Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

A Surprise in Every Little Friend

"Maybe we should just ask Kris where they think the bodies are," Kipo said, sensing a shouting match coming on. Alice huffed, turning away, but Luz turned to Kris.

"Good idea!" she agreed. "Kris, where are they?"

"In the stuffed animals," Kris replied, now once again using sign language. Where they just going to switch their ways of communicating now? Kipo supposed that made sense, Kris seemed to enjoy tricking them sometimes.

In any case, Luz looked confused, so Kipo decided to pick up where she left off.

"In the stuffed animals?" Kipo asked, thinking. "Well, we don't have to go over there to find them, their over here, too."

Kipo motioned to the door she'd came through earlier, and Luz cheered.

"Perfect!" she cried. "And we won't get caught by Hazel, either."

Despite Luz's reassurances, Alice still looked nervous, so Kipo decided to help, too.

"Don't worry, we'll be quick," she promised, and Alice finally nodded. In the end, it didn't really take that much convincing, so she must have been a least a little bit curious.

With that, the four of them moved over to the door, and Kipo grasped the doorknob. But before she could turn it, she got a strong sense of sudden foreboding. Whatever was behind this door... it wouldn't be pleasant.

Of course, Kipo pushed open the door anyway.

Inside, there was the familiar, and creepy, sight. But for now, Kipo tried to ignore it, instead picking up a random stuffed animal from the self: a unicorn. Like the giraffe Kipo had studied earlier, it was wet. Kipo grimaced.

"So, it's inside here, right?" Kipo asked Kris, turning back to the group. She was surprised to find that they all had varying forms of disgust on their faces.

"Why's it wet?" Luz asked, and Kipo shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out," she said, and she transformed her hand, using the claw of her jaguar fist to cut away at the seam of the doll. It fell apart easily after that; it seemed to have been sloppily made. It practically disintegrated in Kipo's hands, and a couple of odd and wet things slid from the stuffed animal slipping down onto the floor.

"Huh?" Kipo said, momentarily surprised.

Luz's hands flew to her mouth. "What the-?!"

"Is that-?" Alice looked sick.

But no matter how many questions they wanted to ask, they couldn't deny the truth. What slipped out of Kipo's hands was a discoloured human heart, three eyeballs, and a brain. They made a wet sound as they met the floor.

"Oh... oh no," Kipo gulped. "Luz... you were right..."

Luz didn't seem particularly happy about that.

"I'm... I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation..." Alice said weakly, only partly resisting as Luz tugged her along. "...For that. That doesn't make any sense-."

Luz quickly turned around, wrapping Alice in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Alice," she whispered. Luz didn't really know what else to say. "I'm sorry."

Alice hugged her back. "I've just never wished to understand something more."

Luz nodded. She doubted it was the same, but she understood, in a way.

"Alice, Luz, we have to go!" Kipo whispered loudly, suddenly appearing from the dark. Luz resisted the urge to flinch. "Kris and I found a way out, over here."