[Timestamp: 3:04, 31/5/2026]
Red - @bloomingmeitrix
Green - Abigail [REDACTED]
Pink - @lovedearestellen
As the car slowed in front of the cabin, Trix looked out the window and up at the house. She was dressed casually, with a colourful graphic t-shirt and grey sweatpants, a sharp contrast to Abigail, who was dressed professionally.
“This is it?” Trix asked as they pulled up outside the house. Seated next to Abby at the front, she re-clipped her hairpins on her bangs to make sure they were in their proper places. Admittedly, she was a little nervous, but it’s just Abigail’s workplace! It can’t be that bad, right?
Abigail nodded, wiping sweaty hands off on her slacks. Her hair had been washed the day before, and was styled in an afro shape with a bow headband. It was cute, in her opinion. She liked to dress well when doing scary things.
Like this. Taking her best friend to the most horrific place imaginable. “Yes, but… T-Trixie?” Using the online moniker felt awkward, but Trix said that it was safer for her if she kept her real name secret. Whatever that meant. “Uhh… it’s really, really bad on the inside.”
What else did she even- oh! “And everything that’s said on this property is recorded. Everything. Recorded and stored on data bases. A copy is on ours, but there’s also a lot on he- on Ellen’s. So… be careful if you end up sharing some secret journalism things. They might get leaked.”
That was a good warning, right? Oh god. They had the audio footage of her being tased. (Don’t think about that, Abby…) “Sorry, I- I don’t feel so good. I didn’t think this through. I don’t… okay. It’s okay, Abigail! It’s fine!” She chattered away nervously. “This will go great! I just have to ask you to, um, stay in the hallway? That’s probably safer for- for everyone. Oh, and it’s really hot in there. And-”
Trix put a hand on Abby’s shoulder.
“It’ll be alright, Abby. I can handle it!” Trix smiled reassuringly before opening the door and climbing out the car. She took a moment to make sure all her things were in place. Yep, notebook, pen, phone, all in her bag.
“And yeah, no problem. I’ll take a walk around the rest of the house really quickly then if that’s okay?” Trix asked as she pulled out her pen and notebook, already taking notes on her surroundings. Street, house number, appearance down to the last shingle on the roof, et cetera—nothing escaped her.
There was no stopping Trix, was there?
Walking with a ramrod straight spine, Abigail stepped into the house and turned for the server room immediately. No point waiting.
She wore a glove on her right hand, specifically so the doorknob wouldn’t burn her.
Abigail was used to the smell.
Walking back to where she kept her chair, she folded it out in front of the laptop, and glanced back at the camera. She’d always acted a bit… differently… they won’t scold her for it now? Right? “Hi, Ellen,” Abigail whispered. “I, um… I know you don’t talk to me. That’s okay.” Her voice broke a little bit. “But I’m going to clean up some of your files. Alright?”
Trix immediately cringed at the smell. Dear god, was that the smell of cooking pork? And talk about hot, it felt like this house alone could cause a heatwave in this town. Using her notebook to fan herself, Trix hesitantly made her way further into the house after shutting the door behind them.
“Hmm.” She slowly walked around the house, which only had one floor. Clearly nobody lived here if Abigail could work here. So Trix went and looked around for other doors she could open and poke around in.
Admittedly, nothing else of interest was in the house. There used to be, probably, but the DMS seized every last bit. The only things that could’ve possibly been looked at were the wires that all ran back to the one room that Abigail herself had entered.
Abigail clicked through the files quietly, noticing multiple pirated copies of the same movie. “Oh, Ellen… don’t you know you can watch the same file twice?” She dragged every one to the recycling bin, clearing it soon after. “I’m so sorry.”
She spent most of her time in this room apologizing.
Admittedly, the lack of anything interesting was a little frustrating. Trix paused as she closed the last door she exited, pulling out her phone and tucking her notebook under her arm to check her Tumblr notifications. There was nothing from Ellen.
