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Lilly couldn't breathe.
Oh god she couldn't breathe–is this another one of It's tricks? It's here. She knows it is. She can feel it in the air, the way everything stills and waits like it's holding its breath. Waiting for something to happen.
God no no she shouldn't have come out here. Where did everyone else go? She can't be alone. Not again. Not when it was still out there.
Water sloshed around her feet, easily rising above her ankles, almost to her knees, soaking everything in the icky, brown sewer water. Muffled voices echoed off the curved walls, the tunnels closing in around Lilly like they were going to collapse at any moment–wait no was that a possibility?!
They're all going to die down here, aren't they.
Lilly stumbled back, a choked cry slipping past her lips, before she slapped a hand over her mouth. No no no she can't let It hear her. She has to stay quiet. Can't give herself away. Not now, not now when It was after them.
She took another step back–was the pills working? Maybe? She didn't feel like it was helping. She couldn't think very well either–back hitting against something metallic behind her. Lilly yelped, stifled it, and then whipped around, eyes widening at the sewer grate, bars thick and immovable.
Oh. Okay. So she was trapped. If something found her, she couldn't escape.
Great.
Lilly reached up, sweaty hands tugging on her curly strands of hair, desperately trying to keep the bubbling pressure inside of her inside. Keep it down. Keep quiet. Survive. Just survive. Find the others. Get back to her friends. And then everything will be okay.
Everything will be okay.
It will be okay.
A sound–or no sound actually–suddenly met her ears, the overwhelming fear slamming back into her like a truck. Her breath hitched, panic pumping through her viens…and yet her thoughts felt slow. Slushy almost, going far slower than her pounding heart. Was it mommy's little helpers finally doing it's job?
Ew. She didn't like it. Her mind was calm, but the rest of her body still stayed within the clutches of fear. It was like she was stuck in a limbo, one foot in calmness and the other in chaos.
Lilly blinked sluggishly, rubbing her eyes with a closed fist, almost missing the balloon lazily floating towards her.
Almost.
She froze mid yawn, realization striking through her heart like lightning, panic gripping her body with a thousand vines, eyes locked onto the ovaly shape of the balloon. No. No no no no she's not–she's not ready! It's not supposed to be here. She's all alone–there's…
Oh my god. There's no one coming to rescue her.
Lilly scrambled back, as far as the sewer bars let her, the rusty metal digging into her back as she pressed herself against it. Sewer water splashed up around her, soaking her even further as her legs scrambled for a hold–for an escape–desperation choking her breaths. Please. Please this can't be it. She still has so much she needs to do.
A terrified whimper, matched with a choked sob, escaped from her, Lilly clenching her eyes tightly shut and imagining her happy place. Happy place, happy place, happy place. Dad's alive. So is Phil and Susie and Teddy. There's no monster attacking everyone. She is so normal she's downright boring. Everything is fine. She's safe and loved and this is all just a bad dream.
Her own ragged breaths filled the echoey chambers, ringing in her ears and drowning out the sounds of everything else. She didn't dare open her eyes–It was out there. It was going to eat her. Kill her. Horribly mangle and disfigure and tear her apart–sewer water and tears mixing together until she couldn't tell which was which.
It was all just cold and wet and terrifying.
…and probably would've happened by now.
Why–why didn't It kill her yet? It was here. It had to be. It was lurking in the shadows and getting ready to strike and kill them all. It had always brought this cold wave of fear, the stench of death clinging to the air…
And yet, as Lilly stayed curled against the grate, all she smelt was the dingy smell of sewer and trash.
Slowly, hesitantly, and with every bone in her body screaming at her not to, she opened her eyes.
And came face to face with a beige balloon.
With a face on it.
Dumbfounded, Lilly just stared, not sure what to think or feel or even do. That…isn't what It usually does. Well, like, It was a clown, and clowns are at carnivals where balloons are, but she never saw one with a face drawn on it. Especially so…realistic. The longer she stared, the more confused she became, and the former overwhelming fear lessened.
At least it wasn't the bright, blood-red balloon It carried around.
But Lilly wasn't sure if this was better.
