Chapter 4 – Connection

A moment later, her hands dropped and her shoulders tightened as she realized the full implications.

“I’m not alone…and I’m a girl…” The voice on the other side sounded like a man’s. She whispered her next thought, “I’m vulnerable…” She backed away from the wall. After the onslaught of many unnatural dangers, the danger of someone else didn’t immediately occur to her. But she swallowed softly and tried not to think the worst of the voice on the other side of the wall just yet.

After a few moments, the voice continued, “Did you say something else? I can barely hear you! I’m trying to find a door!”

Seth grimaced and checked her clothes. She reached down to her chest and felt a hot tickle. She tried to pull up the neckline to obscure all sign of cleavage, but the top was just small enough that she had to choose between exposing her slender stomach and revealing her curves. Not content to compromise, she quietly hunted through the drawers as the man on the other side of the wall called out.

“I’ve been here just a bit, but it feels like forever! What about you?” He rapped on the walls a ways away from Seth. Swallowing, Seth answered back, “SAME!” To herself, she muttered and lamented, “I sound like such a girl…”

She pulled open the drawers which were real and discovered they were now empty. A hollow scraping sound trailed them as they slid open. Each and every one she reached for was the same way.

It was almost as though the room intended for her to wear this one outfit and appear this way. All the while, the man on the other side of the wall kept rapping against it. Between knocks, he inquired, “Are you a girl? Apologies if I’m hearing wrong.”

Seth clenched her mouth. She focused and tried to think of something. It didn’t even matter if it was a lie. Some answer. Quietly, she stepped to the other side of the room. In words firmly spoken but which barely escaped the space, she said, “You’re wrong…” She grimaced at the lie. It was a comfort for her to say but she knew if he heard her then he would have many questions when he came through. But she had to say it, even if it was a frail effort.

After some scratching and rubbing of the wall, the voice on the other side asked, “What was that? The walls must be so thick. It’s like a prison.”

Seth didn’t want to say anything else. She just dipped her head down and looked across the room. Her eyes widened. Another shift in the space. At the end furthest from her, nearly across from the bathroom, there was now a door. She took a step back in surprise at the sudden appearance. She wavered between telling the man on the other side and holding her tongue, but he found it before she could say anything, proclaiming, “Alright! A new door! That’s freaky every time…”

The knob turned carefully and a young man, who appeared not much older than his teens, stepped through the doorway and kept a grip on the doorknob. He had on an “I <3 Video Games” (written in 8-bit styled text with a red health heart) black shirt and charcoal jeans. His face looked like it was recovering from an outbreak of acne. His eyes were deep-set and slightly-ringed. He was not too chubby but not too lanky either. His ears seemed to stick out and his eyebrows were slight. The darkish-blond of his hair fell in fine curls and shot out like an unkempt tangle of dry brush.

He continued through and approached her with a hand up and a faint smile. Seth tensed and clenched her body. She noticed he had a name tag like she had on her other clothes. She read it aloud, “Isaac.”

The blond man, Isaac, smirked and pointed as he answered, “That’ll be me. And I’m guessing you’re Jessica?”

Seth wore a look of confusion as she looked down at her tank top. Now there was a new white name tag on her clothes. And the name, though upside down, she could tell read as “Jessica”.

She looked back at the man to catch his eyes dipping low, for a glimpse of her chest. She blushed and he looked away with a blush of his own and explained, “Sorry. You’re just rather…quite pretty, Jessica.”

Hands set on her neckline, Seth opened her mouth as she thought to herself, MY NAME IS SETH! But she didn’t say that aloud. Instead, she clenched her mouth and told him, “My name isn’t Jessica….wasn’t Jessica before…” She looked down at the name tag and its sudden reappearance with concern.

Isaac folded his hands in front of him and raised his eyebrows as he asked, “And before…it was?”

Seth clenched her mouth and waved a hand. “That’s not important. What’s important is getting out of here.”

A hand set to his mouth, Isaac took a moment of silence to ponder on Seth, who looked away. It wasn’t a lie. Although, she wondered why potentially lying to a stranger bothered her so much. Some value her forgotten parents taught her? Something from her brother? She couldn’t say but she told herself there was also a practical reason not to lie. It was just her and this guy. She might have to rely on him and trust him. It would be better if they started out with honesty.

