Here Come the Owls: Part 1 – Sudden Change in Life

Part 1 – Sudden Change in Life

One day after coming back from my parents and I taking care of my nonna, we find the writing, “We know where you live. We know your habits. The Owls were here” with the drawing of an owl all in red on the wall of our house. We searched the house to see if anything was stolen or broken. Nothing was touched in any way as far as we could tell. We called the police and they couldn’t find any point of entry, so they just assumed the “Owls” who did this were pulling a prank and wanted to scare us. Well, they succeeded.

It’s been a week after and similar writing is on the wall now, but this time the writing says, “We’re here. We’re coming for you. Your lives are over. Here come the Owls” with a drawing of an attacking owl in red. My parents scramble to secure the house and call the police while I go downstairs to check it. Is that a person laying down on the couch? What the? I almost slipped on a double-barreled shotgun that was on the steps. There was a person on the couch! He’s up and his running towards me. I pick up the double-barrel shotgun and try to fire it, but it’s empty, so I use it as a weapon and hit the man over the head again and again. He’s trying to take the shotgun away from me, but I don’t allow him as I kick him down the stairs and keep beating him. All this commotion attracts my parents to the scene.

“Hey, stop! Stop!” the man says as he takes what looks to be a detonator out of his pocket. I stop beating him with the shotgun and my parents and I back off from him as the man gets up from the floor. “Hey, mom, dad, leave the house for now or I’ll blow us all up. Kid, you stay here with me.”

“Don’t you-”

“Now!”

My dad tries to do something, but my mom holds him back. They then leave us alone staring at each other.

“You got a sharp reaction kid. I was hoping that you would slip on the shotgun, so I could’ve killed you and your family easily.”

“Why? Why do you want to kill us?!”

“No real reason. You each just happen to get a bounty of a hundred thousand dollars on your heads.”

“Why?!”

“Like I said. No real reason.”

“So, what happens now?”

“You’ll never get rid of the bounties on your head. You’ll have to run away from people like me for the rest of your life.”

“This can’t be happening…”

“Oh it is, kid, and you better be ready for it because there’s another Owl like me out of you and your parents close by. Thankfully for you, I can help you now.”

“Why?”

“I’m not doing this out of the kindness of my heart. It’s part of my contract and the rules we play by. You beat me at my game, so you have my help. I’ll explain more. When you stepped on the shotgun, I was allowed to kill you and your family according to the conditions I set. The authorities wouldn’t be able to do anything if they were here and your deaths would’ve been forgotten about, but when you beat me down until I gave up, you enlisted me in your service. You can only have one Owl like me, so don’t be thinking that you can get rid of me and trade up as if you could get anyone better than me.”

“What are you going to do for me?”

“I’m going to give you hints about the Owl coming after you and when to watch out. Take this earpiece, so we can stay in touch. If you beat the next Owl, I get paid for us so we can pay for clothes, food, shelter, whatever we need.”

“Can you give me anything to beat the next Owl?”

“Besides, hints, nothing yet. That has to come from what I get with the money you get from beating them.”

“Them?!”

“That’s right. This game keeps on going as long as you have a bounty on your head and there are Owls to claim it and there are too many to count.”

“How do I get rid of my bounty?”

“I’ll tell you later. The next Owl is already on the move. Get to the front door.”

I hurry to the front door and let them in. They hurry back to find that the man is gone.

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know. He was just there!”

My mom and dad start checking the house while I look outside for the next Owl.

I hear in my earpiece, “I already disappeared, kid. I’m like a shadow.”

“Where’s the Owl?”

“She’s out there. You have to find out for yourself.”

Is that…a crowd of turkeys coming this way?

“Do you see the turkeys?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s the trigger. Walking near that group will allow her to kill you without consequence. You should know that it’s set for both your parents and you, so if you go out by yourself, then you can take away their bounties, but you’ll have a three hundred thousand dollar bounty on your head, which will give her a better reason to off you quicker.”

Without thinking about it, I walk to the group of turkeys while looking around for the Owl, but don’t see anything, so I quickly head back inside to be hidden.

“You’re a stupid, but good kid. I’ll give you that.”

Hmm. Since the other guy was close by in a place where he could see me step on the trigger, then the other Owl should be close by. Maybe the bush across the street?

“Thanks, I guess. I think I know where she might be.”

“Go for it then. The longer you wait, the more aggressive Owls typically get.”

I head to the back of my house and go through the backyards of the other houses until I’m on the other side of the street. Going near the bush that’s across the street, I find someone with a sniper rifle peering out of the bush, so I take the empty shotgun that I still have and hit her over the head with it.

“Hahaha! Good job kid!” I hear in my earpiece.

“How did you know that I got her? Did you know where she was?”

“I kind of already know her, so I had an idea of where to find her. You’re lucky cars were passing by in the streets otherwise she would’ve got you. If she shot anyone else, then she would’ve been disqualified from taking the bounty and have to pay the clean-up costs.”

“What now? Are there more Owls coming?”

“Not now, but they will soon. I’ll be close by and tell you when someone does.”

