Skully stopped after a while, he felt worried, Ellie was usually not like this.
“Ellie, look at me, we need to find a way out of here.” He stated, noticing how mournful she looked.
“Skully… You won’t leave me right?” She mumbled through her tears. He gazed right at her with vibrant emerald green eyes as if he knew exactly what she felt.
“Of course not, I’m still a skull anyway so where would I go?” He teased with a grin on his face.
“I’ll still be around even after we find my body ok. We’re friends after all. I mean who would I be annoyed at all the time if you were not around?” He added as he put his hand on her head. Ellie looked down for a moment, wiping her tears.
“I need to take a good look at you.” She suddenly said, glancing up.
“This might be what you really look like right?” She asked.
“I guess so.” Skully shrugged. Ellie glared at his face, trying to remember every detail.
He suddenly caught sight of something in the darkness. A large oak tree. He started walking closer.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Ellie shouted. His eyes were fixed on that tree, he knew it, he had seen it before. Ellie ran after him.
“What’s that?” She asked, noticing the oak tree up ahead, it looked eerily similar to the tree where she found Skully. He halted, under the great oak he had noticed the shape of a person. A woman with long flowing hair, her shape was dark, he couldn’t make out any features. Skully knew he had seen her before, he had seen this tree before.
“This is my memory.” He muttered, looking back at Ellie.
“A memory!” Ellie exclaimed.
“It’s not a happy one…” Skully groaned, he felt his heart breaking staring at the tree.
“She never came… I waited…” He mumbled, saying some things Ellie didn’t hear. She glanced at Skully, she could feel the sorrow coming from him, the same sorrow that was sometimes in his words as he spoke. His eyes became dark and full of longing. Something was off, she could sense it, the rose vines were crawling up the oak tree.
“Skully, we have to go. The rose vines are coming back.” She whispered, grabbing his shoulder. He reached his hand out towards the tree, as if he was reaching for something.
“Silver…” He whispered. Ellie grabbed his hand, the rose vines were near, approaching rapidly. The vines were darker than the sea of darkness itself.
Ellie reached out and hugged Skully tightly.
“It’s ok, I’m here for you.” She whispered.
“Now we need to go, or do something.” She remarked nervously. Skully nodded his head.
“I’m sorry.” He muttered. “I think I know what the fudge we need to do now.” He stated confidently while wiping away a couple of tears.
“The rose vines. I think they belong to a demon, I faintly remember dealing with something similar to this.” He added while swiftly moving away from the vines with Ellie.
“Demon?” She asked with wonder, staring at Skully.
“Yes, demons are real too I guess. Anyway, it wants us to feel horrible. So let’s not. Don’t fall for its tricks, ok?” Skully stated, he glanced around, making sure no other surprises were lurking.
“So it will show us memories? Like just now?” Ellie asked.
“I think so. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think it will keep trying.” Skully remarked, noticing that Ellie was staring off somewhere.
“Ellie, don’t even fudging go there. Look at me!” He grunted, turning her around to face him. “Sorry, I just… I saw something.” She looked down a bit, before glancing up at Skully, trying to make sense of everything, trying to remember his face. She just couldn’t help but feel despaired deep inside, as if she was being tugged in many directions.
Her deep loneliness resonated with the darkness, her melancholy, hidden under layers of brightness, echoed through the Sea. The rose vines were flowing along the ground, circling the two of them. Skully saw the look in Ellie’s face, how broken she looked in here, he furrowed his brows again.
“Fudge these vines.” He growled, reaching out his hand, violently grabbing one of them, yanking it until it snapped.
“You did it, it snapped.” Ellie chimed, before noticing how enraged Skully looked, she wondered what expressions he would make, she could never tell, he was normally just a skull.
Skully frantically started pulling more vines, snapping them one by one. Until he grabbed one which pulled back, it was as strong as he was.
“This is the one, it’s connected to the demon!” Skully shouted to Ellie. At that moment he felt it, a void trying to reach its claws into him, trying to reach its claws into Ellie. Skully fell to his knees as the vine pulled away from his grip. It was all disappearing again, the people he cared for always did. He was always left all alone, in this unbearable darkness, the Sea was closing in on him, he was drowning. How many times did he drown by now? It was all dark, void of any light, this place was so familiar.
Ellie searched for Skully, she couldn’t see him anymore.
“Skully?” She called out, she was alone, no answer. Ellie sat down on the ground, tucked her knees in under her chin. She didn’t know what to do, she wished her dad was there, she wished she never left her house. Her tears glimmered as they fell.
“There’s no need to cry, I will get you out of here.” A voice boomed across the darkness. She jolted up, frantically glancing around.
“Who’s there?” She asked, very sure that the voice was not Skully’s. No answer. A shiver came over her, and the darkness started cracking slowly, light was making its way through, her melancholy slipping away again. She saw the oak tree, the very same one where she found Skully. Her eyes widened and she ran over to it. It was full of colour, the sun shining through the leaves, just like that day. She leaped over the roots, searching for the spot, the moss and the leaves were covering it. She found it.
“Skully!” She exclaimed as she lifted the vampire skull up and hugged it.
“Are you ok?” She asked Skully. There was no answer. Ellie glanced around as everything gently faded, even the tree was gone.
She opened her eyes, finding herself on the floor next to the sarcophagus, still holding on to Skully. Ellie caught a glimpse of the dark rose vines as they were retreating, creeping out through the large wooden doors.
“Skully! What a crazy adventure that was!” She declared with her usual enthusiasm. There was still no answer. She sat there for a while, trying to get Skully to say something, anything. Ellie had not felt this lost in a long time, Skully had always been there, for so many years her only friend had been the skull. The tears came again, she was alone without him. Hours went by, until she finally got up, picked up the map, her backpack and the flashlight. Ellie walked out of there.
“What’s the point of all this without Skully?” She whispered to herself, feeling jaded and despaired, Ellie trudged back to the apartment.
“What happened to you? Why aren’t you answering?” She asked Skully, before falling back on her bed, desperately holding onto him.
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