The sweet release of darkness slowly disappeared, my eyelids carefully fluttered open as the dim sunlight shone upon the face of mine. It felt like it had been a long, long time since I opened my eyes. My mind appeared to be foggy. It was hard to think straight, to remember anything. Everything was a blur.
I could not recall much of what happened after I fell into deep slumber.
“Ugh, my head…” I muttered to myself. “What is this place?” I slowly stood up, examining my surroundings. There was nothing but a plain, dirty cell with a small window behind me that leads to the outside world. I then noticed a desk next to the bed with several papers scattered all over. One paper caught my attention as it was written with letters and numbers instead of words.
“A paper?” I said aloud, picking up the paper and inspecting it. “What is this?!” I exclaimed. It read “Adam, do not leave me, stay with me forever and forever until the light consumes us.” Written in the same black ink.
“No, no… this is not happening,” I shook the paper in disbelief, thoughts running through my mind. How did I get here? Why am I in a prison cell? And lastly, where is mommy?
“Mommy…” I remember the terrible screams of her brutally killing those two women. It must be a nightmare, yeah. Just the stress of the situation, the sudden and unexpected tragedy, the guilt. Perhaps the two women kidnapped me and mommy?
That would probably explain the situation I have landed myself into. Those two are crazy for trying to kidnap a kid, especially a child like me. But how come they did not kill me right away, then? I began to look around the room for any clues, hoping to find some sort of explanation or perhaps even a way out.
While the bar door requires a key to open it, perhaps there is a clip to unlock it, or something. There is nothing in the corner of the bed, desk and some papers. “W-what should I do?” I cannot stay here any longer. If I do, those two evil ladies might come to my cell and know who what.
Think Adam, think! There has to be a way to get out of this.
My concentration was interrupted by the sudden sounds of moving shackles near the bar of my cell, “huh,” I spun in motion to the source, causing me to jump in the back with cold sweat as a naked, malnourished and dirty man with a blonde beard and messy long hair is standing by the outside my bars.
He stared at me with a frightened expression, “Oh no, she kidnapped you too?” The man then let out a loud laugh before snapping it out, “I am s-sorry, it has been too long since someone had spoke with me,” he stuttered, “I am Smith,” he then held his hand out for me to shake it.
The man looks scary and creepy, but I should not judge on a person’s appearance, specially in situations like this. “Eww, your hands are dirty!” I scoffed at him, not wanting to shake his hand behind my bars.
Smith frowned as he pulled back his extended hand from the bars with a disappointment look on his face, “Sorry,” he apologized with that same disappointed tone. He then looked down to his feet, shuffling his weight side-to-side as he said, “I have not spoken in so many days since that..bitch seduced me and sent me here to be raped and tortured for god knows how long.”
Oh my god, that is horrible, “B-but what does this have to do with me?” I asked, “what can I exactly do to help you?” Innocently, I placed both of my hands against the cold metal of the iron bars that surrounded me.
“I-I need to get out of here, with someone, and you might be my assistance,” he replied, “please, I beg of you,” he begged as he shook the bars. “Okay, okay, but how can I get out of my cell anyway?”
Smith’s eyes widened as he stared at me with a creepy smile. His voice became excited and hurried as he started talking, “I have a key, key!” He pulled out a small hidden key from his hair as he continued to speak, “key for all of us, keys for all the doors, even the door for the master bedroom,” he paused as he put the key inside the lock and turned it.
The lock clicked open with a soft click.
“Key for-” Smith knelt on his floor, groaning in distress, “Jesus, I did it again…” huffing, as he rubbed his temples in frustration. “I am so sorry kid, it is just that the more we talk, the harder it gets to keep my insanity intact,” the man explained as he stood up, facing towards with grim asserting.
“If we are going to try to trust each other, I need to know your name kid first,” Smith told me, “so that way, I will remember who you are after we managed to get out of this mess together,” he added.
“My name is Adam,” I answered.
Smith delivered a sigh of relief as his lips curled up. “It is nice to have someone with me,” he commented, “it feels so empty and lonely being alone in this world, especially now,” he confessed, “I have seen so many of her unlucky victims being…” he paused for a moment, “never mind about that. Just follow me kid and stay close, we do not know if that crazy bitch is still around here.”
I have so many questions. One of them is why did those two women kidnap these men? And second, why should I trust him and where are we? Hmm, I will go for the second question instead.
“Why should I trust you and where exactly are we?” I questioned, “you appear to be a strange person, and numerous things about you appear to be off,” I said as I looked back at the room.
