Chapter Text
It was loud.
Very loud.
Too loud.
Like every other day he came here.
Micah hated this place. It was always crowded and full of people each time he got dragged here. He begged his mom many times to stop bringing him along for work, to just leave him at home or even drop him off at grandpa’s place. And he KNEW he was being serious if he was preferring dusty old grandpa’s place than being HERE.
A wince went through his body at a particularly loud shriek, shooting a glare towards it but unable to find the culprit.
This place. Was too. LOUD.
He didn’t understand why his mom thought it would be a good idea to bring him to this place. This place was a NIGHTMARE! It was too bright. Too loud. Too crowded. And he wasn’t a fan of those creepy robots on stage that everyone went crazy when they saw them. Even his best friend Nicky hated them.
Speaking of his friend, Nicky hadn’t come back yet.
Micah turned his head, looking around the room for the familiar face of his best friend. Nicky had gone off, saying something that Micah couldn’t quite catch, because it was SO DANG LOUD, and hadn’t reappeared in a while.
At first, Micah thought Nicky had gone to the bathroom, but after waiting for so long, they still hadn’t popped up.
Micah wasn’t worried. Nicky had a bad habit of getting lost when something caught his attention, but he always came back in the end. Still, Nicky was taking a while to get back. And Micah really wanted to be with someone who shared his pain with this place before whining to his mom to go home.
Maybe Nicky was around ‘that’ place again. It was their favorite spot, and Micah could see why. It was better than being out HERE.
He shot a glare at the stage, watching the robots bob and wave, twitching their limbs and looking at everyone with those creepy eyes.
Those creepy life-like eyes.
A shudder passed through Micah’s body, and he decided enough was enough. He couldn’t stand sitting here watching those things. He needed to find Nicky. If he couldn’t find them anywhere, then they were probably hanging around that area.
It took a while for Micah to navigate through the sea of people, getting pushed and bumped into more often than he would have liked as he kept his eyes open for any sign of Nicky. He searched all the areas they liked to hang out the most, checking over the places twice just to be sure Nicky wasn’t there before moving on.
Micah always hated how BIG this place was. It was hard to find out where he was going when it was crowded with so many people here, and Micah always somehow ended up in places he didn’t want to be in. Crowds and bright lights confused him, and when he did finally managed to break away and find somewhere that was quiet, the first thing he did was get away as far as he could from all the noise.
He didn’t like crowds. They were too loud, and Micah didn’t like bumping into strangers. His mom had been very firm that he should keep his distance away from people he didn’t know and stick to those he could trust. But that was very hard to do. This place was FILLED with people he didn’t recognize, and there was hardly ANY room to keep a far distance away from them.
He wished his dad would get better soon so that his mom would stop bringing him here.
Micah didn’t stop running, not till he was far from all the noise and people. He shot a glare over his shoulder, hating this place more and more each time he was dragged here. Maybe he should find a way to burn this place to the ground, that way his mom wouldn’t be able to drag him back here all the time. That would show his mom how much he hated this place.
Just a few more days, hun. Daddy will be out of the hospital soon.
His mom’s words echoed in his mind. Her tired eyes filled with warmth and understanding.
Just a few more days. Then she wouldn’t force him to come along and he could stay with dad back home where it was quiet and less crowded. With only him, dad, and Nicky.
Nicky.
That’s right. He was looking for Nicky.
Looking around, Micah found himself standing in a hallway. He didn’t recognize this part of the building, and it didn’t seem like anyone came down to this area. He did spy a sign for the bathrooms, but they were empty when he checked them.
Huffing indignantly, Micah concluded that Nicky must be at that area of the building and turned to go find his friend.
He didn’t go far when a quiet, almost silent noise reached his ears.
Looking over his shoulder, Micah spotted a door at the end of the hall. The word SUPPLIES was marked on it, and he could see that the door was open slightly.
Micah pushed his lips together, frowning at the door. “… Nicky? Is that you?” Micah called out, eyeing the door.
There was no answer.
“Nicky, come on. If this is one of your pranks, it’s not a very good one.” Micah made his way towards the door. “You kept me waiting for a long time back there. You know I don’t like large crowds and all the noises… Nicky?”
Micah clutched the front of his shirt, feeling uneasy as he made his way towards the door. He kept telling himself that it was just Nicky pulling one of his pranks, that his friend just wanted to give him a small scare for fun.
“Nicky?” Micah called out again, only a few steps away from the door. “You’re not in there, are you? I… I don’t think this is an area we should be in. Let’s just go back to our table, or go to our favorite spot and stay there till our moms come get us.” He was just outside the door now, gripping his shirt tightly in his hands. His mom was probably going to complain about putting wrinkles in his clothes later, but that thought barely crossed Micah’s mind as he looked up at the door.
It looked… harmless. Nothing screamed at him to turn around and leave. It was plain-looking, which stood out from all the colorful stuff this building was covered in.
And yet, something didn’t feel right to Micah.
He didn’t know what, and he didn’t know why, but something told him that he shouldn’t be here.
“… N… Nicky?” He called out one more time, hoping that his friend would answer back.
There was no answer.
Swallowing a lump in his throat, Micah decided to take one small look inside. If Nicky wasn’t there, then he definitely would go check their favorite spot. Because Nicky had to be there than here, right? They wouldn’t be in such a scary place waiting to jump out at him. Not when their favorite place was so much better than a door marked SUPPLIES.
Taking a deep breath, Micah pushed the door wide enough to peek inside.
It was pitch black.
Nothing but darkness everywhere Micah glanced at.
“… Nicky?”
Nothing answered him.
Seeing as his friend wasn’t here and feeling that he shouldn’t be here, Micah turned to head back to look for Nicky elsewhere.
In the corner of his eyes, Micah saw movement.
And before he could do anything, yell, scream, kick, cry, he was grabbed and yanked into the pitch-black room, the door closing without a sound.