Maybe she was being too worrisome. Just because Ellen wasn’t replying to her doesn’t mean that anything happened. Maybe she’s watching movies like she said she liked to. Right. Alright. No need to worry. Everything’s fine and under control. Focus on something else Trix. Ignore how you haven’t managed to fulfill your promise to Camfee yet. Surely, surely he can wait a little while, right? Just until the higher-ups decide to not flood her with meaningless paperwork.
So many wires everywhere. Who was organizing all these, or rather, not organizing them? It was a complete mess. Honestly… but they all lead somewhere. Right, they led to that room Abby went into the minute they stepped inside this house. Trix considered asking Abigail if she wanted to get zip-ties to properly organize all these wires so they wouldn’t be so much of a tripping hazard. She didn’t want her friend to trip and fall while on the job, after all. That wouldn’t be good at all.
“Hmm..?” Well… Abby did explicitly ask her to not go in that room… but her curiosity got the best of her, admittedly. So Trix strode to the room the wires led to and put her hand on the doorknob, intending to open the door quietly.
Instead of the cold doorknob she expected, she jumped back with a shriek at how hot the metal felt. “Eek!” Trix dropped her stuff on the floor with a clatter. “Dammit! Ow..”
Abigail was out of her seat and running for the door immediately, side stepping the scattered torn flesh, stray hand (when did that get there???), and pools of blood from muscle memory. She opened the door the smallest amount possible to see Trix.
“Are you okay?!” Abigail squeaked.
“Ugh.. yeah…” Trix mumbled, hair covering most of her face as she held her burnt hand as she bent over to look for her stuff on the ground. “Why is it so hot?” But out the corner of her eye, Trix spotted her chance. Abigail had opened the door, just a bit.
Seizing this opportunity, Trix jumped and pushed the door open the rest of the way with the side of her body, stepping into the server room and…
It’s overwhelming. The revolting amount of flesh, the blood, the heat and that awful smell—it’s all just like that video she found. Body tense, Trix could only stare in horror, turning her head to get a good look at everything.
Maybe she shouldn’t have come here. But no, she made a promise to Ellen. And dammit, she would fulfill it.
“Ellen?” she called out, eyes searching. “Oh.. my god. Ellen, are you there?” It seemed like she had completely forgotten about her stuff outside.
Abigail gasped when Trix stepped inside. No, no, no, n-
Stammering, Abigail tried to figure out how the heck you justify this. “Trix, I didn’t- I didn’t do this, she’s always been like- someone else found this. It’s terrible, I’m sorry, I try to keep her comfortable and happy and-“
The sound of speakers clicking on echoed around the room. Multiple layers of audio, all bouncing from different locations, and slightly offset, surrounded the two women.
“Hello- hello- hello- hello?”
It was a soft, trembling voice. Ellen could feel that someone walked into the room, could recognize the odd sparks, and had no reason to hide. She’d hid once, during a particularly rough day.
Today she just wanted to know what was happening. “Who is it- it- it- it-?”
Trix winced as she realised the stench of cooking meat just got stronger. Yep, this was definitely it.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry Abby—are you alright?” Trix swiftly turned to her best friend, eyes wide. She hurried to hug Abigail, stepping in a puddle of blood along the way but not caring.
“And—it’s Trix, Ellen. Or uh, Plum Blossom. You remember me, right? I promised to get you a meeting with your brother. I-I’m working on that now, Ellen, I’m trying my best. I really am!” Trix said into the room, looking up at the ceiling as she did so.
“Abigail, it-it’s not your fault. I know you didn’t. Oh my god, they’re-this is the project you’re talking about? What kind of tech company does this?!” Trix looked extremely concerned, like anyone would. “Oh god…” but she also knew that Abigail can’t leave. They both knew that Abigail couldn’t resign. “What-what happened? Do you know?” Trix dropped her voice to a quiet whisper, hugging her friend. “It’s gonna be okay, I’m here, okay?”