I get back home in time for my parents to not notice I was gone. They tell me that they couldn’t reach the police for some mysterious reason. For now, we’ll hold out in our house and tell our families what happened. Later in the day, after being unable to get any help from the authorities or anyone else, three electricians, who were already scheduled to come over, arrive. The last guy who enters the house looks strange. He has green hair and his skin looks like it’s been through more a few cramped crawlspaces. He seems to be happier to be here than the other two with his eyes trained on me in particular.

 Is this guy another Owl? I haven’t heard anything from the guy who’s supposed to be assisting me. After shaking the hands of the first two electricians, I go around to shake the strange man’s hand and his smile starts to widen. He’s one of them! Before he can do anything, I punch him in the throat then knee him in the gut. He’s taken the hits better than I thought and is fighting back against me.

“Help! Help me!” I call out to my parents and the other electricians who restrain the Owl for me.

Once we’re separated, I go outside for some fresh air.

“Good job, kid. You didn’t even need my help with that one,” I hear a voice in my earpiece say.

“Where were you?”

“I was sitting and watching. That guy was after you and your family. Since you were the only one who shook his hand then attacked him, you took the bounty of your family again. Your total bounty is five hundred thousand dollars. That’s quite a sum that will definitely attract more owls to you.”

“What should I do?”

“Since you’re so keen on putting the attention on yourself, then you should run away from home. The Owls will try to take advantage of your kindness and make you increase your bounty by taking your parents, which leads to more dangerous and aggressive Owls coming after you like the one you just encountered.”

“…is that really how it’s going to be?”

“That’s how it always happens. I’ve done it before, so the same is going to happen to you.”

“Okay…fine. I’m going to run away, but where should I go?”

“Run away to the pizzeria not too far from here. I’ll be waiting around the side. Get rid of your phone and whatever kinds of cards in your wallet that connect you to your original name. You’re going to be dead or at least missing, so to speak.”

“Okay.”

I do what he says and go to the pizzeria. It’s started to rain. I wanted to go to say goodbye to my family before leaving them, but I’m afraid that another Owl might be close, so I quickly run away before they see me. I’m sorry mom and dad.

“Hey, kid. Don’t start crying. It’s not going to help you,” the man says as he’s next to me.

“Shut up.”

“I know you must be feeling pissed at the world, but there’s nothing you can do about it. Your life has just radically changed and the only thing you can do is adapt to it.”

“I don’t want to hear it. I know what’s going on.”

“Hey, I’ve been through this before. Besides letting someone else activate your trigger like how you activated the trigger for your parents’ bounties, you can also become an Owl to get rid of your bounty.”

“I’m not going to do that. I refuse to kill random people for money.”

“Then you’re just going to be playing their game for the rest of your life day in and day out.”

“I’d rather do that than become a soulless killer.”

“Ouch. That kind of hurt, kid, though it really doesn’t bother me. I get paid either way.”

“Of course it doesn’t bother you. All you care about is money.”

“Yup. I’m not going to deny it.”

“Can you tell me why the Owls put large bounties on the heads of random people, at least?”

“We don’t put the bounties on people. The people behind the scenes do if you could call them people. They’re more demon than human and that should mean a lot coming from me.”

“But why do they do it?”

“I don’t know. Your guess is better than mine. I just take orders. I’m no different than a soldier of my country.”

“Some soldier you are killing civilians.”

“Hey, to my credit, I do kill a few politicians, businessmen and women, and criminals when I can. Those have the higher bounties.”

“Who are the Owls anyway? Mercenaries or soldiers?”

“We’re all kinds of people. Mercenaries, soldiers, secret service, police, and people who played in this game. We just want a good paycheck.”

“I can’t believe I have to rely on you.”

“It’s not so bad. Since I have to help you, do you want to grab a bite to eat before I help you create your new identity?”

“I guess so. What’s your name anyway?”

“I can’t tell you that, so just call me J for now.”

“Okay, Mr. Jackas-”

“Be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you.”

“Sure, whatever.”

“Aw come on, cheer up! You’ve left whatever boring life you were living and are now living a more adventurous and profitable life!”

“Let’s just eat already.”

“Fine with me. I’m starving!”

This is really the end of my normal life and the start of an endless struggle. I can’t believe it. I can only hope that things might get better as time goes on.

My 119th book is out for free!

Download for free on Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/981706

A hundred people every year fall into a near-death state with no rhyme or reason to it. Rosanna searches for the reason why and ends up in a dimension where killers and people affected by tragedy attack her. She must play by the dimension's rules to escape or else she could be trapped in this sadistic game forever or until she surrenders her soul to it.

Cycle of Suffering: Chapter 4 – Godlike Mercy

Chapter 4 – Godlike Mercy

I’m not going to let this place get to me, I can’t. It’s just that I’m so tired of being given small hints about the answer to my escape. What kind of answer is my faith going to give me? I’ve been praying to God, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Does it have something to do with the killers? They just want to kill me or make me suffer. Does it have something to do with the other people trapped here? I never get a chance to team up with anyone. What am I supposed to do?

