Project Heartstrings

Knock knock knock knock

"Mmrgh" You glance over to your alarm.

Knock knock knock knock.

Well, I suppose only taking a look at the first number being seven on the clock was enough.

Knock knock knock knock.

"One second!", you yell.

The knocking ceases. You quickly get up out of bed. Just before leaving out your bedroom door, you look at the mirror beside the door. You're a wreck. You're still wearing the clothes from yesterday. And the day before. Going into your living room, you change into a more suitable appearance. Jeans and a long sleeve shirt. They were the first thing you found in your bag, and you had to get the door fast. Walking over to it, you wonder who it could be. A neighbor? You did tell your family where you would be living, but they lived up in Illinois, so you immediately doubted that.

You open the door, and are greeted by a man in a black suit. His buddy seems to be in the car, watching.

"Hi there... Can I help you two with something?" you ask.

The man in the car shifts lower to where he's out of your view. Was this guy wearing a mic?

"Yes you can. It seems you arrived a bit earlier when you were expected. And we seemed to be missing some..." He pauses to look down and to the left, "... equipment that we had lost here. We figured we didn't want to bother you, seeing how you had just now moved in. Give you a little time to settle in first."

"That seems a bit odd. Wouldn't someone normally consult the owner before he moved in?" you ask, out of curiosity.

"Yes, ah, we seemed to have some difficulties with double checking our storage before we were to be sure first."

"But... You just said-"

He cuts you off, "It was rather a mix in between the two. If it isn't too much to ask, may we search your home to gather our things?"

"What is it exactly you're looking for?"

He goes silent for a moment of thought, "Well, a certain animal has escaped-"

Your face suspends movement. You attempt to remove the layer of shock that remains upon it, but it seems the man notices before it leaves.

"You... wouldn't happen to have seen it, would you?" he asks suspiciously.

"N-not at all.", you stuttered.

"Well, may we have permission to search your home? Just to confirm it's not actually inside."

"Yes you... can... Could you give me a moment to put away my very personal belongings?

"Take all the time you need."

You shut the door, smiling at him. As soon as the door shuts, you panic. You glance outside. He motions his partner to leave the car. He turns around to face the house, and catches you looking. He stares back suspiciously. You quickly move your head out of their view.

Not good. Oh god what am I going to do?

There must be some sort of basement to hide Lyra here. Was there something in the description you read on this house. You run down the hallway, and inside your bedroom. You look in your closet for a trapdoor, up or down would be great.

Nothing. Shit.

You turn around and quickly begin to scoop up Lyra, her body shaking slightly at the sudden touch. Beginning to lift her up, you look out your bedroom window. One of them are looking inside at you, mouth agape.

FUCK.

You quickly turn around as he darts away, possibly to either find his other one, or to find another way in. You run out of the room, Lyra shaking, scared of what's happening out there. Running down the hall, the door is suddenly thrown upon by an outside source. You back up slowly, towards the end of the hall. You back makes contact with it.

That wall behind you makes a thump. A hollow thump sound.

Hollow.

You turn around, your front door on the verge of breaking. Backing up now. You go full force into the wall, using your side so you don't hurt Lyra.

BAM.

It's cracked. Very thin wall cover. Your front door is beginning to fall off it's frame. You back up again, and head on full force.

BAM.

Almost there. You back up once more, farther than the previous times. Your hope put into breaking it greater this time. Just as you begin making a run for the wall, you hear the front door's final blow. They're inside.

CRASH.

You're suddenly falling. You clutch Lyra in your hands, and quickly turn around in the air, making sure your back goes first into the ground.

God speed.

"... Ogh..."

Your eyes adjust to the light above you. A good 15, maybe 20 feet high. It must be the passage you fell through.

One of those two men are looking back at you. He equips his radio, and says something into it. He puts it away, looks behind him, and nods. He leaves the passageway opening, leaving you alone. You're not sure what you just triggered, but you know that they will make their way down there with you soon.

You attempt to make your way up.

CRICK

"AUGH... FUCK!"

Your back may as well have been broken. It's a miracle you could twist it just barely again. You move your arms around Lyra. They're both fine, but your right shoulder seems to hurt a bit. You move your legs. The right is close to fine, but the left, it has a sharp pain in the skin, and it feels the ankle is twisted. You lift Lyra, and place her down next to you, in order to get a closer look at the injuries.

"Oh... Oh sh..."

A strip of sharp wood pierces your left leg skin. Blood drips off of the tip. It's an inch thick.