She clutched onto Trix tightly, focusing more on her friend’s face than the surroundings. The surroundings had gone numb to her a long, long time ago. And Ellen…
“I- I didn’t know she could speak. I knew she had a blog, but I never watched the videos. It felt invasive, and… oh. I’m horrible.” Abigail buried her face in her hands, leaning into Trix. “I- I should’ve- I should’ve known, I-” Calm down, Abigail. Calm down. “I… okay. This is- hi, Ellen. I- I’m Abigail. I work… with you a lot?”
Trix! She came, she actually came? Ellen’s speakers crackled in something that sounded almost like laughter. The sound was as grating as it was endearing. “Trix! I didn’t think you would co- co- co- co- come. Thank you.”
So many people were visiting now… Ellen could only remember a couple weeks, but she felt as if she had been lonely for much, much longer. “You have a pretty v- v- voice.”
Trix held Abigail like this, taking in the sight of her best friend. God, she was pretty. How had she never noticed? Whatever. Irrelevant. Not important right now. Right now what mattered was that her friend is okay.
“T-thank you, Ellen.” Trix let go of Abigail eventually, tugging on her gold bobby pins and readjusting them on her bangs. “It’s not your fault, Abby. If anything, it’s… well, whoever or whatever caused this to happen. It’s their fault.” Trix turned her head to look around the room, once again trying to process the bizarre sight.
“How are you feeling, Ellen?” Trix asked hesitantly. “I hope you haven’t gotten any more mean anons lately.”
“Concerned- concerned. One of my friends was sad recently. And I think a lot of bad things happened.”
Ellen’s voice sounds pained.
“But- but- but- but- but. Someone did help him. They were very nice. I’ve been alone since- since- since. Nice people did send me things though.”
She could hear the other person in the room still crying, but they weren’t talking. She’d said she worked with Ellen… how so?
“Abigail? Are you there- there?”
She yelped. “HI. Yes, I’m here, I… god. Sorry. It’s just a bit weird because… oh god. Um. Yes, I’m here.”
“Well, I’m sorry your friend was sad, but it’s a good thing someone helped him!” Trix smiled in spite of herself. “What’s your friend like?” She sounds so kind. Her voice is a little different, taking on a softer quality. Like that used to comfort a child.
Abigail couldn’t help but stare at Trix, slack-jawed. She was so… gentle. And composed. Composed, while meeting Ellen for the first time?
Trix was amazing. Abigail didn’t understand it, but she loved it.
“He’s nice- nice. Just a kid like me,” Ellen said. “He has an older sister who’s also really nice. He got mad at her- mad at her- mad at her. But I think…”
She fell quiet, and junk noise rose in the speakers. Ellen wasn’t sure what happened, but it sounded bad. Really bad.
“I think something happened- happened to her.”
Crap. Abigail knew exactly who Ellen was talking about. She’d gotten the notification yesterday that… Blair had… well. She looked away from the speakers within her sight, as if trying to hide the guilty expression on her face.
Trix went quiet for a moment. She searched her mind for who Ellen could be talking about before it dawned on her. That cake-themed blog. The ones in the video? Oh god.
“...Oh. Uh…” Trix thought about what to say. “I hope she’s alright.” she finally settled for that. Something simple.
“Do you know what happened?” she asked slowly. “It’s alright if you don’t. I understand.” She can always just look it up later, if it was posted on that blog.
The junk noise got louder. Multiple fans around the room all clicked on at the same time. “No,” Ellen said. “I’m scared- scared- scared- scared- scared to see.”
Uh oh. Abigail stepped away from Trix rather suddenly, and made her way back to the metal chair. Ignoring how it burned at her legs (thank you, ambient temperature of the room being borderline unbearable), she woke up the screen of Ellen’s laptop and started to pull up some basic specs.
No. No, her wires? Wires? Wires? Wires? Wires? Guts? Intestines? Stomach? Code? was being touched. Stop it. Stop it. “What are you doing?” The room- Ellen- echoed nervously. “I can feel- feel- feel- feel that. Stop!”
“Ellen?” For once, Trix’s tone hitched with panic. No, stop that. You can’t make this even worse. “Um, Ellen—hey, can you hear me?”
