Crazy Dazey

Just a little rest wouldn’t hurt.

As she was sitting there for no more than ten seconds, she heard a knock at her door.

“Oh, what is it now…?”

Ophelia slowly stood up and walked towards the door with a binder in her hand. She wanted to make sure it looked like she was in the middle of doing something. She cracked open the door and looked out.

“Philip…?”

Ophelia opened the door completely. She stood in the doorway, not stepping out until she was sure he needed something and this wasn’t just some stupid prank of his. Although, she had to admit, Philip hadn’t done much pranking as of late. She supposed they were all getting older.

“Hey Ophelia.”

“What do you want?”

Philip raised his arm above Ophelia so that he was leaning on her doorway.

“C’mon don’t be like that, it’s just an old friend wanting to say hi. Is that not allowed?”

Ophelia smirked.

“Well, knowing you, I don’t think you’re here just to say hi.”

Philip scoffed.

“Okay, okay. Fine. Look, Ophelia,” He repositioned himself so that he was leaning over her more, closer to her face. “I was wondering if you wanted to… I don’t know, grab some food or something later?”

Ophelia rolled her eyes before pushing past Philip.

“Again, the answer is no.”

She started walking down the hallway, binder still in hand. She needed to take a break anyway.

“Ophelia! Ophelia, don’t walk away from me.” He started to follow her.

“I’ve told you before, I don’t think we could work.”

“Yeah but-“ He paused to speed up and started walking beside her. “But I still think we could.”

Ophelia shook her head dismissively. “The answer is no, Philip.”

He threw his head back and sighed.

“You will never be easy to get, will you, Ophelia?”

“Nope.”

Philip smiled smugly and put his hands in his pockets.

“Okay, well, since that failed,” he kept walking alongside Ophelia “wanna hear the ‘latest gossip’?”

Ophelia glanced up at him.

“I’m sorry?”

“Yeah, you know, the company’s inner workings and all that.”

Ophelia looked up at Philip without moving her head.

“You know we can’t just be talking about that.”

“Says who?”

“Says your boss.” Ophelia halted for a moment to face him.

“Okay, got a point there.” They started walking again. “But, I got something good, and I don’t think you’ve heard it before.”

“Here we go…” Ophelia muttered under her breath.

“You know Rebecca Colten?”

Ophelia flinched at the name.

“I… yeah, I know of her. Of course I do.”

“Right so, basically, she’s out there now.”

“What?!”

Ophelia spun to look at him again.

“Yeah, actually I am pretty surprised you haven’t heard. It’s been uh…” Philip stopped and put a hand on his chin. “Five years… I think.”

“Five years?! And they… have they found her yet?” Ophelia tilted her head as she spoke.

“No. I mean I wouldn’t be telling you if they had, huh?”

Ophelia faced forward again and continued heading down the hallway.

“How did she…?”

“Oh, it wasn’t just her who got away.” Philip put his hands back in his pockets. Ophelia’s eyes widened.

Wait… was he talking about…

“There was also Riley Park.”

Oh.

“She helped Colten escape or whatever.” Philip shook his head before glancing down at Ophelia. She was frowning.

“Woah, hey you okay?”

“Huh?” She blinked a few times before returning eye contact. “Sorry, I’m fine.”

“I’ll bet…” Philip smirked before speaking again “you… are thinking of a certain someone…”

“Oh come on Philip.”

“who’s name starts with an ‘M’…”

“Philip.”

“who’s just a massive pussy but for some reason you chose to ignore that-“

“PHILIP. That’s not funny.”

Philip wheezed and held his stomach, leaning over in a fit of laughter.

“It was!” He paused to catch his breath. “It was pretty funny!”

Ophelia rolled her eyes again and stormed off down the hallway.

“Wait, wait! Sorry! Sorry, Ophelia.” He jogged to catch up with her again. “I mean, I’m just stating facts.”

“Maybe next time don’t ‘state facts’ about someone who’s… you know, dead.” Ophelia clasped her binder tighter.

“Mmm… yeah. Somewhat dead, anyway.” Ophelia furrowed her brow.

“…What?”

“‘Cause, you know, his soul is still… in there. I think”

Ophelia stopped suddenly.

“He… he's still in there?!”

“Well, yeah. I’m assuming so.”