When’s the next killer going to come after me? I keep waiting and waiting and nothing happens. Looking outside my window, I see that I’m in the middle of a destroyed town with streams of water running through it, so it appears that a huge storm hit this place. The area around this town is nothing but water as if we’re on an island. Exploring the building further reveals writing on the wall that details being abandoned and a single person’s fight for survival. The walls are a canvas for the person living here with disturbing pictures of monsters, humans, and death.

I find a diary near one of these walls that details several recipes for making food out of wildlife and…humans. Uck. I don’t even want to know the things this killer made human dishes. I’m more than sick of cannibals at this point. How am I even going to get out of here? These killers have different challenges associated with them, so I don’t necessarily need to escape them. I just have to find a way to beat them at their own game.

Thinking the kitchen might have something, I find myself in a gory mess with heads, skulls, bodies, legs, arms, and other human body parts put in various places as if I was in a cannibal grocery store. This must be a place of importance, so I bear the horrific sights and stench and search the area. Among the tables, I find a newspaper that talks about a town hit by a flood. Rescuers and clean-up crews that went there after the flood were attacked and never heard from again. One theory mentioned talks about a man and his dying family who were left behind because there wasn’t any room left for them and when more rescuers came back, they never discovered his body nor the bodies of his family, which made the rescuers think they died, however, the article theorizes that this man survived and attacked the next wave of rescuers and clean-up crew to avenge his family. Yup. This makes sense for him to be the killer.

He’s probably the person leaving all the marks and books around the place. What’s this? There’s a grave that almost looks like a shrine in the cooking area. These must be the man’s family. “You’ll always be with me. I’ve made sure of that”? Did he eat them in some sort of deep depressed state? It seems like that from what I’m looking at. I hear someone entering the kitchen to see a starved-looking man enter with sunken eyes and with bloody pieces of meat with him that I’m not sure are human or not. That must be him. Thank you, God, the back exit is open. I go through it and enter the flooded town.

None of these places look too interesting to investigate though I do have some ideas for where to check. I check a local fish store and I think I might see someone in it.

“Hello?” I call out as loud, but as quiet as possible to them.

It is a person. It’s a woman who looks like she’s been through a war with how dirty and injured she looks.

“Quiet down. That man can hear things throughout the town.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“What year is it?”

“Twenty-nineteen, why?”

“Damn it. I’m from the nineteen-seventies.”

“Nineteen-seventies? You sure don’t look like it.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but it’s true. Time is abstracted here. I’ve talked to people from the eighteen-hundreds and even seventeen-hundreds.”

“Really? How are you still alive?”

“This sadistic dimension keeps me alive.” A noise in the distance gets the woman’s attention. “I need your help with something that could get us away from this killer. We can talk more along the way but be sure to keep your voice down.”

I follow the woman while keeping an eye out for the cannibal.

“How long have you been here?”

“Too long. I haven’t been counting. I wouldn’t even if I could. I’ve died and seen so much bloodshed and killers that I might as well be in Hell.”

“How many killers are there?”

“Thousands, maybe? There could be hundreds of thousands.”

“Haven’t you survived scenarios with them?”

“I have more than I’ve died.”

“How close are you to an answer to getting out of here?”

“I don’t know. The vague hints I get I don’t believe in because it talks about God and Jesus and loving and acting like God.”

“Oh, I get what the hints are telling me now. You should have a good idea.”

“Yeah, but I don’t believe those are the right answers. God has to do with the creation of this dimension. It’s meant to give you the answer to eternal life except you have to suffer for them.”

“Life is suffering and suffering for love is one of the greatest acts.”

“Sure. Believe what you want. I’m looking for a better answer.”

There is only one answer and she doesn’t want to believe it. We arrive at the ruins of the city hall that looks like someone used to live here.

“This is the place that I believe holds our way out. City hall is a shelter that has a stockpile of food in the basement, however, the door is jammed and has been jammed for a while. I’ve been trying to open it on my own with what I have, but I haven’t done that much to it. With your help, we should be able to open it. What do you say?”

“I’ll help.”

“Good. Wait here and keep an eye out for that killer. I’ll be back with my tools.”

While the woman looks for her supplies, I take a look outside and don’t see anything, so I look through some of the things on the ground for a pair of binoculars to see better. Among the pile of junk, I find a diary by the cannibal. It looks better than the other diaries I found and is written with better handwriting. This details the man’s life before the flood and his favorite food being strawberry ice cream is highlighted because it was the food the family liked to make and share with others on special occasions. I take it with me as I take another look outside to see something in the distance that looks like the cannibal. When I turn around, I see the woman with her tools.

“He’s here!”

“Oh, crap! Let’s hurry!”

The woman and I hurry to the basement to the large jammed door. It looks like it's been damaged by many failed attempts to try to get in. Hopefully, this won’t be one of those. The woman gets her prying tools set up and operating. It sounds incredibly loud and will definitely get the attention of the cannibal. The door is slowly, but surely opening. With a crowbar, the woman tries prying the door open to quicken the process.