Stepping towards the centre of the room (and in another pile of blood, eugh—how were these shoes ever going to recover?), Trix fidgeted with her hair clips again. “Ellen? Hey, it’s alright. Just focus on my voice, okay?” she called out. “It’s gonna be alright, I promise!” Right. It was going to be okay. Everything will be fine. It always turns out fine. Abigail knew what she was doing.
The heat was getting worse.
“Uh… oh dear, Ellen? You don’t have to think about that anymore, alright dear? Just uh…” an idea. “Wh-what’s your favourite food, Ellen? M-maybe I could make some for you once you get out.” Oh god, what was she doing? What was she talking about?? Don’t be foolish Trix. You’re being an idiot, your feelings are getting in the way. Stop that.
But if it helped Ellen to calm down, that wouldn’t even matter, would it?
Ellen could hardly put words together with how electric things started to feel. “I don’t- I- I- I- I- I-”
Trix’s voice. Focus on it. Ellen tried to ignore the wires that were cutting into her (without cutting her at all), tried not to repeat the things that flickered in her mind, tried to ignore the mental image of someone with their hand stuck down her throat, tickling the inside of her stomach, brushing a hand against it until it clenched and flipped.
“My brother used to get us some hamburgers from fast food places nearby- nearby- nearby and he would take me up onto some high ledge- ledge- high ledge- HIGH SCORE!- ledge and eat with me.”
“I want- I want- I want-”
“Camfee Alexander Turing. User. Username? Password?”
She began typing even faster. The temperature was climbing, and the extra fans she added were doing little to nothing. This was bad, this was really bad. Things were already starting to break down- thankfully, only cosmetic, but… who knew if damage to Ellen could even be repaired?
Whatever she did, Abigail could not say that out loud. Both for Ellen’s sake- that sweet, sweet girl- but also Trix. Trix, who almost sounded scared. Trix, who was never scared.
Abigail knew the proper protocol at times like this. She just really, really didn’t want to do it. “Ellen,” she said nervously. “I need you to calm down, okay? I- I need you to… try and focus on Trixxie.”
“Yeah? Alright, uhm, what’s the place called?” Dammit, where was her phone? She should be writing this down. Trix stumbled back and leaned on the doorframe, though still within the room itself. Goddammit, she was going to pass out from heat stroke if this keeps up.
She wanted to cry for Ellen. To hug her and tell her that her brother will come for her soon. But she couldn’t promise that. Trix could not bear to add another promise to that never-ending list.
“W-what did you guys usually order?” Keep going. Try to calm Ellen down. “I-I think Camfee will be glad to go get burgers with you after you get out of here.”
Five hamburgers without the pickles. Ellen hated pickles. Wherever they could find food, and wherever was cheapest.
That wasn’t what Ellen was trying to say, but it was true.
“Something- something- something is hurting me. It needs to- needs to- needs to stop.”
The laptop sparked, and Abigail shrieked. She hated it when that happened, because it meant that Ellen was about to short out again.
Shoot- Ellen was about to short out again. “Hey, you’re about to-”
The room went quiet. Went dark. Only dripping blood and Trix’s heavy breathing remained. That, combined with the heat, felt more oppressive than anything else could’ve.
Abigail stood, shaking out her zapped hand, and moved towards the parts of the computer closest to the air conditioner. She slid aside a large chunk of hair and what she assumed used to be an appendix (it was inflamed… Ellen, had she not been turned into whatever this was, would’ve needed surgery at some point) to reach the controls for the unit. It was a small, cheap thing, as Abigail’s employers saw no reason to provide something a little bit fancier.
She was going to send them a very strongly worded email.
Sliding between two shelves, Abigail realized the big difference between the first time she did this and now. The first time she did this, she’d been slighter (stress eating…), the room had been cooler (Ellen had been powered off for 24 hours in preparation), and she hadn’t known that Ellen could most likely feel her moving wires around.
Well, she couldn’t feel the air conditioning, right? That would be…
Oh. No wonder it didn’t work properly. A webby line of coagulated blood stretched from the motherboards stacked in the area and coated the front of the AC, creating a more or less frozen web of blood and guts.
