Tulip chapter 4
Heads up, this is the rewritten version, I’ll keep up the original but this is the fixed one.
I was running through a cave.
The darkness seemed endless, swallowing everything beyond a few feet in front of me. Cold air rushed past as my footsteps echoed against the stone walls. Somewhere behind me, laughter rang through the tunnels.
It wasn’t normal laughter.
It was twisted.
Wrong.
The kind of laughter that made your stomach knot and your instincts scream at you to run.
So I did.
The laughter followed me deeper into the cave, bouncing off the walls from every direction. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from anymore. It sounded distant one moment and directly behind me the next.
Then the laughter stopped.
For a brief moment, silence filled the cave.
And then the screaming began.
The sudden shift nearly made my heart stop. Countless voices cried out in agony somewhere behind me. Men, women, children. . .
it sounded like hundreds of people screaming at once. The sound was unbearable.
I ran faster.
My lungs burned.
My legs ached.
But I couldn’t stop.
Something was chasing me.
I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t want to know.
Suddenly, my foot caught on something hidden in the darkness.
I stumbled.
My balance vanished.
Before I could react, the ground beneath me disappeared entirely.
I fell.
The cave walls rushed past as I plummeted into a seemingly bottomless pit. Darkness surrounded me from every direction. There was nothing to grab onto.
Nothing to stop the fall.
I couldn’t even tell how far down I was falling.
Seconds stretched into eternity.
Then-
Impact.
Something soft cushioned my landing. Instead of shattered bones or a broken neck, I felt myself sink into whatever had broken my fall.
Pain shot through my body, but I was alive.
Breathing heavily, I pushed myself upright.
My head spun.
I wiped dirt from my face and blinked several times.
Then I froze.
The cave was gone.
Completely gone.
No stone walls.
No darkness.
No hole.
No sign that I had ever been underground at all.
Instead, I found myself standing within a strange forest.
The trees were black as charcoal, their bark absorbing the light around them. Their leaves glowed faintly blue, casting an eerie radiance throughout the woods. Everywhere I looked, nature appeared wrong.
Anything that should have been green was blue.
The grass.
The moss.
The leaves.
Even the distant vines hanging from the trees shimmered with unnatural shades of sapphire and cyan.
Slowly, I stood.
Only then did I notice my clothes.
I wasn’t wearing my resistance uniform.
I wasn’t wearing the prison-like clothing from the laboratory either.
In fact, I didn’t recognize this outfit at all.
The fabric felt unfamiliar.
The colors weren’t mine.
It was as though someone had dressed me while I was unconscious.
A chill crawled down my spine.
Trying not to think about it, I began walking.
The forest remained silent.
No birds.
No insects.
No distant animal calls.
Only the constant whisper of wind moving through the blue leaves overhead.
The silence felt unnatural.
Like the forest was holding its breath.
I walked for what felt like thirty minutes.
Maybe longer.
Time felt strange here.
As I continued forward, the wind began to change.
At first, I thought I was imagining things.
Then I heard it clearly.
Whispers.
The wind was whispering.
Calling for me.
The voices were distant and distorted, carried through the trees.
“Come back…”
The words were faint.
Almost impossible to hear.
Yet I understood them perfectly.
“Come back…”
The whisper came again.
My chest tightened.
“Come back.”
Panic flooded through me.
I broke into a run.
Branches scraped against my clothes as I sprinted through the forest. The voices followed me from every direction, growing louder and louder until they seemed to surround me completely.
Then I saw it.
A temple.
Ancient stone structures rose beyond the trees.
Relief washed over me.
Maybe someone was there.
Maybe—
The world glitched.
Reality shattered.
The forest flickered like a broken television screen.
Blue became gold.
Darkness became sunlight.
The whispers vanished.
And suddenly I was sitting in the middle of a sunflower field.
The transition was so abrupt that I nearly fell over.
Endless fields of golden sunflowers stretched beyond the horizon in every direction. Butterflies drifted lazily through the air while warm sunlight bathed everything in a comforting glow.
Birdsong echoed softly somewhere in the distance.
A gentle breeze rolled through the flowers.
For the first time since entering the cave, I felt calm.
Safe.
The warmth of the summer sun settled over me like a blanket.
I smiled.
Everything felt peaceful.
Almost too peaceful.
After quietly admiring the scenery, I tilted my head toward the sky.
The blue above was beautiful.
Only a few clouds drifted lazily overhead.
Then I noticed something beside me.
A shadow.
At first, I only saw it from the corner of my eye.
Curious, I turned.
Someone was sitting beside me.
█████.
Or at least…
I think it was him.
His form was distorted.
My eyes refused to focus on him properly.