“You are right,” he admitted, “I am a very strange person of how I am currently acting, but you have to trust me kid or else, she will come back to your cell and do something much worse than you even imaginable.” Smith coldly answered with a tone of dread filling his voice.
Those two psychopaths! I never realized how insane and depraved they were!
“I..see. If that is how we can successfully escape this situation, then fine,” I replied cautiously. Smith nodded my answer as his face softened a bit in a smile before turning away and heading down the hall, where there stacks of cells in every corner.
“Wait Smith! Where are we anyway?” The last question escaped my mouth as I followed behind his footsteps, causing the man to stop as he turned around, looking straight into my eyes.
“We are in a dungeon of some kind,” he stated plainly, “and that is the key to our freedom,” Smith gestured me the small key that opened my cell door.
How is a single key going to unlock every door here?
“Um, sir. How is that key will help us unlock the rest of the doors?” I said, confused of how the man knew where to find the keys to every lock. He chuckled at my response, “This is not the normal key for a lock. It is the key for the security system in this prison of sorts. The same one used to open all of the other cells,” he explained.
Oh, I do not know any of what that means but whatever. It is better than nothing, “sure? But I need to find mommy first sir Smith,” I asked, hoping that he might be able to tell me more about her whereabouts. Smith merely stared at me with no expression, his blank stare continuously piercing through mine before snapping out of it once again, “s-sorry. You mean that you have someone that got kidnapped here too?” He stammered.
That was weird and creepy, although Smith did tell me that he was going crazy after seeing his prolonged isolation and torture from those two women, so it was not that surprising that he did not even notice the fact that I was talking about mommy.
“Yeah, we need to save her too!” I exclaimed loudly, causing him to shush me in an angry tone of gesture, his furrowed brows indicating anger and frustration. “For the love of, keep it down kid. We do not want that lunatic to hear that we are here,” he whispered, hoping that I understand his predicament.
Nodding, I continued our conversation from before, “we are going to save her right?” I inquired. Smith sighed in exasperation, “Fine, but we will do that later okay? Just follow me and do as I say. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Do whatever I ask and we will get out of this place,” he ordered sternly.
“But I-“
“No buts, just do it,” he snapped, cutting me off.
I should just follow what he says, but the everlasting dread that mommy is locked in a rotten cell somewhere, being tortured and abused by those cruel monsters is too much for me. Getting out of here and asking the rest of the villagers to rescue mommy is the only option left now.
But would they even rescue her? Would they? I am not sure. Mommy said that no one deserves my affection and love, so why should I show trust to the man in front of me? Maybe he is lying, maybe he is telling the truth. Whatever it is, it does not really matter anymore as I have other plans for rescuing her, whether Smith likes it or not.
“Okay, I am in sir Smith,” I announced, feeling a little bit relieved and nervous of telling half-truth towards this strange and scary looking man as he looked at me, his eyes glazed over, his gaze focused and staring straight ahead, his face pale and lifeless visage staring in my souls as he was judging me if I am lying or going to betray his trust.
“Good,” he replied, his voice now returned to normal with a hint of suspicion behind his tone. “let us go and make as little noise as possible, okay?” he instructed as we strolled and cautiously to the darkened hallway of the dungeon, his back turned to the door as he led me to the unknown. “Keep your head low and stay close behind me,” he warned as he continued to step forward, his feet crunching the dirty concrete floor.
It is dark and cold inside this eerie prison, the air is stale and dusty. The only source of light is coming from small windows from the inside of each row of cells on either side of us. It is nearly pitch black far away from our current sight, so it is hard to tell how far away the exit is or even the size of the space.
The ground is covered with dirt, dust, and trash. There are many kinds of garbage scattered everywhere, including old clothes, broken bottles, food, and even used needles. There are also many rats scurrying about the place.
“Don’t move,” Smith abrupted, his hand suddenly holding onto my right arm and pulling me towards near him, “there is two lights up ahead that leads both the right and left at the end of this prison hallway.” He then proceeded to whisper, “remember to stay quiet and slowly walk behind me, alright Adam?”
“Yes,” I whispered as I pursued behind his footsteps as he walked carefully and silently down the long corridor. We passed by many rows of cells as we moved closer to the end of the hall and finally came across the two dim lights that he mentioned earlier.
Two opposite hallways in the left and right that lead to somewhere in this dungeon, but the problem is in which direction should they go? I want to find mommy first, but it is better to follow his orders and get used to this place. Perhaps we will eventually find her?!
“On the right kid, we go to the right,” Smith said, gesturing on the specific hallway with his finger. However, I wanted to ask why he thinks that is the correct direction, “why do you think that is Smith?”
A smile crossed his lips, “you know what they say, right is always right.”
