Darkness Dissolves When the Door Opens

Idea

1943

Two days later, Glenn’s body was carried out by a Japanese guard. But the stink of corpse already defiled the whole dungeon.

Unlike Rake, Glenn’s body was displayed in front of Jules for such a long moment. He was a bit angry at being not able to see Rake one last time, but after experiencing Glenn’s loss, Jules started to appreciate that fact.

“I can’t stand this anymore,” Hal murmured after the guard slammed the dungeon’s door behind him and locked it. “I can’t stand another week in this shit’s creek. We have to try to escape, and if we die, we’ll die trying, not surrendering to our enemy like cowards.”

“I agree with you,” John commented. “If we don’t try to escape, all of us will die anyway, but our deaths would be pointless.”

“No one will rescue us, so we have to try it ourselves. That radio statement thing, I think it’s all bullshit to keep us standing.” Hal said. “We have to rely on ourselves.”

“Yes, that’s true. There’s no way someone will risk their lives for us miserable ponies. We must escape by ourselves. When we got out, I really want to stab that fat motherfucker they call corporal,” Asher blasted the area with hatred.

“And how do you guys plan to do that?”

Everyone was silent after Jai. Theory was easier to come up than reality. There might be casualties, or they would fail miserably and all of them would die, but there was nothing worth living anymore anyway. Still, those iron bars were in their way.

“What do you think, Jules?”

Just like that, everyone’s eyes swung to Jules. But Jules wasn’t doing anything. He was, again, brushing the hair of his sister’s doll. He was crumpled above his plank, looking like shit, and he started to talk, but it was to the doll.

Hal shook his head. “He’s helpless.”

“I think he’s rather mental now,” Blake agreed.

“Give ‘em a break. He lost so many people.”

“I lost so many people too, John, but I can still focus,” Asher said.

“We have different traumas. It’s not you who know Jules’ own self, but it’s himself.”

“But we can’t escape with him like that. He’ll be a burden.”

“Have he ever been a burden to you, Asher? He saved a lot of our lives and without him, we couldn’t even escape Cortland’s field. If you want to leave him here, you should leave me too.”

“Fine. But if he gets in our way, I’ll shoot him myself.”

And Jules talked again, but yet, to his doll. He was praising its beautiful hair, and soothed it with his small fingers.

“You have the most beautiful hair ever, Ava. It is such amazement.”

“Dude, he’s beyond cured.’

“He lost his sister, his mother, and his best friends. What did you lose? Oh, yeah, you lost your hamster.”

“I didn’t lose anyone,” Jules suddenly talked. “They’re beyond my consciousness and they are waiting for me right now. Rake talks to me every day. Ava comments my look every second. It’s just how it is. But no, I’m not mental. I’m just an experienced guy. And I agree with you all about escaping this treacherous piece of shit place.”

Hal smiled. “Then enlighten us, Romeo. Come up with a plan.”

And Jules actually did. “I do have an idea.”

And they all finally agreed to use his plan to escape.

Himari stepped inside with one glance, and everyone’s breathes were taken aback. She was wearing her usual maid outfit. The guard looked at us one by one with suspicious thoughts, but it was very normal for him.

The Chine-Japanese lady cleaned Glenn’s cell which was full of blood. She mopped it, sprayed it, and finally, it was clean like porcelain. She moved to each cell and extracted their plates, and gave them new foods.

As she ducked to fill his water bowl, Jules unexpectedly reached for her ankle with his right arm. He was cunning and fast, strong and ruthless. He jerked the woman’s left foot, but invisibly, he slipped a small paper to her right loafer. 

Himari jumped and almost let go of her glass bottle. The guard shot an angry face toward Jules, bashed his skull to the ground, and tossed his plate full of rice to the other side of the dungeon. Jules was now bleeding. His nose felt broken, but he smiled, and as the guard went back, he winked to Himari.

This is a mad plan. Everybody thought of that when Jules was choking blood.

The guard hauled Himari’s arm as hard as he could, and then he pulled her to the exit. He closed the door with a loud bang, and the dungeon was silent again.

“Let’s hope that works.”

“You alright?” John asked.

“No. My nose is not right.”

Jules cracked his nose, and he fixed it with a jerk. He screamed loud enough for his friends to shut up.

−

Himari was still shocked with the experience she just went through. Why would Jules risk his life by grabbing her ankle? But it was very gentle, and he winked. He did this for a reason, Himari knew it. He was smarter than she thought. 

She washed the dishes and went back to her bunk to retire for the night. Her mind was racing, her heartbeat was steadily knocking hard. She was confused, and she wanted to just run to the dungeon and ask Jules why. But the idea vanished when the hurried sound on the door clicked.

She was locked, again, for another night. She was also imprisoned. And the day after that, she just had to do everything all over again. She would feed the soldiers three times, clean the five dungeons twice a day, make forty cups of tea every day, clean the soldiers’ bunks, and sleep again at night, be tired and then faints.

But when she unzipped her loafers, something dropped by. A small piece of green cloth. She recognized the cloth was from the prisoners’ uniforms. Jules also wore one, and she realized his sleeve was torn a bit.

It was his.

But nothing was on it. It wrapped nothing. It said nothing.

Of course it said nothing. He doesn’t have anything to write on. So what does this mean?