She put a hand on her forehead.

“Holy fuck…” Ophelia whispered.

“I mean, I don’t know! Nobody’s checked on him for a hot minute.” Philip looked unamused as he spoke.

“So what you're saying is… he could be dead.”

“Well, that’s the funky thing about those tapes… can’t die in ‘em, can you?” Ophelia looked back up at Philip again.

“How did you figure that out?” Philip pierced his lips as if holding back a laugh.

“Take a guess.”

“You- You didn’t-“

“Nuh uh, I didn’t. But Colten did.” Ophelia took a step back. “She killed him a few times, you know? Probably ‘cause he was so annoying.” Philip walked up to her and patted her shoulder.

“Oh my goodness…” Ophelia quietly said to herself.

“Don’t stress yourself out about it.” Philip stood next to Ophelia, his hand still on her shoulder.

“And he’s been in there? Alone? Even after Amanda left?”

Ophelia looked up at Philip.

“I mean… yeah. The world in the tapes doesn’t just disintegrate as soon as she leaves, as cool as that would be.”

Ophelia paused before speaking.

“For… for five years? He’s been alone for five years?”

Philip bit his lip.

“Uh huh. Can’t imagine what that’s done to his mental stability.” He chuckled slightly to himself.

“Do they still exist?”

“What?”

“The tapes?”

Philip looked up at the ceiling before down back at her.

“Ophelia, you know that’s not allowed.”

“I know! I know, I’m just wondering.” Philip sighed and slightly shook his head before speaking again.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Because you know how dangerous it would be to watch anything relating to that show?”

“Of course.”

Philip tapped his foot while staring at Ophelia. He scrunched up his face before talking.

“Fine. I think there’s still one or two in my office, from when I used to work on the show.”

“Wow, really? Still got some?”

Philip nodded.

“And remember, don’t. touch. them. Understand?”

Ophelia nodded back. But she knew she was lying. Of course she had to watch one. She wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to speak to someone who she knew a long time ago. Someone who she was really close to, in fact. Someone who she knew had been through hell and back.

“Good.” Philip finished. “Anyway, I’ve gotta go. We are at work after all. See ya, Ophelia.”

Lucky for Ophelia, she knew ninety percent of the time, Philip didn’t work in his office. As he walked away in the opposite direction, Ophelia began to walk towards his study.

“Got it!”

Ophelia held the tape in her hand. She thought it would take longer to find, but it was just in one of the drawers to Philip’s desk.

A little obvious, don’t you think?

She shook her head and turned to face the door again. She knew that there was probably a VCR player somewhere in the facility, seeing as Amanda the Adventurer was such a big project for Hameln. She exited the room, making sure to leave everything as it was when she came in. That is except for the tape of course. Ophelia supposed that the first place she would check would be a storage room. Not many people used VCR’s anymore, so they probably weren’t anywhere too important. Not to mention, if she was caught doing this, it could mean she’d get fired. Or worse. So best use a room that nobody really goes into.

“Let’s see here…” Ophelia whispered to herself before looking both ways down the halls. She knew where all the storage rooms were, but she needed to pick the right one. She could either go with the closest one available, or she could go to the one that no one had used in a long time. She chose the latter.

“Aha!”

Ophelia took the tape out of her pocket and inspected it before putting it in the VCR player she had just found.

“‘Let’s go to the store’… hmm…” She read the side of the tape to herself, before shrugging and sliding the VHS into the slot. She thought that she was lucky, since the VCR was already plugged into an old television. It saved her time and brainpower.

Before clicking play, she started to think to herself.

What will happen when I start up the tape? Will he just spawn into the place he’s supposed to be… or…?

Ophelia pondered for a few moments before nodding to herself.

Guess there’s only one way to find out.

