#lovedearestellen

The house had been abandoned for a long, long time. 

It was a small thing, with wooden siding half eaten by termites and weather. The wooden cabin seemed like it was for a small family, perhaps just a vacation home. It had taken a while to find this place- for some reason, the mapping system kept rerouting the siblings to the wrong location. It was clear once they arrived, however, by the broken mailbox without a front that proudly boasted 104 Simvona Street.

There was no way anyone lived here within the past years. It clearly used to be quite the wonder, tucked away amongst the woods. It was near the beach, but still a good walk away. While it would have been an unassuming small house, there were dozens of chunks of metal and other technologies lying around. Radios half broken, computers with no screen. Motherboards, GPUs, even some hard drives. Wren was pretty sure she even saw a floppy disk, which had to be decades old by that point. Some chunks of metal were much larger, however- steel frames, a bundle of wire at least waist high. Papers, too, were scattered throughout, now much too weathered to be read.

It was as silent as the dead. The only sound that leaked through was the sound of car tires against gravel as Wren and Cake arrived.

The oldest sibling looked around whilst in the car, confusion clear on her face; They had said "middle on nowhere" on their tumblr post, but they sure as hell were not expecting it to be literal.

"Uh...Are you sure this is the place? Is she not just pranking us?" It'd say, turning to face the back seat of the car.

"She seemed serious! Plus, her computer stuff got like...messed up with the post, so I think she wouldn't be able to lie anyway." He shrugged, playing with the tip of his hair.

Today was pretty uneventful, up until that girl sent him an ask, at least. She seemed scared and lost and what she was going through easily reminded Cake of themselves. So he had taken the liberty of bothering his older sister to take them both there, if only to bring her comfort. Being alone is terrifying, after all.

Wren sighed, rubbing his face through his glasses, wondering why and which choices got him there. Deciding to move to this hell of a city was definitely one of them. "Alright, fine. I'll help you out of the car." Great.

There was a chill in the air. The terrain wasn't the most wheelchair friendly, but it could be managed. Especially because Cake had some help.

By some stroke of luck, the porch was only one step off of the ground. It made a horrific creaking noise when one put weight on it, but it didn't give in. How fortunate.

The inside of the house was... strange. Rather than the broken down cabin it seemed to be, wires were strung all throughout. A hum shook the floor, and not a single light seemed to be on in the first hallway. Far at the back of the house, a large room that would've been a living room was stacked high with nothing except electronic parts and metal. To the left of the hallway, an opening to a pitch black room, and a shut door. On the right side was another room with a shut door. There was a soft glow coming from under the frame. Opposite the door was a camera, pointed directly at the inside of the room. It was small, so small one couldn’t reasonably notice.

Once you took more than a step into the house, something else came apparent. The poignant stench of hot, rotting meat. It coated the air more thickly than honey, crawling into your skin and settling within your pores. It was the kind of stench that makes you want to get ill. It was noticeably stronger towards the right side of the hallway.

Wren's grip tightened on her brother's wheelchair handles. Something was off about this, and it somehow was weirder than a kid living in the woods in a run down house that, honestly? Looked a breath away from collapse.

"...We can still turn back, y'know? Pretend we were never here, say that we got lost or someth-" Her voice died out in her throat as the stench reached her. It almost made it gag, if not throw up right there.

Cake was quick to notice too, covering his nose as soon as they smelled that horrid, putrid scent. "Why does it smell so bad here, where is that coming from?!" He'd ask, desperate to get rid of that awful, overwhelming odor. 

"From. Fuck. From that door, I think?" Wren pointed at the right door, light coming from under it. They don't think they want to know why it both smelled, and somehow felt, like death. His hand came up to twist the door handle, hesitating.

The internet was weird, and tracking down (..although not really, as the address was given to his brother) a child to find her living in the house of nightmares that just had to come with a horrible smell was a recipe for either jail, or trauma. Or both.

There was a sound on the other side of the door. A strange, garbled sobbing. It didn't sound like it was coming from just one location, oddly enough. Rather, it was... more full? Distorted? The sound would break out completely occasionally before coming back, a touch louder or a touch quieter.

