At long last, we ultimately reached the end of this long hallway, being greeted by open space of silent cafeteria with no more other possible entrances. We looked at each other with worried expressions as we slowly walked inside, trying not to draw any attention to ourselves.
The sight of the dining hall was surreal with empty tables scattered all over, chairs lying upside down and the kitchen doors were mess of spilled food all around. The place was covered with blood stains and even a few bodies laying around here and there.
“Christ, more bodies…” commented Smith, his eyes scanning the area. We cautiously stepped further inside and stopped once we saw a trapdoor leading to a secret underground area that goes down. It appeared like the only way to go.
In a flash, our stomachs growled loudly, reminding us that we have not eaten anything for gods how long. “There is possibly food there,” remarked Smith with his nose twitching as he pointed at the kitchen. “Let us go check it out,” he added.
Despite the bodies and spilled food everywhere, the undying demand of hunger won and compelled me to follow him. “Yes, let us go!” I agreed as I followed him without much thought, knowing deep down there was a chance of being caught in a trap or worse, seeing expired food.
We carefully crept towards the kitchen, peeking at the entrance before moving ahead. There is a large amount of dried blood splattered across the floor and walls, making it hard for us to walk without stepping on them.
“Ugh, why is there so much blood in this dungeon?” I grumbled, grimacing as I took another step forward.Smith paused for a second, looking back to see if someone heard my voice. “I am sure this place has been used for a tedious time,” he replied, walking again.
As he said that, the sound of something dripping came from above. My eyes darting up, I noticed a slow waterfall flowing from each drip by the ceiling, falling directly onto the ground below with ponderous pace.
“Oh god, is that blood?”
Excitement grew onto Smith’s face, “no Adam, that is water.” He joyfully continued, “it has been long time since I seen clear water, most of the crap I eat were crawling insects and dirty water,” he laughed, “so yes, this is definitely good news for you and I. Let’s hurry up and grab as many supplies as possible while it still available,” he urged, “and don’t forget to place bucket where the water is dripping at,” Smith stated.
I nodded in agreement, “okay,” and walked away to find a bucket to catch the precious liquid.
“Hey, wait, Adam! Look at this,” shouted Smith, pointing at a wall.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It looks like a door, but it is not open, it must be locked or broken,” he answered, continuing to look at it. I joined him to take a closer look as he continued his lecture, “perhaps it is a storage room or another entrance,” suggested Smith, “but it does not appear to be in use. Perhaps it leads to a basement, or a tunnel, but it could also be nothing,” he shrugged.
I reminded him to lower his voice, stating, “we should not talk too loud, we might be spotted by them, remember? If they hear us shouting then they will know that we are here. We need to be quiet and quick,” I warned, “and be careful,” I added.
He shamefully apologized, “sorry Adam, I got carried away,” he sighed. “Anyway, I will look for food or anything editable around here. You find the bucket that we are going to fill with water and bring it over to me, okay?” he said.
I nodded in response and began searching for the bucket. After a few minutes of wandering around, I finally found the container. It looked as though it had not been touched for decades and was covered with dust and cobwebs.
“Gross,” I mumbled, grabbing the bucket and heading back to the source of the water dripping from the ceiling before placing it beneath the stream. Sullenly disappointed of learning the fact that it would take nearly forever to fill up the bucket with the slow drips of water from the ceiling, I stood there, watching the drops fall, slowly filling the vessel.
On the other side of the coin, Smith came up to me with a handful of two closed ordinary metal cans that contains something inside them, hopefully to quench our hungry stomachs that has been screaming for likely hours now.
“Here, eat this,” he said, handing one of them to me, “it is called MRE’s, it is military rations. They taste awful but they are edible and nutritious” Smith explained, resulting me to frown from his statement.
“How can we open them?” I questioned with growing anguish, for someone who knows what cans are; they are mostly required to use a can opener to be able to access its contents and eat them whole without risking getting cut by their sharp edges. “We do not even have a knife or a fork.” I complained.
He pulled out a small and sharpened rock from his yellow beard before stabbing it at the can, creating a small hole for him to suck the contents out of the can. “Do not worry about it,” He responded after finishing eating his own portion. “You can just make a small hole on any of the can with a sharp tool to suck the contents out, no need to make all that effort just to find the can opener,” he chuckled.
Oh, that answers my question.
“Here kid, have one in the house,” Smith threw the other closed can to me, “I will go ahead and keep looking around this area, I am sure there are more supplies in this place somewhere. You can go take a rest here while I do my thing.” He replied, giving me a pat on the shoulder.
“Thanks,” I smiled.
I watched when he walked off, sitting down on the nearby wall with my back leaning against the dark concrete block. My mind wandered while thinking of how much longer will they kept being stuck in this place.
The sounds of water slowly dripping to the bucket from the ceiling is like a lullaby to soothe my restless soul. It felt good hearing the sound of rain falling outside. The pitter patter of raindrops against the bucket’s interior surface sounded comforting and relaxing to ears.
