Bad Sleep (timestraw angst💔)
Metal Straw was asleep… until they weren’t. They began hearing a strange sound, which gradually got louder. By then, it recognized the sound as some sort of sobbing..
She sat up, letting out a quiet sigh, her eyes drifting over to the other side of the room where Timey slept.. before now, at least? The clock was sitting up with their face in their hands, almost wailing.
“Timey? What’s wrong?”
Beep didn’t seem to hear him.
Metal Straw crawled over to the other side of the room, sitting next to Timey.
“What’s wrong?”
The clock, again, didn’t seem to hear, but took their hands off their eyes, and seemed to stare forward, clinging onto beeps own arms.
“Timey?” Metal Straw tried again, and again, no response. The clock breathed heavily between weeps.
Metal Straw noticed the ends of Timey’s hands seeming to dig into their skin as they grew more tense. He hesitantly took the stiff hand off of beeps arm, and took their other one to hold. It was.. strangely sharp. Their fingers felt stiff and almost as sharp as knives.
Metal Straw held the clock’s hand as they sobbed and breathed heavily for a little over a minute, before it began to slow down. He felt their hand soften, and Timey turned to her.
“M-Metal Straw?” the clock blubbered, sounding almost confused, before asking in a shaky voice, “Where are we??”
“We’re.. in the cabin? We’ve been here all night..”
“It’s too dark.. I don’t know where I am,” Timey mumbled, shutting their eyes again.
Metal Straw slowly slid their hand out of Timey’s, walked over to the lamp near the window, and turned it on, illuminating the room. The wooden walls, wooden floor, and windows of the cabin.
“How’s this?”
Timey simply nodded, but Metal Straw could tell beep still felt a bit shooken up.
“What happened?” Metal Straw asked.
Timey was quiet for a few seconds, before responding, “I don’t know.”
Metal Straw walked back and sat next to them. “That’s okay.. is there anything I can do to help?”
Timey stared off a bit, before responding, “can we hold hands some more..”
Metal Straw nodded, letting Timey hold their hand again. They sat quietly for a moment, Timey seeming to stare into space more, but much calmer than they were before. After a few minutes, beep let out a sigh.
“There’s something I need to tell you..”
Metal Straw nodded, “Sure, what is it?”
“I lied,” Timey said. “I wasn’t lost in the forest for all the.. however long it was..”
Metal Straw felt their own anxiety rise a bit. What did they mean by this? Wanting to be supportive, she suppressed this. “Oh? What.. what happened?”
Timey was quiet again. Metal Straw wasn’t sure how long, but the silence felt excruciating this time, rather than the calmness it was before.
“Well,” Timey finally started after what felt like forever, “Well, I.. I didn’t 100% lie.. those last few days, I admit, I was a little bit lost in the forest.. but.. getting lost isn’t why I was gone..”
Timey seemed to think to themself, before speaking again. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me if I tell you.. thinking back, it was really absurd.. and weird..”
“Timey.. with all due respect.. I don’t think anything could shock me at this point.”
Timey seemed to wince a bit, Metal Straw not quite sure why. What did he say?
The clock let out a long sigh, putting off sharing more, but feeling they must.
“I was.. taken? I don’t know, it was really confusing.. it was like my memories went all fuzzy and then I just woke up somewhere.. and Boxey.. Boxey was there.. and then this top hat guy.. Top Hat.. He was being nice to me but.. he started.. well, I don’t really know? I know stuff happened.. but I don’t know what.. Boxey helped me leave but insisted on staying.. I wish he came with me, I want him to be safe..”
Metal Straw took a moment to process everything. “So.. you were kidnapped?”
“I guess? I don’t know.. me and Boxey were wandering in the forest after I.. you know.. I wanted to make sure you got out okay, but.. then all that happened?”
“That sounds really scary??? Are you okay? What did he do?”
“Nothing super bad I mean.. he didn’t freeze me in a block of ice.. he did a weird lie detector test, like.. if I lied it would shock my wrist.. but then it devolved into just him shocking me. Every time he’d do it a little bit more, a little bit stronger. I think he was trying to get me to build a tolerance to it.. he told me it was for the best, and it would make me stronger. I didn’t want to, but.. I didn’t know what to do..”
“You aren’t joking?”
“I wish I was,” Timey said with a long sigh.
“Timey.. why didn’t you say anything? Like I get it, it was probably tough but..”
“I.. I feel guilty.. I left Boxey there.. what if he’s being hurt because of me?”
Metal Straw put their free hand on the side of Timey’s case, turning beep to face him.
“You we’re trying to survive.. don’t feel bad for that, okay? I’m just worried about you.. especially hearing all this! This is really bad! Did he do anything else?”
“I.. uh..” Timey sputtered, glancing down at their arm.
Metal Straw followed the glance, before noticing a small wound. “What’s this?”
Timey sighed. “He.. injected something into me.. I don’t know what it was.. it made me feel weird.. it made me feel upset..”
“You don’t know what it was?”
“He said it would make me healthy- and stronger- but.. I don’t know! My body has been acting strange.. I don’t know if it’s from that or- I don’t know..”
Timey put their free hand over their mouth, and stared last Metal Straw.
Metal Straw wasn’t sure what to say. This was bad, really bad.
“Timey, I think you should see a doctor.. and.. we should tell somebody about this whole thing!”
“I don’t want to,” Timey murmured, “I don’t want him to find out..”
“But we don’t know what he did! It’s important to me that you’re healthy..”
“And I am!” Timey said, “just forget I said anything, okay? Just pretend I was lost in the woods.. it’ll be better that way! I’ll get back to normal soon.. maybe even tomorrow.. I’ll try and be normal tomorrow, okay?”
Metal Straw felt an ache inside. She wanted to help but wasn’t sure how. “Have you told Gear anything?”
“No, don’t tell him,” Timey mumbled.
“Why not? He’s your best friend!”
“He’s busy! I don’t want him worrying about it! It’s fine! Just forget about it okay??? I just want to move on… forget about it!”
Timey let go of Metal Straw’s hand, turning away, hugging onto their legs.
“I’m worried about you,” Metal Straw mumbled, “I want to help..”
After a moment, Timey responded. “I appreciate it, but I don’t know if getting help is the right choice right now.. I’d rather wait..”
“If you really don’t want any outside help yet.. is there anything I can do right now? Do you want a hug?”
Timey let out a small sigh. “I guess.. yeah.. a hug would be nice..”
Metal Straw leaned towards the clock, Timey wrapping beeps arms around him tightly, and shutting their eyes. Metal Straw put their own arms around Timey’s case, holding them close. They hugged quietly, before Metal Straw noticed Timey had fallen asleep in her arms.
She gently laid the clock down on beeps sleeping bag, pulling it up to cover them, before crawling back to her own. But she couldn’t sleep. Not after this.