The door-handle beneath Wren's hand was hot. Hot enough it nearly burned.

He pulled his hand away, cursing under his breath. An exit. He had to find an exit. Just, there was nothing in that house (Can it be considered a house? It was more like a torture chamber at best) that eluded to having a safe way out that wasn't the entrance both siblings came from.

"...Wren? I'm scared..W-What if she's hurt? Is-" They paused, listening to the sobs. They didn't seem to notice the distortion, or didn't care enough. "Is that her crying?"

Cake knocked on the door before Wren could advise him on why that was a terrible idea, so she just groaned to herself. (Can't turn back now, I guess.)

“Ellen? Is that you?" Cake called out, his voice carrying both fear and worry; His voice sounded like he was forcing it to be calm, although there was a quiet tremble present in it.

A voice came through now. Extremely distorted.

"I think there's somebody - somebody - somebody... out.... here? Cake? Is that you- you- you- you?"

It was as if the sound was having to stop and restart, playing from somewhere else every single time. A malfunctioning audio system on a TV? That made no sense, though... maybe whoever it was was running around the room? But no, Ellen said she couldn't move.

Something was very, very wrong.

"I wish I could see- see- see you. But I... can't- can't- can't- can't-."

Wren felt a shiver run down its back. That was a kid. Although her voice was very robotic and whatnot, that was a young kid. If it had to guess, about Cake's age. He didn't really care about himself anymore, not when there was a child, possibly alone, in need of help.

Wren grabbed the door handle, wincing at the burn it left on their hand, and proceeded to push the door open.

A wave of heat hit the two the moment the door opened.

The room was the size of a large closet. On massive shelves, covering the entirety of both the left and right wall, were… computer parts? Hard drives, servers, routers, all sorts of solid plastic and metal pieces crammed together. Wires were everywhere, running up and down the shelves, along the floor, across the ceiling.

The smell got worse. So much worse. Rotten meat, slowly cooking in the stifled air. The hum of an air conditioner was weakly in the background. A dripping sound occasionally broke up the monotonous noises, a wet noise that dropped at random intervals.

There weren’t just wires, however. There was also. Something.. else. Chunks, hard to distinguish. They hung limply from the ceiling. They were slammed into the ports where thumb drives belonged, crammed into CD players. Long strings of something that wasn’t a wire, couldn’t be a wire, was tangled up along with the cables. Sometimes the substance swallowed the technology entirely.

Upon closer look, it was a violent red. Dark with oxidation. And it… was pale sometimes? Pale, pale, purple: almost like a bruise. Somewhere, shoved beneath a small satellite, there was a chunk of purple fabric. Hanging from the ceiling, in the far back, above something, was…

Oh god. Hair. Tangled, wavy brown hair, woven between wires and hanging down. It was matted with blood and chunks. When Wren stepped forward, she glanced down to see that blood pools covered the floor.

So those chunks were.. oh god. Flesh, human flesh. Some of it seemed to be cooked as well, dense and charred. That meant- the smell? That- the crying?

There was no girl visible in the room. Just audible sobs, coming from speakers nestled all over. The ceiling, the floors, the shelves, even one on the door. The sobs jumped between speaker to speaker. Cameras at random spots pointed at Wren and Cake, but not a single one was turned on.

Leave. Leave leave leave. That's what their mind screamed at them to do. To leave, to never come back, to grab Cake and leave this haunting place. But their legs were stuck on the ground. It couldn't move, either to run or to help. Help? How does one help in this situation?

Sick. Oh, how she was going to be sick.

Cake stared at the amalgamation of flesh and computer parts, tensing in his chair. This was not his friend, this was not the scared girl he spoke to on Tumblr. They were quick to avert their eyes and start crying. That loud, terrified, agonizing crying that children do. 

Wren covered his eyes, holding him in her arms. Fuck. He was shaking, he was crying and shaking and almost screaming from fear. Hell, Wren felt tears forming himself, although not bothering to clean them off when they eventually fell. He was scared, too.

Please, don't let her be that. Please.

