Chapter 9

Takeshi was standing alone in a room. He didn't recognize it but he assumed it was the dark room lighten up. There were loud steps outside, the monster was there. He looked around but didn't see anywhere to hide. He could only hope that the creature wouldn't enter.

A loud crack was heard under his feet as something grabbed his legs. He looked down in fright to see the bloody corpses of Takuro and Hiroshi coming out of the floor. The gray-haired boy raised his head and locked his eyes on Takeshi's. The blonde boy could only stare in shock at his torn off cheeks and the blood flowing from his mouth.

"Why didn't you keep that for yourself?" The gray-haired teen said.

Takuro then raised his head, showing his tears of blood and his entirely black eyes.

"It's all your fault!" He said.

"You really had to say it out loud?" Added Hiroshi.

"We're all dying because of you!"

"We would be at home."

"Mika had so many plans for the future."

"You destroyed her hopes and ours"

Takeshi closed his eyes and shook his head, hoping that he would stop hearing them. It only got worse. He was hearing it everywhere from everyone he knew.

Feeling an unbearable pain in his hands, he looked at them only to see his skin turn purple and his vision get darker. He screamed and fell to his knees, letting Hiroshi and Takuro grab his shoulders to pull him down.


He woke up with a small yelp that caught the gray-haired's boy attention. The blonde teen couldn't help but look at his hands since they had lightened up the room. His left arm was still damaged but his skin wasn't purple. He sighed in relief, realizing it was only a dream. Avoiding Hiroshi's questioning look, he stared at the floor, thinking. Since the beginning, the gray-haired teen tried to convince Takeshi it wasn't his fault, but what if in the back of his mind, he knew it was his fault? The thought was unbearable but he had to face it: It was the truth.

Without a word, he stood up and walked toward the door. Just before he could turn the knob, Hiroshi's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Where are you going?" Said the gray-haired boy.

"Look for an exit, like we always do."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"No!" The blonde teen said harshly. He then sighed. "I mean, someone has to check on Takuro, we can't let him walk. Even if we carry him, the injury on his leg could get worse."

The gray-haired teen walked next to Takuro, put the lighter in his hand and blew on the candle. A loud noise was heard and the lights turned off.

"There," he said "that thing can't see in the dark, he's safe."

Takeshi didn't answer as he got outside, obviously followed by Hiroshi. He looked at his watch. It was half-past 5 in the afternoon if it wasn't broken.

"What was that dream you had?" Asked Hiroshi curiously.

"I was hiding in a closet and that thing opened it," lied Takeshi, not wishing to tell that dream.

Unluckily for him, Hiroshi knew him a bit too much.

"C'mon, you're acting like a guilty guy trying to disappear from reality since you woke up, there was surely something else."

The blonde teen passed nervously his hand on the wall, knowing he'll have to tell it sooner or later.

"Can we just focus on finding an exit?" He said, trying to avoid the topic of that dream.

"No," the gray-haired replied stubbornly, "knowing you, you'll keep thinking about it and you'll start getting saddened and all like if it was true."

Damn, Hiroshi knew him too well! He pressed hard the wall, containing himself to yell that this whole thing was his fault. His hand pierced through the wallpaper, meeting with another surface. Forgetting a bit about the dream, the boys cut their way throughout the wallpaper to see the door in front of them. They sure didn't expect a door just next to the left doll room. They looked at each other for a second before the gray-haired teen opened the door.

It was a rather long room. Not very large, but really long. In front of them, there was only water. The sight of water made them realize that their throats were completely dry. Their thirst getting the best of them, they kneeled and started drinking. The water was freezing, suspiciously dark and disgusting but it didn't really matter.

Hiroshi stood up and took a look on the wall, searching for anything that could be useful. The deep breath that Takeshi took made him blench as he looked at his friend putting his head in the water. After a couple of seconds, he got it out without any problem at Hiroshi's huge relief.

"There's something!" Exclaimed the blonde boy before diving in the water.

The gray-haired tried to stop him but he was already far. Hiroshi knew he shouldn't worry since his friend was a good swimmer and could hold his breath for a pretty long time but he still had that feeling making him very uncomfortable. Seeing that his friend wasn't getting out, the gray-haired boy's heart started pounding hard in his chest, making him regret that he didn't dive with him.

