Darkness Dissolves When the Door Opens

Pen

“Will she understand?” John asked with doubt in his treble voice.

“She will.” And Jules was very sure of it. “She’s smart. She’ll figure it out. Trust me.”

But as those words were out, Jules returned to his doll and have another conversation with it. It almost seemed like he had two personalities. The first one would be his sane, strategic, loyal, smart, brave self and the other one would be his mad, mental, depressed, wrecked self who was born when the war erupted.

No one ever cared about Jules talking to the doll anymore. No one but Asher.

“Trust you? You’re conversing with a goddamn toy.”

“Asher, just quit it, okay,” John responded.

“We’re staking our lives in his hands.”

“You’re panicking. That’s alright.”

“You goddamn right I’m panicking.”

−

And the next afternoon, the beautiful maid entered the dungeon with a weird expression. The guard was the same as yesterday, but he seemed to not care whatsoever about what happened the day before. Maybe stupid action like that was normal in the other dungeons.

Himari started her cleaning, and then she fetched the water and food. Jules felt like he just wanted to open his mouth and mentioned his plan, but everybody knew that was utterly suicide.

Himari smiled, as usual, and put the plate full of rice at the usual spot. They exited the dungeon, and as the door clutched closed, Jules jumped to the plate.

If she wanted to communicate, how would she do it?

Jules dug his food, throwing the precious content to the floor although he was literally starving. And there it was… a pen. It was black and a Japanese letter carved to it shone like gold.

Also, besides the pen, there was the piece of Jules’ sleeve he tore the day before. Himari retrieved it so Jules could write on there.

Jules smiled. “She got it.”

He wrote the message and kept the pen under his sleeping plank.

 ‘Himari, I’m so sorry if I ever hurt you, or made them do something bad to you. But first, I need you to know that I will never make you do things you don’t want to do.

Himari, Glenn was my best friend whom Yamako killed bloodily. He didn’t do anything but fix an old radio and accidentally heard some stuff he shouldn’t hear. Yamako killed him, as you know, and we can’t just let that happen anymore, so we decided that we have to get out of this immoral dungeon. We have to escape, Himari. But we need your help.

I need to remind you that this escape plan is really dangerous, and you have to commit to it. We won’t force you if you do not want to help us, but consider this please. We’re also the only one who can free you, and you can live with me. We shall run and live somewhere together, somewhere far away from both our countries.

But to do that, I need you to do some things for me. If you don’t wish to be involved, do not reply this message and I’ll think another way of escaping. I will not be mad at you, trust me. We won’t be mad at you.

So the first we have to know it we have to understand the layout of the Cathedral. You can tell us which room is where and what path is best for us to reach the exit. We also want you to mention everything that might be useful for our escape, maybe like how many solders reside here, how many guests or officers, or maybe if there’s armory somewhere. I need you to also look for the lawn of the Cathedral, and maybe tell us where we can steal a truck.

Himari, I’m sorry that I’m such a burden. But will you be on board?

Jules’

Himari didn’t even decide. She needed only two seconds to think about it, and she was then on board. 

−

Dinner time came and Jules was so anxious. He had never been this anxious since he entered the malicious dungeon. Himari came with a somewhat larger and sweater smile. She almost gave out a chuckle… and maybe a hug if the guard didn’t observe her every movement.

Everyone waited for the two Japanese to exit the dungeon. When the door slammed, every pair of eyes in that place stared at Jules. He was like standing on a stage with thousands of audience watching him.

Jules’ heart beat faster than the speed of light.

He dug the rice again, and the same cloth he wrote was there.

She returned the message.

But Jules flipped the cloth, and her writing was there.

‘Of course I’m on board.’

Jules read it aloud and almost caused the entire dungeon to cheer, but they realized how dangerous that would be and stopped.

‘Jules, I’m sorry I can’t visit you every night anymore. Yamako almost caught me doing so, but I lied to him and he didn’t really trust me since then. So he made the rule that every night my door has to be locked from the outside.

As for the list of people, I will have to work on that for a couple of days. I have to pay attention to details, and I will observe this building’s entirety too. I have to be precise.

And for your idea of escaping and live a life far away from our countries, I agree with you a hundred percent.

Himari Ashoka’

Jules’ heart was about to explode. It was counting down. Jules felt tears coming out of his eyes. His love for the Asian woman grew stronger and stronger every day. She was such a hero for him, and she was about to help him one more time.

“Apparently we don’t need to question Jules’ plan all along. I should have trusted you since the beginning.”

“Sure thing, kid,” Jules answered with a different voice. His voice, for the first time since Ava died, was alive. His face was colorful, bright, and decorated by his faint smile of the upturning reality.

He didn’t even ask her to observe the building’s entirety, but she did it anyway. The Japanese must have treated her so badly. Or maybe she did this for Jules.