The crying paused. “It’s cold-“ the speakers echoed. “It’s so much colder now. Is someone- is someone here? I can’t hear you! I can’t move! Please-“

Fans on the laptop kicked into overdrive, an audible droning sound. “Please, what’s going on? Where’s my brother?”

Sitting solitary in the middle of the room, the laptop screen was flickering with text. Words being uploaded to a blog- Ellen’s blog. The words erased themselves and came back all at once. Ellen’s blog was most definitely connected here, to all of this flesh and computer and… whatever the hell else. 

For a few moments, the computer screen went still. Then, a new question slowly appeared, repeated by the tear-filled voiced:

“Cake? Is that you? Please say that’s you, or I don’t know who it is, and I’m sc-“

The computer’s screen went blue, then, with a small smile on it. This lasted for a few seconds before going dark. The speakers all shut off, clicks scattered throughout the room.

Cake let out another scream, followed by loud sobs. He doesn't know whether to cry out for Ellen or if that was even her. Neither the church or Wren had told him this could happen. What happened to his friend?

The oldest was finally able to move forwards instead of backwards. Closer to her instead of away. He himself didn't understand why, just. He had to help.

"Hey- Fuck. Kid- Kid? Are you here? Ell- Ellen, right? I'm Cake's sister, Wren."  She tried to keep her voice calm, but how could she. She didn't even know what the actual hell she was looking at.

"Please? ..Anything, give me any signs!" Its voice was growing desperate, small. It looked around, trying to find something of the girl, although just being in the presence of...this made it sick to its stomach. 

While Cake curled himself up in his chair, trying to protect themselves from both the awful smell and the traumatizing sight in front of him, his sister spotted a hand coming from between two shelves. That was it, she can help Ellen!

He bolted up from the floor, scurrying to where the body part was. He could do this, he could get her help. God, the smell of blood was catching up too quickly, he wanted to puke.

"You're gonna be okay Ellen. You're safe with us, okay?" 

Without waiting for an answer, they pulled her by the hand, using as much strength as they currently had.

“I want to hear you- see you- anything. Please, I want-“

Microphone input: disabled Enable?

“To hear what’s happening-“

Y Microphone input: enabled

A click sounded throughout the room. Ellen’s voice went silent, at the exact moment that the hand Wren was tugging finally got loose.

It was severed. The half of it closest to the wrist was an empty pocket of skin, the muscle and bones having been ripped and pulled into a long, fleshy cord that connected… somewhere. It was warm, but externally, as if it had been sitting on a heater. The tips of the fingers felt just a little bit too firm, like a steak made over-well.

It kept tugging, and something snapped. A scream blared from the speakers, loud enough the audio started to distort and crackle. Ellen was in pain.

Both siblings flinched, Cake covering his ears. They wanted to leave, they wanted to run away and never look back. But that'd be selfish. Wren let out a yelp as the hand came off, sending it stumbling backwards.

"Shit, shit! I'm sorry, kid, I'm sorry!" Tears start pooling at its eyes, its breathing picking up. Can she help Ellen at all? Is this even salvageable? "You're gonna be fine kiddo, you're gonna be all safe and sound. And we're getting you to a hospital and finding your family."

She didn't believe her own words. Lying to a child was something she swore never to do. But what else does she have going for her? Just if they prayed for a miracle and they know what happened the last time.

No. Focus, Wren. She's in the computer..thing. Maybe there's still a chance? "What if I unplug the cable? That way you won't feel pain, right? We can get you out of there."

Wren could hear his brother crying, it pained him. Why did this have to happen? Why to the children?

The screaming was stopped by desperate shouts. “I can- I can hear you. I haven’t heard somebody in a long- long- long-“

Words glitched and overlapped before snapping back together. “Long time. What’s going on? What cable are you talking about? I don’t know if-“

A small spark sounded behind where the hand was ripped, and Ellen screamed again. The lights of the room flickered.

“Why does it hurt so bad?” She screamed, eerily human in this pain. “What’s happening to me? Tell me, please, I can’t feel my body! It just hurts! What happened to me?!”