“Grab another crowbar and help me!”

I do as she says as the door opens wide enough for us to go through it. She stops the prying machine, so it stops making so much noise and we hurry into the stockroom that’s filled with so much food that is somehow not spoiled and fresh.

“Take what you can while trying to find something that can get us out of here.”

I want to grab different kinds of meat and my favorite food, but something tells me to grab the strawberry ice cream and so I do. While looking in the freezer section of the stockroom, I find several tubs of strawberry ice cream and take them with me in time to see the cannibal entering the room. The woman is frozen in fear.

I whisper to her, “Give him your food.”

She hears what I say as she shakily gives him the meat and vegetables she found. The cannibal smells the food before eating it, however, the woman gets nervous and throws the food in the cannibal’s face and hits him in the head, which doesn’t kill him. Instead, the cannibal immediately gets up and tears out the woman’s throat with his teeth.

“Stop it!” I scream at him to get his attention.

The woman is already dead, but I think I know what the secret is to beat this killer. I open a tub of strawberry ice cream and hold it out in front of him. He’s surprised by the smell and sniffs it for a little while before digging his face into the tub of ice cream. While he eats it, his body becomes healthier and more human. He finishes the tub in no time, so I get the next one to give him and he keeps eating and eating until I don’t have any more ice cream to give him. His face is full of strawberry ice cream and his appearance is mostly human though he still looks creepy with his happy grin. He smiles at me like a happy child and I try to smile back to not upset him.

Something then appears to have clicked in his head as his expression changes and his body glows and changes until he looks like a normal man.

He then brightly smiles at me before saying, “Thank you for freeing me.”

The rest of the area brightens up to a blinding light. When I open my eyes, I see that I’m back in my room. So that was the answer. I knew it! Writing appears on the wall that says, “You already know what the answer is. Your Savior didn’t come to save the righteous, but the sinful”.

“Then why am I not free?”

More writing says, “It doesn’t count because you weren’t told.”

This place and its stupid tricks are getting on my nerves. Whatever, if I can do it once, I can do it again. The walls around my room fall almost immediately as if the dimension knows I’m more than ready to leave. I’m now in an abandoned house in the middle of the night. This place is small and there doesn’t seem like there’s much to explore. Looking out the window, I see an endless abyss, so the easy exit is out of the question if I were looking for it.

I already hear heavy footsteps slowly walking around the house, so I need to be quick in learning more about this killer’s past. This has to be his house or house that’s important to him, so I go to a nearby bedroom to find a book. Since I hear the person in the house getting closer, I hide in a closet while reading it. Huh. This is interesting. It says, “I had to write this diary to tell my future victims about my past. I was just a normal guy who mysteriously entered this dimension after falling asleep one day. After all the deaths and betrayal, I gave in. The blades in the moon cut off my skin and replaced it with the skin of the monster I am now. There was no real answer to escape anyway. There was no real way out. I’m sorry everyone, but I’m not coming back. If you’re reading this, don’t be afraid to kill me and send my soul to Hell”.

I see. That’s what happens if you let this dimension get to you. Before I exit my hiding place, I wait a little longer to find the killer walking into the room. He has a half grinning and sad mask with slashes in the mask for eyes. His body has metal parts sticking out of it and has a butcher’s outfit on along with a machete wrapped in sharp metal. He looks around the room before quickly exiting it. It looks like he knows that I took his diary. Looking further into the diary, I find several other notes about his likes and hobbies. Okay, I have what I need.

After quietly exiting the closet, I head downstairs to find a radio and turn it on to his favorite song that happens to be on it. I then bang on the tables and make a lot of noise. The man hastily heads down to see me. Okay, here goes nothing.

“I know what you’ve been through. I know how this place can break you down and tear at your soul, but we can make it out of here together if you-hey!”

He starts swiping at me with his machete. His mind must be under control of the moon and can’t do much about it.

“Stop this! You can resist the moon’s control of you! You can fight against its control and gain your soul back! I know you can!”

“Leave me be! Save yourself!” he says in a pained voice.

He does have some control over himself. He does have a chance of getting free!

“No, you can be free! If you can hear me and control yourself, then you can be free. Trust me!”

“There’s no hope for me! My sins won’t be forgiven!”

“They will! Every sin can be forgiven if you repent from it. Here.”

I stop moving away from him and hold out my hands. He also stops slashing at me and appears curious.

“I’m confident that you can be saved. Take my hands and hold them.”

After staring at me for a little, he gently puts down his machete, then he doubtfully and slowly takes my hands and holds them. I look him in the eyes and smile.

“See? You have control over yourself. You aren’t the pawn of this dimension. You can make it. Trust me.”

While staring back at me, I sense something in him change. He then starts twisting and turning in pain while holding onto my hands. He lets go of one of my hands and picks up the machete. I hold his wrist with the weapon in it while being thrown around.

“Get control of yourself! I know you can do it! You just need to keep fighting!”

“AAAAHHH!! STOP IT!!!!”

“Hey! Let her go!”