Meanwhile, Isaac mused on her and announced, “I bet it was something silly but it can’t be worse than Apple or something a celebrity would pick out.”

Clapping a hand to her face, Seth muttered, “Just drop it.” She gave a faint frown. While she couldn’t visualize her life before, she could imagine knowing someone like this “Isaac”. He seemed nice. But things were different.

Laughing lightly, Isaac apologized, “Sorry there. I’m just the curious sort. Mine means ‘laugh’. I don’t know how much worse than that you can get.” Seth resisted laughing with him but did give back a quick smile.

She could’ve held her tongue and let the conversation slip into awkward silence until one of them picked up the thread. But she kept reminding herself that honesty was better than deception and realized there was only one thing to do.

Shutting her eyes, Seth blurted out, “Seth! My name was…is Seth.” It was done. It was said.

She braced herself but carefully peeked to catch Isaac’s reaction. He raised an eyebrow and rubbed at his chin as he asked, “Short for Liseth?”

She shook her head. Scratching at his messy hair, Isaac offered, “Well, parents can be weird like that. Heh. Either way, it’s nice to meet you, Seth.” He then firmly stuck out his hand. It was a nice hand, long and thick with a little red along the back but otherwise normal. Cautiously, Seth accepted it. To herself, she wondered, Why didn’t I just say my name was Liseth? She couldn’t give herself an answer.

After their shake, Isaac scratched at his face and asked, “So, did you wake up in a horror movie style mysterious cube too?”

Seth nodded and asked, “Yeah. How did you get out?”

Isaac smirked and wiggled his fingers as he said, “I didn’t. I’m still inside and you’re just…imagining meeeee.” Seth stared at him with a flat expression and narrowed eyes.

With a sigh and a quick apology, Isaac slipped his hands behind his head and paced as he explained, “I got out but I didn’t really do anything. Well, I did a few things. I went a little stir-crazy for a while. Tried to climb the walls. Then kick the walls. Then I mooned the walls for a bit to shame them. None of it worked.” Seth let herself have a smirk.

He noticed Seth’s smirk and finished, “Ultimately, I decided to take a nap. Then it felt like someone kicked the cube in response and I was in the room next door. But I couldn’t move. Like sleep paralysis. Only no little ghoulies nipping at my toes. Thankfully.” He stopped for a moment to look around and noted, “I must say your room is nicer than mine. Same couch though.”

Seth frowned and glanced at the strange mirror on the wall which had first shown her as a girl. She noted to herself, I can’t really see Isaac in it. Wouldn’t want him to go through what I did… She shuffled a bit to the right and Isaac copied her. He glanced upwards and asked, “Am I missing a flying grand piano about to fall?”

Seth shook her head and gestured to the mirror. She hesitated before asking, “…Can you take a look in there?” She bit her lip. She really, honestly did not want him to go through what she’d gone through. No misery-loves-company sentiment. Truly, she told herself. At the same time, she wanted to know if there was any sort of consistency to the mirror and it hadn’t just singled her out. She told herself that if a pretty blond girl appeared in place of Isaac then she would immediately drag him over to his room and explain…somehow.

Leaning, Isaac walked over to the mirror and gave a look before noting, “Not my best day, to be sure.” Looking too, Seth saw that Isaac’s reflection matched without alteration. She still appeared in Jessica form.

Allowing herself a regular breath, Seth felt relief but still confusion as to why and what happened to leave her in this state in the first place. She clutched her chin and told Isaac, “I had a moment in the cube. I saw someone I know and I was somewhere else.”

Isaac’s eyes widened as he noted, “Cool! Boyfriend?” She couldn’t resist a poke of annoyance at his question. His intent was painfully-obvious. But then, Seth reminded herself that she was currently a decently-attractive woman, a position she was still having trouble wrapping her head around with the way Isaac looked at her. She mentally-perceived herself as a man and the way Isaac behaved around her was jarring. That said, the only clear interactions she could remember having with anyone else were with her brother.

She corrected him, “My brother. I didn’t even remember his name before then. Do you remember much from before...the white cube?”