Wren's hand was close to the plug, but backed off as they heard the screams. This was bad, this was so bad.

They got up, turning their brother's wheelchair around to face the door and grabbed the headphones that sat on their neck, lending them to him. Focusing back on Ellen, he looked around to find something—anything—to stop the kid from feeling pain.

"..If I don't touch anything, nothing will happen.. Right?"  It whispered to itself, hoping that it was correct. Seeing this was breaking them inside.

Wait, hold on.

"You don't- You don't know what's happening to you? Like. Like, at all?" That can't be. Whoever did this can't possibly be this cruel. "..Can you see me? Can you look down? Or- Or up, I'm not sure where you are, exactly."

That's panic. Don't do that. You need to be the voice of reason, you're the only adult here; their comfort comes first rather than your own. Breathe.

“No. I can’t- I can’t see! I can’t see, I only started hearing you when the weird computer started talking about microphones.”

Ellen was clearly panicking, judging by her tone of voice and the fans, clicks, and cracks all around.

“I don’t know what happened. Last time I remember being able to move, my brother and I were exploring some buildings. It was a hobby of his. I don’t- my memory is bad after that. Oh my god. What happened to me?”

"Okay. Okay, but- But you can hear me, right? You're not alone. Cake is with me too, he's just a bit scared, uhm." How in the world is Wren explaining this? She felt her heart beating faster; She was scared, so scared. So fucking scared for her children.

"Uhm..you're, uh- God. You're not. A human." Was that too harsh? Probably. That was a kid. "Like- Your body, uh..there's pieces of you. Everywhere. I think you got stuffed..i-is that the right word? Uhm." 

He was stumbling over his words, how pathetic. Focus. "You got mixed. With computer parts, ...I believe." Wren closed its eyes, tensing. Its voice got weaker at the end of the sentence. It wanted to cry.

“…..what?”

It was a small, meek word. Soft. More air came from the speakers than a discernible voice, even. Lights flashed and fans clicked, but everything seemed to be slowing down.

The screen flashed with the command center, popping up and leaving again. Task centered showed, left. Text documents created themselves then disappeared.

It dimmed. Just an empty console, waiting to be typed. “That isn’t- no. No, no, no, I am a real person. I’m a human girl! Please I-“

It was getting hotter every second in that room, and the smell of burning, cooking meat was being pushed around by fans. “No, I don’t understand- I can’t- the wires, the wires, please that can’t be true. You’re lying to me, this is mean. No, I want to be a person.”

Faster and faster. Electric sparks. The blood Wren was standing in rippled with the vibrations starting to shake the room.

“No, I don’t- Avery did say, but- no, please, this isn’t- let me out! LET ME OUT! HELP ME, GET ME OUT OF HE-“ Screaming so loud her voice broke, Ellen tried to cry for help. But none could come. The screen started to glitch as a high pitched noise sounded from somewhere in the room.

Things were going wrong, so very wrong. Ellen was crying, crying so loud it was hard to think. “Help me, please, Camfee, mom- somebody, help me, it hurts, I don’t understand- I AM A REAL PERSON, DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!”

This was so much. Too much. It should not have said those words at all, oh god. "Ellen..Ellen!" It spoke louder, trying to be heard over the crying from both kids. "I'm not leaving you alone. Cake and I are not abandoning you. There has to be a way to fix this, okay? We'll figure it out. I'm here, kiddo."

Wren took a deep breath. Fuck, damn it. Cake can't be here, they've seen too much. They have nowhere to put them though, and he refuses to give them to that hellhole once more. 

The most important part is that he can calm the girl down.

"We'll get you help, we'll get you out of there. Hell, even call the hospital to take care of you. You'll be okay, yeah?"

Ellen wouldn’t be alone? The clicking slowed, the heat easing. Not by much, hardly noticeable, but any improvement was good.

The voice started again, scared and small, but at least it (she?) was speaking coherently once more. “You promise?” the speakers echoed. The delay had gotten longer, causing the words to bounce around for a few seconds. Crying voices repeating, ‘you promise?’ over and over.

