Imagined Away

[CG]

Chapter 3: Help

Goo finally began to feel the cold night air once Mac had left. The noises still continued to fill the night air from within the bathhouse, accompanied by the sounds of feet against the floorboards. She waited a few moments before gritting her teeth, and crawled on her hands and knees to where the doorway was. It was a small door, a good thing she was on her knees or she wouldn't fit. Opening it inwards she stuck her head out. The stairs were far more dangerous looking then she had suspected. Here and there cement blocks hung out from the wall, and linking them together was aged wooden stairs. She whined.

"Now that's an accident just waiting to happen." she thought, but what else could so do? Wait here to be found? Oh no. She crawled out into the even harsher cold air, which whipped her three braids around upon her head, and shut the door behind her. Very slowly she forced herself onto her feet, the wind being so strong it could probably blow her over the side and that would put an abrupt end to this story wouldn't it? For it was quite a drop to the rocky floor below.

Keeping one hand to the wall Goo began slowly making her way down the steps, one at a time. She knew if she kept this up she'd be doing this for days, but she'd rather be careful then reckless. But it seemed even being careful wasn't enough, since as soon as she settled on her fifteenth step did it suddenly break beneath her. Goo screamed, and continued to scream as her yellow cowboy boots carried her down the flights of stairs so fast she could have flew if she flapped her arms hard enough. But instead, a wall broke her fall and she slammed into it. After a few moments of pained silence (and checking to see if her nose was broken) Goo walked around the corner she had run into, and saw a door. It was deep read with the words 'Boiler Room' scrawled across it in black paint. This was a long time ago, for the paint and door was weathered and old.

Pushing the door open Goo stuck her head through the opened crack, to see a whole lot of pipes taking up majority of the hallway that greeted her. It was hot and humid inside, caused by the steam that was escaping the tight confines of the pipes every now and then. Beyond the pipes was a door way which revealed a large room. The only visible thing so far was drawers upon drawers stacked against the wall she could see, and a large shadow being displayed. The only sound was a cranking sound and mixed in with that was a roar of a fire.

Goo continued on past the pipes, careful so she wouldn't be burnt by the steam. Finally she came to the large room and sneaked a peek inside it. Indeed, drawers covered one entire wall of the whole room; the inside was a drop out though. A step down from the wooden floorboards you found a dirt ground that was empty. The wall opposite the drawers was a massive boiler, taking up the entire wall. Its size was monstrous, and it looked like an angry face that spewed fire whenever it's 'mouth' would open. This is where the coals would go. But the thing that caught her attention the most wasn’t' the boiler, or the room, or the small bed that took up a corner of the room.

It was the boiler 'man'. Mac had mentioned his name, what was it again... Wilt. He was crouched on a big wooden crate, designed to be a permanent seat for the, uh. Man. Along side it were three large jars, one of which was being used as a foot rest for the biggest foot Goo had ever seen. The leg connected to the foot was so skinny, and so long it went forward for quite sometime before finding its knee, and doubled back into the tiny body which Wilt held. His head was bigger then his torso and his eyes balanced atop stalks like a snail's. One was open and staring down at his work; the other eyestalk had been mangled long ago and left to reside in a bent shape, the eye small and dead. His face was a wonder to explain as well, it was like folds and frills at the same time on either side of his face. Another thing that caught her eye was one of his arms was amputated. The other one (and seemingly only one) was busy grinding something into powder. And to top it all off, besides being naked (don't worry he didn't seem to have anything that needed covering up), one armed, one eyed, scarred and long limbed; his skin was blood red.

Goo took a few cautious steps back to gain her courage all over again. This wasn't what she was expecting; Mac said it was a boiler man! That thing wasn't a man, farthest thing from it! She took a few deep breaths, before finally walking through the door into the room.

Still Wilt continued working, and just as Goo was about to say something another arm suddenly appeared. Now, suddenly having three arms, Wilt's third one dipped down to the jars one of his feet was perched on. Said foot lifted itself and with it took the lid. Seemed his toes were opposable just like his hands. The third arm then buried itself in the contents of the jar before lifting back and dropping the coloured pieces of straw into the grinder he was using as his foot replaced the lid. The third arm vanished back into his lap.