*ahem* shrill British accent: tOp, pLEaSe!

Mini-Part: Ink

It’d been a long wait. Layla was asleep, and Sonder and Echo where inside the treehouse, where Echo was asking Sonder a bajillion questions: what happened in his dream? What did the creature look like? What did it say? 

That left the other three outside, waiting for Echo to come out of the treehouse and tell them what exactly had just happened to Sonder. 

 

 

At last, she did, looking much more tired and worried than she generally looked (which was saying something).

 

 

Good news is, I know what attacked Sonder. Bad news is, it’s going to be a problem. 

 

 

Why? Metanoia asked.

 

 

Echo sighed. I probably should’ve told you about this earlier.

 

 

Aesthete pursed their lips, which they always did when they felt like screaming. Echo, there’s a lot of things you should’ve done earlier.

 

 

Echo gave another sigh. I know. I need to work on this. But anyway, Sonder just had his first—but likely not his last—encounter with Inkognito. 

 

Inkognito? They all repeated. 

 

 

Inkognito is a monster they’d tell us stories about back on Maraer, Echo explained. Usually they’d just call it Ink, because “Inkognito” is a bit of a mouthful. It’s a lot different from other monsters because other monsters just, like, eat people. Ink drives you insane over guilt or fears. It was just a story on Maraer, but in my—our—mind, it’s real.

 

 

They were all quiet for a long time until Syne suddenly asked, Sonder has fears? That offered some comic relief to the situation. They’d all been living together for so long, they knew each other better than they knew themselves. And Sonder was not the kind to be afraid. He’d jumped out of his treehouse once and broke his leg. He did it three more times, just to see if anything different would happen. That was just one example, too. Every day, it seemed, was a new adventure for Sonder. 

 

 

I wonder what he’s afraid of, said Metanoia. But Aesthete was pretty sure they knew. They looked up at Echo. Can we go talk to him? 

 

 

Yeah, I don’t think he’ll mind, Echo decided.

 

 

So they all climbed up the ladder to visit Sonder. They found him, wide awake with no visible injuries, sitting on a beanbag, looking half irritated, half terrified. He gave a weak smile upon seeing them all. Hey, he said.

 

Aesthete usually had better manners than to just ask someone a question without saying hello, but they’d been waiting all night and were growing impatient. Do you have a crush on Atom?

 

 

Sonder’s eyes got big and his cheeks turned red. N-no! Why would you think that? His voice cracked and wobbled as he said it, making it obvious he was lying. 

 

 

I knew it, Aesthete said. That’s what Ink’s using to drive you insane. You don’t think you’re good enough for him.

 

 

Sonder bit his lip and looked at his hands. How do you always know exactly what I’m thinking? 

 

 

Aesthete shrugged. It’s a blessing and a curse. 

 

 

So what’re we going to do about it? Metanoia asked. 

 

 

They all looked at Echo, because she knew the most about Ink. But Echo just shrugged. The best I can tell you is, practice self-confidence. If you can convince yourself you’re not worthy of Atom, surely you can do the opposite. 

 

 

The look on Sonder’s face did not suggest he found this very helpful, but he nodded. 

With nothing much left to say and a tension in the air that was making them all uneasy, everyone suddenly wanted to leave. Aesthete told Sonder to get some rest, and Sonder nodded again, but he didn’t think he was ever going to sleep again. Not with the possibility of having to deal with Ink again.

 

 

He laughed. It made perfect sense that the thing threatening his sanity wasn’t even technically real. 

It wasn’t like he was real, either.