She pressed play. The intro music was the first thing that kicked in. Ophelia had heard this melody, but only once or twice. She had always refused to watch Amanda the Adventurer before. She didn’t want to see him on the screen while she knew his corpse was rotting away and there was nothing she could do about it. After the music stopped, it was eerily silent. The logo disappeared and instead, she was looking at grass, a few bushes, and a tree. There was also a blue sky in the background, along with a bright yellow sun. What was strange though, was that the eyes that all the objects had, weren’t lively like she assumed they were supposed to be. They were greyed out, no color, no emotion whatsoever. Even weirder though, was that nobody was on the screen. If Ophelia was going to be honest, she expected him to at least show up. But no, there was nothing. Everything was still and unmoving, she couldn’t even hear any breeze blowing or birds chirping in the background, just the humming of the VCR. Though she had to admit, something was calming about this. The sound was almost enchanting. It played in her head and it dug it’s way through her soul. The world was so beautiful too, wasn’t it? It was good, it was calm. In there, she’d have nothing to think about. In there, all her worries were absent. The colors, so vibrant and vivid, stung her eyes as she sat there unblinking. She couldn’t just look away now, not with how amazing this made her feel. Her vision was blurring as she stared into the television. She started feeling dizzy. Everything around her vanished. Or that’s what it felt like anyway.

“…Ouch…”

The first word that came from her mouth sounded strange to her.

That wasn’t… my voice was it?

As she blinked her eyes open, she noticed something. She noticed several things. It was all wrong. This ground wasn’t the one in the storage room she had been in, instead, it was green. But not a natural green, this looked too saturated. Almost like something Ophelia had seen on children’s TV.

Wait.

She slowly sat upright from where she was laying on the ground, as she did so, she realized how lightheaded she was. But as her vision became more clear, she knew what had happened.

Oh no.

She was inside that show. That show that she had refused to watch for so long. Just her luck that the one time she wanted to watch it she got sucked in. If she had known this would happen, she never would’ve entered that tape into the VCR.

Now what?

Ophelia reached her hand up to her head. It was still hurting.

“Ack!”

Her hand looked drastically different. In fact, it didn’t look like a hand at all. It was a hoof, at least that’s what Ophelia assumed it to be. She looked down at herself and gasped. It wasn’t just her hand. Her entire body was wrong. It looked much smaller than it was supposed to be. She also noticed that her legs looked strange, more like hind legs from an animal than anything human. There were hooves on them, too. She obviously couldn’t see her face, but she started to feel around it to understand what she looked like. She noticed the cartoonish proportions first. Her eyes were much larger than they were before, and her nose, which was now an animal nose, was lower than it was supposed to be. She could feel hair too, but it felt more like the long fur Ophelia had occasionally seen on some horse manes. She noticed two large ears on the sides of her head as well. Ophelia glanced down once again. She looked as if she wore a sort of dress.

A sun dress… maybe?

It had a blue ribbon tied around to the back with a bow. She could feel something on top of her head as well. She assumed it to be a hat. Ophelia removed it from her head and observed it.

A sun hat.

There seemed to be a theme here. After confirming what it was, she placed it back on her head and stood up.

No point calling for help now, is there?

Ophelia knew nobody would notice she was gone for a while. Philip probably had the best chance, but she didn’t expect him to notice that the tape was gone immediately. For now, she had somebody else she needed to find.

She could see him. At least she could see what she thought was him. A white blob in the distance, it was moving up and down. Ophelia couldn’t really tell what it was doing, but it stuck out like a sore thumb because of the movement. Everything else was stone still. She started to slowly approach it, getting a clearer view with each step. Eventually, she could see that the white blob not only had arms and legs, but a head, too. It seemed to be stepping on and off of something. Ophelia assumed maybe a step stool of some sort. As she inched closer, she could see that the figure was reaching into the tree it was standing by, grabbing something out of it.

What on earth?

She was closing in on the scene, and once she was only probably a few meters away, she could tell that the form had a face. It didn’t seem to notice her, as it was facing the opposite direction. Occasionally, however, it would turn and drop something into a large basket. That something being the objects it was picking from the tree. Ophelia supposed them to be fruits of some sort. Its face didn’t look particularly happy, just neutral and a bit unfocused. Almost as if it had done this task many times before, not needing to pay attention to what it was doing exactly. It was strange to Ophelia. She knew who this was. She knew that his favorite color was pink and that his favorite fruit was peach. She knew that he would always comb his hair back to make sure that his curls weren’t noticeable. She knew he never swore out loud in front of anyone. She knew that he never wore anything other than what the company wanted him to. She knew that he would always complement her hair and tell her how pretty he thought it was, that always made her giggle. She knew that he, at some point, loved her. He wanted to be with her. And yet, here they were now, twenty six years later. They had never shared a kiss. Ophelia had always felt like they were supposed to be together in some way, shape, or form, though. She thought back to a time when one of the higher Hameln members had put the idea into her head that her and Marcus were more similar than they both realized.

