Monkey and Crane watched their friends falling into the darkness. We will see what will happen to Monkey in particular and his discoveries.
When my friends fell into the darkness we weren't close enough and fast enough to help them out. I didn't expect something like that happening, it caught me off guard and I stood there, doing nothing. Crane, instead, reacted faster.
"Monkey, I'll go to check on them, wait here." He said and flew down in that hole searching for our friends.
I sat on the stairs waiting for him to come back.
5 minutes and nothing happened.
10 minutes. I began to be worried.
15 minutes. There's no way Crane didn't come back, at least once, for telling me I found them or not.
20 minutes. How is this possible? They fell underneath the floor. I peeked into the hole "Hello? Crane? Tigress? ... Po?" I called for them, but nobody replied.
'Should I go jump down there too?' I thought 'Nobody came back. Something happened and I'm here doing nothing.'
I backed away and went towards our bag. It didn't fall with them luck for me. There was a brand new rope bought recently for the camping we did before. 'This is perfect to climb down safely' I added wrapping it around the closest column.
I threw the rest of it inside the hole. I hesitated a bit when I grabbed the rope in the moment to jump inside, but I did it though. It wasn't long enough. I didn't hear the rope meet some kind of ground. I couldn't be sure, too much darkness. I tried again to call them, I was deeper than before, maybe they could've heard me this time, still no response.
Then something unpredictable.
The rope broke and I fell down.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
I heard my stomach rumbling and that sound woke me up.
"Who am I? Po?" I smiled at my own joke.
I stood up, gave a look around and I immediately noticed something...off. I picked up the rope. I checked it to see what happened and surprisingly someone cut it on purpose. There's a big difference when the rope broke itself and when someone cut it off, but when happened? I didn't hear someone coming...
There's more...
I woke up inside a hallway. When I fell underneath the first floor and, if I remember correctly, this hallway will bring me towards the entrance where the hole was. I scratched my head confused. Did someone bring me here? Why? This doesn't make any sense.
"Guys?" I called their names one by one, but no one replied.
My voice echoed through the entire mansion. I'm alone, nobody's here.
My stomach poked me again. 'We get it, I'm hungry. Stop it.'
I went back to the entrance and as I expected the bag disappeared. Did that person who cut the rope wanted the bag? And for what? Another interesting detail was the upper half side of the rope missing from the column. What's the point of removing it?
So many questions and my thinking made worse my hunger now I'm starting to feel some pain.
'I should go outside, look for some food and come back here for my friends.' I thought stretching my paw over the doorknob, but the door's locked. 'Fine, I'll break it down.' I putted my hands on the floor and I kicked it with my feet.
The door absorbed the kick and sent it back to me. I rolled away. 'What?' I glanced over it disoriented. My stomach complained again due to this waste of energies. 'Maybe...there's something I can eat here, maybe my friends left something behind...' I decided to give me hope. Trick your mind, trick your own needs.
I walked back where I was before. I didn't see nothing special. I went deeper, I couldn't just sit there and let my hunger torture me so freely. I stumbled into something and I bumped my face into the ground. I couldn't see clearly. It was dark and my vision a bit blurry, but when I focused on what made me fall I regained most of my energies and consciousness.
There was this dead pig on the floor and...and...someone cut off his limbs. I yelled and panicked. "You're kidding me..."
First thing I did was to crumble away as fast as I could and I tried to find an explanation only when I was far enough from it. I laughed hysterically "This is a joke...IT MUST BE A JOKE. Is that you Viper?! JUST SHOW YOURSELF ALREADY! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO LAUGHED ABOUT MY STORY." I shouted.
More I talk, move and think more my pain increases.
But...what should I do?
I needed to eat. I felt my insides burning desperately begging for some food and there's nothing edible.
Except for that corpse.
I laughed awkwardly. I couldn't believe I had the thought of eating a person. Dead or alive it doesn't matter. I can't do that.
Trying to fight my own needs I dragged myself towards the closest door. Locked. Another one. Locked as well. 'I'm not going to give up so easily.'
I fell on the ground, started to moan, doing my best to handle the pain until it stopped. I breathed in and out. I felt a bit better, but I knew it was temporary. I gave myself some seconds to sit there, looking around, hoping to find a better solution.
I sensed something. No. I sensed someone. Without my pain I felt it clearly. Someone is watching over me. From one of the closed doors.
I approached it silently. As soon as I was close enough to it I putted my ear against the door and waited to hear a sound. I was right. I heard someone breathing. It wasn't regular. The one inside must be scared or hurt or something else.
"Is someone in there?" I asked.
I heard a little gasp. Whoever is inside freaked out and quickly putted his paw in front of his mouth to shut every possible sound.
"I'm not gonna hurt you..." I tried to persuade it "You can come out. "
No answer.
"I'm looking for my friends. Are you alone?"
