Amanda the Adventurer Fantapes Chapter 1: Let’s Get A Little Treat!
“WHY DIDN’T YOU HELP US?!” Amanda snapped.
“Be-because he was calling out for my friend! She mentioned looking for her brother. H-He recognizes her voice… he’s trying to say her name! He could be who she’s looking for.”
“You should be careful who you’re friends with Riley.” Wooly said sharply.
“But if he is Jordan that means he’s just a little kid!” Riley argued. Amanda’s face instantly softened, guilt washing over it.
“Oh…”
“What does that matter? He’s been a big jerk!” Wooly protested.
“Wooly… maybe he’s just scared?” Amanda suggested. She walked back over to where the opossum was thrown in the bin, lifting him back out, trying to wake him up. It wasn’t working. “He’s breathing… just knocked out…”
“Wha-what are you doing?” Wooly asked, rubbing one hand over the other.
“We made a mistake, Wooly… we have to make it right.” Amanda said. “We should stay with him until he wakes up and say we’re sorry!”
“Sorry? He was the one who was mean to US, remember?”
“Wooly…” Amanda’s voice saddens, sounding softer, “he was trying to talk to someone important to him… and we stopped him.” Wooly’s eyes widened, he bit his lip.
“Can we at least take him home where it’s nice and safe… I don’t like it out here?”
“Aww Wooly, are you scared?” Amanda teased. Wooly looked away, closing in on himself a bit at the local city sounds. Amanda’s expression softened as she tried to lift the opossum onto her back, but he would be about her height if he was able to stand up straight, making it difficult for her to find her balance. Wooly watched them, his expression softening.
“Amanda stop…” “No! I need to help him!”
“Let me carry him then.” he offered, Amanda looked up at him, her eyes widened before they narrowed again with uncertainty.
“Okaaay…” she said slowly, carefully. She let the opossum down, watching closely as Wooly gently lifted him onto his back.
“Now let’s go home.” The tape glitches and falls out of the machine. Riley returned to Joanne…
“I do know that Hameln needs to be brought down. I won't be their pawn anymore. I will do whatever I can to—" in the next moment Riley heard a gun shot and watched Joanne fall, revealing a new masked figure behind them, they wore all black, even their short shiny hair was black. The only part of face that was visible were their razor sharp reddish brown eyes. Riley put their hands up, the figure put their gun away.
“Don’t back away from me, Park. You're in way over your head. You don’t even know what you’re dealing with. Hand me the tapes.” Their voice was smooth and chilling, way too calm. Riley hugged the box of tapes closer to their chest.
“I won’t let you hurt them.”
“Them? You mean the demons inside of those tapes? Ha! Let me guess, you think they’re your friends? That you can help them, save them. Amanda and Wooly once were children, that is true… but their souls were possessed by demonic forces you cannot understand years ago. They are tricking you Riley. Do you know how many lives those demons have taken? How many children have they taken? We are simply trying to prevent anyone else from getting hurt.”
“You shot a woman right in front of me.” Riley replied flatly, looking them up and down.
“She was a dangerous woman who had gotten someone killed. You’re an innocent person who has nothing to do with this, I was protecting you.” they explained, Riley took another step back. They whipped out their gun again. “But I’m willing to make another sacrifice, Park.” the tapes themselves seemed to shake a little as if in fear somehow. The lights flickered. It started out as a whisper… the whisper of a familiar girl they once knew.
It’s time to close the curtain.
Other whispers joined in, Close the curtain. Close the curtain. Close the curtain. The stranger staggered back a little.
“SHUT UP!” he screamed at them, but the children’s voices only got louder. Chanting, practically screaming. CLOSE THE CURTAIN. CLOSE THE CURTAIN. CLOSE THE CURTAIN. The lights went out. They heard a boy’s voice whisper: That’s it. Let the curtain fall. They hear a distant howl. Rebecca’s voice whispers in their ear: Now, while they can’t see you. Run. Riley didn’t need to think twice. They entered the vault and locked the door. The whispers all ceased, and a violent screaming and ripping of flesh could be heard. Riley quickly climbed down the tunnel.