It was too comfortable…and hypnotizing to the degree of causing all my full attention to be focused solely onto this monotonous and soothing noise. Every drip of the water echoed throughout the room in a constant rhythm, keeping a steady beat that is so calming and mesmerizing to the senses.
As if by instinct, my eyes shut to enjoy the gentle flow of the liquid, letting the darkness of the room engulf my vision. Within my blink, sight was gone as well. All that existed was the sweet rhythm and lullaby from gentle drips of liquid entering inside my ears.
My mind wasted no time compensating for the lack of activity from doing nothing. Patterns and faces and colors came and went in my mind’s eye. Many different shapes and figures filled in the black void of emptiness. Voices and different sounds I had never heard before had also come and gone. Some voices appeared familiar and others did not.
But none of these things mattered as nothing could hold my interest for long. In fact, the momentary escape from reality did not last for long as the rhythmic tapping of feet and light shuffling of movement drew closer to where I sat.
Like magic appearing before my eyes, the image of mommy’s face appeared in front of mine. Her presence had brightened the gloomy and boring feelings that carried me through this whole ordeal. However, something was off her face.
Lilith’s expression was…different to say the least. My consciousness imagined her to be a beautiful and kind lady, but my subconsciousness thought otherwise of her. Deciding to dwell my subconsciousness, that decision has changed everything I imagined her to be.
Once the face of the beautiful and even angelic face of Lilith was monstrous and twisted. With sharp teeth and fangs that jutted out of its mouth, alluring red eyes were morphed into darker and soulless orbs that glared at me. Its skin became pale white while its hair turned dark and sinister.
Her mouth opened, laughing wickedly at my very state of being with a voice sounding similar to a demon. Then another image appeared, the face of my abusive father grinning back at me. Conjoined with the image of Lilith, the duo delivered a much more demonic and horrendous laughter that made me sick to the stomach.
“Stop it…”
Yet they continued.
“Stop…”
Louder and louder, the sound of dripping water grew in intensity. It was not enough to drown their evil laugh, so Adam tried to cover his ears.
“Please stop…”
The never-ending laughter at him, sudden images of his father in the past abusing him in different painful ways flashed in his head. His heart raced. The pain felt like it was tearing apart his insides. He could not take it anymore.
“I SAID STOP!” I tearfully screamed at them, hoping that someone could hear me. They laughed harder, their mirthful and malicious giggling within my mind’s eye.
“Adam, Adam, Adam…!” Their laughter stopped, exchanged of chanting my name as one. They both mocked my name, “Adam, Adam, Adam!” the voices echoed in the air. Continuing to torment me without mercy.
“ADAM!”
The booming call of my name had caused me to open my eyes in swift pace, hoping to find the source, instead I was met face to face with worried Smith who was kneeling down at my level.
“You all right?” He asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” I groaned in pain, sluggishly standing up straight before taking a few minor steps forward. “You sure, you are fine?” Asked the still worried Smith.
“I am okay,” I assured. “Just give me a minute.”
I thought about the visualized faces of Lilith and my abusive father. Even if I try to forget about how I view them as, the subconsciousness mind of mine refuses to let go. My inner thoughts kept coming back to those two. Why did this happen? Is that how I really view them to be?
There is no mistake that I view father as being cruel and abusive towards me. But, there is something else that bothers me about his character. There is a part of father that is not bad, but a bit twisted. In his own way, I know that he still cares about me, right?
When it comes to Lilith though, the thought of seeing her like that beside the warm, gentle and kind woman she is was a shock to me. How is it possibly that the other side of me sees her in negative light, while I as myself view her to be the kind person she displays herself to be?
No matter how much I want to see her to be this perfect parent, there is still my ‘other side’ that does not agree with my own beliefs. It is as if the darkness inside of me wants to be freed from the chains of its own guilt.
It is so confusing and troubling to say the least.
“Come on, lets get you drink,” Smith said, heading towards the near-half full bucket of water, grabbing it from the ground as he gestured me to come over.
Knowing that I had no choice or else he would keep bothering me of his worried state, I strolled towards him before stopping within a few meters away. “First, you have to finish that can,” he pointed at the small metal container in my gripped hand, “and then you can this bucket.”
Wait, how do I open this-oh, I remember. I need his sharp rock or whatever it is supposed to be, “could I have that sharp rock you used to make a hole in your can?” I asked.
Smith gestured to me to give the can over to him, “give it to me kiddo, I will help you out with this one,” he replied in a soft tone. I then handed it over to him, watching him in curious display from the moment he pulled out his sharp rock from his beard again, stabbing it on the can.
“Enjoy,” he said as he pushed it back to me, handing it over for me to take it. “Thanks sir Smith,” I smiled while taking the can and sucking it all up from the hole he made. The taste of melted cheese and meat felt refreshing and satisfying, filling my stomach with the right amount of moisture.
“You are welcome,” he chuckled with a smile, “now go ahead and drink this bucket of water. You must be thirsty after all those walking we did today,” he added.
Can’t argue with that.
