Enjoy!
Repetition
The world came into focus as I lifted my head from the desk.
The school's table was old but obviously well maintained. There was not one piece of graffiti on it, save for s single, long word. I tried to read it but someone had smudged it too much. I wondered for a second if that was me
I allowed my attention to drift to the lower part of my body which tingled in it numbness. Luckily that was quickly fading. I rubbed my sweating hands along my jean covered thighs to rid the remaining tingling.
I took a gander at my watch to check the time. The small hand was pointed at three but the big hand was moving anti-clockwise at a rapid pace. I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and middle finger until the illusion was erased.
Alright, it's already past three. This will be over soon and I can go back to...go back to...
A feminine voice broke through my haze. She'd been speaking for a while now according to the crisp tone of her voice. I could not understand how I did not notice earlier.
The Woman in the muddy green dress stood on a typical Proscenium stage with a wooden podium before her. She pressed her hands on it when she said, "Students! Students, I require silence!"
I looked around the high-school gymnasium to see a large group of students sitting at numerous rows of desks identical to mine. None of them had spoken as far as I could tell. Just featureless faces staring blankly at our teacher; or was she the principle? I had the idea that I'd known these people for years. Learned, laughed and argued with them. And yet I could not recognise a single one. Actually, that's not true... A few seats to my right sat a boy who was awfully familiar. Something about the arch of his nose struck something in me. If only he would turn his head towards me-
How do I know what a high-school gymnasium looks like? The abrupt thought took me by surprise. I could not figure out where it had come from. Of course I would be able to identify my own school.
The Woman spoke again before I could delve into contemplation, "I am sure you are all wondering why I have assembled you here today. Sadly, I must convey my disappointment in your conduct with our neighbouring school. The unwarranted prank committed by certain individuals will not go unpunished. Too many have been left suffering. Hundreds...thousands" She paused to scrutinise her audience before looking directly at me. I stopped myself from recoiling back.
"Miss Griffin, stand up and come forward". I wanted to stand up, to do as I was told. There was no need to cause needless trouble this close to graduation. But there was a look in her eye. A self satisfied look that knew something I didn't. That looked...hungry.
When I didn't move she repeated herself, "Miss Griffin, stand up and come forward".
A vibrant crash went off in the back of the large room, where the entrance was situated. I bolted out of my seat to see what happened.
Eight people died before the double doors could sing open all the way. Their blood sprayed out in different directions creating an oddly beautiful fountain. Frightened teenagers ran this way and that. Trying to get away from what ever the hell was killing them. Killing us.
The stage was my only escape route so I took. Only direction away from It. In my short sprint, I passed the familiar boy as he inadvertently stomped on a fallen girl much younger than either of us. Her hand- covered in blood that might have been hers- reached out to me. Pleading. The crowd consumed her before I could even think about helping her.
It was right behind her corpse. Flying through writhing bodies. Ripping them apart until nothing was left. A streak of blood splashed onto my face. A little went into my mouth. The Thing was small. About half my size. I almost didn't see it, camouflaged in the red. Oddly enough, it's appearance did not shock me.
It was coming for me now.
At the stage I jumped on. Nearly whacking my chin in my rush. I didn't bother with the Backstage door. Instead I circled around the platform to reach the opposite end. My sprint didn't stop even as I leapt off the elevated floor. The Red Thing gave no notice.
I ran to the double doors that instantly became the only available exit. I only stumbled once, on what might have been a male torso.
Those that were left standing bombarded the doors. Pushing and pulling until they were stuck in this nightmare.
When I reached the blockage, I lifted someone who had just fallen down. I thought he fell because he was pushed. Turned out it was because he was dead. Blood seeped from a hole where his heart would be.
I almost cried from the insanity of it. One of us must have killed him. Murdered him! Just because he was in the way.
Yet his death did create a tiny sliver of space between the pulsating mass. Just big enough for someone small to squeeze through. Someone like me.
But I couldn't! I couldn't possibly leave these people to die. Not again!- Again? If I did not stay and help these petrified teenagers, they would die. I could feel that deep in my bones.
But there was something else. I knew that to stay meant my death. I would die and have to do this all over-. What? Have to do what?
I shot through the gap and landed on the other side of the door way. I abandoned them.
I wanted to glance back. To see what I have left behind. But I would be as Lot's Wife. Turned to a pillar of salt; damned to watch those I had forsaken. So instead I listened to their screams. The crunch of their bones. Their blood splattering on the walls
I just kept running down the hall that held no doors. With no form of decoration. Nothing but white walls over a white floor. I didn't care, I just kept running. Running and running and running. I wasn't even getting tired. Silence sprinted through the hall and caught up to me. The shock of it made me slip. Who knew blood could be so slick? I landed on my knees. Hard. The silence kept on.
I didn't have a choice, I had to look back. I had to see if there was anyone still alive.
There was no one left. Nothing was alive in that hallway. Nothing but The Red Thing, just before It killed me.
The world came into focus as I lifted my head from the desk.
