Chapter Text
Charlie's car was one hell of a fucking beater. The back right door was duct taped shut, the headlights were cracked, and his blinkers only worked about 50% of the time. The seats were ripped, the windshield cracked, the AC broken, and he couldn't remember the last time he had gotten the oil changed. He kept it, though, because it was his. His and Tommy's. He, Charlie, who was sat in his fucked up old car, parked in front of a middle school at 12 PM on a Friday, and Tommy, his little not-quite-brother who had gone missing over two months ago, from the very school he was watching, at 12 PM on a Wednesday.
"Fucking stupid," Charlie muttered to himself, glaring at the newspaper in his hands like he could intimidate it into giving him answers. The situation really was stupid, though. For almost three months, kids had been disappearing around the school, and for almost three months, there had been no leads. "During lunch, too! On pizza day! Tom would not miss pizza day! " Charlie tossed the newspaper on the passenger seat and got out, slamming the door hard enough that he worried the handle would break again.
He snatched a brick up as he walked to the doors, trying to do anything but think about how much shit he'd be in for breaking and entering, and what could possibly be happening to Tom. He turned his flashlight on, shining it at the blue doors. They had large red apples painted on them, one on each. Weird. Charlie didn't remember those being there. Whatever. He tossed the brick through the windows, then reached in to unlock it.
"You'd think they'd have better security. Kinda lame. No wonder they're going missing." He turned down the hall, towards the head office. "I can totally hack a computer. For sure." Charlie nodded to himself. He definitely could not hack a computer, and he knew that, but maybe he would get lucky. He took a right turn, then another, until finally reaching a door that read 'principal's' in bright white letters. He broke the window in with his brick, and stepped inside.
"Welcome to the ARC training program," Charlie did not scream at the voice coming from the tiny little T.V. in the corner of the room, why would anyone think that? "Our goal is to equip you with the knowledge and skills necessary to safely navigate the anomalous dimension known as the lambda superstructure," Charlie blinked. Literally what the fuck. What in the actual fuck. "Ok, so is the school just a fucking cult cover-up? 'Cause that seems like the most likely thing right now. Fuckin' Heaven's Gate type shit. "
"As you may know," continued the weird fuck-ass cult infomercial, "ARC is dedicated to exploring and mapping out the LAMBDA superstructure. This dimension can be a challenging environment," What was that supposed to mean? "And it's important to be aware of the signs that indicate the presence of entities." Great. Entities. Love that.
"If you encounter flickering lights, be aware that this may indicate the presence of an entity. In these situations-"
"Run? Hide? Scream? What in the actual shit am I watching?"
"-It's important to remain calm-"
"Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen."
"-And take precautions-"
"No, really? I wouldn't have guessed!"
"-To ensure your safety," It continued on, like it hadn't heard him. Charlie was very offended. "If you find yourself in a dark environment, be aware that this may also indicate the presence of an entity. It's important to always have a source of light with you, and to always remain focused and alert." No duh. Asshole.
"f you encounter a friendly looking animal, it's important to be cautious-" The screen turned to static — again, didn't scare him— cutting off whatever it was about to say. Perfect. Gotta love old-school tech. Very reliable.
Charlie turned around to face the rest of the office, the T.V. behind him continuing to be loud and obnoxious and stupid. He sighed and went to open the door, when-
"We wish you the best of luck in your journey. Stay safe, and always be prepared." This time, Charlie did scream. It was totally dignified, though. Very manly. He gave the T.V. the finger and turned back to the door.
"Stupid fuckin' weird ass, culty ass training video. Fuck you, bitch." Charlie opened the door.
And paused.
"Uh."
Blinked.
"What."
Rubbed his eyes.
"That's…"
Took his glasses off. Wiped them on his shirt. Put them back on. Nope. That didn't help.
"Huh," He blinked again. "Ok. So. That is… not… normal."
Charlie was in a hallway, in what was obviously still a school. It had white tile floors, white brick walls, those weird ceiling panels that only ever seem to be used in schools and dreary office buildings, and gray lockers. It just… wasn't the hallway he had been in before.
It felt… odd. Familiar, almost. Like he had seen it before. But that couldn't be right, Charlie would have remembered it.
It felt distinctly wrong.
"Yeah, ok, I'm out." He turned on his heel back to the exit. He shouldn't have come here. Why did he think this was a good idea? Sure, he missed Tommy, he was basically Charlie's brother, but did he really think he could find him on his own?
"Absolutely fuck this shit. Nuh uh. Screw this. Oh shit."
Charlie was back at the front doors. The ones with the apples on it. There were more apples, lots more, they covered the entire door, now. But that wasn't the problem, not really. The problem was the window. The one he had broken. With the brick. The window he had broken with the brick, so that he could unlock the door and get inside. The window that was no longer broken.
"Ok… " He tried the handle. It didn't work. He hadn't thought it would. Even if it did, though, it wouldn't matter, because, through the window, the one that was decidedly not broken anymore, was a wall. A whole fucking wall. Made of bricks. "Did I miss a sign for the world's fastest brick laying competition?" He did not giggle at his own joke, that's not what he does, but if he did, it wouldn't be high and anxious. "Mother fucker."
He was trapped.