Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 336. Cornered

This room should be Henrietta’s counterpart.

Because she knows my name, and because the voice sounded female, although that shouldn’t be an indicator for recognizing counterparts.

But was it my name? Because of the way she screamed it, it sounded more like Kenneth instead of Kennith—it sounded the same way the people around the giant had called him.

I was still lying on Henry and got crushed in his arms, his body flinching when hearing her call the name that was so similar to mine, when the next moment, we heard debris fall.

We both turned our heads rapidly to the source of the sound and saw something long and black reaching out of the wall at the other side of the room, right above the spot Henrietta was leaning unconsciously, unsuspecting of the danger above her.

Henry jumped up with me and pushed me into the corner to the child, who was silently crying rivers out of fear, before he grabbed the gun on the floor and took a fighting stance in front of us.

Now the girl was behind me and Henry in front of me, covering us with his body while aiming the gun at the black thing that started to dig its way out of the wall.

He shot at whatever this was, but the bullets fell on the ground—no bang, no sound, no speed, no injuries, no hit.

After what turned out to be a long and skinny arm, there followed another, before an even longer leg came, then another, and a body emerged, fully in black, as tall as the room, even with her back hunched forward in a humpback, as she leaned down to Henrietta.

The walls and ceiling started to enclose us with a faster speed—still slow, but it was now visible to the naked eye.

If this continued, then we would end up with a room the size of a coffin, which I wasn’t really eager to experience again.

"Can you heeeear me?"

The short, skinny body closed in on Henrietta, the unnaturally long stork-like legs bending down as she repeated her nonsensical questions.

Bullets were gathering on the floor around the body, and Henry eventually stopped shooting.

I leaned against the little girl, and she gripped my clothes in fear, while one of my hands burrowed into Henry’s arm in fear that he would rush out and fight that thing; my other hand reached back to hold the wrist of the kid, to give silent comfort.

In the worst case, I will somehow activate the giant’s power and get rid of the collar, simultaneously crashing my psychological support.

But we don’t have the worst case yet... I think?

"I can hear youuuu!"

The figure continued, fully enveloping Henrietta with the short body but long extremities, just like a spider, and we had additional endlessly wet, long, black, seaweed-like hair to appreciate.

"You don’t have to speak~"

The singsong continued. The Slenderspider, meanwhile, spoke directly into Henrietta’s ear as if she had to convey a very important matter.

"I can understand youuu~"

Henry and I watched in horror as this psychotic monologue camouflaged as a conversation continued.

"Is he with you?"

No. Something is strange.

Is this thing talking to the unconscious Henrietta? Can they communicate?

Does this thing even have a consciousness?

Why does the Slenderspider look similar to the way I pictured her?

Could it be that the room counterparts act in a similar fashion to the crystalline counterparts?

"I am searching for someone~"

What the fuck is going on?

"Keeenneeeth!"

Henry let out a sound that was like an animal, like the sound of a monster, similar to a snarl.

No... this was a conversation, but it wasn’t happening in this moment.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to test my theory, adopting the same singsong voice that thing used.

"Henrietta number foooouuurr~~"

There was a pin-drop silence, Henry putting more weight against me as he pressed me into the corner, just to shield me if that thing attacked; at the same time, the monster froze, not continuing to speak.

"Henrietta number fourrr~" I repeated, my voice the only sound in this jarring silence, while the kid behind me pulled on my clothes with even more despair.

"What are you doing?" Henry growled as quietly as possible.

"Henriettaaa~ Numbeeer~ Fouuur~" I repeated, without answering him.

The Slenderwoman moved, slowly, painfully slowly again, as she started to raise her body, still with her back to us.

Fuck, don’t ever turn around, please!

But I had a feeling, and my feeling was always right.

"Heenrietttaaanuuummmberrfoooouuur~"

Henry leaned so much against us that he wasn’t really standing anymore but half lying, as if he wished to become a tent under which we could receive safety.

The Slenderwoman eventually stood tall, and that was when she started to turn around.

Nonononononono.

I closed my eyes, feeling my heartbeat, the shaking hands of the girl who was nearly squished to death between Henry’s body and my own, and the rapid heartbeat of my brave dog.

I think the three of us aren’t good with ghosts; fuck, nobody was good with things you couldn’t shoot at and were locked in together inside a closed space that constantly got smaller.

Right before I closed my eyes—oh my fucking god, I will never open them again—I saw that the wall had nearly reached the spot where Henrietta lay; the ceiling was also way too low—no fucking wonder that thing had a hunched back.

I heard Henry let out another low growl, and I knew that thing must be facing us now.

But fuck, I am not going to take a look.