A normal looking man enters the room with a machete of his own. His voice stops the man’s rampage as he looks at him. The music has also stopped in response to him entering the picture.

I tell him, “Don’t worry about this. I can free him.”

“Stand back from this monster!”

The normal man tries to strike the other, so I move myself to protect-

“AAAAAHH!!”

I can tell that I’ve stunned both of them because I hear them drop their weapons.

“Why-why did you…?”

I hear something open in the ground and suck the man into it. Probably should’ve held back before striking me.

Looking back up to the man, I say, “See? I believe you can be free.”

I don’t see the look on his face, but I know I’ve hit something in his core. One of his favorite songs comes on. It’s a slow dance song that he used to dance with his mother.

“You like this song, right? Let’s dance to it.”

I move us around with the strength I have. When I start to weaken, he starts to pick up for me and dance along willingly.

“There we go. You can do it. Just keep dancing with me.”

As the song comes to a close, he lets go of my hands and takes off his mask to reveal his scarred face that appears a bit deformed, but I can see the human within him. He’s smiling and holds my hands as he leans in for a kiss. I let him kiss me, which brightens up the house. When I open my eyes, I see that I’m in a hospital room.

A nurse comes to me and says, “Thanks be to God that you’re awake! You entered into a rare near-death state that a hundred people fall into every year if you didn’t know.”

“I knew. How long was I out?”

“A week. Your parents found you passed out in your bed unable to wake up. They left not too long ago, but your boyfriend is still here.”

“Hm?”

I look over to my side to see the man I just freed now looking like a normal, but handsome man.

“Hi. It’s about time you woke up, sleeping beauty.”

I laugh a little while blushing.

“I’ll leave the two of you alone. Get some rest and we’ll let you out tomorrow after some check-ups.”

The nurse leaves us be.

“We never formally introduced ourselves. My name is Evan.”

“My name is Rosanna. How did you find me?”

“When I saw your face on the news, I knew I had to come and see you.”

“When did you enter the near-death state?”

“About a year before you did, so not too long ago, but I’m here and alive thanks to you.”

“Thank God for that, not me.”

“I always do, so uh, about that kiss…”

“What about it?”

“Can we continue where we left off?”

“Haha, sure.”

As we’re about to kiss, a man hastily enters the room and says, “Hello!”

We stop our kiss as I ask him, “Who are you?”

“I’m the guy you saved by feeding me my favorite kind of ice cream!”

“Oh.”

“I came here to thank you once I saw your face on the news. Did I interrupt anything?”

“Kind of, my man,” Evan says.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll give you a few minutes. I forgot something in the car anyway.”

The man, who was the cannibal, leaves us. With our privacy, Evan and I kiss then laugh a little now that we’re both free from that horrible dimension. We both appreciate our lives more and are more dedicated to God than ever before. It is said that curiosity killed the cat, but it is also said that satisfaction brought it back.

The End

Cycle of Suffering: Chapter 3 – Sadistic Games

Chapter 3 – Sadistic Games

Ugh. Ack. That was a terrible nap. I had the weirdest dream that, oh, it wasn’t a dream. Where am I now? Uck. What is this stuff on me? It’s some kind of sticky and black substance that looks like tar. The stuff isn’t hard to break through, but I feel stick touching it and being here. The smell it emits once broken is enough to make me vomit. What is this new hell that I find myself in? It looks like an insect nest with little bugs crawling around everywhere. Seeing them crawl everywhere makes my skin crawl.

My skin feels itchy as I make my way through the nest with no clear direction. It’s like I’m climbing through an actual nest rather than being in a building or area of some kind with how many times I have to climb down or up to progress in a direction. My skin starts to really itch so I scratch it only to see something crawling in it! I thought that was just my imagination, but no, somehow these bugs got into my skin. Did it happen while I was sleeping? Am I not allowed to rest at all while being in this dimension-! AHH!

While descending, I saw a man trapped in the black substance with holes in his body with insects crawling in and out of them. I’ve accidentally let go of the thing I was climbing down and have landed in an area with bodies like the man’s with an uncountable number of insects crawling out of the corpses. I then see what looks to be a larger insect crawl out of the black substance. No, that’s a man or rather a monster with elongated legs, arms, and a mouth with his jaw protruding out. He also has a sharp tail that looks like a spinal cord.

“You’re finally awake,” the man says, “I am obligated to tell you to conditions to escape is to endure the insects crawling within your skin. You will be in pain for a while, so if you want to give up, then I can grant you a swift death. Of course, I can kill you without your permission anyway so you better start digging down.”

Ah, hell. I dig down just as the man lungs at me. I then dig down past the rotting corpses and through the dozens up dozens of insects. The smell and dirtiness of it all is disgusting. This shouldn’t be a surprise to me that this place exists in the dimension, but I can barely stand doing this since the insects crawling in my skin start biting me and becoming erratic.