“Naive, innocent, childish.” The member had said while circling her like prey. “Honestly, Ophelia, I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”

Ophelia often thought back to those words. It made her happy, in a way. She knew from that point on that everyone around her saw her as an innocent individual. One who could do no harm. She had the thought that Marcus was probably more genuinely and accidentally childish. Not appearing naive and innocent on purpose like Ophelia had always strived to.

Ophelia took a few more steps forward. A pang of anxiety hit her.

What if he recognizes me?

That was her first thought. Originally, she had wanted him to know who she was so that they could have a genuine conversation about the past. But the more she thought about it, the more she despised the idea.

If he knows who I am… he may want to keep me in here forever or something.

Ophelia thought back to the days when they worked in the same office space. He would often follow her around like a lost puppy. Philip would tease him for it, but Ophelia never minded. She thought that he must’ve found comfort in being around her, since she was about the only one who never degraded him. Since he had been so clingy then, who knows what he would be like now?

The figure suddenly hopped off the step stool and bent over to grab the basket of fruits on the ground. Another feeling of anxiety rushed over her.

Too late to turn back now.

He was about to see her. Ophelia held her breath. He heaved the very obviously heavy load of fruit up and turned towards the direction Ophelia was standing in. He only took a few steps forward before glancing up and seeing her. He immediately froze in place. They locked eyes with one another. They stood there for a few moments before the sheep dropped the basket he held in his hands. Ophelia looked down at it. Some of the fruit had spilled out onto the ground. He didn’t seem to notice. She glanced back up at his face. His mouth was slightly agape as his eyes glanced around her face frantically, as if he was taking in every detail.

“Um… hello…!” Ophelia tried to force a smile. This was already not what she had expected. She assumed he might’ve at least said something by now, but he didn’t reply. He just stood, unmoving and unblinking.

“I… It’s nice to meet you! Uh…”

Might as well pretend I don’t know him for now.

Without warning, the sheep sprinted up to Ophelia. He halted directly in front of her face. Ophelia flinched and pulled back slightly. She stared back at him with a look of concern and confusion.

This… this is him isn’t it…?

He had a strange expression on his face. It made Ophelia uncomfortable. He was smiling slightly now, but his eyes held so much desperation, almost as if he was asking for help without even saying a word. His pupils looked smaller than they were supposed to be, especially for a cartoon character. They were still darting around her face, observing every feature. Suddenly, he unclasped one of his hands from where it was on his chest and reached out to her shoulder. He hesitated before touching her, however.

“…C-Can I…?” His voice cracked. Ophelia was a bit taken aback, but she slowly nodded.

The sheep rested his hand on her shoulder. His eyes widened.

“…Y-You… You’re… real. You’re real.” A giant grin inched its way across his face. “You’re really real! Oh my- Oh my goodness!” He slid his hand down her arm and grabbed a hold of both her now hooves. Ophelia stood there watching him. She didn’t mind him being touchy really, she knew he probably hadn’t felt this in a long time.

“What’s your name?!” He pulled her slightly closer as he spoke.

“Oh, um…” Ophelia hadn’t thought of a fake name yet, but for some odd reason, she felt the urge to call herself a name she had never even heard before. “I’m Dotty.” She couldn’t answer as to why she called herself that specifically. It just felt right in a way. Almost like something was telling her that this was correct, that this was who she was now.

“Dotty! Oh, wow! Pretty name!” The sheep giggled.

Well, it sounds like… Marcus. I think.

She couldn’t pinpoint it, but something was definitely off about his voice. She assumed that maybe it was because he was still doing the character’s voice. The one that he had to do when the show was still running.

But why would he still be doing it now?

“I’m Wooly!”

Huh?

Ophelia’s expression changed to one of surprise.

Why would he still be calling himself that?

“Oh, Wooly, huh? Pretty self explanatory.” Ophelia, or Dotty, laughed a little to herself. Wooly laughed along with her.

“Heheh… yeah, yeah. I know.” He looked off to the side for a second before returning his gaze. He almost seemed annoyed by the comment.