As he was about to dive in, Takeshi got his head out of the water a bit farther in the room and showed a key. Hiroshi sighed in relief knowing his friend was okay. Suddenly, the blonde-haired teen gasped and got pulled back in. The gray-haired's heart skipped a beat. Without hesitation, he dived in the water, ignoring the pain from his elbow. He didn't care if he might drown, he didn't care if his injuries would get worse, he didn't care if the water was freezing, he just didn't want to lose someone else. He spotted Takeshi, still holding the key, struggling to get away from the monster with Mika's hair. Just before he could reach his friend, Mika bit the hand not holding the key, the left one. The blonde boy winced, clearly containing himself to scream underwater. Taking out the plate shard, Hiroshi finally reached his friend and stabbed the creature repeatedly until it let go of the blonde boy. The gray-haired teen grabbed his friend by the waist and swam toward the surface as fast as he could. Once they got their heads out, Takeshi let out a loud moan to express his pain. They climbed on the floor next to the door. It's only there that Hiroshi clearly saw the damage on his friend's hand. He winced in disgust. The hand was barely holding with the rest of the arm.

Seeing this, Takeshi quickly looked away feeling like he was going to throw up. It was his arm, it wasn't just a special effect in a movie, it was actually happening and it was 50 times more disgusting and painful that he thought it was.

"Cut it off..." He said to the gray-haired teen.

Seeing Hiroshi's expression, he knew that his friend didn't want to.

"Cut it off!" He insisted with a pleading tone.

Since the gray-haired boy didn't look about to do it, Takeshi took the plate shard and passed his finger on the side. Feeling that the shard had cut the tip of his finger, he quickly swung it and brought it right on the tiny thing holding on his hand, cutting it. He yelped for the sudden pain as the hand fell in the water.

"You're crazy!" Exclaimed a very surprised Hiroshi.

The blonde boy shook his head.

"I would've lost it anyway, right?" He replied followed by a chuckle.

The gray-haired teen didn't answer as he cut a small part of his scarf to wrap it around his friend's bloody wrist. He then forced the blonde boy to get up, helping him to walk. That's when he realized that Takeshi was still holding the key. He quickly looked back in front of him. They'd look at that key later, for now they had to go back in the dark room. They walked cautiously and silently throughout the large corridor until they reached the entrance. They quickly got to their right and entered the room. Hiroshi let go of Takeshi and took the lighter from the still sleeping Takuro. He walked to the candle and lit it, making the loud noise and lighting up the room.

"Huh, Hiroshi..." Said the blonde boy hesitantly. "You have a basic knowledge about wounds and all, right?"

"I don't know a lot but yeah, why?" Answered the teen.

"Is it normal if an infected wound turns purple?"

Hiroshi frowned.

"What do you mean purple?" He asked with a suspicious tone.

Takeshi removed the bandage on his arm, where the square-like monster bit him, and pointed the injury. It had literally turned purple and some skin around too. It had the same color than that monster.

"It's not normal, isn't it?" Said the blonde teen with a worried tone, seeing Hiroshi's surprised expression.

The gray-haired didn't answer, lost in his thoughts. What if... No, surely not... It wouldn't make sense at all. He took the key that his friend had put down and read the inscription.

Old room

He silently emptied his pockets, keeping only the screwdriver, a plate shard and the "Old room" key. He put the things he didn't need on the bookshelf next to the closet and let the lighter next to the candle. He saw a wooden doll in Takuro's pockets. It had only one red eye, it looked like the other one was missing. He took it with a little "Sorry buddy, I may need it". As he stood up, he noticed some numbers written on the red-haired's forearm.

290

He looked at them for a second before turning toward Takeshi.

"So, if you get suspicious that the monster is near, you know what to do." Said Hiroshi to his friend.

"Where are you going?" Asked the blonde, anticipating the gray-haired teen's next move.

"Make a little search of my own."

"Wait, you're the one saying it's dangerous to go alone and now you decide to go on your own?"

"You're injured." He said calmly.

"You are too." Replied the blonde boy.

Hiroshi sighed and readjusted his glasses with the index finger and the middle finger, a move that Takeshi knew as "I'm hiding something".

"What's wrong?" The blonde asked in concern.

"That injury turning purple... If it's what I think, it would be better for you to stay here."

"What do you think is happening?" He asked curiously.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." The gray-haired said with a tone that told the blonde boy that it was better for him to not know anything about it.

Hiroshi exited the room, leaving his friends in. He decided to head upstairs, where he remembered meeting with a locked door. Indeed, the first one he met upstairs was locked. He used the "Old room" key, unlocking the door. It was pretty dark in the room. The light kept flickering and didn't light a lot. For a moment he regretted not bringing the lighter. There was a bed against the wall and it was pretty much the only piece of furniture in the room. He noticed a lightbulb lighten on its own in the corner of the room. He picked it up, realizing it wasn't even hot. Something was moving in it. It looked like a really small ball. He took out his plate shard and gently tapped the fragile glass around the lightbulb. He hit it again, this time pretty hard. The glass cracked as he hit it again, breaking the top of the object. He put it upside down, placing his hand under to catch the little thing that actually was a little spherical blue stone. It had the exact same form than the doll's red eye. He put it in his pocket with the doll, took the lightbulb as a flashlight and exited the room. The teen climbed down the stairs, he had to see those wooden dolls. He walked in the large corridor and got to the door on his right. There were two dolls. One having two white eyes and the second one didn't have any. He put the blue stone in one of the holes. It was a perfect match but nothing happened. He looked at the other one he was holding. Maybe he needed to put both eyes in one doll. He tried to take the one with the blue eye but it stayed on the table. He tried to take out the red stone from the doll but it was stuck.