“Yes, yes! Keep crawling like the maggots in your skin!” the man says from behind me as he crawls after me, “I’m obligated to tell you that I am actually a man. A man who was used and abused for the pleasure of those who were meant to protect and raise me. When I grew up, I became worse than they were by impregnating women and forcing them to give birth to my children. The Satanists loved me with all the children I supplied for their sacrifices. It was such a delight to watch my victims’ agony and to break them until they became my slaves. I get the same delight with my new life here with my insect children.”

Why the hell is he telling me all of this? He said he’s obligated to so that means that it could do with the answer to how I could go out of here. For now, I have to focus on digging my way out. The black substance is easy to tear through, but the mess of corpses and insects makes it difficult along with the increasingly agitated insects in my skin. It feels like they’re scraping against my bones and innards while biting and cutting whatever they can. The pain is excruciating and now I know why there are so many people that just gave up instead of bearing the pain. I, on the other hand, am not going to give up.

It may be stupid because I’ll get a quick death and I could get an easier killer to deal with, but that’s probably what they want me to think. I’m not going to let this pain get to me, so I keep digging and digging until I reach the bottom-! AHHHH! Okay, I reached it, but there’s no floor. The entire hive is suspended in the air by an invisible force.  The man has caught my foot and is preventing me from falling into the nothing below.

“Let me go!” I say as I try to free my foot.

“I am obligated to hold you up here until your pain reaches its limit. It’s been a while since someone dug all the way to the bottom, so I must applaud you if I could use both my hands. Though I am unable to kill you of my own accord, you can always allow me to kill you to swiftly end your pain.”

My body continues to writhe in agony as the insects get more and more aggressive. I try to itch my skin to numb the pain, but it just makes it worse. Insects start coming out of my ears, nose, mouth, and every other part of my body as they fight their way.

“Now’s the time most people give up. There’s no shame in doing so.”

No, I’m…not…going…to…give…Up! I’m back in my room now. I honestly didn’t think I’d get through that. The eye on the moon opens up and writes my next clue on the ceiling. “It is one of your Savior’s greatest lessons”. Always with the vague hints. At least it’s getting narrower.

“Okay, send me back in. I’m ready.”

My room doesn’t change for a couple minutes.

“I said I’m ready.”

Waiting a couple more minutes yields no results, so I check my door to see if it’ll open and it does. I’m in a dirty apartment that looks like it’s been abandoned for a while. Most of these doors are barred except one at the end that has a hole I can look through. Peering through it, I see…is that a revolver? Hearing a clicking sounds makes me assume the gun is going to shoot so I go to the side before I’m shot. What a dirty trick. The door opens to reveal an outside circus of spinning blades.

There are carnival games and rides that look more torturous than fun. They are controlled by demented-looking clowns that might as well be demons especially with their heads that are on fire. Fire even comes out of their eyes, mouth, ears, and nose. Wooden stakes with people burning on it are used to light up the dark areas of the carnival. Why are people even participating in this hellish carnival? A fire explosion comes out of nowhere in front of me as if on cue to answer my question. A fiery clown that looks like a ringmaster comes out of the explosion with a grinning face and a staff with a little grinning clown head on it.

“Welcome my lady to our little carnival of blood and fire!”

“How do I get out of here?”

“Stay awhile and enjoy yourself if you wish to leave. I’m sure you’re going to have the time of your life.”

The clown then disappears in a blaze of fire. I have to participate in this carnival to escape? Okay, what's the least painful thing to do. How…about…this one?

“Looking for a challenge that’s simple and easy? Step up and see if you and grab the clown heads in these boxes of spinning blades,” a clown says that stands near the “game”.

The boxes look big enough to put my hands in even with the blades inside of them. All it looks like I have to do is keep my arms straight and I should be able to do this without cutting my arms on the blades.

“I’ll do it,” I say to the clown.

“Go ahead. There’s no price for the fun we have here.”

First, I aim my arms perfectly into the box so that I can get the clown heads. After that, I make sure to keep them steady as my arms go further and further in.

“Ow!”

Must’ve moved my arm a little too much-! Ow! Now my arms are touching the blades! I thought I aimed my arms right. I’m too far in now to back out so I grab the clown heads.

“Be careful on your way out! You don’t want to tear off all the skin from your arms!”

I do as the clown says-ow! The blades are really slicing my arms into pieces now. Come on, just hold on a bit longer-there we go!

“And we have a winner! Congratulations, you’ve just won your first challenge! We hope you’ve enjoyed your first taste of what’s to come!”

My arms look like they were cut up by the doctor and I’m just now noticing that the scars were gone. Wait a second. Looking back into the box, I see that the blades are closer to the center than they were before. The clown has a bigger smile on his face so he must know what I know. Whatever, I expected them to pull dirty tricks on me. I have to keep going. Can’t let this bother me. Here’s another thing that doesn’t look too bad.

“See if you can stroll through these trash-filled waters curtesy of the countries you trust! Just don’t become an ecoterrorist because then you’ll just be creating more garbage to clean up.”

Seems easy enough. I just have to be careful, so I don’t cut myself on anything in the shallow pool.

“Here we have another brave soul! Let’s cheer her on!”