“So, Dotty!” The way his tone switched so quickly made Dotty feel uneasy. “How would you like to help me make a pie! Peach pie to be specific!”

Hmm… peach, you say?

Wooly let go of her hands and gestured to the basket that was still laying on the ground.

“See? I was picking these peaches aaalll day before you arrived-“ He suddenly cut himself off before yelling. “OH NO!”

“What?!” Dotty took a step beside him so that she could see what he was looking at.

“THE PEACHES!” Wooly frantically ran up to the fruit and fell on his knees before it. He started feverishly grabbing the fallen fruit and placing them back in the basket while mumbling to himself.

To say Dotty was put off by this would be an understatement.

“Um… you want me to help?”

“NO!” Wooly continued to place the fruit inside the basket before stopping suddenly. “I-I mean… sorry, sorry.” He put the last peach in and then stood up once more. He slowly turned to her again, his hands were slightly shaking as he fidgeted with them. “I… I didn’t mean to scream.”

Dotty stared at him with concern.

Philip wasn’t wrong when he said his mental state wouldn’t be at its peak.

“…It’s okay. We all get a little angry sometimes.” She smiled at him. If this was how sensitive his temper was, she’d better not provoke him. He timidly smiled at her before frowning again and facing the peach basket. He picked it up with struggle.

“That looks heavy… Are you sure you don’t want my help?” Dotty reached a hand out slightly as Wooly slowly shuffled forward.

“Nope! It’s fine! I’ve got this!” He said with a bit of anguish in his voice. It was obvious he probably wasn’t strong enough to lift it for long periods of time.

“Where are you taking those anyway?”

“To my house!” Wooly’s ears perked up before speaking again. “I mean, to our house!”

“Our?” Wooly’s smile faded once again as he continued walking.

“Mmm… well, it was me and… my friend’s house before she… um…”

“Left.”

Wooly halted and looked at Dotty.

“How did you know that?” He asked the question with no emotion as he stared into her eyes. Dotty knew she had messed up. “…Do you… Do you know where she is? Please tell me.”

“No, I don’t.”

Wooly’s eyes didn’t move from Dotty’s face. She felt a bit uncomfortable with how intently he was staring at her. It almost felt like he was trying to read her thoughts.

“Oh. Okay.” He turned again and continued walking. Dotty ran up beside Wooly so she could come along with him. She looked around, trying to pinpoint a destination. Not far from where they were was a very obvious house. Dotty thought it was strange how she hadn’t noticed it before, but assumed that it was probably because of how out of it she was earlier.

“So… your house, huh? I’m sure it’s nice.” Dotty needed to make sure she stayed on his good side.

“Yep, It is! And hey…” Wooly grinned at her. “It can be your house now, too!” Dotty could tell he was excited to have her around, that made her happy.

“Hehe! But I just got here!”

“I know! But where else would you be staying?” Dotty nodded in response. She supposed he was right about that.

As they approached the house, Dotty could make out the details more clearly. It had a small backyard that was fenced off from the rest of the outside. She could also tell that the house itself wasn’t too large, but it seemed just right for this world. Something about it screamed “cartoon” to her. It looked like any house a young child would draw.

“Home, sweet home!” The sheep exclaimed before placing the basket down before the front steps of the house. Dotty glanced down at him as he tried to catch his breath.

“Go…” Wooly rested his hands on his knees as he breathed in and out shakily. “Go on in! I’ll meet you inside!” Dotty would’ve offered to help once more, but decided against it.

She lifted her dress as she ascended the stairs to the porch. For a moment, she wondered if there was a key to the house that Wooly might have, but then realized that they most likely never needed one. She grasped the door handle and turned it. The door opened with ease. Dotty peered inside and observed the space in front of her.

Hm, quaint.

It was mainly a large room, but Dotty also noticed the doorway that faced the direction she was standing in.

Wonder where that leads…?

“Oookay…” Wooly held the load of fruit in both his hands again. He had just brought the basket up the stairs. “Make way, please.” Dotty moved so that she was out of the front doorway again. Wooly shuffled through the doorframe sideways so that he could fit the basket inside along with him. Dotty followed, making sure to shut the door behind her. The sheep placed the basket of fruit down on a counter in what Dotty assumed to be the kitchen.

