[TW: disassociation, death, blood, nightmares]

The routine was the same as always.

Wake up

Eat breakfast

Go to school

Go home

Get harassed by sav3

Go to sleep.

Rinse, repeat.

It never ended,

It never changed.

Sure, a few things would happen to spice it up here and there, but all in all it was mostly the same.

So dotty was not looking forward to today.

They were currently at school, talking with heart and header while they were a bit despondent themself.

"I was planning on going to the ice cream shop with header when schools out! Do you wanna come dotty?"

...

"Dotty?..."

They flinch when heart taps them,before xe look at them "...I'm fine!"

Heart frowns a little,before they reply "ok...well,do you wanna join us for ice cream?"

"...sure." They needed something to break the routine,even if it was just by a little.

"Ok! Come on then!!!" they cheerfully start walking, hand in hand with header.

Dotty walks to his next class, smiling a little. Those two were sweet. They're looking forward to the ice cream with them later...

Maybe it'll keep them distracted long enough to forget sav3 existed.

They continue on to their next class...engineering. They like engineering. It's one of their favorite things. They go into the room and sit down, where Ms.Volcano was talking about making something with an  engine in order to get a good grade it has to function fully and look good.

dotty usually was always paired with their tablemate, sketchbook, for projects. 

...They wanted kiki though.

"so...what do you wanna do for this project?" Sketchbook asks

"...design a car, I suppose." dotty replied,pulling out the materials, which included a small toy car motor, wheels, an antenna on top to receive the single from the controller, and other stuff that was used for the programming or...whatever.

Dotty liked making things.

"Oooh I see!" Sketchbook and dotty start to create the car, screwing the wheels into place and sketchbook clumsily trying to program the car to follow the remote [dotty helped them don't worry]

"Now let's paint it!!" Sketchbook says, pulling out some colours

Dotty takes the purple, while sketchbook takes green

They both paint it together, some of the paint getting on the desk and dotty having to wipe it off.

eventually, their masterpiece was done.

It was a cute little car, with a purple base and swirly green lines.

"it's amazing...thanks for making it with me,sketchbook." dotty says,turning to xem

"Oh it was no problem dotty! I'm glad you like it!" xe replied, cheerful.

They both present it to the teacher, using the remote to control it so she can see its functionality.

Ms.Volcano picks it up, observing it carefully,before turning to the two,nodding "indeed. This is a wonderful creation. An A for both of you."

They both beam, high-fiving eachother before they go back to their desks.

"Wow! It's always so much fun to work with you,dotty!" 

"Yeah! It's a lot of fun to work with you too." 

They both continue to talk for the rest of class, enjoying eachothers company, before the bell rings.

It's time for the next class.

...

[T i m e s k i p]

It's lunch,the area always crowded and loud as dotty is quickly looking around for kiki, before spotting her. "Oh! Kiki!!!" they call out,running over to her and jumping up,hugging her.

"A- Oh! Heyo dotty!!" she squeezes them back, before they set him down

"where were you yesterday...? I didn't see you.." they ask

"oh, I was..um..hit by a car!" they reply, blinking

"...you were w h a t-"

"ANYGAYS! so! What are you gonna do after school? :3" she asks, shrinking down to xyr height

"Oh I was just..uh..going to go with heart and header to get some ice cream..." xe reply, recovering from the whiplash of a statement kiki just told them. "y...you were hit by a car?-"

"Oooh! Coolio :]" they reply, before the bell rings. "Oh, back to class. Byo love." she kisses them on the cheek, as they flush a little "bye kiki..." 

Xe watch them leave, as they sigh slightly, before they head to their next class...

The rest of the day blurred by. They don't know where chip went...it's weird.

Though, they feel glad he's not here. When he isn't here, the others don't try to harass him. Without chip, femur and kinetic don't care about dotty too much. Besides throwing a few insults their way, they don't do anything to them.

Which is good, of course.

Once the final bell rings, they get up from their desk and walk out, meeting up with heart and  header.

"hey you two. Ready to go?" They ask

"yeah! Cmon you two, we're getting outta here!!!" Heart exclaims, before they run off.

Header follows them, as he looks over to dotty "you know, it's been a minute since just us three hung out..."

Dotty pauses, thinking "...oh...your right. Hm. We should do this more often then."

"agreed! ^^"

They all walk into the ice cream shop, where they start thinking about ice cream flavors to get

"hmm..I think I'll get mint chocolate chip." dotty mutters, also thinking about putting chocolate sauce on top.

"hmm, I'll probably take a neapolitan sandwich!" Header says,before turning to heart "what are you getting, heart?"