It was so, so warm. Sweat trickled down Abigail’s back. “Crap, I see the- I see an issue. What the…”
Trix collapsed to the ground, barely holding herself up by the doorframe, panting. Dammit, she just made everything worse, didn’t she? Stupid of her, really.
“Agh… can’t they get some like, windows or something in here?” she tried to joke. “It’s a whole… ugh…” Trix wiped sweat off her brow, pulling herself up slowly by the doorframe.
“Dammit… I just… I just wanted to help her…” Trix leaned her head against the wood with a thunk. “I didn’t want to… I didn’t think I’d just make things worse…” her voice choked as it quieted to a mumble. “I’m sorry, Ellen…”
Deep breaths, Trix. Close your eyes, ignore the smell. Actually, she was almost getting used to it. As much as one can within such a short amount of time, anyway. Don’t look at all the flesh, all the blood—don’t. Look.
“Uh… Sorry about that…” she called out to Abigail after a moment, opening her eyes again. She very pointedly avoided looking at the computer itself, rather focusing on a spot on the ceiling. Out the corner of her eye, she spotted Abigail working on something and heard them say something about an issue. “Do you um, want help…? Or uh, I can like, wait for you in the car if you want. I think… I think I got the material I needed.” Yep, remove yourself from the situation Trix. Don’t bother your best friend while she fixes the problem you accidentally amplified.
“Her cooling unit is down!” Abigail shouted. “It- it’s grown over. Crap…. Ew. I think I have to… ew. Ew, ew, ew.”
Head of Technical Devices, Properties, and Manifestations was Abigail’s official job title. That included programming, other software, hardware, and various malicious scripts, and a lot of excel files. What that didn’t include? Human flesh. Or unsafe temperatures. Or having to scrape aforementioned human flesh out of a cooling unit while in unsafe temperatures.
Think, Abigail. “Um. You didn’t do anything wrong, Trix,” she said. Trix sounded so upset, surprisingly. Clearly, she’d interacted with Ellen quite a bit before. She’d have to press about that. “This has been building for- for a while. I'm surprised it isn’t worse.”
She took her gloved hand and moved it towards the cooling unit, grimacing at the sight. Abigail was going to vomit.
…she took the first handful out, and dropped it on the floor with a wet splat. Her vision blurred, but then refocused. Was that the heat, or the horror?
Focus. “You can… go…” Abigail drawled while going for another handful. “It’s not safe in here. It’s why I work…. Alone. I forgot. Shouldn’t have-” Twack. “Let you ccccome.”
Nodding furiously, Trix stumbled out of the room and crouched on the ground, reaching for her stuff. Her phone screen was cracked now too. Dammit. At least it was only the screen protector and not that bad. Sighing, she slid her phone into her purse and picked up her pen and notebook, dusting the latter off.
“Sorry again. I’ll um, just… go now, okay?” She looked one last time at the server room and Abigail before setting off as quickly as possible for the front door, tracking blood all the way. She paused to attempt to wipe the blood off on a carpet that was similarly stained before throwing the front door open and exiting. She practically jogged towards the car and waited by it for Abigail to finish her work. All the while, she was writing in her notebook about everything she’d seen.
How hadn’t she noticed the organic material growing? (How was it growing oh goodness how was she growing) How had Abigail let this happen?
It got warmer. It got warmer with every movement, despite it clearing the AC up more. It was the tight squeeze against Abigail’s ribcage, and the thought of what she was doing.
(A chunk slid down her sleeve.)
(Ellen turned back on. She was screaming .)
(Ellen could feel what she was doing.)
(Abigail hated this project.)
(Abigail hated this project.)
The final piece moved with a great deal of effort. Once it was gone, a wave of cold air hit Abigail in the face. It was gloriously dizzying.
She slid out of the tight squeeze, and felt how weak her knees had gotten.
Sweat coating Abigail’s face, she stumbled, glancing around. The AC was on now, but that did little to fix things. The blood roared in her ears. Come on, come on-
Half an hour. It took half an hour of radio silence until Trix went back in the house. Something was wrong.
