The Tower's Voice

Chapter One

  I watch the boy turn the crank of his music box. I look around and I see a cleaver inbeded in a crate. I go over to it and pull on the handle. It snaps off and I fall backwards some. I sigh. I see a open doorway and walk through that. I see a axe in some crates and I hope this has a more sturdy handle. I jump up and grab onto the handle. The axe tips some before it pops out of the crate. I let go as it falls and I pick it up. I drag it over to the broken door and swing it over my shoulder breaking part of the door. The music stops and I worry about the boy.

  I continue hitting the door, after two more hits the boards fall creating a nice sized hole. I drop the axe so I don't scare the boy more. His music box is laying in the middle of the floor turned over as if he ran away. I crouch down and see him hiding under a table. I slowly walk forward towards him and hold out a hand. I motion for him to come closer. "Hey, it's ok, I won't hurt you." I say quietly to him. He crawls forward slowly and motion again for him to come forward. He crawls out from under the table and reaches for my hand.

  Instead of taking my hand he rushes past me knocking me over. He runs out the door and up the stairs. I get up and chase after him. I run up the stairs as he squeezes through the door at the top. I follow him and as I make it through I see him dart down a hallway. I run after him and as I run down the hall a bad smell hits me. One all to familiar by now. Rotting flesh. I run through a doorway and find the source of the smell. Around a dinner table is... bodies. Their sat down for dinner. I fight the urge to throw up right then and there.

  I look up and see the boy climb through a vent hole before dissapearing. I climb a dresser and jump up grabbing onto the vent. I pull myself up and jump down. I hit the ground hard enough to fall and look up to see the boy jumping up reaching for a handle. He grabs onto it and part of the roof moves. I stand up as he falls back down. I start walking towards him but he holds out his hands, stopping me in my tracks. He looks up at the handle and then back at me. "Hey." He whispers waving me over. I walk over to him and he cups his hands.

  I look at him confused. He moves his hands upwards fast and points to me. "Oh." He wants to boost me up. I put my foot in his cupped hands and he boosts me up. I grab ahold of the handle making the roof move again. Suddenly hands wrap around my legs and our weight pulls down a... ladder? I stand up and look at the boy. He points to the ladder, signaling for me to go first. I climb the ladder into a attic like area and I wait for him. When he arrives I look at him fully for once. He has messy brown hair, and most of it covers his eyes. I can see one dark brown eye peeking out from his bangs.

  He shuffles his feet and looks at the floor. "Hi, I'm Six." I say to him. "M-mono." He says shyly. I smile at him. "Nice name." He shrugs. I turn and see a chest and a cupboard in our way. "If we want to get to the other side of the cupboard we might want to push this closer." I suggest pointing to the chest. He nods and we push it up against the cupboard. I climb up onto the cupboard and wait for Mono. When he climbs up I scan the room from my vantage point. I see a key hanging off of a hook and vaguely remember that the room we were in had a lock on the door.

  "Hey Mono, I think if you boost me up we could get that key." I say pointing. He shakes his head. "Too far up, I see a pully system without the crank. Maybe it's behind that trash." He says pointing to a pile of junk on the other side of the room. "Ok smarty. If you say so." He shrugs and jumps down walking over to the junk. I follow him and let him boost me over. I walk down some boards and crawl through a hole in the junk pile. On the other side I see a woman staring out a window with a crank in her hand. She looks dead. I grab the crank handle and try to pull it out of her grasp.

  To my horror her entire arm falls off onto me. I scream and kick it off of me. Instead of blood stuffing is coming out of her arm. I quickly grab the crank and crawl back through the hole wanting to get out of there. I walk back up the boards and look down at a frightened Mono. "Are you okay?" He asks me. I nod and toss down the crank. Just, saw something. I say as I jump down. Mono takes the crank handle and puts it in the slot. As he turns the crank a body shaped bag lifts up. I shudder as I climb up it. More rotting flesh smell. The bag lifts off the ground and soon I'm level with the key.
 
  I jump off the bag, turning midair, and grab the key knocking it off the hook. I hit the floor hard and Mono rushes over to me. "You okay Six?!" I nod as I stand up. "Just a small tumble." I grab the key and put it in one of my pockets before walking back over to the cupboard. I pull out the bottom drawer and climb back over. I wait for Mono on the other side and when he finally reaches me I shake my head. "You need to be faster if you want to survive." I say playfully. He shrugs and I climb down the ladder. He's a odd boy. I go over to the door as Mono climbs down the ladder and I unlock the door.

  Me and Mono walk outside. We pass a outhouse and walk into a shed. I see a window we could climb through if we had something we could climb on. I see a chest and it looks movable. "Hey Mono, a little help?" We push the chest towards the window but a board stops it. I climb up onto the chest and jump through the window. I land on something soft and look down realizing it's animal pelts. As Mono lands beside me I hear a sound that makes me sick to my stomach. It sounds like ripping flesh. I feel Mono's hand slip into mine and it's really warm. I feel comforted. Whatever we're about to face I'm ready for it.