I slowly lower myself into the waters that barely goes up to my waist. Walking through it isn’t too difficult and isn’t as disgusting as the insect nest. Just have to take it nice and slow-did something just brush up against my leg?

“You better hurry up! This trash was dumped in these waters because there’s something in it that can clean it up.”

Ow! Something bit me! A lot of things are biting me now! Quickly, I hurry up to the end of the pool to find bite marks all over my legs with my pants torn to shreds and my shoes gone.

“We have a winner!”

I don’t even know what was biting me, but at least I’m out of there.

“Hey, no waiting around, there’s so much more fun to have! I think our brave lady needs help getting to her next game!”

“What the? Let go! I can go there myself!”

Two clowns carry me into a caged game area with other injured people and clowns in it. Is this some kind of cooking challenge? What’s with all the spices?

“Welcome, to the cannibal tasting contest! Our contestants will have to make their hands as tasty as possible for our customers. The losers will get thrown in the trash as is the place for all disgusting food, so get ready!”

What the hell?!

“And…go!”

Can’t think now. Just have to put as many spices on my hands as possible-ah! Some of them burn because of the wounds on my hands. Uhhh, what else do I pick? What kind of spices do cannibals like on people? I’ll just keep throwing on what I think might be appealing and-

“And stop! Let’s see who is the tastiest!”

The clowns start tasting our hands by putting them in their mouths and licking and nibbling on them. Okay, this might be worse than the insect nest.

“Now that they’ve had a taste, who do they think is the tastiest?”

All the clowns point to me.

“Of course the prettiest lady here would win! Congratulations!”

The other people are carried out and thrown in a nearby trash bin-!

“AAAHHHH!!!”

“It looks like our hungry customers couldn’t go without taking something to remember our victor by!”

The-they bit off my ring fingers. This entire thing has left me completely exhausted that I find it hard to move. I better move faster to the next game or else you’ll put me through something worse-ah! The ringmaster clown picked me up.

“Don’t you worry, my lady. I’ll bring you to your last game.”

“N-no, I’ll…”

“Shhh. You’ll be fine in my hands. You can trust us, businessmen and women, to do what needs to be done for you. We won’t cripple you without a good reason.”

So, that’s their tragedy that made them this way. I always thought businesses were clown shows.

“You’re a strong lady, but tired, so I’m going to give you an easy game.”

The ringmaster takes me to a cage with a woman tied to a stake. He sits me down by desk with a mask on a stand on it. There are spikes and a clown face on the other side of the mask.

“She is going to be burned alive unless you put your face into that mask and kiss the clown on the other side. It’s your life or hers.”

Alright. This is probably a trick and we can both make it out of this. Easy enough and at least the clown isn’t a real person, so I put my face into the mask and kiss the clown on the other side. It feels like a pressed a button of some kind-! The mask closed in on me and I’m in my room again. Did I win or lose? The moon didn’t take stab me or anything after. Huh? There’s a knock at my door. What’s this letter that slid under it?

It says, “Sorry you didn’t win. You feeling the button press on the clown face was supposed to queue you on its closing, but I guess it isn’t much of a hint. We’ll be fixing it shortly. Since you did sacrifice your life for another, the powerful entity of this dimension won’t be taking anything from you, so you got off easy especially since you don’t carry over any injuries from your time here. Good luck you good soul! Signed Ringmaster Mortifier.”

What a load of crap! I did what they told me to, but I still lost?! No! I can’t let them get to me. I’m alive, I don’t have any injuries, and that moon didn’t do anything to me, so I can keep going! Yeah. I can keep going.

Cycle of Suffering: Chapter 2 – Sufferers and the Suffering

Chapter 2 – Sufferers and the Suffering

“Come on. Come on! Let me out already! You haven’t scared me because you killed me because I’m still alive! I’ll show you that I can escape.”

The eye on the moon opens and the walls disappear in the room around me. I expect to all again, but I’m instead in a cell in a mental institution of some kind. Oh, I see what the controller of this is trying to say. I want to say something smart to it, but that’ll show them that they’re getting to me, so I hold it in. The cell doors to my room open as I approach them. I then begin to explore the cramped and crumbling building. It’s decaying with rotting bed, walls, and floors. I’ve heard that hospitals were the dirtiest places in the world, but this is something else. The surgery and operation rooms look recently used with blood, clothes, and maggot-infested body parts in the rooms. Parts of the wall and ceiling are broken, but barbed wire prevents escape, however, it looks like people have tried to escape through them with blood, pieces of clothing, and even fingers stuck in them.

Since places of importance to the killers seem to hold the keys to escape, a doctor’s office is the first place I check in for a key to the way out. In the place labeled “doctor’s office”, I find people, limbs, and different body parts in jars suspended in a green liquid. There are a lot of notes on surgical, torture, and experimental methods these methods are not meant to kill. Instead, these are meant to see how much the human body can take. It seems like the people who wanted to live were the ones who survived while the people who gave up ended up dying the most. None of these notes activate a lever neither does picking up any of the jars.