Nothing.
I sighed. "Please...you have to believe me..."
My pain came back stronger and harder. I coughed and almost threw up. Blood all over the floor...I took a deep, painful breath. "That's it...I'm going to die..."
"Are you alright?" I heard a voice coming from the door. It hesitated a bit, but I noticed that a part of it being worried for my condition.
"I...I don't know." I panted. "It should be hunger, but...there's something more, something else I can't quite understand..."
"Did you...meet him?" The voice spoke louder. It's a guy.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"There was a pig, he was holding a knife and..." he stopped. I heard him sobbing.
"I don't know what happened. He's dead."
"I'm sorry..." he cried out
"Did you kill him?"
"No..."
"Then why are you apologising?"
"Because...I failed. I wanted to help him, I tried to reason with him, but he acted like he lost his mind...I should've done something instead of hiding in fear..."
"It's not your fault..."
"I have a thing to help you out, but, please...leave me alone." he begged
I didn't even get the time to reply that he unlocked the door, putted something on the floor right outside and locked himself inside again.
"It's not much, but it's what he left me before he disappeared..."
I slowly crouched towards the thing he gave me and I saw an apple. I chewed it happily, enjoying the positive answer from my stomach as well. "Thank you..." I said right after finishing it.
"Now please leave..."
I felt like...it wasn't fair to leave him there, waiting to die. I needed to convince him to get out.
"What are you going do when I'll go away? Don't you want to find your friends?"
"They are dead. Like yours. I simply gave you some more time alive...enjoy it."
"You're gonna die too..."
"I know."
"Then why are you hiding?"
"..."
"Tell me what happened..."
"I was looking around the house with my friend when I heard the others screaming in the entrance hall. It freaked me out so much that I paralysed. He told me to wait here and to lock yourself if something happened. Just wait for me, that's what he said, but then he yelled too. That pig appeared. I couldn't even be able to see if he was the one who killed them..."
"The pig's the only corpse I saw until now..."
"Do you think I'm stupid?" He sniffed "I knew that pig. He used to sell fruits in our village. I can't say I knew him, but I'm sure he wasn't a violent guy."
"Do you think the same's gonna happen to me too, right?"
"I don't know how much time it will take, but it will happen. That's why I'm not going to open this door, that's why I'm not going to leave this place."
"You can't give up like that! You must fight for your life..."
"Open your eyes. The truth is this place changes you. It depends on the person, but it changes you. You'll go crazy, I'll go crazy too. I...I don't want to be brutally murdered or to die in a cruel way. .I want to choose how, when and where myself..."
"I'm not going to give up." I repeated. "You said you were sorry, but hearing you now...it's confusing." I muttered.
"I am sorry..." he whined
"You're scared...I know that. I am too, but I can't leave you here. You can survive, you can be saved. Together we can do this and whatever happens to me, I'm sure you can talk to me. You can save me"
"It won't work. You didn't see the face that pig did to me, he was dead inside already..."
"Then I'll ask you...to kill me."
He didn't reply.
"It's hard to accept, but...I'd like to see you survive."
"How can you say that?"
I froze "What's wrong?"
"We barely know each other and you're literally offering your life to me. Why would you do that? In a situation like this a normal person would consider it like a trap. How can I be sure you won't attack me as soon as I open the door?"
"Easy there..." I grunted "First if I was going to do that I would've done it the first time you opened the door, but I didn't. Second that's my job. I fight to protect the others! That includes dying for someone else's sake."
I heard something bumping against the door. "I don't even know why I'm doing this..." he sighed.
The doorknob twisted and the door opened. "Your words didn't make me feel safe at all, but I can't deny the fact that you're right...partially."
I finally saw the mysterious guy hid inside that room. He walked to me, I was sitting on the ground, on the opposite wall he stretched his paw to me and helped me out to get up. A cheetah wearing a blue vest, but in some spots torn apart. Probably he fought back when the pig was still alive.
"Did you stay inside that room all the time?" I questioned.
"Yes, I didn't know a thing about this place. Another reason to not come out..." he said
He wanted to help me walk, but, for now, I was fine and I refused "There's no need for that, thank you."
"About the thing you said before..." I walked ahead, he didn't follow me, I turned around curious about what he was going to say "I have this..." he showed me a little hammer.
"Did you find that inside the room?"
He slowly nodded
"That's good. It will be useful when I'll be..."
"No, I won't do that. I'm sorry..." he dropped it on the floor.
"Why? I thought it was the best solution to make you come outside."
"That's right. It is. I'll make sure it won't be necessary..."
I smiled "Why would you do that?" I mocked him "A normal person would consider that as a trap."
"I opened the door and trusted a stranger with no proof whatsoever to confirm that he said the truth. I'm not a normal person..." He finally reached me. "Shall we go?"
At least, now, I'm not alone.
