauze, now he was neither a doctor nor a nurse, but if he had a broken arm, why were there layers of gauze wrapped tightly around his head? His fingertips grazed the bandaging again, slower this time. Beneath it, the shape of his skull felt wrong—interrupted. Not swollen. Not cracked. Interrupted.
He got up, "No way..This is a dream! There is no other way; how would he be able to survive something like that?" Teddy spun around the room, looking for a mirror! Any type, it didn't matter. He. Needed. A. Mirror! NOW! He got up and started to scramble around his room, picking up and throwing things around.
Teddy did not find a mirror; all he found was the original clothes he had been wearing the day before- Wait, are these the clothes he was wearing before? What if these clothes are from a week ago? Maybe a month-? "Not now!" Teddy quickly pushed his thoughts to the back burner. Teddy was barefoot, so he slipped on some socks and pushed the door to his room open without trying to hurt his right arm.
He looked at everyone: A grandma who was being pushed by her grandson, A nurse writing stuff down on a paper being held still using a clipboard, and finally the receptionist right in front of his room. She was staring directly at him, and she reached for the intercom system while staring at him. She pushed the button, and the intercom crackled to life. "We need the head doctor," she said into the intercom, her eyes never leaving his. "And notify Teddy Uris's parents."
They already knew who Teddy was, how? he never told them his name...well, he was in a hospital with a bunch of documents, but why did they need a head doctor? "Screw it." Teddy quickly walked away from the receptionist as she called out for him.
Teddy ignored her; his mind was on one thing: "What the hell is under the hundred layers of gauze?" Suddenly, he saw a bathroom for the elderly... he marched his way over to the restroom "Hey, you can't-" "Sush." Teddy pushed past an old guy, who looked around 60. He could just go find a normal restroom, right?
Teddy flicked on the light, and it flickered alive, a buzzing sound of the fluorescent light not helping his head. He stood in front of the sink, where the portrait-sized mirror looked back at him. Teddy grabbed the layered gauze and started to pull and tug, hoping he could just rip it off like a Band-Aid.
He tugged and tugged until the door separating him from the hospital hall was being pounded on; it was the receptionist, "C'mon, get out, sweetie, the doctor is here! She's able to help you!" The pounding on the door wasn't helping the pounding in his head.
"I uhhh n-need a minute!" Teddy was now trying to wet the gauze, so it was easier to rip off, and it succeeded! "Hi, I'm Dr. Davis. Uhmm, if you come out, we'll be able to explain everything and help-" Teddy cut her off. "I-I don't need help, I need answers." The doctor opened her mouth again, "We'll answer all the questions you have, we know you're just scared and-"
"Why would I be scared?.... Okay, tell me, how long have I been in this hospital? The nurse went quiet and found her voice all of a sudden, "2....2 months." Teddy's mouth flew down and hit the floor. He didn't say anything; he looked at the mirror, then the gauze, and back at the mirror.
"Riddle me this: how did I get here?" Dr Davis responded fast, "The movie theater... In the back, where they project the film onto the screen." Teddy thought for a moment, "The back of the thater?" he could feel Dr Davis nod through the door. "Well...kinda, you were halfway through the small, clear, translucent window thingy."
"How high is that..?" Teddy waited....and waited, until "It's estimated to be around 20-30 feet off the ground..." Teddy looked at the mirror. He had one more question; it could either cause him to exit the bathroom quietly without removing the gauze, or he could remove the gauze and have the door forcibly broken down as he screams.
"Last question....Can I go see Phill Malkin...?" The silence was killing him, like it was eating him inside out. Dr Davis finally spoke up, "Phillip Malkin, Susie Malkin, and Lilly Brainbridge...at the theater, we were unable to locate their bodies." Teddy turned to the mirror, tears already threatening to fall out of his eyes and into the sink.
Teddy grabbed the gauze and successfully pulled it off, but all of a sudden, his left hand smacked the sink, like he didn't have control of his own hand. Teddy wasn't minding that right now; he looked at his newly revealed forehead, but he felt the back.