Quiet. And then… “if you have to leave to get help, can you hold my hand before you do? Just- I don’t think I can feel it.” A sob. “But I can pretend.”

Wren hesitated before taking a deep, shaky breath (although it was obvious she was trying to hide it behind a fake cough.) and looking at the floor.

She doesn't remember where the hand fell. (What a weird thing to think.) And, god, she still had to get Cake to stop crying as well.

Focus.

They grabbed the flannel they had wrapped around their waist and wrapped their brother's eyes, whispering an apology as they saw how he flinched. "Cake, Ellen can hear us now, okay? She's really scared too and needs our help. Can you be strong for me?"

The youngest, although terrified, still sobbing and clenching his sister's shirt, nodded. "M-mhm..."

Wren grabbed the lone hand on the pool of blood, holding it tightly. It was cold, fuck. He couldn't cry, not now. Maybe later, alone and quietly in his room.  "I'm holding it, Ellen. Okay? I'm holding your hand. And I-" They paused. "..We promise. Not leaving you alone."

“Okay. I… okay. I can’t- I can’t feel it, really, but it makes me feel better. Makes me feel alive. I’m alive, right?”

The speakers paused. “I have to be. I’m talking, aren’t I? I might be torn up a bit, but you can- you can help me. You’ll help me, right?”

Wren took another deep breath. They were so glad that they can just...get used to smells quickly. "Yeah, kid. We'll help you, right?"

Cake looked up at where he heard the sound coming from and put on a small smile, unaware she couldn't see. "Yeah!! And when you're-" He sniffled, placing his hand in front so it wasn't so audible. "And when you're good, w-we can play together! I can make you another drawing!"

Ellen sniffled. “Okay. I… I’ll be okay. I’m not scared anymore.”

It was such an obvious lie, but Ellen seemed to be trying to hype herself up. “I just want to see my brother. Please…”

"Do you remember your brother's name? We can make a missing person's report. That way, the police are looking for him too!"  Wren tried to bring happiness into her voice, although that was far from what she felt. She felt sick. How she didn't throw up yet is a miracle.

Cake didn't say anything, just quietly balanced himself from left to right on his chair.

“Camfee Turing. He’s older than me- um, he’s… five years older. Nineteen. And he goes to college a few hours away.”

Ellen seemed calmer when discussing her brother, but this was likely aided by her belief that she was going to get some help.

Wren tensed, making Cake look up at her with visible worry on their face. It held her hand tighter, voice failing. "...five years? S-So. So you're fourteen, kiddo..?" The words left their lips with a tremble. They hoped the kid was just bad at math or something.

Unfortunately for the oldest sibling, Cake let out an excited gasp. "Wait, so you're just two years older than me! That means when you're okay we can go to school together!"

Ellen paused. “Yes. I turned fourteen a couple months ago.”

The clicking started back again. “I… hope I can go back to school. Your sister made it sound like I’m really bad, but it can’t be that bad if you two said you can help me.”

Cake went silent. He felt the tears starting up again, sniffling. Wren, on the other hand...

Well, he had to leave, catch his breath. Not before warning both kids though.

"I'll. Um. I- I'm getting a phone call, I'll be right outside, okay? You two keep speaking." It paused, then turned back. "I'm not abandoning you both, I'll be just outside the door."

“I trust you.”

Through the flannel, Cake could see occasional flashes of color from the direction of the laptop. It went dark, then bright, then dark…

Not long passed before Ellen spoke. “Cake?” she said. “Are you okay? It sounds like you’re crying.”

Cake looked up, wiping his eyes through the blindfold, sniffling in the process. "I-I'm not! Just- I- I wanna hug you, but I don't know how.."

Ellen laughed, but there were more tears than joy. “I want a hug too. I don’t … I don’t want to know why you can’t hug me. I think. Your sister is with you, right?”

Quiet. Then-

“She’s really nice.”

Cake looked down, not that he could see much with the flannel covering his sight. They decided to ignore the first part. They can do that, right? Yeah, it's not mean. "..mhm. T-That's my big sister, her name is Wren! I think she's nice too. O- One day, when I was sad, she sang to me until I fell asleep and I wasn't sad anymore!"

