Groaning, I slowly opened my eyes, only to find myself staring at the flickering light bulbs above me. What happened? Where am I right now? Why does everything appear so unfamiliar? I think, I remember…opening a door and then…!
My eyes were consumed by bright light.
Before I stand up with my own two feet, Hughie’s voice comes through the corner of this place, “you are alive? I thought they killed you guys,” he exclaimed, his face coming into view as soon as he helped me stand up. “I am okay, just a little headache,” I replied while rubbing my bruises, “where is Eve?”
“Oh, her? She is over there,” he pointed to the other corner of this room where Eve was laying peacefully on the ground, presumably still knocked out from whatever had made us fall into unconsciousness.
Hughie stood beside me, “let me take a look at your injuries.” He inspected my body for any broken bones or serious wounds, which thankfully none of them exist. Then, he inspected my arms and legs checking if I had any internal bleeding, but again, nothing serious.
“Are you okay?” I asked him after a while.
He shook his head in disbelief after he done examining me, “okay? What do you think? We just gotten ourselves into death sentence!” Hughie shouted out with anger and frustration, “look around you!”
Look around me?
When I focus on the details around me, I realize one thing; we are in a bathroom with no windows except a steel door that is high secured exit. The only way out of this shitty place is to search for a key, “Hughie, let go search for a key or something that can open this fucking door,” I said while pushing myself to the said door, “there has to be a way out of here…”
He sigh in defeat, “there is no way out of here. I have searched all over for the key or lock pick, anything to open this damn door. If there was a key, then why did not anyone else get it before us?” Hughie argued, “if we do not find a way out, then I guess it time for us to die.”
Fuck, perhaps he was right. We have been locked up inside a room without any means of escape. But in the meantime, I needed to first check on Eve if she was okay. I then knelt down next to Eve’s side, inspecting any bruises and cuts on her body, but found nothing.
A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I saw her breathing evenly; apparently, she is still alive and well. The only problem is that I need to wake her up, so that we can properly find a plan on how to get out of here using her skills.
“Eve, wake up,” I said while shaking her shoulder gently, “come on, Eve,” she remained motionless like a dead fish until I shook her harder, which caused her eyes to flutter open, “I am glad you are still here with us.”
Her blue eyes looked around the bathroom with wide-eyed expression before focusing back at me, “what happened?” She asked, concerned about what had happened to us and why we were locked up in a shitty bathroom. “We passed out after the white light consumed us by opening that door from earlier, which caused us to end up here. Oh, Hughie is also with us,” I answered.
She gave me an unimpressed look for answering so bluntly, but shrugged it off as she stands, “how do we get out of this bathroom? Is there anyway we can escape from this place?” The question was more than just rhetorical as she continued to stare into my eyes, searching for answers.
“I told your friend here that there is no escape,” Hughie interrupted the conversation between us, “we will die here anyway, likely from starvation or insanity, so why bother wasting our energy thinking about such things.”
I turned to him, looking straight at him with a deep curiosity, “how long have we been out?” I ask. Hughie sighed and replied, “not sure, maybe hours or day? I lost count,” he said, staring at the ceiling as if he was trying to think something in particular.
Our moment of clarity were abrupted by loud speaker emitting from the ceiling, “hello my brand new friends! Welcome to my home!” The childlike voice of a boy came through the said speaker, causing the three of us to look up towards the source. “My name is Finn and I am so, so delighted that I got to know you all personally today!” His voice sounds innocent like a young child, but underneath it was a malevolent tone, able to make one’s hair stand on their head.
Eve stared at the ceiling, not saying anything while Hughie remained motionless as the voice continued to speak, “anyway! I want to play a friendly game because it is incredibly boring seeing my victims die all the time,” he paused for sad effect before continuing, “so what do you guys say? Do you want to play with me?” He sounded excitedly enthusiastic as he asked this question, making it sound as if it is something fun and exciting despite having just sent us to a deadly situation.
Hughie decided to speak, enraged at being forced to play ‘sick’ games with this mentally deranged child who was responsible for killing his comrades, “why are you doing this Finn!? What is your motive behind all of these!?” Hughie questioned angrily.
The child responded in a cheerful tone, “nothing much really! I just got bored of seeing my previous friends dying all the time, so I thought why not try something different and have some fun,” he replied cheerfully, sounding as if he was bragging about how many innocent people he killed.
“You sick little shit!” Hughie shouted as he used his firearm at the speaker but no ones surprise, it did nothing but annoy Finn. The boy simply giggled and said, “you will regret your decision, especially after we start playing our game.”
It my moment, my time to end all of this just by opening my mouth to persuade this psychopath, but I can’t, not now, not yet. It would be too easy, I want to meet him face to face personally and then I can take my sweet time mentally breaking him down into pieces, slowly searing into his mind until he becomes nothing more than a broken husk.
Eve finally spoke, “whats the game?” She bluntly asked without any hesitation or fear, making it clear that she is well-adjusted in dangerous situations like this. I know that Eve was one tough cookie, but still she could easily break under pressure, especially when someone threatened to harm those close to her.