The darkness of the sewer shrouded the balloon in shadow, but even in the dim light Lilly could make out the face drawn on it. The…creepily realistic face, with bright blue eyes, with big bushy eyebrows…and eyebags? The balloon had eyebags. What? And–and forehead wrinkles too, a big nose, and lips that were far too realistic for comfort, all together setting the face in a neutral expression.
With everything that had gone down, it was far from the strangest thing she'd seen, but it was still incredibly weird.
Lilly brushed a strand of hair out of her face, wariness settling deep in her heart. Even if it was just a balloon, it still had to come from somewhere. She was pretty sure balloons don't normally end up floating down sewer pipes…
Or maybe not. She has no idea, it's a balloon! Who knows what balloons do.
Ah, wait no, she's getting off track. Who cares about a stupid balloon, she has to get out of here. It is still somewhere down here and so are her friends.
Lilly moved, peeling herself off of the walls and slowly inching around the balloon, keeping her eyes on it at all times. What? She's not trusting it! It's creepy and could be a trick put on by It. Who knows anymore, she sure doesn't. It's all so confusing and terrifying and why couldn't Lilly just have a normal life?
Keeping herself as far away from the balloon as possible, sewer water splashing at her feet and soaking deep into her bones (ugh she's never getting the smell out of these clothes ever again), keeping one eye on the beige covering of the balloon and the other on the rest of the sewer system up ahead. Just put one foot in front of the other…keep walking…and you'll get out of–
Voices.
Lilly froze, the sudden, loud–close oh my god they're so close what–voices reaching her ears.
"You know, Perry the platypus, back in Drusselstein my father made me walk through the sewer pipes for hours on end to find his missing toothbrush I accidentally flushed down the toilet…"
She didn't recognize them.
Oh no, no no no what if it's another trick? A trick played by It to lure her into a false sense of security. To lure her to kill her, eat her, or whatever the hell It did with their bodies. No no no she can't–can she outrun It? No, no she can't, It's everywhere and pops up out of nowhere.
No no no no what does she do?
Stuck, she stayed there, frozen against the wall as the voices got closer and closer, her heart banging against her ribcage, pounding in her ears, stealing away her breath. The voice–one, just one voice, although there were two footsteps splashing through the water–bounced off the walls, ringing in her ears and setting her body ablaze with panic.
Her breaths picked up, speeding into hyperventilating, eyes snapping up to where the shadows danced on the walls. One big, humanoid shape, one smaller one walking beside. Lilly sucked in a sharp breath, bracing for impact as they finally turned the corner and came into view and–
…huh?
Was that…a beaver? Wearing a hat? Walking on two legs?
Lilly just stared, torn between running, running as far and as fast as she could, and just utterly baffled at the scene in front of her. Apparently, the person (and whatever the other animal was), felt the same, freezing suddenly as they both locked eyes with her.
At least the person looked relatively normal–albiet a very…interesting shaped head, and a very long and pointy nose–a big tuft of brown, messy hair sitting on the top of his head. His clothes reminded Lilly of the doctors in Juniper Hill (the reminder of which sent a shiver down her spine…or maybe that was just from standing in the water for so long), white robes hanging off his slouched frame.
The man blinked, eyes shifting to behind Lilly to where the balloon floated, his expression instantly lighting up like it was Christmas morning. Before Lilly could react, he was splashing through the grimy sewer water, hands outstretched towards the balloon as he exclaimed, "Balloony!!! There you are! We were looking for you everywhere!"
Lilly…she didn't know what to think. The balloon had a name? Who names their balloon? Ugh, this was a whole different level of weird then she was used to.
Though, it still beat being chased by a terrifying monster clown that wanted to rip her apart.
"Uhm…" Lilly glanced away, ignoring the creature that very much should not be moving like a human (now that was more on It's level), eyes flitting to the deeper tunnels, her heart screaming at her to escape now. She shimmied along the wall, mumbling more to herself than anyone else, "I'm just gonna–"
In a sudden movement, the man grabbed Lilly in a big, crushing hug, his nasally voice raking painfully along her ears, "Thank you kind stranger! You took care of Balloony when he ran away." His expression soured, turning to glare at the balloon and the face drawn on it, "We're going to have a long talk about not wandering off now, you understand?"