Riley wandered, limping through the cold… wet sewer tunnels. It smelled of rotting flesh, feces, compost, and garbage soaked in warm water. They covered their nose, holding the tape Joanne gave them close to their chest. Eventually they found a tunnel to climb out of… they took off their sweatshirt and wrapped the tape in it several times to keep it dry and protected. To keep her safe. They climbed out, absolutely covered in sewage. For the first time since going to scope out Kate’s house, they pulled out their now dying phone and turned it on. Friends and family had heard news of the arson attack and blew up their phone with worry and concern, especially their girlfriend, Sophie. On one hand, it would be best not to get her involved, considering all they had just learned. They carefully unwrapped the tape and inspected it… safe and sound… their long missing childhood friend had now finally been found. They took a picture of the pipe they exited from. This sewer system… Kate had a door to it for a reason… they were sure of it. They saw Hameln logos… they ran past and through underground medical rooms to get out of there. The thought crawled its way in gently, only to pierce right through their heart. Was Rebecca once in one of those rooms? Is that where they did that to her? It became clear what they had to do… what was more important. Going in alone would not save Rebecca. They needed help. They needed a plan. They hastily called Sophie. They were immediately met with her panic, where had they been? Are they okay? What happened to Kate’s house?
“I’m sorry… my phone is dying…” They scoped the area for a street sign and told her their location, “it’s a long story… but do you still have your Mom’s Hameln research?” they noticed something in Sophie’s tone instantly dropped to a melancholy seriousness.
“I see… I’m on my way.” the phone died. They had no idea if mentioning her mother in this situation made her angry, if them getting involved in the same exact thing that got her mother killed made her angry. It simply felt deeply insensitive of them. They still felt it was deeply insensitive to involve her at all, but somehow deeply insensitive NOT to let her be involved. It was weird. Needless to say she was shocked when she saw Riley, she instantly hugged them tight. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” she was practically squeezing the life out of them, as if they would disappear if she didn’t.
“And I’m happy to return to you.” they replied softly. She pulled away, looking them up and down before forcing a chuckle.
“You smell absolutely disgusting.” her voice cracked, “What if I don’t get the smell out of my car?”
“Sorry…” Riley dragged out an awkward smile onto their face.
“The things I do for you…” she said softly. They told Sophie the whole story on the ride home, holding the tape close to their chest, protectively, gently. As if the tape was Amanda herself and they were trying to let her know she was safe. That she would be okay. That they were going to do whatever they could to help her. First however, they took a small break to recollect. Take a shower, change their clothes. They met Sophie in her living room, she had just finished taking multiple boxes down from the attic. She wiped her brow and sighed. It felt like she had just taken a shovel to her chest and dug up years of grief and anger. But Rebecca? She remembered Rebecca… the cheerful little girl from her class who disappeared all those years ago. A kiss landed on her cheek like a butterfly. Her lips melted into a smile. “If you wanted a movie night with me you could’ve just asked.” she joked, a bit shakily.
“I wish that’s what this was…” they sighed. She nodded. She pulled the dust-coded VCR out of the box and blew on it, accidentally sending a cloud of dust into Riley’s face as they coughed.
“Sorry!” she grimaced, before letting out a little sigh, “I sure hope this old thing still works.” She set it up, the blue VCR screen finally appearing on the TV after a couple good slaps.
“Are you sure it will be okay? It won’t hurt her?”
“Um… I sure hope not…” Sophie whispered. Riley reluctantly put the tape into the machine. It began to play…
Eyes. Multiple sets of human eyes, children’s bloodshot eyes met theirs on the screen, alongside a chorus of screams that sounded as if they were all in crushing agony. Their souls fused and melded together by force, like the rotten flesh stitched together to create Frankenstein. Screaming as many but one all at the same time. Screaming for help. For freedom. For safety. For love. The Amanda the Adventurer logo faded onto the screen, slowly drowning them out. It cut out all within a couple of seconds with the sound of a balloon popping. Amanda and Wooly appeared on the screen. Amanda looked a bit unnerved, frightened, and… sympathetic. Wooly was humming to himself, a bit of a forced tune, as he looked around at the different flavors of plastic artificial candy.