 

~~~

 

Eugene sat at his desk in his bedroom. From his apartment above Canary Pastries, he had a good view of the city. It was a rainy evening, and he’d always loved looking out his window and seeing all the lights shining against a gray background. Tonight, however, he was unhappy, trying to write a letter. 

 

Dear Rose,

Hi. It’s been a while since you left. I know you left because of Paola. But the thing is, we’re all still here. Every day is a lot like the days before you left, except they’re a little sadder without you. 

I was wondering if you’ll ever come back? Or at least send us letters? I really miss you, Rose. You were my best friend. 

Please come home soon.

Eugene

 

He frowned. It wasn’t his worst try, but it wasn’t his best. He wanted to rewrite the letter again. He turned to grab another piece of paper and found that he was out. He suddenly felt a burst of frustration, not because of the paper, but because of the fact that he couldn’t even send any of these letters. Because of the fact that he hadn’t seen his best friend in years. Because of the fact that he was there too! Deep down he knew. Rose was always pretending everything was just fine. And when she couldn’t ignore it anymore, she abandoned them. They were her family. 

 

He sighed, tired of trying, and looked out at the rainy city. Tonight there seemed to be more gray than light.

 

~~~

 

I usually say something at the end of these parts, but I have nothing to say right now so um hope you enjoyed this part :I 

 

Sorry, I haven't been on here in a while. Wow, I was the first victim! This is great so far, keep it up!

No die! Thread no die! No end Ski Lodge, too good it is! Yoda am I, or caveman? Is not sure, am I.

Day 6, Part 11

 

Everything was working out perfectly.

Ink was amazed at their negotiating skills. It’d met another alter, and, expecting to start preparing them for insanity, it had instead done something quite different.

 

I want out of this body, they’d told Ink when it had come into their dreams tonight. I’m sick of it. 

 

So Ink had made a deal. If this alter decided to go with Ink, they’d get out of the body. All they had to do was betray the rest of the system, and they’d be free.

Ah, well, not really free. But that was Ink’s little secret. 

Oh, this was going to be delightful. 

 

***

For some reason, everyone woke up early this morning. Well, not Atom, who was awake at his usual time, but everyone else normally slept an hour later.

 

“Well, I guess I’ll just make breakfast now,” Rose said. “At least this gives us extra time to explore!” 

 

Rose made waffles for breakfast. Then everyone gathered in the hall for attendance.

 

Rose looked down at her list. “Funny…” she muttered. She was sure she’d invited more people than just eight. But all there’d ever been was eight. Right? Yeah, right. That was right. 

 

It sure didn’t feel that way, though…

 

After attendance, Rose opened the doors and everyone saw what looked like a carnival. There was a Ferris wheel, some roller coasters, games, and a funhouse. 

 

Whoever was in the body today (nobody had bothered trying to figure it out yet) ran excitedly towards the Ferris wheel. “Come on!” They said. They had a British accent, so everyone guessed it was Syne. 

 

Everyone else followed her to the Ferris wheel. Sterling stayed near the controls, expecting that someone would have to stay down to move the ride, but once everyone was on it started moving on its own. 

 

“Magic carnival,” Sterling whispered in wonder.

 

Now that was pretty cool. 

 

Everyone explored the carnival eagerly, going on roller coasters and racing through the funhouse. Atom looked up at the carnival, quiet, deciding what to make of it. Then he went and played Ring Toss by themself. 

 

Rose was having the time of her life. She went on all the rides. Then she went on them again. And again. And again. 

 

She wouldn’t go into the funhouse, though. “Not my thing,” she said when Darkling, Silver Crystal, pangolin, and Avara had invited her to go with them.

 

Silver Crystal was sure she’d seen something in Rose’s eyes—longing?—but didn’t push it. The group went in on their own.

 

At first, it was fun. They watched with glee as colored water sprayed in an arch of them. They giggled at the distorting mirrors. They even slid down a slide into a ball pit. But that seemed to be where the fun stopped. 

 

After everyone climbed out of the ball pit, there were multiple hallways. Only one led out. 

 

“Let’s split up,” Avara suggested. “If you find the way out, call the others.” 

 

Everyone agreed and chose separate paths.

 

pangolin went down a dark hallway, sure they heard voices. “Hello?” She called. “Who’s there?” 