I had the world's worst headache; electricity shot through my right frontal lobe. I dug the heals of my hands until the ache was replaced with white lights dancing behind my lids.
I blinked the blurriness from my eyes and looked at the table made of wood and metal underneath me. It was brand new, stable, with a nicely done varnish finish. Graffiti artists had not gotten to it yet. Well, except for one. Right in the centre of the rectangle sat one word. It's neat font was made clearer by the bold, black ink it was written in.
Prometheus
I used my finger to trace the letters. Pro-mee-thee-us. Looks important. I half expected a beam of sunlight to shine on the word wither the backing of a church choir.
I had a memory- a little out of my reach- of learning about the word. No, not word, man. A man who was not a man. A man who was a... Titan
"Students! Students, I require silence!"
The voice attempted to tug me from my musing but I wouldn't let it. This word was important. I just knew it.
Ok Clarke, focus on that memory, what did you learn about the Titan. The memory in itself was confusing. I kept trying to envision it taking place in a classroom not too dissimilar from the ones I go to today. On the contrary, I saw walls made from metal when they should have been made from concrete. Breathed recycled oxygen when I should have inhaled fresh air. Thinking about it brought back my headache with vengeance. But it also supplied a sense of relief, oddly enough.
He was famous because...he was punished. Punished for something big...so his punishment was equally tragic...
"I am sure you are all wondering why I have assembled you here today." I did not feel this wonder she spoke of. "Sadly, I must convey my disappointment in your conduct with our neighbouring school," her droning voice went on, "The unwarranted attack committed by certain individuals will not go unpunished. Too many have been left to die. Thousands upon thousands"
All I heard from her short speech was the word "die". I was too busy deciphering the puzzle etched in handwriting peculiarly comparable to mine. A bird! A giant bird ate his...eyes out? No that's not right...his...internal organs? Yes! Specifically his liver! That's the moment I learned where the liver was in the human body. Everyday he would have to sit on top of a mountain and let a giant, damn, bird eat him alive.
I could remember a time when I got a little older and more comfortable with my medical knowledge, that I overheard the story again. Being my too-analytical self, I couldn't shake the thought that if a man were to feel the same pain all day every day for years on end, then logically he would get used to it. Eventually. His nerve endings would fry and no longer be able to transmit data to his nervous system. So...really, it is not much of a tragedy after all. Unless you think boredom is a form of torture. What if his body wasn't given the chance to get used to the pain? What if there is more to the story? A small voice that wasn't mine, asked these questions from deep within my subconscious. It almost sounded masculine.
Wait!...wait...Oh God...
"Miss Griffin-" I sprung from my seat before she had the chance to finish her command. Only now did I pick up upon her clothing. Her dress was a deep, dark green that you could only find in wood like areas. Because of that and the spindles of darker green coursing up her body and long, dark brown hair, The Woman looked like a tree, of all things.
Oh God!
Everything finally fit into place. Like reading the concluding chapter of an overly complicated mystery novel.
Back then, the logical side of my brain pointed out the plot holes of the Prometheus myth, the creative side filled it in. When the sun rose and his horrendous wounds were healed, so was his mind. At every dawn, the memory of the day before was erased hence his agony was brand new. Everyday entailed the purging of it's predecessor. An endless loop. An eternal death.
The revelation transformed into a key. A key that opened my own locked memories. Like Prometheus, I was stuck repeating the same few minutes over and over and over again. Sometimes things varied but it was the end that remained constant. I must have died dozens...no, hundreds of times!
I broke out into a sweat as my breathing became laboured, causing my trachea to constrict painfully; My stomach did cartwheels to prepare for a violent vomiting; My heartbeat picked up ten fold and became erratic. Palpitations...am I having a heart attack? I sniffed the air and flexed my left arm. Apparently warning signs for a heart attack often included the patient smelling cooked bread while feeling an odd sensation course through their left arm. Unfortunately I hadn't reached that section of my apprenticeship before I got locked up. No. This is a panic attack. Just keep breathing. In through the nose...out through the mouth. In...out...in...out...
"Miss Griffin, stand up and-", The Woman repeated once more. I took a second to note how odd it was that she told me to stand up when I already had; then I surged to the right, past students who continued to ignore me, continued to watch Her with vague interest.
Stopping In front of him, I was amazed that I hadn't figured out who he was before. He still had that dark brown hair, long enough to annoy his eyes. Still had those eyes that shifted in distrust even now. The only difference was that he was clean and not covered in cuts.
The doors at the back of the large, large room exploded open. This time I was able to watch as It killed the ten people sitting closest to It's entrance. They weren't even given the chance to react to the loud sound behind them.
Everyone else began running. I grabbed him. Hauled him out of the chair and pushed him forward. At first he just stood there. What ever controlled our thoughts, movements and feelings was lagging. Then he ran to the left.
He was running to that girl. That girl he killed dozens of times before. I grabbed him by the collar afore he got to far. I pushed and dragged him where I wanted him to go. The stage.
