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The door was cracked open slightly, which was somehow worse. It was a beckoning thing, a curious invitation.
Sora’s grip tightened on his flashlight, staring at those gray doors, the intimidating “STAFF ONLY, KEEP OUT” sign the only thing reminding Sora that this was a school. His school.
But he had to do this, didn’t he? Riku had disappeared down there three days ago, and no one had believed him. They all thought he ran away to some other town, but Sora knew that wasn’t true!
Riku was still down there… and Sora was going to find him.
With an anxious glance out into the darkened hallway behind him, Sora placed a hand on the door handle, creaking it open further. Behind it, the darkness loomed, the stairs and railing barely being visible in their descent into the dark.
With a flick of his hand, he turned on the flashlight. The darkness was sliced through by the beam, revealing the floor beyond the end of the stairs.
Huh. It wasn’t that deep, actually…
Carefully, Sora descended the steps, keeping his eyes trained on the illuminated area, making sure he didn’t lose his way.
The floor was a cold concrete, so cold he could kinda feel it through his shoes. A full body shiver raced through him as the cold air pricked his skin. Nothing to do but carry on…
His flashlight beam danced across the walls of grey brick, covered in places with weird stains. That’s probably bad, he thought, but carried on anyway because he needed to find Riku.
The hallway was so long that his flashlight beam wouldn’t go all the way down it, the light scattering against the dust in the air. But yet, there were no cobwebs on the ceiling, and the floors were mostly clean…
Soon, he came across a door in the wall. It was heavy, unmarked, and gray like the entrance door. And most importantly, it was unlocked.
With the flashlight trained on the hallway beyond, Sora used his other hand to open it. He cringed at the creak it emitted, but carried on, shoving the door open just enough for him to get through (and checking the knob on the other side to make sure he could get back out), and he slipped through, his shoulders brushing the edges of the gap.
The room on the other side was dark and quiet. Good.
He took a moment to scan it with his flashlight, catching his breath.
There was an empty, dusty shelf in there, with a folder resting on one of its shelves and a dog toy resting below it? It was shaped like a bone and looked unused.
“Ah!” He startled at a creak across the room, twisting around to shine his flashlight on another door, one he hadn’t noticed before. There was a moment of silence, then…
Bang! Bang bang bang!
“Aaaahhh!” He screamed as the door was hit from the other side, likely locked.
Silence falls again…
“Woof?”
That was, of course, very weird. It sounded like… like a human imitating a dog? Why would anyone do that?
“Hello?” Sora quietly called, tentatively approaching the door. “Is anyone there?”
The door creaked again, a subtle shifting as it settled back into its frame. There was a small gap at the bottom of the door, just enough that the flashlight caught the form of something standing on the other side.
There was a bolt on this door, a dial turned horizontal. With a hesitant hand, Sora clicked it back to vertical.
The door’s handle was the only thing between him and whatever was on the other side. But at this point… he was ready.
He was brave! He wasn’t afraid! He just needed to find Riku, that’s all!
Sora took a moment to take a deep breath, then pulled to door open as quick as he could.
There was a dog sitting on the other side.
Sora hadn’t really ever interacted with dogs. His mom didn’t have the time for any pets in the house, and none of Sora’s friends had any. All he’s seen were dogs with their owners at the park and dogs on TV.
But something about this dog unnerved him. Despite how it was banging on the door earlier, it was calmly seated in the doorway, staring at Sora.
It was nearly the height of his chest, only having to slightly raise its head to look into his eyes. It was a bit hard to tell in the dark, but its black fur seemed stained with dirt, and it was all matted and really, really thin.
Its snout was very, very long. So long it almost didn’t seem real. But that was a real dog? So what was unnerving about it?
The face. It was the face. It was expressive in a way that Sora’s never seen on a dog, let alone any animal.
The mouth was curled up in a slight smile, just shy of showing its fangs. The ears were perked up, and the eyes were strange, showing the whites by default and crinkling at the edges.
All in all, it reminded Sora of one of those creepy things from the internet Riku’d been telling him about during recess. But Sore couldn’t afford to be afraid now! No way!
He opened his mouth to say something, but the dog beat him to it.
“Gawrsh, you’re just a kid, aren’t ya?” The dog said, mouth unnervingly moving just like a human’s would to say those words.
Sora stared at the dog, silent with shock. “…yes?” He whispered, eyes trained on the dog.
“Well, do you plan on letting me outside?” The dog asked, ears straightening up. He sounded rather eager.
“I… sure, I guess I can. Do you know… um… if there have been any other kids like me down here recently?” Sora stepped to the side, motioning to let the dog pass by him.
The dog stood up, but didn’t start walking just yet. Instead, he gave Sora a guilty look. “Nothing like that, sorry. I’ve been stuck in this room for a long time and the man only visits once in a while.”
That piqued Sora’s interest. “The man?”