I pressed my face into Henry’s back and waited for the monster to repeat what I had said.

"Henrietta number four~"

I broke into a chuckle.

"She just repeats what she has heard. This thing shouldn’t be dangerous; it’s like the crystalline figures, just resonating." If we asked it nicely to stop downsizing the room and pleaded to get the door back, there was a possibility it would just give us what we wanted.

I was somehow relieved.

"So the Giant’s Henrietta started to contact her counterparts because she was searching for the giant? What the hell? She didn’t contact them because she was warning them about the layers?" Maybe the information about the layers was part of the message, but all in all, this was just an attempt to scout out the giant’s location.

What this Room-Counterpart repeated were the words either one of the Henriettas had passed on through their ability to make contact with each other, or it came directly from the Giant’s Henrietta, Emily.

The Slenderwoman said until now: Can you hear me?; I can hear you; You don’t have to speak (which probably meant this room hadn’t been able to speak); I can understand you (meaning she could understand the Room-Counterpart even without it using language); Is he with you?; I am searching for him; Kenneth; etc.

The Slenderwoman just repeated what someone said to it, who knows how long ago.

Counterpart attraction somehow got us into this room; maybe the rooms can even move, who the fuck knows? Then the thing maybe recognized me; I don’t know. It remembers what had been told and got me separated into a secure place to keep me from the person searching for ’me.’

After ’losing’ me, her attention now had turned on her counterpart instead of me, aka, the unconscious Henrietta that would soon be swept to our side of the room by the incoming walls.

Okay, this all makes sense now, more or less.

...

...

...

Ah.

What did I just say?

No, I can’t recall the exact words I just said out loud.

No way.

No... Henry wouldn’t understand what had happened back then because of my words, would he?

He wouldn’t discover that everything had started with the giant, would he?

Ah.

But I told him about the boy who fell and was then able to see the layers... I told him that the giant was once a human of normal size... and what have I just said?

"Henry?" I asked a bit too loud, a bit too raspy, feeling my body freeze, my heart slowing down, and I think I heard a slight ’crack’ inside my mind.

"Heenrieetta nuumber foouur~"

The Slenderwoman repeated again, moving closer to us, but she didn’t seem as scary anymore, not as threatening as I tried to think about the words I had just spoken out loud.

I can’t remember; it was something about the Giant’s Henrietta contacting her counterparts, but what were my exact words? —FUCK, what did I just say???

WhatdidIjustsaywhatdidIjustsaywhatdidIjustsay?

Fuck, I can’t remember.

I could hear the walls move; the speed must have accelerated again. I could feel the ceiling awfully close, but I didn’t care, didn’t give a fuck if we got squeezed into a coffin, as my thoughts raced and I just wanted to know what I had just said.

I JUST HAD TO OPEN MY DAMN MOUTH.

FUCK.

WHY DIDN’T I PAY ATTENTION TO MY WORDS???

I heard another ’CRACK’ inside the back of my mind, and I started to hyperventilate.

There is no air here, but funnily, there was enough air inside the wall coffin just now, wasn’t there? Why is that? It doesn’t even make sense.

WHY IS THERE NO FUCKING AIR WHEN THIS ROOM IS BIGGER THAN THE COFFIN?

No...

It’s because I am not alone.

Are they stealing it from me? My precious air, MY OXYGEN?

Henry knows; I know he does. I CAN FEEL IT.

HE KNOWS, AND HE IS STEALING MY AIR BECAUSE HE WANTS TO KILL ME.

HE KNOWS I KILLED HIS PARENTS, AND NOW HE WANTS TO SUFFOCATE ME TO DEATH TO GET HIS REVENGE.

"KENNY!" Henry roared, and I snapped back, feeling dazed and like vomiting.

"Ah." The walls were still one and a half meters away from us, but the ceiling was now right above Henry; he had let go of the gun, and while still shielding us and leaning against us, he tried to stop the ceiling from coming closer with his bare hands.

"Ah." I repeated. I had opened my eyes without even noticing it, and when I turned to look over Henry’s shoulder at the Spiderwoman, I found that she had hunched down to our height with the ceiling being so low and that she was only a meter away from us.

Hair covered her face, but there was something behind that black seaweed-like hair that was looking, that was watching.

"I can see you." I mumbled, still in a daze from the fear and terror of having exposed myself.

From the helplessness and emptiness, from the question of how I should continue to live if Henry would abandon me.

And she answered, the same voice, the same tone; she was really just resonating with whatever she confronted, yet it still chilled my already numb body further when I heard her repeat after me.

Maybe understanding what she was saying, maybe not.

"I can seeee youuuu~"