Someone sprayed something thick and warm all over our backs. It shaped into my hair. Dyeing it into a new colour. What looked like brain matter flew past my head. Brushing against my left cheek. Like a chaste kiss. We were loosing time. The Red Thing was getting closer
He wanted to go left. To continue the script written for him. By chance, that script didn't involve fighting anyone who deterred him from it. I jumped onto the stage first. Pulling him up strained my back but he wasn't too heavy. The Red Thing nearly got to him. In the same fluid motion that got him where he needed to be, I kicked the wooden podium The Woman used towards The Red Thing. I didn't stop to see if it slowed It down.
He slowly seemed to snap out of his haze. At least enough to do as I did. We ran the length of the platform in the shape of an arch. I figured I had survived this section unscathed every rerun I did, so I might as well continue to conform to the performance.
The Red Thing was already centre stage by the time we jumped off.
His landing was bad. My vice like grip kept him from losing his momentum.
I didn't think about the blood under our feet. That there was enough to slosh along with our steps. I stepped on something. Perhaps a bone shard. A shock of pain went up my leg but I ignored.
Just keep running. Worry about it when you get out of here. We are not going to die again.
This time The Girl was amongst those that crowded the door. She lingered near the back. As if unsure what to do. I put him next to The Girl off to the side. He couldn't possibly harm her now. Like before, I started pulling the fallen into standing positions. Deposited them with him and The Girl. They would be safe there until it was time.
I pushed my hand through the resulting minuscule, empty space. A little too forcefully. I didn't have time. I was already far behind schedule. The Red Thing will be here any second! I felt a crack swim through my middle finger as I pushed the back of one of the people blocking the only exit. She stumbled through the door, falling onto her hands and knees.
I fell with her. On top of her. Putting my hands over our heads, I took ever kick, every heavy step as teenagers flooded out to freedom. I prayed that bruises would be my only gift.
At its completion, I rolled away from the girl and watched her stand and scamper off. I gave myself less than a second to breathe then bolted back into the gymnasium. The Girl was gone. He was still standing there. Exactly were I left him. Staring wide eyed, mouth gaping at The Red Thing coming to kill him.
It's so much larger now. Bigger than me even!
I yanked on his arm and ran with him to the hall. Through the exit.
My breathing wasn't doing very well. My throat felt like someone was gripping it in their fist. At first I was running in front of him but now I was trailing behind. Farther than comfortable. I looked down to our joined hands. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I broke the connection, he would stop running. He would stop and let It take him. Because that is what they wanted him to do. The people who put us in this God forsaken place.
If he were to die, I would let It take me too. And start this all over again. I couldn't leave without him. Not this time.
I gripped his hand tighter.
I chanced looking back but nothing was there. The Red Thing wasn't tailing us. I couldn't even see the doors we used to get out.
Finally. A break!
White, white, white. Nothing but white, shiny concrete. There has to be somewhere out of here. A door? A window? At least a turn off!
Just as I thought that, I immediately saw a corner in the wall bend to right a little bit in the distance.
"Right! Right! Turn right!" We had the option to continue forward but for some reason that seemed to be a terrible choice.
He turned as I bid him which forced me to look at his back. The red that covered it was oddly appealing. It blended nicely with the brown of his hair. I could have done without the piece of flesh sticking to the back of his ear though.
That is when I noticed that all the walls had turned to glass. The floor was pretty much the same, if not slightly greyer. I could now see the doors to the gymnasium. All the way from where we were positioned. We must have been springing for a good five minutes.
The next five mostly consisted of turning into different corridors. Sometimes I would shout where to go, other times he seemed to know already. At our speed, we should have run into someone by now but the never ending hallway was completely empty. Are we the last people left?
I slowed us to a pause when we reached a staircase going down. He swung to look at me, the first time he had done so in who knows how long. His eyebrows drew together in confusion.
"We don't know where this goes" I replied to his expression. He shrugged, silently reminding me that that hadn't stopped us previously. He tugged on my hand.
"Do you remember who we are?" I asked. I needed to know where I stood with him before I took another step.
He took a moment to think, staring off to the side, "I thought I did. But I...I can't think of my name...or anything that happened before today. I'm trying, but it hurts my head." He finished his whispered words with a quick rub on his forehead.
"Me too. It's like my name is on the tip of my tongue but not at all. Like trying to remember the name of a character from an old book."
He nodded, understanding. I nearly grinned at him. It felt good to know that we are on the same page. So to speak.
"Didn't she...didn't she call you Griffin"
"Yeah, She did. But I have no idea what my first name is. Or if Griffin is even really my last name." He nodded in understanding again.
"Do you remember repeating this day? Running from that Thing before?" I asked. He shook his head, confused once more. That's good. He doesn't remember killing that girl.
"Alright", I said, feeling determination slowly rise within me, "let's get the hell out of here. Then we can find out who we are and who put us in this place." I moved forefront again and lead him down the stairs.
He squeezed my hand
-L-
-P-
So here is the 2nd chapter.
What do you guys think? Do you want me to keep going or is it a giant pile of poop.
Either way, have a Super Day! =D
P.S. In case you were wondering, this Horror part of the story does not last forever.