Horror in a Cage

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Darkness consumed all vision Takeshi had of this spirit cage Eve talked so contemptuously about, but a burning heat stung his face. For a moment, he couldn't breathe; the musty warmth filled his nostrils like sponges. Apprehensive of suffocation, Takeshi began breathing through his mouth.

"You don't actually have to breathe," Eve murmured. "Not when you're a spirit."

Takeshi puffed the remaining breath out sheepishly, shoulders slouched, and stood, dumbfounded. "So what now?"

"Is the heat really that much?" He could sense the shrug in her tone. "Maybe I've been cold much too long. Just think of this as the heat supply of a lifetime. No more absorbing living heat for a long time."

Was she trying to cheer him up? And he thought his brave act was foolproof. Maybe she could hear his heart thudding in trepidation against his ribs…wait, heart. That's right—her heart!

"Hey, Eve—"Takeshi started.

Maybe it was his tone of voice or simply his lack of speed; Eve reached out and grabbed his wrist, tugging him forward forcefully. Takeshi froze, surprised by the electricity that coursed through his cold veins.

"Come on, Takeshi, we must hurry through. It's a little too stifling in here."

"Y—yeah, that's what I was thinking. You know, a minute ago." Takeshi mentally kicked his flustered self in the head. He felt strange, but in a good way. He felt just a fraction braver.

It felt as if they'd walked hours through the world's longest hallway before they emerged from the darkness and stepped out into a bright red burst of light. Takeshi was blinded for a minute and he raised his sleeve to his nose; the sudden explosion of heat felt like a slap to the face. If he had been flesh and blood, he was sure he would have melted into a puddle the heat was so intense. Finally, after a few more steps, the red blaze faded and unveiled the infamous cage.

From the mushy, fleshy platform Takeshi and Eve stood on, they could see bones scattered for miles, topped with oozing flesh and muscles still attached to mangled limbs. The "walls" of the cage were actually human bones attached by the joints, wrapped in shredded tissue, connecting together like a raptor's cage that seemed to stretch on forever, creating a dome ceiling where tattered bits swayed like banners for the dead. Canopies of strange, dark colored fabric hung from parts of the walls, lined up like some kind of marketplace upon arriving. The stench was so great it overwhelmed Takeshi, making him dizzy; it was the smell of burnt rubber and rotting food in the summer heat, the smell of rotted flesh. Live and still bodies were lying on the ground, wriggling helplessly as if the bloodied flesh touching theirs was burning them alive. Despairing sobs filled the place like banshee wails. It was like walking through the real life Nether.

"We don't have to beat a dragon at the end, do we?" Takeshi managed after several moments of standing and shuddering with wave after wave of trepidation.

Eve stared at the side of his face. He could feel her astonishment boring into the side of his skull. "That's what you have to say? I bring you to hell, and you ask me if there's a dragon we have to defeat?"

"S—so, what do we have to do?" Takeshi blurted, flustered and vying to change the conversation. "Find Mika's body or something? Hey, why do they look like they're alive, anyway?"

After a long pause, Takeshi sensed Eve had let the comment slide; she turned her gaze to the mountainous hills of gore and subtly winced. "You don't think the oni consume all their victims, do you?" Takeshi gulped despairingly. "Anyway, we aren't searching for a live body, not a corpse. I saw my aunt's family here when I slipped through the portal…they had been abducted by the oni. Their corpses were so decayed…"

Takeshi wondered where they had been lying when she saw them, but he didn't say a word. He couldn't, not when her expression was so pitiful he wanted to hold her.

Wait, what? He wanted to what? Do what? To her? That sounded wrong?

He shook his head and gulped down any fast remarks before he turned to run away. You can do this, Takeshi! He pumped himself enthusiastically. Do it for Mika! Do it for Eve!

For Eve?