"hmmm...I think I'll get strawberry today!" Heart replied, as they all order their ice cream after thinking of what they wanted.

They all have their ice cream, eating it and chatting with eachother as the cheerful music played in the background, the smell of sugar always in the air as dotty licks their ice cream, looking outside at the window as header and heart talk about playing roblox over at heart's house for a sleepover...

...

sleepover..?

a...

a place where sav3 wouldn't hurt them because there'd be people around them...?

"a sleepover?" dotty turns to look at them, almost too quickly.

heart looks over to him "hm? Yeah! We're gonna have a sleepover at my house! Do you...wanna join?"

"sure!!!" dotty replied, a bit excited.

header tilts his head at the enthusiasm, before shrugging it off.

Once everyone is done with their ice cream, they all start heading to heart's house as dotty texts his mom where he's going.

[Mom]

[Dotty]: 'Hey mom, I'm heading to a friends house for a sleepover, is that alright?'

[Zella]: 'which friend?...'

[Dotty]: 'Heart.'

[Zella]: 'Well of course! Don't stay up too late. Have fun! Love you.'

[Dotty]:'Love you too mom.'

They make it to heart's house...when..did they get into the void.

Oh. It's not even a house, it's just..a room. Huh.

Dotty's used to it, since they've been here before...accidentally.

heart sits on the floor, patting the spots next to them as dotty and header sit at either side of them.

"Ok guys!! Let's watch Spongebob!" Heart says,as they put on the tv and they all watch spongebob, while heart magics up some food.

Dotty eats a bit of the food, knowing they'll be safe in the void...

Finally,a night of peace...

Peace...

Before they realised it, they fell asleep while watching spongebob.

Heart and header were still awake, but heart noticed dotty fell asleep first, covering them with a blanket, before shifting closer to header as they watch Spongebob.

...

Dotty wasn't sure where they were, as they glanced around the area, confused.

This...doesn't feel like a normal dream...were...they...ok?...

They look around and see they're in a warped, upside down version of their school,as xe are on the ceiling.

They pause, taking it in, before they walk down the hall. The air smells stale...until...

it smells...coppery?

They follow the scent, before scrunching up their nose at how metallic and...rotten it smelt.

Then they notice the blood dripping out from their main classroom's door.

No...Did someone-

They quickly hop up and grab the handle, the door swinging inward slowly when they grab it,as the gravity shifts and they drop to the ground...not on the ceiling anym-

Something thumps in front of them, the blood getting on their face...it...also smells like...

wine..?

They glance up as they recoil, tense with fear..

Mrs...Wine bottle...

She's...

They almost vomit, as they quickly run out of the room, disoriented.

They hold onto the wall, trying to force the image out of their head as they stumble through, the landscape becoming more twisted and chaotic as they try to run.

Run as fast as they can.

But...

No matter how much they ran...

They couldn't escape the image.

The floor started to crack and give away underneath them,

as they plummeted into the dark below....

คุณไม่สามารถหยุดสิ่งที่คุณมองไม่เห็นได้

คุณจะไม่มีวันเตรียมพร้อมสำหรับอนาคต

They quickly wake up, breathing heavily as they check themselves over...

Huh?

Oh, they're still in the void...they glance over, seeing header sleeping in a sleeping bag, and heart sleeping in their bed.

"..." they relax slightly,before laying back down...

They don't know what that was, it put them on edge.

They try to go sleep, tossing and turning the whole night.

They just wanted to be ok...Was that too much to ask?

[📹]

The kid wasn't home tonight.

That made it upset, as it paced around in front of me

"Ughhh! Where could they have gone?? Are they avoiding me? Not fair!!!"

"Calm down,they're probably at a friends house."

"HMPH! I thought they had none! Besides that stupid lizard one..."

"I have better things to do,you know...like making money."

It quickly grabbed one of my hands,stopping me from leaving

"Oh but you must stay!! I believe your the ONLY person who understands me enough to do this for me!

..please?"

It's making that face again. Ugh...I hate when it shows any 'genuine' emotion...

"Fine..."

It lets go of my hand,finally...as it claps its hands in delight

"Great! When the kids here tomorrow...don't forget our plan!"

"Of course not. I know what to do."

"Good! See you then..."

And then it's gone.

...I wonder what would've happened if it stayed.

Doesn't matter.

I leave,putting away the camera as it didn't catch anything useful.

Its only purpose was to capture and preserve for however long the holder desires,

Until its purpose is unneeded.

And it is discarded.

[1588 words]