PAINFUL DISCOVERIES:
Creeping back to the basement door with the stolen key in hand I began to feel a rush of excitment- or dread. That's exactly how a soldier is supposed to feel. Nothing but excitement- daddy says a soldier is supposed to be calm, but uncle Strider gets excited and he always wins. Not even the beasts ungodly sounds has faultered my step. Okay, maybe it has a little, but a solider never announces or presents that to his enemy.
Finally, I stood in front of the door that leads to the beast. The moment I've been waiting for, for... an hour at least. With only minor hesitation, I slid the key in the door's lock and turn it, hearing a satisfying click. Without another thought I opened the door, getting overwhelmed with the pungeant odor of... mold? Mildew? Or Rot?
Nudging back my shivers of fear I enter the room, only to go down a flight of stairs. The basement is in comlete darkness. Pitch black. Instinctivly, I scramble for the lightswitch. Ignoting the slimy wet stuff coating the walls I search, begining to panic when I couldn't find beast roared, causing the structure around me to resonate and vibrate with it's voice. I turn, afraid that it senses my presence.
Slowly, I begin to bak away, but then it yells again, and, ignoring my duty as a soldier, I circle and run. I ran until something slapped me in my face and I stop in my tracks, tremors of fear racking through my body. Mustering up some meager courage and reach up to see what had hit me. It was cold... Really cold. And metal... Chains? No, the object in my hand was too small. Cautiously, I pulled it down and...
And the room was filled with yellow flickering light.
I had unintentionally found the lightswitch.
I begin to slink forward, inspecting my surroundings, as daddy has told me to do before entering an unknown area, and alway's be aware of the people around me. He'd always told me that somebody would love to snag me up, steal me from my family, because I'm a special kid. I never knew why, but my daddy and uncles always gives good advice, so I usually listen to them.
The basement actually is like a dungeon or a jailhouse. Barred cells are in a row down a wide hall and the the walls and floor is covered in red and orange liquid... Blood.
While scoping the room... the dungeon... my heart drops at what my senses notice. It wasn't the landscape of gore laid beofre my eyes, but a sound. It wasn't the beast I was hunting- though I can hear him grunting in the distance. It was footsteps upstairs, by the basement.
With dread I crouch down, as far away from the entry as possible, waiting for the person to pass on by.
"Hello?" A voice calls I immediatley notice to be William's. "Anyone down there?"
Fearing my potiental punishment for breaking into here I remain silent.
"And Sabin wants to nag me for bathing too long. He can't even turn out lights for himself. Shame. Shame," William muttered.
I wait to hear his receding footsteps but dont hear none until after the lick of the click of the door being closed. GREAT! So now I'm locked in this dungeon with the beast. The idea to hurry and run, and beg William to let me out tempted me greatly, but I reminded myself that I'm a soldier and soldier's always face thier fears. Always.
The beast let out another blood curdling roar, testing my decision. But I stayed put, my decision set in stone. Actually, instead of running from it, I used it's voice to search for it.
I looked in every cell, but they all were empty, for the most part. Could I be imagining. I venture to the end of the hall and expecting to see the dungeon branch off I find a cubby where the beast, no a man was chained.
The man was covered in dried, flaky blood. Open wounds all over his body, seeping the red liquid. He was knashing his... Fangs? And writhing and yanking against his confinement in attempt to free himself.
I stood in horror, not expecting to find an alive man- or half-man- in their basement, which turned out to be a dungeon. The man roared, causing me to shudder back in fear. But I realized them that this man wasn't the monster, he was the victim
Gaining the shreds of my courage I look up into the man's eyes and was shocked to see recognition in his eyes a second before he began to fight against his 's when the pieces began to all fit together. Or I thought they did.
I really didn't know.
I really didn't know anything but the fact that the man in front of me is my father and my uncle's- are they even my uncles?- are holding him here to torture him.
Instantly, I step into action, closing in on my distressed father. As I closed in he swat at me, but I responded, "Don't worry, Daddy. You'll be out of here soon."
His fighting and struggles slowed, so I was able to close in on the lock holding me to the wall. I took the key I put in my pocket after using it to open the door and tried it on the chains, and, surprisingly they worked to unlock !y father's confinement. That !must have been why Lucien kept the key around his neck. It kept my father in captivity like some animal.
Instantly, my father's struggle began again, except more violent. "NO!" He roared, before knocking me away with his hand. He probably didn't !want it, but my body went flying across the dungeon floor.
The sound of racing footsteps sounded from above and I knew that his outburtst had awoken the house. "Daddy, quiet down. They'll hear you!"
Instead of silencing himself his shrieks began anew, only louder and more often than before. I stumbled to him again, only to be knocked back with his closed fist. He was grunting now, breathing deeply in and out. He effortlessly yamked free of the remaining chain, it shattering at the twitch of a muscle and he glared at me, menace shadowing his expression. He began to growl at ME, with malice, no recognition in his eyes at all of me.
I could hear the basement door rattling, then they started to beat against the door. It sounded like a multitude of bombs exploding against it. "Renier, get put of there! Now!" They shouted. I could even hear my mom wailing in the distance.
"Daddy," I whispered, afraid.
He continued to stalk towards me.
Tears began to slip from the corners of my eyes and I couldn't stop the sobs from leaving my lips. My daddy was the monster after all. "Daddy, please don't do this," I begged, sucking in snot that dripped from my nose. "Daddy..."
The door burst open, and dad lunged at me. I was instantly covered in an assault of punches and snarls. My vision even began to flicker as I was repeatedly beat in the head. Despite the physical injuries I was obtaining my father's betrayal hurt the worst.
He continued to shower punches across my head, and I continued to cry and wail in pain. That's the only thing I could do. I was too small to fight him off.
Suddenly, there was a wall of bodies tackling my dad off me, and I was getting pulled to my feet. I made it a step before I slipped on a strange liquid- my own blood I would later be told- and slammed my head against the floor. I noticed that I was being dragged, but didn't care. I was too preoccupied watching my uncle's wrestle down my father as he tried to scramble and attack them. My father tried to crawl to me, a growl ripping from his posted lips.
I would have watched more but soon everything has peacefully faded to black and I couldn't remember anything after that.