He glanced down at her again and time seemed to slow down. She was grotesquely ravishing: her dull red eyes drooping with grief; long dark hair straight and flimsy, whispering around her like a veil of water; her nose small and petite and slightly crooked; her small, fragile looking body holding a determined and powerful stance. Only solitude itself had made her stronger. Perhaps she might have been some innocent and spoiled brat before death, but she certainly seemed much more attuned to her surroundings and more compassionate than she might have been in life. It was strange to see someone so small and petite so ready for war. It influenced Takeshi's spirit; a sudden bolt of courage struck him like lightning. If she could do this, so could he.

For Mika, he thought again, more determined than before. "All right, Eve, so we're looking for a soul?"

"Yes," she replied instantly. "I don't know much about the Cage." Hesitantly, she started down the mass of bones to the right of the platform. A femur slid out from beneath her sole. Before Takeshi could react, Eve regained footing and watched the femur intently as it fell down the pile. "We need to hurry."

"Why?" Takeshi murmured, suddenly trembling with dread as he followed her almost numbly. "Is there something that's gonna chase us?"

"I don't know," she admitted, sliding down the mound swiftly. "I just know that there are people who watch this area, like the men who took my brother. I think there are others, too. I remember seeing at least six different men escorting lost souls here, the ones the oni devoured I mean. And the bodies here, some of them I witnessed being dragged through the portal by the same men. That happened just last month, too, when a group of ghost hunters came to investigate the manor."

Her foot caught on a skull and she would have tumbled down the mass with it if Takeshi hadn't lunged to wrap his arms around her waist. His blonde locks tickled her cheek. Eve flushed as acutely as a ghost could and murmured a quick apology.

"No problem," he said, releasing her. "But, uh, Eve…this isn't really inconspicuous, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?" They were almost at the bottom now.

"Well, I mean, anyone could see us, you know?" Takeshi glanced around eyes wide and wary. "Anyone could see us from here."

"It's the only way down," Eve explained hastily. "We couldn't have just jumped off the platform. That's why we've got to hurry down."

Takeshi groaned; two minutes into this place and already their lives were in jeopardy. They could seriously die any minute! All he could do was repeat, This will be worth it, to himself over and over until the words were somewhat etched in his mind. Not surprisingly, they were sucked through one ear and flew out the next. What the hell was he thinking, this would be worth it?! What the hell was he thinking by going there in the first place? What possessed his mind to make him think he was brave enough to face this—this—this place?!

"Eve, a—are you s—sure this is the only way?" He squeaked.

Leaping the last foot onto the ground, Eve blinked up at him. "Why? Frightened already?"

YES! "Pfft, no. I'm not scared yet." Takeshi cautiously sidled down the remaining few feet to the ground and forced himself to grin. "Totally not scared y—"

"Your, er, smile is very creepy," Eve said, starting toward a black canopy to the left that was covering some sort of grave marker. The hole before the tombstone was open, leading deep into the ground. Wherever it went, Takeshi wasn't too excited to find out. "Come. I made a friend of a spirit who escaped this cage in the past. I don't know where the tunnel leads, but she advised me to pass through."

"I think you're crazy, but whatever." Takeshi whimpered as he placed his sneaker on the first sandstone step, grimacing at a stray eyeball that had fallen on the second. "Oh, gross…This is the stupidest thing I've ever…We're gonna die."

"Keep moving," Eve whispered urgently, beckoning him further down the stairwell.

"You just keep telling me a lot of secrets, don't you?" Takeshi mumbled. "I mean, I feel like you've got hundreds of them."

Eve giggled, a strange but heartwarming noise to hear coming from her. Perhaps she wasn't as cold as Takeshi had thought. "We all have our secrets. I didn't reveal them before because they would have confused you. Besides, I wanted to test your courage before I brought you here."

"There's another reason for taking me here, isn't there?" Takeshi glanced around; he had been led into a large cavern leading in three different directions. The tunnels weren't far from the blazing fire on the surface, but they were significantly darker, lit only by torches fashioned in the shapes of rib cages and bones. Flesh peeled from them, still as the air around him. "It's not just for Mika, is it?"

Eve didn't pause before she rushed down the right hall. "No, it's not. You've become much cleverer than when we first met." He could hear the smirk in her voice. Or was it admiration?