"Clank, Clank.." Teddy knocked on it again, and again...then he turned to the side, looking at the back of his head. He froze, afraid that acknowledging it fully would make it real, terrified that if he moved, if he thought too hard, he would feel exactly how much was gone.
The tears came immediately, and now he has a whole few of the situation, his friend is dead-HAS been dead or missing for 2 months, Teddy stepped back, covered his ears, closed his eyes tlightly, and let out the most deep, blood-curdling
scream.
ׅ 𝄂𝄚𝅦𝄚𝄞‧₊˚♪ 𝄞𝄢₊˚⊹⋆.˚♬⋆.˚♫⋆｡ ♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹
You
"It's official, Teddy Uris hates me." You whined into your locker, which was right next to your friend's locker. Mike Hanlon and Rich Santos. "Well, he's been in a coma for the past 2 months... remember, the theater?" Mike said, rising from grabbing his ELA book from the bottom of his locker.
"Yeah!... I don't think he's gonna make it-" both you and Will looked at him "Ah- no, no in the sense that- I'll just shut my mouth." Rich retreated momentarily, but got right back into conversing once he realized that you and Will didn't really care.
"What even happened there..? The theater?" you questioned. Will shrugged, "No one knows, they obviously arrested Ronnies dad, he was one of the main suspects since it was at his theater." You shake your head, not believing Ronnies dad.
Hank Grogan.
Could do something like that, you didn't believe that Hank could throw a kid 20-30 feet in the air, and - you gagged, "Hey! ya, good?" Rich puts an arm on your shoulder, (He could barely reach you) "Yeah, fin,e just....Really? Hank? How could he throw a kid that high up the....blugh....bite a piece out of Teddy Uris's head?"
Your mind starts to wander to 2 months ago, when 3 innocent kids went missing—or even worse, dead, 1 was in a coma, and rumors started the same way: slow, uncertain, passed along in lowered voices. People said it was a coincidence. Wrong place, wrong time.
Not loudly. Not at first. Just small things—someone mentioning he'd been there that night, someone else saying the doors had been locked longer than usual. By the next day, the whispers had grown sharper, more deliberate. No one could say what he'd done, only that he'd been involved. And somehow, that made the empty theater feel less like a crime scene and more like a secret everyone was circling but afraid to graze their fingertips on.
The sharp sound of the intercom snapped you back to reality—The hiss of the speakers crackling to life overhead. The memory dissolved, leaving only its weight behind. The hallways quickly filled as Rich grabbed your sleeve and pulled you to math. You guys sat next to each other, that's mainly how you met.
You were just eating a pack of Starburst, minding your own business, when you saw a hand enter your point of few, "Uh, can I have some..? Starbursts are my favorite." You looked at him, he looked at you, "Uh-uh, I'm Rich, Rich Santos." You raised your eyebrow and slowly handed- "Not those ones! Only pink and orange."
You put the Starburst back and respected Rich's request for only the orange and pink Starburts flavors. Rich smiled and joyfully put the entire handful of Starbursts you gave him into his mouth as he swung his legs. He looked like a chipmunk, which made you laugh.
From that day forward, you and Rich talked, doesn't matter if it was during school hours or after school hours. It was small talk, like homework, what's for lunch, and even crushes or people you find attractive. Rich never ever admitted who he liked.
Eventually, small talk became hanging out at each other's houses, and Rich started to cling to you; it became obvious that Rich likes you, or he's just a touchy person. It was the 2nd one, Rich is just a clingy kid who koala grips all his friends.
You know that, how? Mike Hanlon told you that. You met him after Rich invited you to go to the diner with him. That's where you met him, Mike was hard to understand at first, with all his science facts, that seemed to loop to one ear and out the other.
"Space is mostly empty, but not really. Even a 'vacuum' has particles popping in and out of existence." You nod your head, pretending to understand what the hell Will was talking about. Rich shot you a look, clearly just as lost as you were.
Mike doesn't notice. Or maybe he does, and just doesn't care. He stares past both of you, like he's explaining things to the universe instead. You dug your fork into your pancakes, which were the party kind, funfetti pancakes, with delicious fruit, and topped with whipped cream.