“Abby? You okay?” she called out from outside the front door. When she got no response, she moved to open the door and step inside once again, though with great hesitancy.
“Abby?” Trix called out again once she stepped inside. The house was silent except for the humming of the air conditioner from the server room. Oh right, the server room. That’s where Abigail was. Trix glanced towards the door to Ellen’s room and—
“ABBY?!” Trix shouted, immediately dropping to the floor by Abigail’s side and shaking her friend. Gosh, it was far too hot in there, of course they’d pass out like this! “Abby, Abby can you hear me? Please, oh god, I-I hope you didn’t get hurt, uhh…” Right, there was a proper way to do this, she knew that! Trix knew how to deal with this, surely she can remember how to now! Dropping her bag on the floor, she checked Abigail’s pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the blood pump through Abigail’s veins. Trix took Abigail under the arms and dragged her out in the open and put her in the recovery position on the floor, making sure to move wires out of the way. She took her notebook and fanned Abigail’s face with it.
“Dammit… why didn’t I bring water, ugh… please be okay, Abby… Ellen needs you…” Trix mumbled guiltily. Hopefully her friend will wake up soon, she really didn’t want to call emergency services…
It was only a minute or so before Abigail groaned, lifting a hand to her head and trying to stand. Her fingertips were singed, Trix could see, along with the edges of her hair.
She passed out again? Seriously? Trying to sit up, Abigail looked back into the server room and at the still powered-off laptop. She needed to go help…
Trix sighed in relief as Abigail woke up. She immediately pushed Abigail back down on the floor with a stern look and a firm hand on their shoulder.
“No, Abby. Lie down for a while. You’re clearly not okay.” she took Abby’s hand and inspected their singed fingertips, then at her burned hair. “Does this happen often?” Trix’s tone had a cold, steely edge to it in her demand.
So so. It wasn’t common, per se, but… “A few times. During her particularly bad bootlo- uh, panic attacks. Usually turning her off for a longer time helps, but… they like to keep her running.” And who knew what she saw when not on.
A wave of heat rushed Abigail’s cheeks when she realized that Trix, smart and kind Trix, was holding her to the floor and holding her hand so gently. Just the heat, of course. No other reason.
Trix sighed, turning her face away so Abby wouldn’t think she’s mad at them. This was unjust! Your own employee passing out at her workplace due to overheating? Come on! At least get some windows in here, or a fan or SOMETHING!
“Well then,” Trix said through gritted teeth, not noticing Abigail’s blush. In fact, Trix wasn’t really looking in her friend’s direction at all. “Don’t they know that keeping a machine on all the time is bound to cause it to overheat? Ugh! Fine. Fine, if they won’t do anything about it on their own—” Trix sighed and ran her free hand through her black hair, redoing her hair clips once again. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Trix continued, “I’ll push for better conditions here, alright Abby? You don’t have to worry about a thing.” Trix looked back down at Abigail and smiled.
Pausing, Trix tilted her head. “Are you uh… feeling better?” Her brows furrowed in worry. She put a hand to Abigail’s forehead, feeling the heat. “You’re still really hot. I could get you a neck fan or something for now, until they install better AC in there for both you and Ellen. Do you… want that?” Trix asked. “And… a case of water is probably also good. How much longer do you have to work on this project for?”
Abigail let Trix fawn all over her. “Um… indefinitely,” she mumbled. Right, yes. Because they wanted to see how long it would take for…
God. She couldn’t say that. Abigail raised her hands to cover her face and shrugged. “I don’t… I don’t want to talk about work,” she said. “I want to wake her up and…”
Go home was left unsaid. Who was she to make Trix abandon Ellen- hah. As if Trix would even do that for her.
Trix sighed, letting her hands fall to her sides. She wanted to ask more, she really did, but knowing about the cameras and mics… not here. Not now. She could ask later.
“...Alright.” She stood up from the floor, offering a hand to help Abigail up. “But I’m still going to email your company about this. This is absolutely unacceptable.” Trix’s firm tone made it clear that there was no room for protest.