At that moment, Takeshi felt as if he had never known her, didn't know her at all. She seemed different suddenly, but he couldn't explain why. Maybe it was the sarcasm in her amused tone that sluiced him.

What do I really know about her?

Takeshi stopped, waiting for her to realize he wasn't following her. "Why did you bring me here, Eve?" Finally, she paused halfway into the darkness, almost out of sight. "What do you really want? Did you ever actually want to help me, help Mika?"

Eve sighed, sounding pompous and agitated, and turned, fish eyes glittering darkly. "I honestly don't car for Mika"—Takeshi's eyes widened angrily—"if you want the honest truth. It was never my intention to rescue her singularly."

"What does that mean?" Takeshi couldn't rip his eyes away from hers. He felt genuinely betrayed.

Eve tilted her head. "You're honestly asking me that? What's the point in saving one soul when there are hundreds of others?"

"I don't really believe that's why we're here," Takeshi murmured in a low and cautious voice. "I think you're lying."

Eve scoffed indignantly. "So now you don't trust me. I want my brother back, but I can't face this hell alone. Does that suffice?"

Nowhere close. "Why didn't you just say that before, Eve? What else are you hiding from me? Why are you hiding from me?" When we've come so far?

For a short second, he thought he could see regret flash through her eyes, but it was brief and so subtle he wasn't sure it had actually been there. A glower replaced the illusion of emotion. "Don't look too far into this, Takeshi. I promise you, there's nothing notorious there."

What the hell did that mean? How did she mean that? Was she mocking him or was she being sincere?

"Then just—stop with the riddles and explain to me why you really wanted to come here!" Takeshi exclaimed. "Just—just tell me one more time. Just explain it to me."

"I want to rescue my family and kill Umber!" Eve shouted, temper breached. "You can save Mika in the meantime, okay? I just want my brother back! I want someone who understands me, someone close to me, someone I can rely on!"

Hurt hit Takeshi like a slap to the face. "So you don't think I understand you, I'm not reliable?"

Eve's lips became a straight, taut line as she realized how her choice of words had sounded. But really, what did she really want to say? What could she tell him? Their relationship didn't matter one way or another; if they succeeded, he'd be able to skip back to the living world with the damsel in distress—who would probably fawn over him for being so brave and heroic—and Eve would simply pass on to whatever came next. Maybe Heaven or maybe some kind of Afterlife. Either way, it didn't matter. She couldn't let herself be so attached to someone who would fly away as soon as he won back his freedom, his body, his spirit.

And damn her to hell, she was falling in love with him. How or when was a mystery; perhaps it had been when the change had come about him, when he suddenly delved deeper inside to muster up all the courage he could. It was like the story of the forbidden fruit; he was so unexpected and so pure, and she was so dead, deader than the Wicked Witch of the East, but she felt like she was melting like the Wicked Witch of the West, only in acid instead of water.

Eve had been so wrong about Takeshi. She thought he was some infantile burden that could never be of any use—yet, suddenly, he was some knight in shining armor, here to steal her away from the doom that surrounded them. She had been completely and utterly wrong. He wasn't as ridiculous and ignorant as she'd thought he was.

But it didn't matter now. He was going to love Mika forever. He was going to rescue her and then take her back with him to the living world. It was almost as if they were destined—and Eve was wishing she were the one he was destined for.

She couldn't meet his eyes as she murmured, "You can rescue Mika while I rescue my family. Umber is locked away somewhere deeper into the cage, but Naoki could summon her to the living world any time after he finds the last two volumes of the Black Velveteen. If we could find her tomb here before she gets there, we could all be free. That is what I want."

"Is there any way you could…come back?" Takeshi wondered quietly, still cautious. Eve stilled. "Is there any way you can come with us? Back to the other world? The living one?"

Could she? Hope sprang in her chest, but she pummeled it. "I don't…no." She straightened. "I can't. Can we go now?"

The sorrowful innocence in her tone forced Takeshi to nod. "Sure. Let's go. Lead the way, I'll follow."

Eve turned immediately and hurried down the corridor, unaware of the faint pounding of a piece of herself she'd forgotten long ago.

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