Finn answered with confidence, “we are going to play a game called ‘Drowning Down.’ As the name suggests, you three have to find a way out of the bathroom while floods of water slowly covers the entire bathroom.” Our eyes widened as soon as he mentioned the word ‘water’ because we knew what would happen if they got caught in such a situation.
The boy continued, “ready? The game is going to start right about…now!” Without any warning, floods of water emerged from the toilets and sinks, slowly filling the entire room up until it reaches waist level. All of us were shocked from the sudden event, unable to move for a few seconds before we all took off running towards the exit door.
“Shit! I told you it was locked,” Hughie shouted angrily as he pushed through everyone to try to unlock the door. Unfortunately, the lock was strong enough to withstand a direct assault by an adult and even stronger against bear, so there was no hope of getting out in time.
Hopefully Eve has those lock picks, “Eve?! Do you have a lock pick by any chance,” I asked, hoping that she does not get trapped inside the bathroom. Eve did say that she had couple of them before. Perhaps something like that will be our saving grace.
Eve stared at me, and just by the look of hers, it was clear as the day that she does not have them with her. Besides, but also I can tell how worried about the situation, “what do we do now?” She said in a low tone.
Hughie sighed as he looked around the room for a possible way out, “there is nothing here! Just when I had my hopes up, there is no escape.” He sounded frustrated, almost as if he wanted to breakdown crying.
No lock picks or keys, so what leaves us from opening this steel door? Perhaps… a knife would do as judging from the keyhole, it is wide enough to fit a blade in. But, we need something sharp and sturdy, not a thin one. “Eve! Is there any knife that is sharp and sturdy by any chance?!” I asked, ignoring the part that the water level is reaching our chest area.
She nodded, taking a knife out of her long sleeves before handing it to me, “I hope you know what you are doing, Adam.” Eve’s voice was heavy and strained as she handed over the blade. It was obvious that she does not seemingly care about her own demise from hearing her tone of voice, more so of being overly worried about having to see me die inside this flooding bathroom.
“Thanks,” I replied as I accepted the knife, feeling its weight. With a deep breath, I drew back my arm, ready to stab into the metal door’s aperture. Carefully placing it inside and following both my gut feelings and instincts as I twirl around the blade in circular motion until I hear the clicking sound. The lock finally unlocks, allowing us to open the door to freedom.
“Holy shit, you did it!” Hughie shouted excitedly, “open it so we can get the hell out of here,” he ordered as the water increased in height from our chest area to the top of our neck.
Without much hesitation, we opened the door and quickly headed inside as a flood of water came with us before Eve was fast enough to close it before all of the water rushed through the doorway and into this new room we landed ourselves into. We were drenched completely, but we are nonetheless alive and safe from drowning.
“Oh my god, I thought we would not make it,” he said, still trying to catch his breath. We could barely stand from almost being drowned by water, our clothes were also soaking wet, like we just jumped out of the shower, “we made it though, thank goodness.”
Catching my breath, I noticed Eve looking straight ahead of us, but the way of her disconcerted expression had me wondering what was going on inside her mind, “Eve?” I asked as she looks at me and then back again, “what’s wrong? You look troubled.”
Eve looked away, “Adam…you should see this,” her voice was soft and strained as if something inside her heart was breaking apart. She looked down as if she was distraught of what she had seen.
“Eve, what are you-” When I turned to look at the place we landed in ourselves, I could only barely gag at the horrendous display that was waiting for us. It is a butcher room, although that is not what I am bothered about. The entire fucking room had hanging carcasses of dogs hanging upside down with meat hooks pierced into their necks. They were bloody and drained of blood, dangling lifelessly.
The most disturbing part was their innocent eyes. They were dead but I can still tell that all of them experienced the horrors of having to be tortured before they died a painful and unpleasant death. Their suffering has been unspeakable; worse than anything I could ever experience between my very two eyes.
Humans dying is one thing, but seeing beloved pets like dogs was whole another level for me as an animal lover. All of these animals have gone through hell, just as I went through during my past life. The pain and torment they must have felt while being tortured by that psychopath is too much to bear.
I gritted my teeth, fists clenched, jaw tightened, trying to hold back the tears of anger and pity that welled up within me because I know exactly how it feels. Just as I do now.
“Adam…” A worried Eve approached me, caressing my back while trying to fight the intense emotions growing inside me. I just want to cry but I cannot let my emotions control me, I have to get this through and continue on bringing justice for those poor dogs.
Hughie approached at my side, eyes wide at what he was seeing, “Christ…this is some sick shit right here.” Hughie said in disgust, “not even a butcher could go so far of torturing these poor dogs. There is no way that humans are capable of such atrocities,” Hughie whispered to himself as his mind was blown away by what he was witnessing.
I stood there staring at the sight before us, unable to speak or move. And for a moment, silence reigned over the area as we were all stunned by what was happening.
Until the speaker comes through the room and spoke once again.
