Author's Notes:

I know it's late, and I know some don't care, but I really in off of my head of idea's on how this will go on, let alone my other stories, so... please bear with me and enjoy this new chapter as much as I enjoy writing it~

The afternoon silence is somehow forbidding. A stink is in the air, the stink of garbage left out to rot. Even this perfectly normal residential neighborhood seems ominous to Cadence in her current state. She feels like she’s standing in the middle of a necropolis, as if everyone is the houses around her is dead.

Cadence pushes her fear aside and ogresses the buzzer on Shining Armor’s house’s front gate. Shining wasn’t in class today. Is he home? He couldn’t have sent those awful messages, could he? She doesn’t even want to consider the possibility, so she forces the unwelcome thought out from her mind.

There’s no response from the intercom.

Cadence doesn’t know, of course, that Cherry stood in the same spot one week ago, staring at the silent intercom with the same confusion that Cadence is experiencing now. She, however, is not forced to wait as Cherry was.

*Beep, beep, beep, beep… Beep, beep, beep, beep!*

The phone in her pocket rings, catching her off guard making a loud gasp escape from her mouth. It’s another text message from Cherry’s phone.

“Come in. The door is open.”

Cadence looks around quickly, a shiver running through her as she realizes that she’s being watched. Searching fearfully for her observer, Cadence spots movement out of the corner of her eye. On the second floor of Shining’s house, a tightly-drawn window curtain just fluttered. The person who sent the messages is inside the house.

Only now does Cadence realize that every other window has its storm shutters closed. No matter what happens inside, no one will ever know. This time, she nearly gives in to the intense urge to flee. But the terror she feels towards her invisible watcher is stronger, and will not permit her to turn her back upon the open window. She has nowhere to run… or is there?

Cadence burst into tears, unable to take a single step. The phone in her hand rings again, demanding that she enter. She steps through the gate.

When she enters the house, an overwhelming stench assaults her nostrils. It was like… a combination of swamp water mixed in with skunk secretion and hormones. The house was dark, even though it is the middle of the day. Shining must be out, as his boots were not in the vestibule. However, Cadence catches sight of a different pair stuffed behind the shoe cupboard.

They look familiar, so she pulls them out of the shadows for a closer look. As soon as she recognizes them, her mind tries desperately to deny reality.

They are identical to Cherry’s favorite boots. Cadence has seen her wearing them many times before. But that doesn’t mean Cherry is here, she tells herself. They might belong to someone else, someone who bought the same shoes from the same store. There’s no way Cherry could be here… is there?

In a sudden flash of clarity, Cadence presses the most frequently used speed-dial button on the phone still in her tightly clenched fist. The phone dials Cherry’s number. It takes only a second for the signal to reach the nearest relay station, and then…

*Brrreeeeeppp….. Breeeeeppp…. Breeeeeppp…*

A familiar ringtone echoes through the house -- the unmistakable sound of Cherry’s phone. It’s coming from the second floor. Someone must still be up there in the room with the moving curtains. Cherry’s phone rings for just a few moments… and then it stops, as whoever is holding it realizes Cherry’s intentions. For the first time, Cadence feels the definite presence of her formless guide.

“Who’s there?” She gathers her courage and calls out into the house, but there’s no response. Whoever it is must not want to be seen. Swallowing hard, Cadence walks down the hallway to the staircase. Maybe it’s Cherry. Maybe it’s Shining. Surely it’s just the two of them playing a prank on her. [You] might even be here with them.

Cadence’s mind fills with comforting images of her friends. She needs to believe that there is still hope. Otherwise, she could not take another step. “Is that you, Cherry? Shining, are you there?”

As she climbs the stairs one at a time, they creaked loudly; giving a very nerve cracking ambiance of something might come out unexpectedly. Cadence calls out in a voice choked with tears. When they see her sobbing, they’ll probably laugh at her. Let them; it would be the happiest moment of her life. She just wants this torment to end.

She tries to move faster, but her trembling legs will not let her. With each agonizing second that passes, she begs for release from this nightmare. After climbing for what seems an eternity, Cadence finds herself standing in the second floor hallway. No sound greets her. There’s only the gloom, brimming with silent malice. “Cherry? Cherry, are you there?” She shuffles forward, calling out in a weak voice.

“Come out already, please… I can’t take this anymore.” The door in front of her is half open. It must lead to the room that overlooks the front gate. Cadence watches helplessly from a corner of her mind as her body, seemingly move of its own volition, slowly opens the door.

With a creaking ominous sound echoes the house while the door opens, she peeked inside. The room is empty. The damp, stinking air clings to Cadence’s skin. “Please… stop this…” She is at her limit, unable to take a single step more. Her spirit had been utterly crushed. Perhaps this is the moment her tormenter was waiting for.

Something grabs Cadence’s arm from behind – something flexible and strong, like slime-covered rubber. As the thing binds her limbs, fingerlike appendages tear roughly through her blouse and force their way inside.