“She reminds me of Camfee. He tells stories, though.”

If Ellen could have moved, she would have. She really would have.

“…I don’t want to die, Cake.”

He was forcing himself not to cry, not in front of his new friend. But how can he not. "W-We can help! We can fix this!...They said we can. Wren- Wren doesn't lie..." He sniffled, wiping the tears again. (The Sisters were right: once a crybaby, always a crybaby.)

"I don't..I don't want you to die either."  Their voice was higher-pitched now, holding back the eventual breakdown they'd have.

Ellen’s speakers crackled on… before shutting off with an audible click. So did her fans. Now the only sound was the air conditioner and the dripping blood…

Before the lights turned all the way on, drenching the room in brightness. The terminal on Ellen’s laptop exploded with action, commands moving faster than could be visible.

The girl was silent.

Cake heard everything going off, the room getting bright all of the sudden. They felt their blood run cold, stuck in place with fear.

"...Ellen?" 

Their voice was quiet, listening for any hints that she was still there.

One dreadfully long second passed. Then five. Ten, twenty, thirty. She wasn't answering anymore. Cake took off his blindfold, wincing at the brightness. Unfortunately for him, his only good eye saw well enough in the light.

Blood and hair and human flesh. Those things that looked like wires, were they..?

...Cake screamed. Loud. He screamed for Ellen, trying to get himself closer but the wheels were stuck on..something. Something he didn't know, nor did he want to know what it was.

That alerted Wren, who was trying to get its shit together and breathe properly. She ran in, freezing at the sight.

Was the kid dead? Did he fail her?- No. Focus. No time for that. "Elias, let's go!"

But they weren't listening.

"She's fucking gone, Eli! We need to leave!!"

Somebody ran in behind the pair and shouted. “Blair and Elias Mayne. Put your hands on the backs of your heads and do not move.”

A woman dressed smartly in a black polo shirt and black slacks walked in. Her golden glasses shimmered in the light. She looked right at something in the door-frame of Ellen’s room before shifting her gaze back to Cake and Wren.

She was shorter than Wren, and heavier as well. Her dark skin was accented with golden jewelry around her fingertips and hanging from her ears. She had a sharp face drawn tight with an indeterminate expression.

“This is private property, and neither of you have clearance to enter. You are interfering with government processes, and will be held responsible for any damages according to the full weight of the law. Both of you, eyes on me and empty your pockets. Now.”

Her tone was clipped, fast, though not entirely rude. Professional, more like.

The siblings froze up immediately. Cake began crying; panic and fear mixing into one. Wren just slowly turned around. Confused. Scared. Angry? That was probably the most prominent emotion they felt. 

"...Pardon? That's- So- SO YOU'RE NOT GOING TO QUESTION THE FUCKING ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM HERE?!"

The woman did not flinch. “Blair Mayne. Obedience will be rewarded with minimal change to your day to day life. Resistance will be met with detainment ranging from twenty four hours to indefinite, depending on intensity of exposure and lingering ill motivations.”

With a large sigh, the woman pinched her nose bridge. “This situation is being removed from your control. We apologize for any interference. The United States government is officially seizing this operation under direct orders from this operation’s head. That being myself. Now, I repeat. Blair and Elias Mayne, put your eyes on me and empty your pockets.”

Change to their daily life? Detainment? Ill. ILL MOTIVATIONS??

Wren felt his blood boiling, he saw red. How fucking dare she? Is she purposely ignoring whatever is happening behind them? Does she not care that there is a terrified disabled child crying and holding their shirt?

"...You're just like them. Oh. Oh god, you're just like The Sisters back at the church! Do you only have eyes for yourself? You're about the most brainless, selfish asshole I've ever met! Holy shit! I hope the ground swallows you and you fall to the darkest pit of hell!"

Even with their insults and whatnot, they obeyed nonetheless. That's how you avoid punishment.

They pulled out everything in their pockets; their phone, earbuds, car and house keys. Cake had nothing on himself.

Her lips pressed together at the string of insults, but the woman didn’t speak. Only once Wren had dropped everything and Cake displayed empty hands did the woman talk. “Good. Get your brother and leave.”