“Phew… okay, um…” Wooly turned to face her again. “So! How would you like a little tour of the house!” He put his hands on his hips as he spoke.

“Oh, sounds like fun!” Dotty held her hands together as she smiled back at Wooly.

“Great!” He clapped quietly and turned to face the peaches again. “So, as you can see, this is the kitchen.” Dotty stepped forward to get a better view of the stovetop, as it was behind the refrigerator she was standing by. “This is where all the magic happens! It’s where I’ll be making that peach pie, too!” Wooly fidgeted a bit with his hands. “Well, I guess that’s pretty obvious, huh?” Dotty observed that the kitchen was pretty simple. It had all your basic needs, a sink, an oven, and as previously mentioned, a stovetop and fridge. Dotty nodded once she had finished taking it all in.

“And over here…” Wooly walked towards a couch on the other side of the large room. “Is the living room! This is where we draw, hang out, whatever you want, really!” Dotty followed him slowly. She nodded again as she looked around the space.

“It’s… cozy.” Wooly smiled once she was done speaking.

“I know, right? The lighting of the lamp at nighttime especially makes it feel that way!” He clasped his hands together. “I can’t wait for you to see it!” Dotty smirked a little. This was a bit funny to her. He had never been this open about his excitement towards things before.

Wooly trotted over to the doorway Dotty had seen earlier and went in. She followed once again. There were three doors inside, all on one wall, each spaced out quite a bit. Wooly opened the middle door.

“This is the bathroom!” Dotty shuffled in front of the doorframe and looked in. It was definitely a bathroom. She could see a shower, a sink, and a toilet in that order against the wall. Strangely though, Dotty didn’t notice a mirror above the sink. She thought that restrooms should always have mirrors, and seeing as she hadn’t actually seen her own face yet, she became a bit disappointed. She wanted to at least know what she looked like.

“Oh, neat.” Dotty backed away again. Wooly shut the door and turned to face the door on the left. He walked up to it slowly. The door had a name on it. In gold lettering it spelled out “WOOLY”, and underneath it was a golden star.

“Mmm… here’s my room… it’s-it’s a bit messy, so sorry about that.” He creaked open the door while Dotty jogged up beside him. Once the door was completely ajar, a foul odor hit Dotty straight in the face. She scrunched up her nose slightly, trying not to make it too obvious that the room smelled wretched to her. Wooly walked in first, before bending down and picking some things off the floor. Dotty carefully inched her way inside as well, making sure not to step on the countless items that had been discarded on the floor. The bedroom was filthy. From what she could see, there were three main pieces of furniture. A bed, a wardrobe, and a desk, all of which were dirty in one way or another. On the bed, she noticed several stains from what looked like food of some sort. There were empty tubs of ice cream and pie containers laying around on the bed as well. Dotty couldn’t even imagine trying to sleep on those sheets.

The wardrobe was open and inside sat multiple books stacked on each other. They looked like journals of some kind, like something a younger Ophelia would’ve written in daily to keep track of her thoughts.

Aren’t wardrobes for clothes…?

The desk had at least a dozen dishes that most definitely needed washing before they were to be used again. She could have been imagining it, but Dotty could swear she saw what looked like maggots crawling around on the plates and bowls. That made her feel a bit nauseous.

The floor had random bits of trash and paper thrown about. Some sheets had writing on them, but she couldn’t make out the words as most of the paper was crumpled up into balls.

At the far side of the room was a large mirror, or what Dotty had assumed to be one. It was facing towards the wall. She couldn’t think as to why Wooly would have it turned the wrong way, but she didn’t ask.

Wooly stood up straight after collecting some of the trash off the floor.

“Haha… um…” he hauled the pile of junk over to a trash can that was in the corner of the room, Dotty hadn’t even noticed it. It was overflowing with all sorts of rubbish, rotting food, and plastics. Wooly reached the trash can and tried to dispose of all of the junk he had previously been holding onto. Pretty much all of the newly added garbage fell out.

“Oh dear… I-… what a mess…” he sunk to the floor and started stuffing the trash back in as well as he could. Dotty reached a hand out in his direction, but she would rather not even dare ask to help. She didn’t want to touch any of those nasty things. He continued to grab the items off the ground and place them in the trash can. Some pieces repeatedly fell out as he tried to make them fit multiple times. Dotty stared at him with an uneasy expression.