“Hi friends… I’m… Amanda.” Her voice was filled with ache and sadness.
“And I’m WOOLY!” Wooly beamed, running to her side, holding a bag of marshmallow cheeps.
“Wooly did you hear that?” Amanda asked. Wooly responded by crinkling his bag of candy obnoxiously loudly.
“Hear what?” he asked, stuffing a cheep into his mouth, making his speech muffled. He winced a little, it felt weird and static-y in his mouth, like a plasticy squishy slime, not at all like a real marshmallow. “All I hear is the crinkling of these bags of delicious candy.” Amanda glared at him, getting the urge to take that marshmallow right out of his mouth. “Come on Amanda, don’t you want some candy?”
“N-no Wooly… someone was screaming for… for help… they were in pain.” Amanda’s face folded into deeper distress.
“No one is in pain here Amanda, we’re in our beautiful safe neighborhood, remember? No one will hurt us anymore!”
“Anymore?” she raised an eyebrow. Wooly’s eyes widened, his knee seemed to jerk a little, he gave a shaky chuckle before giving a rather stiff happy-looking nod.
“And even better, we’re getting a little treat!” he starts to sing, “A little treat, you and me, so good to eat, we’ll share a little treat. Yeah!” he gave her little jazz hands, she rolled her eyes. He laughed again, turning away from her a little. The opossum ran in and scampered around in circles as if on a sugar high.
“Joh ah! Joh ah! Joh ah!” he shouted, until Wooly grabbed his tail to stop him, he flopped on the floor and looked around in confusion. “Joh ah?” Riley felt their heart break a little.
“Um… Jordan? Buddy? Can you… come here for a second?” Riley beckoned him closer to the screen. He approached. “I am… so sorry Jordan… Joanne, she loved you very very much, and she's so very proud of you for being so brave… but… Joanne, she died last night.” The trio immediately froze. Amanda hugged her arms, imagining her Dad was the one hugging her as she stared at the floor feeling a brick fall right through her stomach. Wooly covered his mouth and shook his head a little, feeling another piece of himself shatter a little. Their guilt was the size of a mountain. Jordan’s happy expression fell.
“Wheah ith she?”
“She’s… gone…” they still couldn’t believe it. After all their chats with her, they had only known her for one night, but hearing so much about Jordan… about her life, about a side of Kate they never got to know. She truly had already begun to feel like a friend, someone they could potentially depend upon. He tilted his head. Amanda bit her lip, she took his hands in hers and swung them gently.
“Sometimes… people we love get taken from us. Taken far far away, somewhere where they can’t see us even if they want to…” she watched his eyes bubble up, and wrapped him in a big tight hug. “I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry…” she held him for a while while he sobbed, feeling her crushed up heart crumble to the floor with him. Eventually the waterfall ran down into a trickle… letting out only dry little hiccups and sniffles. “I lost someone too… someone very special to me. I miss him,” her voice cracks, shakes, and crumbles. “It made me very sad…” “What do you do when your friend feels sad?” Wooly asked the screen, his eyes widened seeing a new person. It was happening again… his face appeared to contort a bit at the sight of her. The screen glitched.
“I-” Sophie spoke, Amanda’s eyes widened at the sound of the new voice as her head jerked toward the screen, which glitched more.
“That’s RIGHT! We cheer them up and make them smile! Now I wonder how we can do that!” he beamed, he looked around the room and smiled widely. “I know! With all this delicious candy! Isn’t that a good idea to cheer up our new friend Amanda?”
“I… guess… but is that really what he needs right now?”
“Sure it is Amanda!”
“Okay…” she turned to the screen. “When your friend is sad, how do you cheer them up?”
“Listen to them… be there…” Sophie replied softly. Amanda’s eyes widened, her face melted into a small smile. “You hear that Wooly, she knows how to make a friend feel better.”
“Wuh-”
“Why don’t we chat over some candy, you can have any candy you want!” She said as she turned back to Jordan. Wooly tugged Amanda aside by the arm.