You look above you. Vacant area. You've time, but not sure how long.

Looking back down towards the wood stake, you reach over to your leg, and grip it tight. You try to hold your breath in. Just keep steady flow through your nose. Not your mouth.You begin to pull the stake.It purges forth the pain of a thousand suns.

You stop, and notice you're breathing hard through your teeth now. Through the nose.

You pull again, and cannot hold it in. Your breathing becomes an increasing scream. You tilt your head up as it last, just begins to emerge.

SCHLK

Your vision 'bounces'. Screaming slowly ceases. It becomes more of a soft laughter.

"Heh Heh... hahh..."

You look down at your hand. From the amount of blood covering certain spots, it looked no more than two inches into your leg.

"God..."

You look around for a cloth to wrap it up in. Yet to no avail, there is none around. You take off your shirt, and wrap it up tight. Wiggling your ankle around a bit to check for any signs of it to be twisted. It hurts, but you must move forward. You stand up, leg shaking a bit. It's just now you notice the pile of wood covering the floor. You look up and see broken wood.

A broken staircase. Either they're going to attempt getting down here with help from a supporting mechanism, or... That seems to be the only way you can think of, actually.

You look down at Lyra. She's reaching out and waving around her hooves, as if looking for something. She needs to know you're alright. You kneel down, and scratch her side belly, and with that, her legs stop moving.

You turn around, and are met with a sort of old shack. Touching her stomach twice with your other hand, you hope that she'll get the idea you'll be leaving for a second, but you'll be back. You get back up on two legs, and begin to limp over to the table at the back of the basement.

When you arrive, you notice a small light bulb is above you. Reaching out for the string next to it, you activate it. It flickers a bit, but lights up, still giving off a small sizzling sound along with timely flickers. Nails scatter the table. Some old and pinned inside the wood, some still old and unused. A toolbox is to the left of the table. You reach out for it, and bring it to. Opening it, you're presented with several tools accommodating the inside of the box. You look down at the various tools. Nothing you could possibly use for now.

Maybe there's something under the table of use.

But when you glance under, nothing but a bit of dead leaves and grass. You begin to turn back around, when you notice the wall to the right of you have a square shaped oddity. Getting closer, you see it's a well blended in vent. Around 12" x 12". It's even got a handle, yet it's rusted shut.

Now, why would this need a handle? Possibly an exit?

You make your way back over to the toolbox, and begin to shuffle around inside, looking for a tool that could break open the vent. No crowbar. Although a hammer is brought out of the toolbox with your hand.

You hear clopping behind you. You turn around to find Lyra attempting to stand up. She's a bit wobbly, but accomplished it. She clops her two forehooves on the ground.

That must be her call for me.

You walk over to her, and begin to scratch the side of her belly. You place your hand on her back, indicating that you're staying with her right now. For safety, you kneel down and look at her belly.

Oh Christ, one of the cords are broken.

You're not sure if it helps keep her alive, or if it's just a cord for another useless function. No time. You just need to help her out to safety. You look back over at the grating, and tug her backside a little forward, motioning her along with you. She begins to follow slowly and carefully. You want her to take her time moving, due to her current state of mind. You and her move over to the vent, and when you arrive, you push her backside a bit. She obeys, and stops movement. You lift the hammer, and place it's rear of it in an open crack of the vent, and pull.

CRACK

You thought that would be harder. You rub Lyra's back, and rub her backside forward a bit. She proceeds with caution not to trip through the grating. About to proceed along with her, you notice something at the back left of the table you viewed earlier.

Oh god, is that a...

You put your hand on it, feeling it's bumpy texture. It sounds like it has a key chain attached...

"A grenade..."

Not positive you're going to need this later, but you pick it up and stick it in your back pocket. You hear the two hooves clop against the ground. Before you go through the grating, you turn to your right and turn off the light bulb.

FZZT

Sucker nearly burned out just as you pulled the cord. You turn around, head back towards the grating, and step through to a modern looking building. The lights are off, but you can just barely see around.

A hospital?

After closing the grating behind, you put your hand on Lyra's back to indicate you're here with her. You're in a somewhat hospital-esque designed hallway, with the lights shut off. But it's when you notice a cart off to the side of the hallway do you realize where you truly are. You're in a science laboratory.

This possibly could explain why my visitor is here.

You look to the left. To the right. Taking a random direction, you decide to push to your right. You tug Lyra's backside along with you. And you two plunge into the abyss.