Rich ate a burger with a side of fries, even though it was 9 in the morning on a Saturday. Will was having a classic biscuit and gravy, you guys talked, and eventully you considered Will to be one of your friends.
It felt good to get new friends, especially after what happened with Teddy and Phil, the day they suffered the most pain, Phil's still missing and or dead, Teddy barely hanging on. You were homesick, it was a high fever, and after school hours, you tried to call them on your newly installed house phone. Neither of them picked up. Then you tried to sneak out to the standpipe pipe but your mom caught you and forced you back to your room.
You were knocked out of your own mind when Rich elbowed you. "The teacher called on you." You look at the teacher, "So? What's the answer?" Rich tapped his pencil to the table, and you look, "It's 1.98," was written on the table.
"Uhmm 1.98?" The silence was soul-crushing. "Good job." The teacher wrote the answer on the chalkboard, the chalk hurting everyone's ears within a mile radius, and you let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks, Rich." You whisper over to him. "Any day." Rich gives you a thumbs up
After the close call in math class, it was finally lunch time, and you entered the cafeteria, the smell of sloppy Joe immediately hit your nose, making you wanna gag. You enter the lunch line, hoping you hit the jackpot in lunch roulette.
You did not. You got the specialty slop. As you sat down, you took a look around. The patty cakes at their assigned, not assigned, lunch seat, Ronnie sat down holding her fork; if her grip got any tighter, the fork would snap immediately.
You look at your lunch....The contorted hand coming out of the slop, its nails pointier than anything you have ever seen, the hand grotesque and covered in smelly, disgusting slop, caused you to let out a small scream, falling out of your chair. You look around....No one.
The pattycakes are gone, Ronnie Grogan, also gone. The hand grew and grew, causing you to push yourself back until you hit a wall. The hand grasped the table until it became a half-torn body, and it made a disgusting "Plop" sound as it hit the ground. The human-slop opened its mouth, "AUGHAAAAAA!" The thing started to scream, and so you closed your eyes and screamed.
"HEY," the voice snapped you out of whatever dream or nightmare you were having. You look around, the pattycakes looking at you, and Ronnie staring daggers into you. "You have the nerve to scream bloody murder, then you have the nerve to go to the main office!"
You look up at the teacher, back at the slop that's now on the ground. "Bathroom....I need to go to the bathroom," before anyone could protest, you run to the nearby restroom, not wanting to process what the fuck just happened.
You enter the restroom, locking the door behind you, "blung," you sit on the floor, legs curled up to your chest. "What the fuck, what the fuck..." you breathed in and out, the faucest for some reason still on "Clung...Clung...Clung...Clung." Eventually, the dripping water got to you.
You get up and walk to the faucet, "Shut the hell up, stupid faucet!" You kick the plumbing...The faucet turned back on, you turned it off again, and it turned back on. The pressure is faster and harder than ever, but before you could turn it off, the faucet flipped, spraying directly at you.
You fall back down on your ass, and you quickly get out of its way, wiping your face, you turn to the faucests, the clear water soon turned red...Blood before you could scream, the toilets and sinks burst a heavy flow of blood, which quickly gushed out.
The only safe spot was out of the restroom. So you unlock the door and bunt yourself out of the bathroom and into the hall, you walk, blood dripping off you....The bell ringing pierced your ears, and as soon as the kids started to flood the hall, screams, gasps, and shocked people stared.
You spin around looking, and you now notice everything, a big circle of kids around you first, it was Rich, then Will, and finally a mirror, a mirror with an orange frame around it that was hung up on the outside of a locker. A step back, then another, and another until finally you let out a blood-curdling
Scream
𝄂𝄚𝅦𝄚𝄞‧₊˚♪ 𝄞𝄢₊˚⊹⋆.˚♬⋆.˚♫⋆｡ ♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹
Authors note
Wow, this took around 2 days to write, idk if I'm gonna be consistent in uploading (Dw I'm not gonna abandon this)
-Words- 2,718
Bye, guys, have a great day /or night, and tell me what you think of this.