Cadence screams at the top of her lungs, amazed that she still has the strength to do so. Responding to her distress, primal energy surges through her body as she flails wildly to free herself. However, the grip of the thing behind her remains unbreakable. With escape impossible, Cadence can only scream louder as something cold and wet slips under her bra and wraps itself around her breast.

She is helpless to resist as the invader squeezes her breast and sucks at her nipples, which have gone stiff with fear under the horrifying onslaught. Her ears are filled with the sound of something slimy sliding over her skin.

As the loathsome assault on her breast continues, the unimaginable terror threatens to drive Cadence utterly mad. Her throat is already raw from screaming, and now she can’t even breathe as she struggles desperately against her attacker.

Tendrils slither continuously, until suddenly, the thing releases its grip on her breasts and pulls out from under her bra. Cadence falls to the floor, unable to support herself on her unresponsive legs. The creature that grabbed her is still here, lurking in a dark corner of the room. She can feel it watching her, but can’t bring herself to turn around. She knows full well that seeing it will likely destroy the last vestiges of her sanity.

From close by comes the beep of buttons being pressed… from a cell phone!

Cadence hears a cheerful electronic sound, terribly out of place in this room, and sees the phone in her hand blink coldly. A new text message has arrived. She is powerless to stop herself from reading the characters on the screen.

Now she has her answer. The messages from Cherry’s phone were sent by the thing that just mauled her breast. “God…” Cadence curls into a tiny, sobbing ball, unable to raise her voice or even move. “Oh god… please save me…” The creature makes a burbling sound. Cadence somehow understands that it is laughing at her.

Something cold seizes Candence’s ankles, then travels up her legs until it has covered her entire lower body. Some primal female instinct tells her exactly what is going to happen. She will be raped, powerless to resist a fate worse than death. “Stop…” She pleads feebly, even though there is no hope that the inhuman creature will be merciful. “Please… not that…”

She hears its burbling laughter again. The thing is enjoying her sorrow – her despair. Cadence no longer has the strength to resist the monster on top of her. She is only able to shiver in revulsion as the cold, slimy thing covers her body. Her sight grows dim as her mind sinks deeper and deeper into a black, swamp-like abyss. Her breasts are toyed with, her nipples are sucked on, and a weight pushes itself between her legs – but it all seems to be happening far away.

Though her mind is now barely functioning, Cadence hears a voice whisper to her inside her head. It is a voice of a young girl, sweet and sinister, with the cruel innocence of a child gleefully plucking the wings from butterflies.

The soft voice is a stark contrast to the unyielding strength that drives irresistibly into Cadence’s core. The pain is sharp and savage, greater than anything she has ever felt before. It should be unbearable, but there is no longer enough left of Cadence’s mind to recognize it as pain.

Oh…

While she stares blankly at the thing slithering deeper and deeper into her body, an idle thought floats through her fading consciousness.

In his deep sleep while in bed of the school infirmary, Icy Lance suddenly woke up in cold sweat. He doesn’t know why, but he has this feeling of something terrible had happened.

“Are you awake?” Chrome’s voice called out from the other side of the curtains, her silhouette is clearly seen.

“Y-yeah… I must have dozed off.” Icy said, rubbing his back neck. Icy was doing research about Shining’s condition. All he found out, was his mind is kind of, reprogrammed. Some of the details were classified, and cannot be shown to others other than Chrome.

“You’ve been up all night… not surprising if you slept during your reading.” Chrome stood up from her desk and went over to him, tossing Icy a bag of chips.

Icy looks at the chips and tilts his head. “What is this, snacks?”

“That’s dinner.” Chrome said, as she goes back to her desk, looking over some more documents.

At that point, Icy looks at his wrist watch and didn’t realize that it was almost eight in the evening. He went at the university at around seven in the morning to ask about Shining Armor, and yet he slept here for about ten hours. He must have been really tired from reading several of Shining Armor’s medical reports. “That’s nice… Isn’t there anything else to eat?”

“Sorry, that’s what I currently have here.” The doctor munches on a bag of potato chips. Never would Icy have imagined that a doctor like Chrome would settle for just mere chips, and not a full course dinner. Something healthy and notorious, not junk food.

With no other choice, Icy ate the only thing he got. “Well, what do we do about these now?” He points to the stack of papers next to him.
“Let’s pack it in for the night,” Chrome simply said and files the papers to the cabinet. “We’ll continue this next time.”

“Right… and what about Shining Armor?”

Chrome looks at him, and then said. “There’s nothing much to know about his condition at the moment… I need to know more to see if my hunch about his condition is true.”

“And what hunch is that?”

“That’s for me to find out and for you to know later.” Chrome took her car keys from the drawer then steps out of the office. “You better head home; I’ll call you if there’s anything new.”

After which, Chrome leaves as Icy sat there for a while, thinking about his friend. How could he help him? What was wrong with him? With enough problems he accumulated today, he can’t think straight despite having slept for ten hours. He decided to go home and have his mind at ease before retiring to bed again…