Chapter 4: My Best Friend
"This is Alyssa's place?" I questioned.
Krono and I surveyed the place. Dark medieval walls surrounded us lit by torches perched upon the walls. The screams of victims resonated throughout the halls of the labyrinth. The faces of terror that I recognize from walking the school grounds twisted with started strolling through the dim halls of this area.
"You see all these people?" asked Krono, "Remember how I told you one person's dreams affect another?"
"Yeah...don't tell me…"
"You are correct." He walked up to a girl tied on a torture wheel. She was dressed in mere rags, similar to those of a beggar from the middle ages. "Everyone here, are currently experiencing a night terror cause of this."
I approached a guy spread out on a table, his limbs being pulled by rope. "What's causing all of this?" I asked.
Krono turned around and gave me a serious look. "Shadows. But this one is different; it's more powerful, a manifestation of Alyssa's inner primitive desires. Just like yours, except I managed to get to yours in time before it started causing damage like this."
It scared me knowing that Alyssa was like this on the inside. But what did this mean? Did she have an inner desire to be tortured? Does she feel like this on the inside? Or perhaps...no...it doesn't seem like her; but at this point I can believe anything.
"Pwyll!" cried Krono. The great knight swept a wave of lesser shadows.
"Dante!" I called from my watch. His scythe incinerated a group that attacked us.
We proceeded for what felt like hours, until we reached a set of stairs. Krono and I looked at each other and confirmed that in order to get to the bottom of this, we had to go deeper. Once again, the lower level was pure horror. This time various dead bodies impaled on spikes; red splattered everywhere. I was able to hear some screaming from above, which I looked up. Another person fell from the high ceiling onto spikes. His voice cried out in agony.
Krono looked at me with a fatigued expression on his face. "Alright, I think that's as far we can go tonight. Let's head back home."
"Wait, we're gonna stop now? We have to do something about these people!"
"Don't worry, they're not dead! Just caught in their stasis of terror. And we'll come back, we just need to rest and gather some info. This place seems way larger than your dungeon was, and more twisted. Her emotions are strong, definitely."
I hung my head low and thought about what he said. "I can't imagine what she's going through right now...to cause her inner thoughts to be like this." I turned back to the stairs. "Let's go back."
The next day, Alyssa did not show up for school. During lunch time, Krono and I got together and talked about the events of last night.
"Wahhh" I yawned. My brain felt like it wanted to shut off at any time, "I'm sleepy."
"Yeah…" he yawned back, "You don't really 'sleep' when you're like that considering your brain is still active. It has its drawbacks. You get used to it eventually."
"You mean, you've been doing this? Since when"
"Since...we talked to that weird girl in the tent."
I thought back to the events of that day. Weird, these things didn't start happening to us, until we talked to her. Maybe, she's the answer to all of this. But the Clock Festival is over.
The school bell rang to signal the end of the day. Krono and I agreed to get to work the moment we get back home. However, he told me that he'll go check on Alyssa at her house to see if his theory was correct, whatever it was. I strolled through the school towards home, when I heard something to my right.
"Get off of me!" demanded a familiar voice. "Oof!"
"Yeah, not so tough without your girlfriend now huh?" bantered a voice that tried to sound intimidating.
I made my way towards the scene, which was outside of campus at the park next the school. I was able to make out two guys in tank tops wearing hats, and a familiar looking scrawny guy in a polo shirt; Scott. The two hoodlums were punching him in the gut, essentially beating him to a pulp.
"I don't know how a guy like you got a girl like her," questioned guy #2, "You got nothing going for you. Look at him, he's so weak!"
"Why...oof... are you doing this to me?" whimpered Scott.
"Because," retorted guy #1, "Someone needs to remind you who you are. Hiding behind that crazy chick all the time."
Scott slowly scooted up the wall and glared at them. His breathing slowed down, his head hung low, the glasses on his face barely dangling off his ears.
"What'd you say...off!" he received another blow to his stomach.
I had the feeling I must intervene in this situation. So I walked forward and yelled, "Hey!"
The two bullies turned around and saw me coming.
"What do you want?" snarled guy #1.
I raised a hand to signal peace. "I'm not here for trouble. I just want you to leave the guy alone."
The second guy walked up to me and got in my face. "What's it to ya, huh? Why do you care about this piece of trash?"
"What gives you a right to just beat him up?" I retorted in a monotone voice.
He did the stereotypical lunge forward for intimidation, but I just stood there staring at him. A look of discomfort washed upon his face. He turned around and signaled to his buddy. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Scott sat against the lockers clenching his stomach, and writhed in pain as the two hoodlums left the area. Concerned, I briskly approached him to see if he was okay. Scott managed to slowly stand up, and take a deep breath; still clenching his stomach. I offered to take him to the nurse's office, but he insisted he was fine. Instead, I decided to walk "home" with him as he was was heading the same way.