The outline of a hedgehog sat beside me, but every detail seemed blurred and unstable, as if reality itself couldn’t decide what he was supposed to look like.
Then he spoke.
“▓▒░█̷̳̯̬͝▚▞Ⱨ̸͚̹̺͠₳̷̠͖̞͝⫯̵͍͎͎̕▞▚░▒▓ … ꙮ⟁ꙮ … ███▙̸̯͙̱͌₮̸̰͔͕̕⫯̸̝̤̟̔₴̷̖̯̱̾█░░ ⟁⟁⟁ Ɏ̷͚͕͔̈́₳̴̱̙͈͠ⱤⱠ ▓▓▒▒ ꙮ ꙮ ▚▞▚▞ Ⱥ̴̤͔͇͝₥̷͕͙̲̈́Ɇ̷̘̠͍͝₴̵̯̳̓͜—̷͖̳͍͆”
The sounds resembled corrupted audio more than actual speech.
Yet despite every warning screaming inside my head…
I smiled.
I didn’t know why.
Something about him felt deeply wrong.
And yet, somehow…
I felt comforted by his presence.
Confused, I looked down.
That was when I noticed the picnic blanket beneath us.
Red and white.
Neatly spread out.
The sort of blanket people used for summer dates.
My stomach twisted.
Wait…
Was I on a picnic date with █████?
The thought barely had time to form before something else caught my attention.
The blanket seemed larger now.
Much larger.
Slowly, I looked beyond its edges.
My blood ran cold.
There was no grass.
No soil.
No earth.
Beneath the endless field of sunflowers stretched an ocean of dark red liquid.
It moved like water.
Rippled like water.
But it wasn’t water.
The metallic scent of blood suddenly filled the air.
The butterflies were gone.
The birds had stopped singing.
The warmth of summer vanished.
Everything became silent.
Then I screamed.
Black cables erupted from beneath the blanket.
They burst upward like living creatures, tearing through the fabric.
I turned toward █████.
He was gone.
Vanished.
As though he had never been there at all.
The cables wrapped around my arms.
My legs.
My waist.
Then they pulled.
The blanket ripped apart beneath me as I was dragged screaming into the sea of blood below.
Cold darkness swallowed me.
The world became muffled.
Distant.
I fought desperately.
Clawing at the cables.
Trying to tear them away.
Trying to swim.
Trying to survive.
But the deeper I went, the tighter they became.
The sunlight above slowly disappeared.
Darkness consumed everything.
Pressure crushed against my body from every direction.
My lungs burned.
My vision blurred.
I didn’t want to die.
Not like this.
Not here.
Eventually my struggles weakened.
Everything faded.
Then suddenly—
The blood vanished.
The pressure disappeared.
Blue light flooded my vision.
I was falling.
Again.
This time from the sky itself.
Wind screamed past my ears as I plummeted downward.
Below me was the same black-and-blue forest from before.
Only now a glowing blue fog rolled between the trees like living smoke.
The ground rushed toward me.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer—
Then something caught me.
I jolted upright, gasping for air.
My chest heaved as panic flooded through me. Something felt wrong.
No.
Not wrong.
Different.
I pressed a trembling hand against my chest and froze.
There wasn’t just one heartbeat.
There were two.
Two distinct rhythms thudding beneath my ribs.
My stomach twisted violently.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me…”
The realization hit like a hammer.
Is that what they did to me?
I have two hearts now?
Why?
What was even the point? Another organ to pump blood? Another part of me they could alter and twist into something unnatural?
I didn’t understand.
The thought alone made me feel sick.
Slowly, I looked around.
I wasn’t in the bed I’d fallen asleep in.
Instead, I was sprawled across the couch in the living quarters.
The memories from last night were fragmented, blurry pieces scattered through my mind. Every time I tried to focus on them, they slipped away.
My head pounded.
My body felt heavy.
I felt nauseous.
Drowsy.
Weak.
What the hell is happening to me?
With considerable effort, I pushed myself to my feet.
Almost immediately, a violent coughing fit overtook me.
I doubled over as my lungs burned.
When it finally stopped, I noticed dark red stains splattered across my arm.
Blood.
I stared at it for a moment before letting out a frustrated groan.
“Great…”
My legs felt unstable beneath me as I stumbled toward the bedroom.
Every step hurt.
By the time I reached the bathroom, I was exhausted.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The bright lights made my head ache.
Slowly, I pulled off my shirt.
The bandages wrapped around my torso were soaked through with blood.
The sight made my stomach churn.
I searched the bathroom cabinets and drawers until I eventually found a fresh roll of bandages.
Sitting down on the edge of the bathtub, I carefully began removing the old wrappings.
The stitches underneath came into view.