“Yep! The man who put me here! He’s real scary, so kids like you should avoid him.” The dog walked toward Sora, attempting to brush its head against his arm but Sora flinched back before any contact could be made.
That statement made Sora think, though, and a shiver went up his spine. “I think this man took Riku.”
The dog’s ears stood straight up. “Is that a friend of yours? Gawrsh, I’m sorry.” The dog turned and headed toward the door out into the hallway. “King Mickey might know where your friend is, if we can find him!”
“King Mickey?” Sora titled his head as he started to walk toward the door out to the hallway.
The dog followed behind him. “Yep! He’s the ruler of all the animals in the city! He stops by to visit me from time to time!”
“All of them? Even, like, the bugs?” Sora asked, placing his hand on the handle and gently opening the door, lighting up the hallway beyond it with his flashlight.
The dog gleefully trotted through the door. “Yep! I heard he once even brokered peace between the ant kingdoms in Square Park!”
Sora thoughts about that for a moment. Then nodded his head in acceptance. “He must be really smart. Where is he?”
The dog paused, looking down the hallway, turning his head to get a view of the other end once he’s done with the other one. Eventually, he said, “I don’t actually know. Whoops!” And placed a paw other his muzzle in faux embarrassment.
Sora quickly reoriented himself and pointed his flashlight down the hallway once more. It was still empty, but somehow it felt… warmer in here than before.
He started walking, and the dog followed him. There was silence for a while as Sora methodically scanned the hallway, searching for any hint of another door.
There was a strange noise from up ahead, an odd thumping noise. Like… footsteps?
As Sora’s flashlight illuminated the center of the hallway, the weak beam spread just barely making the shapes approaching understandable. Although: it was a very, very strange sight.
There was a duck running at full tilt toward them, body angled on that way birds do to make their running easier. In the spilt second of processing that Sora got, he could tell that this duck’s eyes were strange like the dog’s. But that moment soon passed as the duck took flight, smoothly perching on the dog’s back as if the duck was a much smaller bird.
The dog didn’t protest this, turning his head to look at the duck with friendly eyes. The duck didn’t seem amused.
“Floor it, Goofy!” The duck squawked, tapping the dog on the nose with one of his wings. “We’ve got one shot on escaping while the Guard Armor’s distracted!”
Sora had many questions. None of which would be answered promptly as the dog (Goofy?) abruptly turned back the way they came and booked it, disappearing into the dark.
He stood there for a moment, disappointedly watching them fade from sight. Well. Looks like he’d be going on his own…
There was a moment of silence before he heard, “Well, what’re ya waiting for? C’mon kid!” The dog briefly reappeared within the range of the flashlight, wagging his tail.
“Why are we leaving? Riku’s still down here!” He called, and the duck rolled its eyes at him.
“Look, kid,” the duck quacked, “there’s a lot of dangerous things down here and you’re definitely not prepared for them! Can you at the very least do magic?” The duck tilted its head at him, eyes fixed on him as he got closer.
Sora needed answers. But also… this place was still cold and dark. So maybe it would be better to talk in the light.
“No, I can’t.” He says, staring earnestly at the both of them. “But I’m not afraid of the dark! So will you tell me what’s down here?”
The duck sighed, “Yes, yes, just come on!”
Sora nodded and walked toward them, picking up the pace as the dog started running again. At some point, he became aware of a creaking, clanking noise echoing from behind them, but he was solely focused on keeping up and lighting the way, so he didn’t really care.
After a seeming eternity of running, they came upon those scary stairs, and the dog booked it up them, leaving Sora to slow down a little so as to not fall.
They didn’t seem as scary from the bottom, and as the open door at the top came into view, Sora felt a lot lighter than before. The beam of light seemed dimmer when it peeked through into the open space up there, and he felt… happy.
The door easily shut behind him, and nothing tried to open it after them.
Sora laughed as he caught his breath, sliding down to the floor as the dog went to sit beside him.
The duck was less relieved, “C’mon kid! We gotta get out of here! He could come back at any moment!”
Sora took a deep breath and asked, “Does he work here? The man?”
The duck tilted its head. “Sure.”
Sora stood up, keeping his eyes on the duck, thinking. And thinking. And then he gives that thought some more consideration.
Then he states, “Let’s go to my house, then! I’ve always wanted a dog!” He grins.
The dog wags its tail happily, “I’ve never been in a house before! My name’s Goofy!”
With a flutter of wings, the duck perches on Goofy’s back once again. “And I’m Donald. I surely hope you’ll also let me stay at your house! Well, not like you could stop a mage like me!”
Sora suddenly remembered that his mother probably wouldn’t like not one, but two animals. Eh, whatever. He is now friends with a talking dog and a talking duck! That’s awesome.
“I’m Sora, now let’s go home!” With that cheer, he walked into the hallway, lighting the way out.