Spreading his hands out, Isaac conceded, “Not much. I mean I know my name is Isaac. And I kinda recall bits about my parents but it’s all…wavy-like. I can’t distinguish between what I’m just imagining because it sounds right and what I know for sure.” That sounded like a good description of what Seth was experiencing. Although he hoped that nothing he remembered was just imagined.

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Isaac settled on the nearby couch and Seth frowned. She watched him a moment and he watched back before asking, “This isn't one of those joke couches, is it?”

Seth shook her head and admitted, honestly but vaguely, “No, it’s just…I’m afraid of this whole place.”

Isaac gave a shrug. “So long as there's no carnivorous furniture, it’s manageable. Nothing much has happened to me though…has anything really weird happened to you?”

She had a feeling her body language was giving something away. She brushed back and pulled her hair a little. She held her shoulders and said, “Maybe a few things. Floating eyeballs for one.”

Isaac sat up on the couch. “Wicked! Did you have to hurl a fireball at it?” Seth gave another look. Isaac bowed his head and explained, “Sorry. I was thinking of a Beholder in my head. A new memory! Well, an old one returned I guess… I think I played a lot of late-night role-playing games…So, like a squishy, out of your socket sort of eye then?”

Seth shrugged. “I didn’t get a chance to poke it. It trapped me with electric shocks. But it melted when I threw a hairbrush.”

Isaac grinned widely and told her, “You go, gal! I bet you’d kick some real ass in a tabletop party.” He explained to her that he remembered his love of pen and paper RPGs but the details of that affection were fuzzy.

Seth plopped down on the far end of the couch and admitted, “It wasn’t long after that I met up with you.”

“Right on, Sethica….sorry.” Seth frowned at the name and folded her arms before asking, “Did anything open in your room?”

Gesturing to the open door, Isaac told her, “Just the one to here.” They sat in silence for a while before Isaac hopped up and said, “I think I’ll use the facilities while they’re around. No restroom on my side.” Seth looked over and noticed the arrangement of the restroom had changed to allow for a normal door. When she’d arrived it was just a sink coming out of a wall.

Isaac nearly closed the door to the restroom but then said to himself, “Best not to tempt luck…” and left it where it was. Because of that, Seth could hear Isaac urinating into the bowl. It was a heavy flow which continued long enough for her to turn, give a faint look of horror in the bathroom’s direction, and mutter, “Good god…” And the peeing continued as annoyance crept into her thoughts.

And it kept going. Her mouth hanging open…the stream finally stopped with a few dribbles which then exploded into a second, more violent wave of urination. Seth covered her eyes with a hand until it was done and Isaac finally flushed.

Returning to the sink, Isaac commented, “Maybe holding it in quite a bit…” as he turned on the tap. He washed first, then sipped the water from his cupped hands a few times, noting, “Not bad.” Seth got up and drank too when he was done. Looking at one another, they both sighed as Seth asked the obvious question of, “So, what do we do now?”

Brushing back his hair, Isaac mused, “Well, I was thinking we could throw heavy stuff at the walls. Mind if I search the drawers?”

She told him that they were empty the last time she checked but, “You can give a look…I guess.”

Of course, they weren’t empty anymore and, naturally, it didn’t take Isaac long to find the ladies underwear in them. Seth felt the desire to inform him, “Those were not there when I first showed up.”

Holding a particular bra towards Seth, Isaac noted, “Nothing wrong with that…”

After much digging, Isaac eventually came up with something useful as he announced, “A sledgehammer! Nicely-convenient…too convenient.” He eyeballed it a bit and slammed it into the top of the cabinet, embedding the sledgehammer in a good-sized hole. He pulled it out and proclaimed, “This should do the trick.”

The next swing was against the wall of the room. The hammer rebounded off it without leaving a mark. Isaac muttered, “Better built.”

He heaved the hammer once more and the wall broke through with a good-sized hole. Seth’s eyes widened. He’d actually damaged it!

Laughing, Isaac peered through the opening as Seth asked, “What do you see on the other side?” She leaned forward on the couch and gripped the edge. A way out.

Grunting, Isaac strained to look through. He noted, “It’s really dark. But it’s kinda like…a corridor? Too dark to see much.”

He lifted up the sledgehammer to give it another whack when a sound came through the opening like something crunching along. Seth could hear it too. It sounded like someone stepping with heavy boots across popcorn. Lowering the hammer, Isaac looked again and muttered, “There’s something there. I’m sure of it.” Seth stood up and stepped closer to the opening.