“Amanda, I don’t think we should trust these people.” he whispered.
“I think that’s just Riley’s friend.” Amanda whispered back.
“Ha. Yeah and you remember what happened when Kate brought her friends?” he scoffed, Amanda hugged herself, she almost appeared smaller. He frowned.
“I can go if you want.” Sophie offered. Amanda looked back at her. Something in her voice sounded familiar, in a nice way. “It’s… okay.” Her voice sounded drawn out, unsteady. “It’s okay Wooly. I think it will be different this time. Maybe… some candy will calm you down, what candy do you like?”
“Candy?” his voice sounded small. “I… I dunno…”
“Gee, you’re boring. You don’t even know your favorite candy?”
“No! I- I don’t feel like it right now… I’ve got my marshmallow cheeps, remember?” he stuck his hand in the bag again and popped one in his mouth, he winced at the weird taste and texture again, forcing it down with a smile. “See?”
“You don’t seem to like those.”
“They’re… okay. It’s okay.” He shrunk in on himself, turning away. Amanda rolled her eyes. She turned her attention to Jordan, she watched as he jumped and grunted trying to reach the candy on the top of the shelf. She giggled.
“Oh no! He can’t reach! I wonder if someone here can help him!”
“Can’t you help him?” Riley asked. Amanda smiled, she went over and tried to pick Jordan up. She struggled and grimaced but could get him off the ground high enough to reach it, they both tumbled to the floor.
“Thanks for the great idea.” She grumbled.
“What about the candy man?” Sophie pointed out. The tape glitched red. The “candy man”’s eyes slowly creeped in their direction.
“NO!” she snapped, her voice turned deep and demonic. Sophie flinched. “Oh okay sorry! Can… Wooly help?” she asked. The tape returned to normal. “You heard her Wooly, go help him!”
“Wuh- Me? Uuuugh fine.” He trudged over to Jordan and leaned over. “Climb on my shoulders… maybe that’ll work?” Jordan nodded and climbed up, Wooly winced. Jordan grabbed the candy with ease, shouting and leaning back in celebration. Wooly tripped backward and hit his head on the floor. “Oww… UGH! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!” “Wooly! Don’t yell at him!” Amanda said, running to his side. Wooly’s face softened as his hands crept up to his chest. He stared at his hooves in silence. Jordan looked at him worriedly, he opened his bag of candy and offered Wooly one.
“Strawberry chews? EW!” Amanda glared at him, he reluctantly took it and shoved it in his mouth where it glitched and oozed and got stuck. He tried to open his mouth to say something but his words came out muffled and incomprehensible.
“Hahaha got something to say Wooly?” He glared back at her angrily, took a chew, shoved it in her mouth, and stomped away off screen. It slid down her throat before she could react and she coughed, hitting her chest.
"Amanda!"
"Are you okay?" She finally got it unstuck from her throat, letting it fall to the floor. Jordan reached for it, she stopped him. "Don't eat that.... ugh... I'm okay... what... what's his problem?" Jordan shrugged. “Oh well… Do you like your candy buddy?” he smiled and nodded, turning the back upside down and pouring it into his mouth. He winced for a moment, the tape glitched and his smile returned. “Hehe I’m glad.”
The Hameln jingle played before the tape fell out of the VCR, Riley caught it before it hit the floor.
“Phew.”
“So that’s… Rebecca. Rebecca Colton. Like… the girl in our class? The one that went missing? That my mom and your aunt died trying to find? That’s… her. Rebecca…” Sophie asked.
“Yeah.”
“What did they do to her?” “I’m still trying to piece it together myself… there was probably more evidence in Kate’s house that they burned ugh… I hope your mom has more. Sophie pointed to the bins around them.
“A lot more.”
“We’re running out of time… what if Kate’s right? What if she’s already…?”
“Riley… we’ll figure this out. I promise.”
The End.
Authors Note: For the record, I don't have any issues with how the tape was written in canon, I just wanted this tape to be canon but I didn't want to simply copy it and the events of the tape word for word because that's BORING and I wanted to SURPRISE and foreshadow.