 

A sweet British accent spoke. It almost sounded like Syne, but there was a slight difference—perhaps this voice was a bit deeper.

 

“Lovely to meet you,” the voice said. “I’m Sophie.” 

 

“I’m Safari.” This voice had an accent, too, not an aggressive one, but definitely a slight dialect. It was quite low, but there was something charming about the way it spoke, as though it were singing. 

 

“And I’m ECHO!” This voice belonged to a little girl. She had the same accent as the voice before her. 

 

There was laughter. pangolin turned the corner to see—ghosts?!

 

No. Ghosts weren’t real. She was being silly. Maybe they were holograms, or a projection or something. Not that pangolin had ever seen such a thing in a funhouse.

 

Still, before them stood three translucent people. A tall boy with dark skin and green eyes shook a girl’s hand. The girl had black hair and beautiful powder-blue eyes. The most shocking part of the hologram, however, was the small blue-haired girl standing between the two. The girl who’d said her name was Echo.

 

pangolin gasped. Was that the same Echo they knew?

 

“Cute, isn’t it?” Came a voice behind her. The voice probably was coming from Echo’s body, but was flat and dark and wasn’t the exact same as any of the alters’ voices. pangolin whirled around to see the body standing with its hand on someone’s shoulder. It was too dark to see this someone’s face.

 

“Who are you?” pangolin asked. 

 

“Ah, forgive me. I’m quite new to this,” the voice said. “Call me Ink.” 

 

“Okay, Ink…” pangolin turned to the holograms. “What is this?” 

 

“Oh, that’s a memory of Echo’s.” 

 

The memory flickered to just the young girl. She was a bit taller now, and must have recently gotten a haircut, because her hair was shorter. She was running, and screaming. “SAFARI!” she called. “WHERE ARE YOU?” 

 

pangolin watched the poor girl, wishing there was some way she could help. 

 

“What happened to Echo?” pangolin asked. 

 

Ink did not answer. It let go of the person’s shoulder, and the person stepped forward. pangolin noticed for the first time that they were holding something. As they got closer to the light, pangolin recognized them as one of their fellow guests. They were holding a sword with Celtic engravings. 

 

“What are you doing with my sword?” pangolin said, starting to become very suspicious that they’d need to protect themselves. They reached into their pocket for their dagger, but found nothing. 

 

“Looking for this?” Ink held up a dagger and stared at it with admiration. “This one’s quite beautiful. I think I’ll keep it. After all,” Ink said, suddenly looking pangolin right in the eye, “It could come in handy.” 

 

Ink and the person standing in front of it started talking at the same time in the same flat voice. “It’s nothing personal, pangolin,” they both promised, each holding up their weapons. “The mind is incredibly hard to master. You remain a victim, dead or alive.” They both paused, and Ink said, on their own, “Well, in this case, dead.” 

 

pangolin, who was seriously regretting leaving their bow and arrows in the hotel room, started running for their life. But before they could get very far, they felt a horrible pain in their chest and saw the murderer standing in front of them. 

 

“We’re always one step ahead, companion,” the murderer said, saying the last word in a different language. pangolin had never heard it before, so she had no idea how their mind translated it so easily. Before she could even begin to guess, they fell to the floor, and the dark hallways turned darker.

pangolin was dead.

 

~~~

 

Now here's a point in the story where I've started to make a decision about one main part of the ending. I need your opinions (unless you seriously hate spoilers, but this isn't a super big spoiler because you wouldn't know how or if it would happen). Should I have an ending where every alter gets their own body? There are ways this might be interesting and could work in the story, but I worry it would be disrespectful to the Sunflower Hill System's DID. Of course, this is already a very fictional interpretation of DID, and I have in many ways tweaked the idea so it works with the story. What do you think?

I command thee, thread, to top.

Double triple top??

Let's all sing the Topping Song!

. . .

I have forgotten the words to the topping song 🙁