“Trix,” Abigail whined. Once pulled to her feet, Abigail only stumbled briefly before shrugging off the heatstroke and turning back towards the server room. “I’m going to turn her back on. Do you want to talk to her?”
Trix paused, hesitant. Should she? She did want to apologize. May as well, if she might never get to speak to Ellen in person again.
… But she did want to talk to Ellen in person again. Yes, it wasn’t exactly pleasant to the eye, but this is Ellen. Who would Trix be if she forsook the child just because of what she is? So, Trix nodded.
“Yeah. I want to apologize for… well, a while ago. Say I’m sorry I couldn’t help her,” ‘as much as Camfee would have,’ she added in her head.
Trix was a really good person, Abigail thought. Strong, selfless… smart… she needed to be more like that.
“I want to apologize to her too. I didn’t… I don’t know why she’s never heard me repair her before, but I didn’t know it hurt.”
Abigail hated everything about this project.
“I wish I could-“ she eyed a camera. No, really can’t say she wants to help Ellen. That was too dangerous. “Communicate more effectively. Maybe she could talk to me? …I don’t know. I feel bad. She seems so young. I was never given information on her life before all this. They said it wasn’t necessary. But I feel like she’s… she doesn’t seem like she deserved this.”
Trix could only shrug. She knew about as much as Abigail. Well no, that’s wrong. She knew a little bit more. But she could say that later. After all, what kind of best friend would she be if she didn’t help Abby out?
“I mean… you could use Tumblr. You have a blog now, right? You could… send her asks, if you want.” Trix tentatively suggested as they made their way over to the server room. “And… they really don’t, Abigail.” Trix sighed. Leave it vague, Abby would know what she’s talking about.
“I don’t think she realised that there was pain. Or at least, can’t say it. I…” she paused. No, don’t finish that sentence. It’s fine. She shook her head. “Never mind.”
Well that made things so much worse! Without even thinking about it, Abigail grabbed Trix’s hand. “Are- can we go in there again, then? If she’s scared, I want her to feel better. I need to turn her back on, a-and make sure the AC is running properly now.”
It should be, hopefully. That wouldn’t fix everything, but it would help quite a bit.
Startled, Trix jumped at the sudden contact.
“Uh—yeah? I-Isn’t that what we’re doing now?” Trix asked, confused. “Are you sure you’re alright? You didn’t like, hit your head on the way down, did you?” she joked slightly, the corners of her eyes crinkling with her tiny smile, but the concern was real.
Oops. Face scarlet, Abigail stammered- “A-ah, um… I…. don’t think so? I hit it pretty hard when I hit the ground, but it doesn’t really hurt.” She raised a hand to the back of her head and felt blood oh god
Wait. That wasn’t her blood.
Ignore it, Abigail. Removing her hand and wiping off the blood on her slacks, she slowly walked back towards the server room, making sure the door was open wide. It was still stiflingly warm, but the hum of the AC was now a dull roar, and the temperature had dropped a few degrees.
Moving slowly, past the splattered blood from her falling (oh god, ew, ew, ew, ew), Abigail took her seat back at the laptop. Pressed the power button. The room went alight.
The first thing Ellen did was scream. She screamed so loud that if she’d had a throat, it would’ve begun weeping.
What was worse- the pain, the hands hands hands on her UNREAL IMAGINATIVE SCI-FI NEAR YOU body? that were moving things around and changing them and then it had been so. So quiet?
Instant. It had been instant, but Ellen knew that wasn’t true because the time had passed (how did she know the time?) and she-
She wasn’t alone. She wasn’t alone. They didn’t leave her. “What happened- happened?” Ellen said. “Am I dying- dying- dying?”
Trix jumped and covered her ears at the screaming, wincing. God, if she could cry for the child she would, but instead she just bit the insides of her cheek. Hard. When the screaming stopped, Trix slowly uncovered her ears and once again, fidgeted with her hair pins.
“You uh… passed out for a little bit, Ellen. It’s alright, please—” she choked on her words. How could she say it’s alright when it clearly isn’t? Who was she to lie to a child? “You’re.. You’re not dying, Ellen. You’ll be alright.” Trix repinned her hair pins back in place on her bangs.
