The Crafthouse- Chapter 20

Instructions

Brightney glanced over at Astro. Poor guy. The moment he was found, Rodger started yelling at him for running away with Dandy. But, Astro had a different story. He said that Dandy persuaded him to help him escape through his dreams, only to knock him out and leave him on Floor 8. He told them that Dandy had only used him to get out of confinement, and Astro had no idea where he was now. But, whatever. At least he is alright. Boxten was looking genuinely terrified, or even traumatized, for the entire run. He didn't look that way before they started. Brusha had barely talked since she dropped off Tisha. Everyone seemed to be a wreck. Brightney sighed as they arrived on Floor 10. Floor 9 had been completely normal, so she hoped the same for this floor. As the doors opened, she immediately noticed Ichor dripping from the ceiling. She maneuvered around the large puddle it had created from dripping, nervous she would get stuck in it. The others followed her lead. "Ugh... This floor will be tricky to navigate." She heard Brusha groan as she went off down a hallway, avoiding other puddles that had formed. As Brightney looked around, she couldn't find any crafts or twisteds anywhere. She went back to the elevator, concluding that aside from the leakage, this floor was normal. As she came to the elevator, she noticed Astro hadn't moved one bit. "You alright?" She asked him. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I'm just... thinking." Astro responded. "Yeah, being betrayed by your best friend must be pretty rough..." She said, trying to be as nice as possible. Deep down, she kinda wanted him to actually help the team... "Mhmm. Yeah, really rough." He muttered bleakly. The others arrived back at the elevator. "The leakage seems to be the only problem, but that's out of our hands." Rodger reported. Toodles nodded in agreement. "Right then, let's go to the next floor." Sprout replied, hitting the button on the elevator. Since the elevator had nowhere to go, it arrived immediately. Everyone got in, and the doors slammed shut. "Say... I hope this next floor has some good loot. Maybe like that weird green substance me and Rodger found." Gigi remarked, chuckling to herself. "Ugh, don't even start. If we find another and it goes missing too, the rest of the team will call us insane." Rodger grumbled. The elevator arrived on floor 11. The doors opened up to reveal a blackout. Great. Brightney pulled the chain on the side of her head, turning on the lightbulb inside. As she looked around she saw more ichor dripping from the ceiling. This floor had a very high ceiling, and was huge in general. "Stay close to either me or Astro." Brightney told everyone. Rodger, Toodles, RnD, and Gigi decided to go with her, while Boxten, Brusha, and Sprout went with Astro. The small group walked along with Brightney. "I wonder what is on this floor! The largeness of it is amazing!" Razzle gasped. Dazzle just sighed. "(Nothing good, I bet. If anything, we could easily get stuck here.)" Brightney paused. She saw something suspended in the air in the distance. Nervously, she pulled out a glitter bomb just in case. Toodles gradually moved behind Rodger as they got closer to whatever it was. Gigi seemed to grow more worried. Then, a large claw shot up from the ground, grabbing Brightney and lifting her up into the air. She would have screamed, but it seemed as if the air was taken out of her as she stared at the familiar face in front of her. "What... no, it can't be you... What happened?!" She stammered. "BRIGHTNEY!" She heard Gigi scream from below her. But she couldn't respond. Staring back at her, hanging upside down, was Squirm. One of his eyes was gone and bleeding out ichor, while the other stared at her, glowing bright red. "You... It's you..." He seemed to get out through a screech. Brightney was at a loss for words. "I'm... Sorry." He continued. Brightney suddenly remembered what she was here for. Reluctantly, she ripped her arm from the claw's grip and threw the glitter bomb at Squirm's face. This made him let go of her, providing enough time for her to slide down the claw and back onto the ground. "Let's go!" She yelled to the others, running back to the elevator. None of them had any objections. She paused, staring back up at Squirm. How could he have ended up like this... "What are you doing, let's get out of here!" Rodger yelled, yanking her back to the elevator. RnD seemed to have disappeared, but only moments later she saw them running back with the other group. "We told them what had happened, so we can get out of here faster!" Razzle yelped as he pressed the elevator button. As the elevator arrived, they wasted no time getting into it and slamming the doors shut. Brightney couldn't talk. What she had just seen would never escape her memory.