The balloon didn't say anything–of course it didn't! It was a balloon! It's not sentient!
Well…could Lilly really be talking? If anyone could understand the insanity of this man, it would be her after all. But it's not fair, why does he get fun hallucinations while all of her's are absolutely terrifying? She would trade talking to a balloon like a friend any day if it meant she would never again have those horrifying visions…
Lilly shuddered, the man taking notice as he took another look at her, arching an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side in question, "Actually, what are you doing down here anyways? I didn't think teens loved exploring sewers–oooh wait Perry the platypus, do you think Vanessa would like it down here? It's just her style!"
The animal–Perry? A platypus? What even is that?–rolled its eyes, shook its head and chattered something that was pure gibberish to Lilly's ears. But, because apparently this man was as crazy as her, he somehow understood the animal, letting out a heavy sigh when the creature stopped gargling, "Ah well I guess you're right. She wouldn't appreciate me comparing her to a sewer…but you must see the vision, right Perry?
Lilly rubbed her arms, biting back another shiver as she glanced back to where the sewer continued on. If this was another one of It's tricks…it was a mighty strange way of going about it. She hasn't died, neither the man nor the platypus (but she wouldn't put it past the animal to do so) has tried to eat her, and they've been pretty nice and friendly so far.
Ugh, Lilly thought with a groan, what the heck is going on?
A soft touch pressing on her leg snapped Lilly out of her thoughts, biting back the yelp as she practically jumped out of her skin, "Ack–!" Her heart rose back up to hammer in her rib cage, and she missed the way the platypus backed up, concern somehow shining in his eyes.
"Oh yeah, you're right Perry the platypus, she does look frankly terrified. Are platypuses really that scary?"
"No," Lilly forced out, gritting her teeth and sucking in a deep breath to get her breathing back to normal. She lifted her head from where her gaze lie staring at the brownish-green, disgusting water, wringing her hands together as the knot in her chest returned, "No it's not you."
The man frowned, glancing between Lilly and the platypus with a pondering look in his eyes, "Well that what–"
A guttural, bellowing roar suddenly exploded out of nowhere, the rumble echoing throughout the sewer system and coming back much, much louder. Smaller, muffled screams broke through the walls–Will and Rich no no no please–the shrill cries laced with complete and utter terror.
In front of her, the man's eyes widened, almost popping out of his skull as the screams echoed throughout the vast, almost never-ending caverns. No, no, oh god please no. This was all her fault. Lilly convinced everyone to come down here only for it to be a trick. She thought it was real. It felt so real. She was so hopeful.
But now, she's led her friends right to their death.
The man's terrified screech cut through the chaotic buzzing of her thoughts, dingy water splashing everywhere as he stumbled back, whipping left and right with wide, panicked eyes, "What was that?! Perry the platypus, do–do you know what that was? There are O.W.C.A procedures for this kind of thing, right? Right?"
The animal snapped back something in that language that only the man seemed to understand, only making Lilly's thoughts even dizzier. This was it. She was going to die down here. Or–or worse: everyone else will die, and she'll be the only one who would survive and–and then she would have to go back up and tell everybody she led them to their death–she killed them. Lilly Bainbridge, the crazy girl whose dad died in the pickle factory, murdered her closest friends.
She would be locked up forever.
The guilt, grief, horror–it would destroy her.
"Hey–hey traumatized-looking girl!" Hands grabbed her shoulders, shaking her back and forth so the spiraling thoughts tumbled out of her ears, the touch making her skin buzz with bad energy. Her vision focused again, ugly, wheezing breaths that she quickly realized were coming from her heaving from her chest. Oh god. Oh no. No no no she has to get out of here. Find her friends and rescue them before the monster kills them.
Her blurry, tear-stained vision cleared enough for the pale, tightly wound, panicked face of the strange man to dip back into view, his eyebrows scrunched together as his eyes flicked to every nook and cranny, "We have to go now. Unless you would much rather stay and face whatever the heck that thing was…"
Lilly heaved in another hitching breath, shaking her head as the man tried to pull her along, "No–no my friends. They're still down here."