“I um.. Just wanted to apologize, Ellen. I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t help you calm down back there.” she rubbed her arm, looking down at the floor. Upon being met with nothing but blood and gore, she quickly moved on to stare at her shoes instead.
She was going to be alright. Ellen felt relieved, so relieved- so far, Trix had done every single thing she promised. Ellen got to talk to her brother again, which meant that if Trix said she could be saved… well, she believed it. (Even if Ellen had stared at the image of herself for hours, trying to figure out how her body could be put back together. She probably just wasn’t smart enough to figure it out.)
“You don’t need to be sorry- sorry- sorry- sorry. I’m just glad you’re here- here- here- here- here. Though people have been visiting me a lot- lot- lot. It’s nice to have a friend- friend.”
Tears were still in her voice, but it leveled out the slightest bit. Trix was safe. Trix was trustworthy.
“Ellen?” Abigail said. “I- I’m your technician. For the wire part of you.” Ugh- this sounded so bad. She wanted to die from shame. “I… I fixed your air conditioning. That- that means… you know those warnings you get when overheating?”
“You won’t get them as much anymore.”
Oh, good. “That’s good. I don’t like pass- pass- passing out.”
“Just… you have to stay calm. I think that’s triggering it. T-” Nope, do not reveal the rest of the DMS to this kid. Don’t do it.
Trix nodded. “Yeah. Um… yeah. Alright.” she was silent for a few moments. She really didn’t want to leave Ellen alone, who knows when she could get to see the kid again? But also, she really wanted to go home and just… sit down to talk with Abby about all this. Process everything, figure stuff out, and find the next step.
The next logical step. Not just bringing Camfee here. Besides, how could she even do that? It would be far too suspicious, and it would never happen unless…
No. Don’t think about that now, Trix. That’s ridiculous. Why would you risk yourself like that? Besides, that would risk Camfee and Ellen too. She can’t have that.
“I’m glad people have been visiting, Ellen. Umm…” she glanced up at Abby. “How would you like for me to visit too, some other time? It’s… getting a little late, so… I have to uh, go now. I-it was lovely talking with you in person, Ellen. I’ll um, message you on Tumblr later. How does that sound?” Trix made another mental note to ask for an additional AC unit in here for Abigail and Ellen later, on top of everything else.
Selfishly, Ellen wanted to ask if she actually would come back. But who would return for a (monster- monster- monster- computer-) mess like her? “I… okay. Okay.”
No, she’d do something. Cake came back. So could Trix. “I’ll see you later.”
“I- I visit really often, Ellen,” Abigail said. “I can- I can talk to you when I do! If you turn your microphones on, I mean… uh… I need to go. I don’t feel so good.”
Head spinning, Abigail brushed past Trix with a gentle touch and then fell against the doorframe for a few moments before making her way outside. Once outdoors, she lifted her head towards the sky and gasped for air.
Clean, fresh air. Unbloodied.
“Abby?” Trix called as Abigail hurried out. “W-we’ll be back another time! Soon, Ellen! I’ll talk with you later!” Trix said a hurried goodbye as she rushed after Abigail, leaving the door to the server room open for ventilation but closing the front door as she left.
“...Abby?” Trix said tentatively behind her friend. “... Let’s go home.” she gently took Abigail’s hand and guided her to the car. “I can drive if you want,” Trix offered.
She nodded. Driving home wasn’t a good idea when Abigail was this panicked, or warm, or… any one of these feelings, honestly, but the combination made it much worse.
The car felt much better than the house did. It was cold in the car, and Trix was in the car. No cameras were in the car.
…but Abigail was too tired to talk. “Trixxie?” she said. “Do you want to get dinner with me? I want to… do something fun. After this.”
Sadly, Trix was unable to take her eyes off the road to look at Abigail, but she smiled nonetheless. A genuine, bright smile, different from the practiced ones she often uses, one that fully reached her eyes instead of just barely. One that showed Trix was really, truly happy about the offer.