It’d be better if I never even came here. I don’t want to deal with this…

“*Sob*…” Dotty perked up at the noise. Wooly had started crying. “I can’t… I just-I just can’t… do it…” he covered his eyes with both his hands. He sat there on the ground, sniffing and trying to wipe the tears as they kept running down his face.

“Oh! Um… hey! It’s fine if you can’t fit all the garbage in there! We’ll just empty this one out and then get a new bag!” Dotty took a step in his direction but still didn’t approach him completely. Suddenly Wooly stood up.

What the…?

He turned to face her and smiled broadly.

“Juuust kidding! Haha! Nevermind, let’s finish the tour!” He walked past Dotty calmly and left the room. Dotty, again, was extremely put off.

What in the world was that about?!

Dotty couldn’t tell if he was just extremely good at acting or if that was genuine. She assumed the latter, but if that was the case, then how and why did he switch his mood so fast? She turned towards the door and followed him outside.

“Hey… uh, Wooly…?” The sheep made eye contact with her again.

“Yes?”

“…Are you okay?” Dotty stared at him with a look of concern. He frowned at her. The frown was a little too big and formed a little too fast to be normal. It freaked her out. It looked uncanny. He stood there, staring at her with that awful expression, unmoving. His eyes seemed to be unfocused, as if not looking at her directly, but looking somewhere behind her.

“Fine.” Wooly turned suddenly again and started walking.

Huh…?

Was that some sort of plea for help? The expression on his face had seemed dreadful and horrified, only for him to say he was fine? Dotty felt uneasy thinking about how contradictory he was being towards himself.

“Um-… you sure?”

“So this is another bedroom!” Wooly swung the far right door open a little too enthusiastically. Dotty trotted to catch up with him and glanced at his grinning face before turning to look inside the room. It was much cleaner. In fact, the room was spotless. It looked as if someone had been tending to it every day. Not a single dust particle could be seen in the air.

“This was… A-Amanda’s room.” The room had a sort of pink theme. Dotty thought that that was strange since, in her mind, she had always considered Amanda to be more of a “tomboy”.

“I clean it every once in a while… just in case… you know, sh-she comes back.” A pang of guilt struck Dotty in the chest. She knew that wasn’t going to happen. Wooly fidgeted with his thumbs a bit before speaking again.

“Well, since she isn’t here right now, you can stay in her room!… I guess…mmm, I wonder if she’d be okay with that…”

Dotty spoke up before he got too worried about something he couldn’t do anything to fix.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind! She was a kind girl, wasn’t she?”

Wooly glanced up at Dotty and then looked off to the side. He had no expression on his face, it seemed as though he was thinking about something.

“Yeah. Yeah, she was.” He walked towards the room and closed the door again. “Okay! It’s time to bake a pie!”

Dotty sat on a stool at the kitchen island while Wooly made the pie on the actual counter. He said he didn’t want her to do any work because she was a guest, but Dotty guessed the real reason was because he didn’t want her to mess anything up.

“The best part about baking a pie at home is that you never have to pay for it! And not only that, but it’s also ten times better, too!” He was mixing the dough ingredients together in a large bowl as he spoke to her. “Mmm… mainly because I always put a little extra sugar in my pies… hehe! I’m just a fun guy, I guess!” Dotty smirked to herself. She liked when he was in a good mood, it was infectious.

“I’m excited to try it, then.” Dotty smiled at him.

“Yeah!” Wooly gave her a thumbs up before returning to mixing. “Oh boy, I can’t wait to take you places! I’ve gotta show you around town tomorrow!” Dotty’s grin faded.

Tomorrow?

“Hmm… actually, I don’t know if I’ll… uh, be around tomorrow.” The mixing stopped abruptly.

“…Huh?”

“Well I mean, I’ve got places to be. You know… I can’t just stay here forever-“

“Yes you can.”

Dotty looked at the back of Wooly’s head worriedly. He slowly turned to face her.

“Of course you can.” Wooly gave her a weak smile before shaking his head. “Don’t worry, Dotty. This’ll be fun!” He turned back to the bowl and began stirring again.