Isaac poked at the opening a bit and tried to make it wider with his finger. Wavering on her legs and with her arms at her side, Seth pouted. After all this time she spent inside, she wanted to see what was outside. She asked, “Can I have a look?”

Leaning back, Isaac told her, “Can’t really see anything. But I heard something moving. Can you look for a light in the drawers?”

Seth went back to the chest with the hole in the top and poked around for a light as Isaac grunted and still tried to peek. Eventually, she found a flashlight…right next to a dildo, which she glared at like someone had put it there intentionally as a practical joke. She buried the dildo in the depths of the drawer and tossed the flashlight over to Isaac. He clicked it on and aimed the beam through the opening.

Even with the light, it was hard to see anything. He could make out a wall, but it was dark, like it had been blackened by soot. He moved to hit the wall again as he announced, “I’m going to try to open it up a…bit…”

At that moment, Isaac paused and looked again. He told Seth, “I’m seeing something. It’s like…could be nothing. But it’s kinda there.” He groaned and said, “Can’t quite move the light enough.” Shadows shifted in the dark. A moment later, he saw *it*. He cupped his mouth to stifle a gasp and staggered away from the wall.

Seth tried to ask, “What? What happened?” But Isaac bolted for the nearest chest of drawers and heaved it against the wall. It was just barely high enough to block the opening. Immediately, Isaac went to gather more stuff. He hurled it at the wall and pressed everything against the hole as he sweated and stared at the covered opening.

Moving closer in fear, Seth asked, “What did you see?”

Wiping his face, Isaac grimaced and gave a wary look at Seth as he said, “You don’t want to know. And this isn’t enough. We need more.”

Seth felt a sharp scratch of Isaac’s fear looking into his trembling eyes. She helped him drag bits of furniture towards the wall and asked, “Maybe we should just go to your room?”

He shook his head and still stared. “I’m not sure even that would be enough…I mean…holy shit.”

“Was it really that bad?”

The look from Isaac told her he wasn’t exaggerating. Still, there wasn’t a sound from beyond the wall. Nothing to suggest that whatever it was might be trying to breach the opening. They kept the couch where it was because it was too heavy to move. Isaac clutched the end of it and just kept watching.

After a long spell of nothing, it seemed more and more like all this was an overreaction. Seth offered, “Isaac…you know maybe…there wasn’t…” but she didn’t get to finish that thought, as a sound echoed through the wall.

*Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech*

Like nails on a chalkboard but longer than any they had ever heard.

*Draaaaag draaaaag…scriiitch scriiitch*

Something heavy was moving towards the opening in the wall and tracing something along it. They both stared towards it, not blinking.

*WHAM WHAM! WHAM WHAM!*

The wall vibrated and the stuff they’d piled up tumbled down, shifted by the weight of the impacts. Isaac cupped his mouth. He seemed frozen on the couch. Seth watched it all fall to the ground and yelled, “We have to go!”

The hits were getting stronger against the wall and starting to rock the drawers, the main line of defense. Isaac hid his head with his hands and whimpered.

Seth didn’t want to look but her eyes were there as the pile bowed over. She winced…then raised an eyebrow.

Over the pile, through a clear hole in the wall, stepped a woman with her brown hair swooped to the left side of her head. She had a bit of a punk rocker look to her with her dark clothes and a pair of bright pink goggles over her eyes.

“Did you really have to make it as hard as that for me?” She put her hands on her hips and sighed.

Releasing his head, Isaac looked on in surprise as Seth frowned. With a cackle, the new girl said, as she raised her goggles up to her forehead and pointed at Seth and Isaac, “Ah ha! Two-fer!”

Seth was the first to ask, “Who are you?”

The new girl stretched and cleared her throat before placing a hand in front of her mouth. A crash came from behind her in the open darkness. She turned her hand into a raised finger as she told them, “Just a moment…”

Turning, she produced a small weapon from her hip and fired a single shot through with a deep *WHOOSH* following it. She turned back and stood there as a delayed explosion echoed from beyond the wall with a flash of flame lighting the opening and blasting at her hair.

She casually fixed her locks and answered, “Call me...Marley.”