Long, ugly black threads pulling my flesh together.
I felt disgusted.
Repulsed.
That wasn’t supposed to be there.
I wasn’t supposed to look like this.
I quickly looked away.
The sight alone made me want to throw up.
Taking a shaky breath, I began replacing the bandages. The process took longer than I wanted; every movement sent pain through my torso, and I had to make sure the wrappings were tight enough to protect the wounds without making it harder to breathe.
Eventually, I finished.
I let out a relieved sigh.
At least that was done.
But the relief didn’t last.
What exactly was the doctor planning?
I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
Two hearts.
Disgusting and inhumane experiments done to others.
I couldn’t keep doing this.
Slowly, a thought surfaced.
I should find a knife.
The thought should have scared me.
Instead, it felt comforting.
I need to end it.
Before I become one of the experiments.
Before I become another monster created by that doctor.
I need to end it.
I need to.
The others hadn’t deserved what happened to them.
None of them had.
And I knew I wasn’t far behind.
I couldn’t stop imagining Rosaria’s face if she ever managed to break in here and discover what Eggman had done to me.
The horror.
The pity.
The grief.
I didn’t want her to see me like this.
I didn’t want anyone to.
Leaving the bathroom, I slowly made my way into the kitchen.
Finding a knife didn’t take long.
Of course it didn’t.
I picked it up.
For a moment, I simply stared at the blade.
Then I pressed it against my arm.
The pain barely registered.
I dragged the knife across my skin.
Blood immediately followed.
I cut deeper.
And deeper.
Suddenly—
The door burst open.
Heavy footsteps rushed toward me.
Before I could react, a hand clamped around my wrist.
The grip was painfully tight.
The knife slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The voice was cold.
Emotionless.
I looked up.
Silas.
Without another word, he kicked the knife across the room and out into the hallway before the mechanical door managed to close and lock by itself.
I expected anger.
Yelling.
Accusations.
Instead, he grabbed paper towels and carefully pressed them against my arm.
Cleaning the blood.
Applying pressure.
Trying to stop the bleeding.
I stared at him.
His eyes weren’t glowing red.
They were orange.
Why?
Silas guided me toward the bathroom.
I was too exhausted to resist.
Once inside, he began cleaning and dressing the wounds I’d inflicted on myself.
He spoke quietly while he worked.
Softly.
Gently.
I couldn’t make out most of the words.
My thoughts were too loud.
Why does he care?
He’s helping that monster.
Why would he care what happens to me?
When he finished wrapping my arm, he gently patted my head.
The gesture caught me completely off guard.
“Follow me.”
His voice sounded less like a command and more like a request.
I didn’t respond.
I simply followed as I was scared and worried he might attack me for refusing.
Silas led me through the facility until we reached a familiar room.
The same room where I’d awakened after he attacked me.
The sight made my stomach sink.
“We need you to heal,” he said quietly. “Please get inside the healing tank.”
I remained silent.
A cylindrical tank hissed open.
After a moment of hesitation, I stepped inside.
The glass sealed shut behind me.
Cold green gel began filling the chamber.
Only halfway.
Unlike before to what I woke up to..
I assumed it was because my injuries were concentrated around my torso and arms instead of my head.
The liquid felt unpleasantly cold.
I stood there silently while Silas sat on the opposite side of the room reading a book.
The title mentioned familiars.
Beyond that, I didn’t recognize it.
Time passed slowly.
Eventually, Silas closed the book.
He stood and walked over to the control panel.
A few buttons were pressed.
The green liquid drained away.
The chamber opened.
I stepped out.
Silas immediately handed me a towel and a clean set of clothes before pointing toward a nearby changing room.
I nodded and headed inside.
The same changing room as before.
After drying myself off, I removed the remaining bandages.
Then I froze.
Every wound was gone.
The stitches.
The bruises.
The cuts.
Everything.
Not even a scar remained.
I stared at my reflection in disbelief.
How?
How did Eggman even make something like this?
The technology felt impossible.
Uneasy, I pulled on the clean clothes and exited the room.
Silas escorted me back to the living quarters. The hallways were playing classical music, it made the walk to the living room uncomfortable.
Once inside, I immediately sat down on the couch.
I had no idea what to do anymore.
No idea what to think.
Silas stayed.
Instead of leaving, he set his book on the table and sat beside me.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then he grabbed the remote and turned on the television.
I expected something educational.
Something technical.
Something a machine would choose.
Instead, a movie about talking puppies appeared on the screen.
I glanced at him.
He didn’t react.
Didn’t explain.
Didn’t acknowledge how strange the choice was.
He simply watched.
I sigh, I don’t think I would get any answer from him so I just join watching the what he was watching.