“No- you don’t understand, I don’t belong here. I’ve gotta go back to my home-“

“THIS IS YOUR HOME NOW.” Wooly snapped and slammed the counter he was standing at. Dotty jumped and shrunk back in her seat. Wooly stood there, still facing away from her. His breathing was heavy. Dotty clutched her chest tightly.

“Aha… ha… hm… sorry, sorry.” Wooly relaxed his shoulders and turned towards Dotty again, smiling softly. “I try to be nice. I really do. It’s not my fault when I get mad. Haha…” Wooly was grasping the counter with one of his hands firmly. He frowned while still looking at Dotty, and then faced the bowl once more. She stared at him as he started mixing the dough again.

This could end badly.

If Ophelia couldn’t get anyone’s attention before he blew another fuse, who knows what he might do to her. But then she remembered what Philip had said earlier. He mentioned that they couldn’t die within the tapes.

Okay… so who cares then? It doesn’t matter if I make him mad. He can’t hurt me. Not really, anyway.

Dotty sat up straight on her stool again.

“…Look. I’m just gonna cut to the chase. You’re Marcus Moutman, right?” The sheep froze again. “I was sent here on behalf of Hameln Entertainment. I’m here to learn what went wrong with this show. So can you please just tell me what all that’s happened in the past twenty years?” Dotty didn’t see any reason to tell the truth, seeing as she was leaving soon anyway.

“That’s not my name.”

“What?”

“I said… I said that’s not my name.”

Dotty shook her head.

“Yes, it is. You’re Marcus Moutman, you were placed in this world twenty six years ago-“

“STOP. D-Don’t call me that. Please.”

Dotty stood up.

“Why not? It’s your name, Marcus!”

“I’M NOT HIM ANYMORE. STOP.”

Dotty felt anger rising within herself.

“Just tell me what’s happened and I’ll leave you alone!”

“NO! DON’T LEAVE ME!”

Wooly faced Dotty and rushed to grab her hands across the island. He was trembling as he held onto her, his grip was tight.

“Please…” His eyes were piercing through her soul as he stared at her. They were watery and slightly red from the tears that had started falling from them again. “I-I can’t… do this… please…” Dotty didn’t respond immediately, but she slowly walked around the counter so she that could be right next to him while still holding hands. “I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna be here… anymore…” Wooly sank to the floor, letting go of Dotty in the process. He covered his face with his hands as he started to sob. Dotty sat down in front of him with both hands in her lap. She looked down at him somberly. He looked so small and pathetic. It was hard for her to still see her old friend in this little lamb. Dotty reached out both her arms and wrapped them around the small sheep. He didn’t hug back, just continued to wipe the tears that seemed to be neverending.

“I wanna go home!… I just wanna go home…!” His words were catching on each other with every sentence. “I can’t do this anymore! I can’t!… I hate this…” Dotty squeezed him tightly as she felt the tears fall onto her dress. She didn’t know what else to do. She just knew he probably needed this.

Almost half an hour later, Dotty still clung onto him. He had stopped sniffing, and his breathing had slowed. They had been sitting in silence for a while now. She looked down at his face. His eyes were closed.

He’s asleep.

Now that she had a better look at him, she could tell he looked tired. The eyebags under his eyes were more visible and she could tell that his wool was unkept. He looked like a stuffed animal that had been well loved by a child for many years.

Dotty sighed and slowly stood up with him still in her arms. Sure, he was heavy to her, but Dotty wasn’t about to wake him up just so he could start crying again. She walked towards the couch before carefully placing him on. She knew there wasn’t even a chance of her putting him to bed in that filthy room of his. He shouldn’t sleep somewhere like that. She found a spare blanket in Amanda’s room and wrapped it around him gently. She kneeled in front of the couch and tilted her head before whispering to herself.

“What happened to you… Marcus?”

-

Yeah so anyways. Dotty AU fic I decided to post cuz no one really knew what she was even about.

BIIIGGG shoutout to @maddy-k-reads-all-day!!! She read over the fic early and helped me figure out some things cuz I’m NOT PROFESSIONAL AT ALL and I barely know what I’m doing.

Dont expect this to be a series btw!! I may write a few fics with Dotty in the future but I never have enough time to write that much so yk. Def not like her whole story. I’m more of an animation guy (animatic coming soon istg).

Hey Philip is transphobic btw that’s why he gets Riley’s pronouns wrong let’s hang him