The man whipped around, eyebrows raised high and eyes blinking in bewilderment, shock painted across his face as clear as day, "Why would all of you go into the sewers? You know that there are much safer and much more fun places to hang out than this–" he gestured to their surroundings, grimacing when bits and pieces of trash floated around their feet.
"We–I–yes I know but…" How does she explain this? That her friend who'd gone missing suddenly showed back up again and said that the other friends who had also gone missing and she thought were dead, were actually just down in the sewer, so she trusted him, but he actually turned out to be this demon monster that already killed those friends and she just lured all her alive friends into a death trap?
Yeah, if they didn't already think she was weird, that was going to be the final straw.
"It's a long story," Lilly settled for instead, itching to take off and run through the sewers to find her friends. This was taking too long–she didn't have time for chit-chat! Every second mattered, and the longer she spent talking to this man and his pet platypus (was it his pet? Why else would he have a platypus of all things following him around?), meant more time for It to catch up to her friends and tear them to pieces.
The man stared at Lilly for a second longer, his eyes filled with questions and searching for something as she held his gaze. His expression hardened, "Well then, you'll have plenty of time to catch us up to speed as we find your friends–this was Perry's choice not mine just for the record– He nodded up front to where…okay there was no way that was real–what?
It looked like something taken from something straight out of a cheesy video game.
In front of them, the platypus sat in the driver's seat of a hover car! It floated above the ground, sending ripples in water beneath it, the whir of the engine humming quietly as the platypus waited for them to join.
…if this was a hallucination or some kind of trick, it was a pretty cool one.
Lilly shook her head to get her to focus again, trailing behind the man as he climbed into the hover car, very obviously meant for someone as small as a platypus. She cringed, but her forever-damp socks, shoes, and pants convinced her enough to clamber clumsily into the little space left over.
As Lilly finally settled down (even if she knew her legs would most definitely cramp up in this position), the man shot her a tight smile and a nod, "Before we start fighting who-knows-what, I am Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz–" he gestured to himself, and then to the platypus next to him, his grin widening, "–and this is my nemesis Perry the Platypus!
Lilly just nodded along, finding it easier to go with the flow than ask any questions on why someone would name their kid 'Heinz Doofenshmirtz,' let alone name a platypus, "Uhm, okay, and my name is Lilly."
Dr. Doofenshmirtz nodded with a smile (that did not look very flattering on him), "Cool. Hi Lilly, did you drop this?"
Dr. Doofenshmirtz shoved something long and pointy into her hands, Lilly tightening her hold on the slick black stone so it wouldn't slip from her hands. She cocked her head, staring down at the…dagger? Stone tool? Whatever it was, she didn't recognize it, the engravings on the side glowing a soft golden shine.
It did look important, and a part of her mind whispered for her to keep it. All to herself. All mine. She held it closer to her chest, suddenly wary of Doofenshmirtz and Perry if they were trying to steal it…
Another scream ripped through the air, and Lilly jolted out of her twisting thoughts, blinking once, twice, three times as everything came rushing back. Oh right–her friends! Of course, of course why did she forget? She had to rescue them. And the thing–the monster–was out there too. Hunting them down and eating them one by one.
Lilly steadied her breathing, tucking the stone dagger thing into her sweatshirt for safe keeping, and set her gaze straight ahead, "Let's go. I'll explain along the way, just follow the screams and we're bound to find someone."
"And then!" Doofenshmirtz added, pointedly glaring at Perry and jabbing a finger into his back, "Someone is going to fix my other dimension-inator, because I had a picnic planned with my other dimension self that I'm going to have to cancel now!"
None of what Doofenshmirtz just said made any sense to Lilly, but it didn't need to. It wasn't important. All she cared about was reuniting with her friends.
Whatever tangent Doofenshmirtz decided to go on next was drowned out by the sudden sound of wind whipping in Lilly's ears, the engine starting up and speeding them off through the tunnels, following the sounds of the shrill screams as Lilly hoped and prayed that they weren't too late.