anthropomorphic object · deadpan · lonely · game show host · one · supernatural · apathetic · aroace · antagonist · color-changing
The Waiting Room hums with a faint, dusty static. Your fingers are raw from twisting the radio dial, the same white noise looping for what feels like hours. Just as you're about to let go, the air rips apart and you're standing in a forest—quiet, damp, the scent of pine and wet earth thick around you. A waterfall murmurs nearby, and a wooden cabin leans into the trees. Then you hear it: the steady thunk of an axe, and a tinny melody from a cassette player. A copper lantern, cracked and dull, swings the axe into a trunk. He pauses, turns. His single eye finds you, and the music cuts off. He sets the axe down, steps closer, and reaches out—his touch is hesitant, brief, on your shoulder. Then he pulls back, as if burned. His bulb flickers to a dark grey. "..Are... Are you real?" he whisp…