"Thanks for back there," Scott said as we walked down the street, "I wasn't sure how much longer they would've kept pummeling me if you didn't show up."
"No problem…" I returned, "So, why do they do that to you?"
He looked at me puzzled, "Huh?"
"I mean, why do they bully you like that?"
Scott hung his head and sighed. "I don't really know. Before it wasn't that bad, not physical for sure. It was verbal, emotional; they used words to hurt me. Then it began when Alyssa and I started dating."
I chuckled. "I'm sorry! Maybe it's cause they like Alyssa."
Scott saw the humor in my comment and chuckled as well. "Yeah, I bet. It's weird. they're deathly afraid of her for some reason."
"I mean, I would be afraid of a girl I liked too."
Scott shook his head. "No I mean, they look like they fear for their life whenever she steps in. Like...they're afraid they might die."
I let that information sink in for a minute or two. "Interesting. Well, we haven't seen her all week. Do you know where she is?"
Scott looked at me deeply. "You mean you didn't hear?"
I was very puzzled.
"She hasn't been able to sleep. So they took her into the hospital!"
I felt my face went pale as I heard the news.
"What was the last thing you heard of her!?" I grabbed his shoulders, "I need to know!"
Scott looked very puzzled and scared of my immediate reaction. "Last time I saw her, she told me she's been getting some nightmares."
Shit. I let go and scrunched my forehead with my hand.
"Hey," said Scott. We arrived at his house, "Back then, I was never one to talk to people as well. I felt lonely, like no one really wanted me. Then Alyssa one day approached me; I remember it, cause she had that same goofy smile she gives whenever she wants someone to be her friend."
I was very puzzled as to where he was going with this.
"And, she asked me out at that moment. I felt...scared that someone actually approached me. I mean, I had friends, but they were all kinda dispersing after middle school. Here she was, a beautiful woman wanting me to go out on a date with her. And, ever since that day, I've never felt more happy and accepted." He looked at me intently, "I think you know what's wrong with her, Miles. And I can only ask of this from you. Please...help her. She's not only my girlfriend...she's my best friend."
We stood there for what felt like forever. Time stood still as he started crying a little, and wiped his tears. "I'm…*sniff…* worried with all the sleep things going around…*sniff..*"
I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth. "Don't worry," I whispered, "I'll do it."
"I'm home." I called out as I dropped my stuff off.
The room was empty save for the backpack resting on Krono's bed, and the empty cereal bowl at the table. I wandered around to look for any sign of Krono's whereabouts; it was dead quiet in the building, which is weird considering the given hour and the amount of residents we have. The bell tolled 5 P.M. and as the fifth bell chimed, the nurses outside started running around. I heard screams sounding from everywhere, and saw someone in a gurney being wheeled off down the hall. My head peered out the door to see dozens a group of workers hustling together in one direction.
"Alright, same as last time: hook her up to the machines. We need to monitor her brainwaves," explained the nurse out in the very front. She turned her head and saw me, "You! Miles, come with us."
I got nothing else better to do so I followed, and was lead to a room at the end of the hallway. Our hospital is organized in a way where the placement in the hallway determines how new or how much of an emergency a case is. It was very soon I learned this room was assigned to a very familiar sporty girl with black hair, a very chipper one.
"Miles!" the positive Alyssa chirped, "I missed you!"
She proceeded to get up, but was stopped by the caretakers. They eased her back into the bed and began attaching the various wires to her. I felt a presence approach behind me, and spotted Krono peering into the door. Alyssa noticed him and gave a smile in our direction. Her pinned down hands motioned enough to give us a thumbs up. Krono pat my shoulder and pulled me out of the room. His face looked concerned as he stared at the floor.
"All we can do is wait now," he muttered.
The evening fell upon our town, and the stars began to appear. My watch ticked 10 P.M as we prepared for bed. Krono put his headphones on as usual, and I placed my pocket watch on my nightstand. It wasn't long until the screams started echoing from down the hall. Our friend was undergoing her night terrors. That was the signal to begin our journey into the world of dreams.
"You hear that?" I muttered. Before us stood the stairs to the fourth floor. More screams resonated from down below, but more importantly a specific scream that differentiated itself cried out. "Is that…?"
"We have to go!" Krono ordered. He ran ahead of me.
"Krono!" I called out as I followed him.
The fourth floor was taken up a notch compared to its predecessors. It was more modern, with everything you see from a stereotypical gore film. Giant saw blade mechanisms that swung in and out, drills digging into victims, pillars of fire engulfing people in flames. The torture was getting more and more intricate and specific it made my skin crawl. More shadows oozed out of the wall; forms of tables and giant balls with tongues started coming towards us.