He sighed. Oh well, if he couldn't remove the eye from the doll, he could always remove the doll from the eye. He exited the room and climbed up the stairs, he would do that later. For now, he needed to check all the rooms. He got in the room with the destroyed fireplace. The room was still messy like he thought it would be but something was different. The fireplace was lighten up with hot flames. He looked at the dolls, then at the fire. He thought about it for a second before throwing the doll into the fire. He sat in front of the fire for a moment, waiting for the fire to burn the entire doll, lost in his thoughts.

The doll finally got burnt entirely, leaving only the red stone. Hiroshi took a deep breath before getting his right hand in the middle of the flames, quickly snatching the stone away. He winced at the burning sensation that stayed in his hand for a while. He stuffed his hand in his pocket, not daring to look at it. He got down the stairs and headed back to the room where the eyeless doll was. He looked at the doll with the blue stone, hesitating a bit if he should put the stone in. He finally got it out and quickly put it in the hole before stuffing his hand back in his pocket because of the pain. He looked around him, expecting something to happen. He turned back to the doll when he heard a little sound coming from it. The head had fallen off. He took it, having no idea what to do with it and got out of the room.


It was so cold. Even if he would have Hiroshi's coat on, he would still freeze. Then, pain. It was hurting everywhere, no matter what he would do, even breath was hard. He looked at his hands. There were soaked in blood, his blood. It was coming from his fingers where his nails were almost completely snatched. He removed them one by one with a shaky hand before letting his arms fall limp on the floor. He shivered as he took a look around his surroundings. Takuro didn't see anything. Even if his eyes were a bit adjusted to the dark, he had no idea if he was near a wall or if he was actually touching the ground. He was kneeling, but it didn't feel like there actually was something below him. A slow and sad tune came to his ears. He didn't remember the title but he remembered saying that he wanted this song to be the last one he would hear just before he would die. He started singing quietly the song, trying to forget the cold and the pain as he lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"We lost the way,
Toward the light
Crawling as a fight,
To find back our home

Drawn in the deep,
Fearing darkness
But don't you forget,
The love you once felt"

He stopped when he realized someone else was singing with him. He opened his eyes and looked up. Mika was walking toward him, singing with her soft voice. She was surrounded by a bright white light that surprisingly, didn't blind him. She looked... At peace, like if she never felt pain. As she was getting closer, Takuro felt pleasant warmth slowly surround him. The girl kneeled just in front of him, still singing with a soothing voice. The red-haired wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he stayed quiet. He didn't want to interrupt her signing and he didn't find the strength to say anything. He couldn't move, pain and weariness getting the best of him. She gently hugged him as he got limped in her arms, the pain slowly disappearing. Losing the very last bit of strength he had left, he closed his eyes, a single tear rolling down his cheek as she sang the last verses of the song.

"Courage to find,
In souvenirs
Ignore the pain,
You're stronger than fear

Light the fire,
in your spirit
Despair disappears,
When you remember"


Takuro opened his eyes and got blind for a second because of the light in the room. He took a look around with a tired gaze. Takeshi was sitting a little farther, his back leaning on the wall, shivering because of his wet clothes. He noticed his wrist was wrapped in what he guessed was a part of Hiroshi's scarf, only the wrist, there wasn't any hand with it. The red-haired quickly looked away and locked his eyes on Mika's scarf, remembering the scene. Her skin turned purple right when her arm was crushed, but the arm isn't a vital part, right? He squeezed the scarf. He didn't know what really happened but he was sure of something; He wouldn't let that monster get him, for Mika. He sat up, ignoring the pain from his leg.

Takeshi almost blenched when Takuro got up. The blonde boy shivered a bit more seeing Takuro's expression. It's been a while since he saw this expression. The last time was a year ago when Mika told them that some guys had fun beating her up when she was going back home. The following afternoon, Takuro went back with her and fought the boys, winning the fight. Since this, the red-haired would still escort her home every day.

The boys looked up as Hiroshi entered the room, holding a key.

"Guys, we'd better go, we still have a long way to go!"


That water room doesn't exist, by the way. I got the idea when I started the story. Oh, for the song, I invented it with the same rythm than "Misty mountain" from the hobbit (french version, or it doesn't fit) so if you want a rythm, you have one now! XD So please leave a review and see you in next chapter!