Survival Mode

Chapter 21

I get lost on the way back and start wandering the halls like a spirit trying to find rest. This time, though, my wandering isn't on purpose. Last time I wanted to explore, this time I'm just lost. I'm sure Adam would be proud.

It doesn't take long until I'm tired of wandering and start looking at every door I pass with wonder.

Should I open this? What about that one? What if someone's behind it and will kill me for it?

In the end, my curiosity wins and I open a door. What I find behind it is definitely not what I was expecting. Well, I can't tell what I was expecting but this was probably not it.

I enter and let the door fall closed behind me. The room is dim and lit only with a few torches lining the walls. There's a set of stairs going down and one going up. I feel like it would be best to take the one going up but my body betrays my mind as I take the first step down.

I take a deep breath and the scent of moss and dirt fills my nose. I mentally kick myself for having chosen to come down but continue on my way nonetheless.

The lower I go the darker it gets. The light of the torches does not suffice but I still can make out a few shapes in the dim light. I go down a few more steps before I reach a door but when I pull on it I find it locked so I keep moving. The stairs take me lower and lower. It takes a few more minutes for me to arrive at a second door. It's locked. I move on.

This process repeats a few more times until I arrive at the top of a set of stairs that have no torches lighting them. They're plunged in darkness and it would be impossible for anyone to continue on. Somehow that makes me want to see what's hidden in its shadows.

I turn around and take on of the torches on the wall next to the last door I saw and grip it firmly in my hand. Then slowly, I start my descent into possibly Hell, literally, because the lower I go, the warmer it gets.

This time it takes longer for me to arrive at another door. I try the door and find it locked. I look around and see that this is the last floor. The lowest it can get. There are no other steps leading down so I turn back to the door with a newfound determination.

I need to open it.

I don't have the key, I can't pick the lock, I can break down the door.

How?

I put my ear to the door and try to listen. I hear voices whispering before footsteps start getting closer to the door. I panic.

The torch in my hand feels even heavier now. Where do I put it? I can't hide with it in my hand.

I hurriedly put it on the torch holder on the wall next to the door and jump under the stairs, hoping they won't notice the torch or look under the stairs.

I hold my breath as the lock ticks and the door opens. Through the crack in the stairs, I see a man and a woman step out. The man keeps moving and going up the stairs, talking on the phone. The woman though stops the moment she steps out the door and looks at the burning torch. I stop breathing.

She stares at it a few moments before shaking her head and taking it from the torch holder. She turns towards the stairs and starts going up slowly as if looking for something. She stops right above me and I think I die for a moment. She sniffs the air a few times, looking around. I gulp and dare take another step back into the shadows.

When she looks down I'm not there and I silently thank Sekuum that I moved.

She frowns and takes a deep breath before continuing up the stairs, trying to catch up with the man.