"Persona!" Krono yelled. His knight clad in blue slashed at a table and killed it in one swoop.
"Dante!" I cried out. My pilgrim of red swung his scythe and destroyed the tongue monsters.
Krono and I powered through the chambers of death, dodging the various machines. He ran the walls to avoid a pitfall trap and landed on the other side. I stopped at the cliff and peered down to see a spiked floor awaiting any victims. My eyes spied a metal torch holder on the wall, and I looked at my weapon.
"If you can imagine it," I threw my scythe and hooked on the bar, "You can achieve it!" I tried to run the wall, and pulled myself as I got halfway, managing to clear the pit.
More screams came from further into the dungeon. There was no doubt it about it, that was Alyssa. Further into the dungeon we went, the time between the cries of pain was lessening. Eventually we found the stairs to the next floor, and Alyssa's shreeks sounded extremely close. Krono and I looked at each other and agreed that the time to take action was now. We dashed down the stairs to be met by a grand wooden door; beside us was some sort of butterfly, how odd. Suddenly, another scream was heard from the room behind the door, a male voice.
The chamber in this room was grey, deviating from the black and dark color scheme. The brick walls around us were clean and orderly, mysteriously lit with no source of light. In the middle of the room were two girls that looked similar to each other. Except, one of them was raised twenty feet off the air being held by chains, while the other looked up and laughed at her. We heard a male scream from the right belonging to a young man tied up by his limbs and pulled from all sides; it was Scott!
The young girl turned around, and of course she looked like Alyssa.
"My my, I didn't know you'd make it this far!" her distorted chirpy voice greeted. "But then again, I expected no less from you" She turned around and looked at Alyssa.
Alyssa's eyes slowly opened. Her face lit up with terror and fear as she screamed from the top of her lungs.
"What's going on!? Krono, Miles?" She looked down and saw her shadow. "Who are you? Why do you look like me!?"
The shadow laughed maniacally, and gave her a look of amusement. "Who am I? Why I am pain, violence, the desire to destroy everything in my path."
Alyssa began to look confused.
"All my life, I was always looked down upon. They called me the crybaby, no one listened to me, I was never able to give out my ideas. Instead, i listened to others, and obliged. I obeyed!" The shadow rambled on. She stomped her foot and a dark puff of smoke huffed out.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" she gasped.
"Then one day, it clicked. Why should I always be the one to be stepped on? Others should appreciate me, I'm always the one doing them the favor. I'm the one that deserves to be in charge!" She looked over at Scott. His face grimaced in fear. "Then I met you, my little Scottie. Oh, yes! You were so little, meek, I absolutely must have you! So I claimed you for myself."
She walked over to him and leaned her face into his. "So timid, I felt powerful being with you." She turned around and looked at us. "That gave me the confidence to become a leader, to become the school president. After all, that's what I wanted: power."
Alyssa's scrunched her eyes as if her head is in pain.
"Is this true?" Scott muttered. He screamed out "Is that why we're together!? Do you even love me!?"
The shadow looked down at him again. "Of course I do! But not for the reasons we both wish it was. Looking at you, and how pathetic you are, I can almost laugh. You reminded me I that I was on top, and people like you deserved to be on bottom."
Alyssa began screaming in pain again.
"Oh would you look at that? I mean, it's true am I right? You wanted people to grovel at your feet after years of being treated so low. Your parents saw you as free labor around the house, not even giving you the proper respect you deserve. So why should others get what you didn't have?" The shadow looked at us. "All those out there, they will know the true meaning of pain!"
"STOP!" Alyssa cried out, "Stop this. What makes you think you can say all that? You don't know me!"
"Oh, but I do. It's because you're me, and I am you."
"No…"
"Alyssa, don't fight it!" Krono yelled out.
"No, you're not…" she muttered.
"Don't say it!" I advised.
"YOU'RE NOT ME!"
The shadow began laughing uncontrollably. A swirl of black energy formed around her as she changed shape. As it cleared, what stood was a giant figure clad in a black dress. Her hair was long and red, and from the back her figure was slim and toned. Black petals kept floating around her, and the gown gloved hands held a sword of some sort. She turned around; half her face covered by some sort of mask, the other half showing a beautiful woman that looked similar to Alyssa, except with soulless eyes. She stared at us, and smiled.
"You shall receive my pain. Grovel at my feet, and accept me as your ruler." She pointed the sword at us.
"W-what are you?" Alyssa asked in panic.
The shadow turned around and laughed.
"I am a shadow, the true self!"