She walked into Ellen’s room, pausing only to roll up her slacks so they wouldn’t get stained with blood. She was wearing rain boots. The woman confidently walked right up to the laptop and sighed. From behind a shelf, tucked out of view, she pulled out a folded metal chair (which was promptly unfolded and placed in front of the laptop) and a large textbook.

The woman sat in the chair and wrangled her curly hair into a bun. “I need to work. You are to take Elias home, and not return. You may still speak to… Ellen over the Internet and other digital platforms. Am I understood?”

Wren glared at her, calling her every slur that came to her head at that moment. "Need both my car keys and house keys for that, asshole. Or do you plan on buying me a taxi and another set of keys to get inside my house?" She had another pair, he just wanted to annoy the hell out of her.

The agent turned and glared at Wren. “…Mayne. You can collect your personal items.” Her voice was strained, and a vein in her neck was tight. “I am being very courteous right now. I need you to understand that, and match me. Otherwise, I will turn this over to another coworker of mine on the case. They will not be so accommodating.”

Wren gave her a fake smile, which quickly turned into a nasty look. There was finally someone they hated more than Kalei. (Except The Author, that asshole still takes the prize.)

It grabbed its keys off the floor, pausing. "Does your highness allow me to take my phone and earbuds too, or are those so precious that the government wants them?"

Slamming her hands on her thighs, the woman stood and pulled out her cellphone.

[ERROR. SOME PARTS OF THIS .MP4 COULD NOT BE UPLOADED AS VIDEO FILE.] [TEXT FILE OF AUTOMATIC TRANSCRIPTION BELOW...]

“…hello? Yes, it’s Abigail Fierro. I need two citizens removed from the premises. …yes. No, offensive action should be unnecessary. Offer reasonable accessibility aid for a wheelchair-using minor. Htulzapjz dpss il buuljlzzhyf.” Eye contact was made with Wren. “Blair Wayne, twenty five years old. Resident of Ness Anne. Guardian to younger brother, Elias Wayne, twelve. Disabled. Buylshalk av huf jhzl, aopz dhz h mhpsbyl vm jluzvyzopw wyvavjvsz.” Long silence. Then- “I know, dang it. They need transport. Blair is volatile and untrustworthy.” Even longer silence. “Child protective services? Hopefully unnecessary. Aol haapabkl pz jvujlyupun, hsvun dpao yljrslzz lukhunlytlua vm h tpuvy, iba hnhpu. Tpupths pucvscltlua pz afwpjhs.”

[.MP4 RESUMES.]

The oldest sibling immediately held onto Cake, pulling himself closer.

Quiet now, their voice appearing lower: "..Transport to where. Where are you taking us?"

“Your home,” The agent (Abigail, was it?) said. “Unless you’ll reclaim your items, all of them, and leave on your own. In which case, you won’t need assistance, will you?”

Wren hesitated, looking her face over to see if she was lying. Once they confirmed she wasn't, they relaxed—Or, at least stopped holding Cake so tight. The boy kept sobbing, still so scared. "...Well, since you're being so kind, I suppose I'll just take you up on your offer, miss Abigail."

Abigail sighed in relief. “Okay. Now, go outside. Ellen and I have a lot of work to do.”

Both siblings flinched at her name, of course they did. "..Right." She grabbed the rest of her stuff that laid on the floor, pushing her brother outside.

Abigail did not bother to say goodbye.

Once outside, Cake pulled Wren closer, crying onto it's leg. What else were they supposed to do, they're twelve and saw their friend die in front of their eyes. His friend that..is a part of the computer. He doesn't really want to think about that. 

He felt a hand coming up to his hair, starting to play with it in hopes of comforting them. 

Cake visibly melted, letting himself go limp as his sister soothed him.

"It'll be okay, sweetheart. We're gonna be fine, yeah? Just...need to get home and forget about today."

Cake nodded, pulling out a paper from his pocket. The drawing he made Ellen. "..I didn't get to give her this. She liked the stars."

Wren could only hum a sad sound.

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