Pressing a towel against the wounds on his back, I apply pressure. But it's no use, blood still oozing out of the openings, flooding straight through the thick towel. James chokes with panic as the blood runs onto the floor.
"Kun help me!" I hiss into the darkness, and someone stirs.
"What is it?" Kun's voice whispers back, fully awake.
I have to lie.
"James's wounds reopened. They won't stop bleeding, what do I do?"
"Burn them. It's called cauterisation."
I light a match and press the embers into James's skin. A muffled cry escapes his lips. One by one, the blood flow. Sitting in a pool of his own blood, James retches, smudging two red streaks of blood still trailing from his eyes like tears.
I help him limp towards the bathroom, weakened from the blood loss, and he throws up into the toilet, as I clean up the bloodstains on the floor and on my bare legs. Moments later, he staggers back towards me, leaning heavily on the bed frames, and collapsing on my bed. In my reckless, exhausted form, I lie next to him.
My dreams are conflicted. A pit of fire lies at my feet, flames engulfing my body. But I feel nothing. Smoke rises up, revealing a large spiral staircase above, so high I can't see the top. The stairs incite a sense of inexplicable fear. Chris coldly pulls me out of the blaze through a stone wall, without a word, his black eyes fixed on the scene ahead.
It's a court scene. The defendant, a teenager with pale cheeks, cries silently, as the judge delivers the final verdict. I realise with a jolt that I was the teenager. The verdict echoes arounds the room, but it doesn't reach my ears. To my horror, Chris listens with perfect comprehension, his soulless black eyes resting on me with no expression.
"CHRIS GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I shout, beyond scared of his knowledge of my mystery past. Chris grins, tutting as he vanishes out of sight. The scene evaporates around me, revealing a dark room, lit only by computer screens, displaying various cameras and monitors. I see myself and James on one of the cameras. His arms are loosely draped around my shoulders, keeping me close to him.
"We're trying the best we can, sir-" A worker stammers into his phone, his hands shaking. I hear an indistinguishable angry retort on the other line. The door behind me bursts in and a formidable man enters. Tall and skeletal, he resembles a phantom, cheeks hollowed out and with a perfect pointed smile. His pale green eyes have a air of dire cruelty, evoking terror in his inferior workers.
"You know perfectly well the consequences if they escape, don't you, 1003?" He speaks softly, injecting venom into the worker's name.
"Yes, Mr. President."
The president turns suddenly to face me, staring directly into my face with an expression of hatred. He can see me.
"1003, I thought I told you to keep visitors out of the archives." He speaks less softly, his anger bubbling to the surface. The worker searches the area where I'm standing, unable to detect my presence. The president thrusts a bony hand for my throat, I fall back to avoid his grasp. As I hit the hard stone floor, I wake, breathing hard. I unwrap James's arm from my body and hastily put on my armour. As I tuck my ponytail beneath my neck plate, an alarm sounds.
Candidates, the second test: "don't look down" is about to begin. Stand by!
Panic Room Enterprises accepts no responsibility for crushed remains.
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PANIC ROOM II
Mystery / Thriller- second instalment to "PANIC" series- Tensions rise within the group, whom unable to trust one another, enter the second labyrinth. Challenges await them at every coil, forcing them to work together. But with trust, comes a price: a curse that will...