At least this room has keys that I could use to open something and surgical tools to defend myself with. The surgical tools are rusty and bloodied but they’re better than nothing. Where else should I go? Wandering around some more leads me to a mortuary. The room holds many dead bodies with white cloaks over them and a written piece of paper that has the person’s name and cause of death. They all have, “Rest in Peace” written on their forehead and it seems like they were handled with care. This care is extensive with wounds stitched up and their skin clean. I’m not sure to be more or less afraid of the killer now.

I can’t check all of these bodies, so I look around the room then leave to hear screaming in the distance. Should I go to help or continue my search?...I can’t just walk away when I heard someone suffering. Following the source of the screaming leads me to a person being electrocuted by a large doctor with metal pieces sticking out of him. He almost looks like a cyborg from a science fiction movie with all the mechanical replacements for his body. There’s a console that the doctor is using to experiment on his victim with a button controlling the restraints. It’s now or never.

Using all the surgical tools I have, I stab the doctor in the neck, which gets him to back away from the console. Dodging the doctor’s hands, I release the victim and help him to his feet. Since he’s weak, I help him walk to a nearby room.

“Hide here for now. I’ll draw him away.”

The man waves his hand as a response. I exit the room in time to see the doctor looking for us. Taking a nearby piece of concrete, I throw it at the doctor who is now focused on me. I make sure he follows me as I run away. I’m not sure where to hide, but there are plenty of holes in the walls and crevices to hide in. The only question is which one. Ah! I go into the mortuary and hide underneath the tables. When the doctor comes in, he starts to check for me. The blankets cover the corpses are long, so I use this to my advantage as I listen to the doctor’s footsteps to know where he is while peeking up every now and then. Now he’s on the other side of the room while I’m at the exit. Since he’s still looking for me, I use the chance I have to quietly slip away. I don’t think he heard or saw me so I should get away as fast as I can while I have the chance.

When I go back to the room where the injured man was, I find that he’s long gone. I wonder where he could’ve gone. Huh, I just noticed that the key I had on me is gone. Did he take it? He couldn’t have gotten far so I’ll ask him why he took it and what’s it used for. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to as I see his fried body thrown across the hallway by the doctor. The man’s body falls apart as it hits me. I’m surprised that the doctor would do this to him when the other bodies had a lot of care put into them. With all the guts and blood on me, I struggle to move and see as I stagger to my feet and try to run as fast as I can.

Unfortunately, I’m not quick enough and the doctor throws a chain around my leg and pulls me in. I struggle with everything I have against the doctor, but nothing works as he drags me into one of his surgical rooms and restrains me on one of his operating tables. Am I really going to die again? Is he going to torture me to death with his experiments until my body gives in?

The doctor puts his cutting tools on the side before saying to me, “What a brave woman and selfless you are! You saved that man at the risk of your own life and you even let him take the key to the exit. I know that you didn’t know that I was watching, but I saw everything!”

“I…I didn’t know that was the key to the exit.”

“And there goes yet another positive personality trait! Even though you could’ve been given credit for something good, you tell the truth and deny doing the good deed. Specimens like you are so fascinating. It’s a shame that I was never able to adopt the same traits as you. Because of this, I will let you live.”

“Y-you will?”

“Yes, but not without causing you a little pain. The powerful force in this dimension won’t let me let you go without some kind of blood sacrifice. This is fine with me because in my experiences as a doctor, it’s a person’s will to live that truly helps them live longer. Us doctors can only extend lives for a short time. I knew this better than the other doctors I worked with, so I tried to help further extend lives through psychological stress and experimentation. Don’t worry about what I’m going to put you through, you’ll survive.”

The doctor takes several cutting tools from his table and puts them up to my head.

“Wait, stop!”

“Just stay calm and as still as possible. You don’t want me cutting anything major.”

With his sharp tools, the doctor slices down my face to my neck then down my body. I can’t help but scream as he does this. He then slices my arms, hands, legs, and feet. After all the cutting he did, I don’t think there isn’t a place that he didn’t cut.

“I’m so glad that you survived! I can’t say most, but a lot of people die when I do this either because they move too much or they die of the pain. Hold on while I numb the pain for you.”

He starts putting some kind of liquid on my wounds. The pain does feel numb, but it still hurts.

“There we go! Now. I’ll help you get to the exit. I have plenty of spare keys here to open it.”

The doctor lets me go out of my restraints and helps me walk to an exit. Why was I sent here, just to suffer at this man’s hand? I have a feeling I was.

“Good luck out there! If I see you again, I’ll be happy to give you another free pass. At the cost of some bloodshed, of course.”

With the door open, the doctor pushes me through it and I’m back in my room. Okay. Let’s see what kind of answer I’ll get. Here we go. Writing is being burned on the wall. It says, “You already know the answer”?

“How do I already know the answer?” I question it.

The walls around my room fall apart and I descend back into the action. My new surroundings appear to be some kind of Eastern or Japanese village. It’s incredibly foggy on top of being dark, which isn’t a good combo especially with my condition. I’m limping because of my injuries that haven’t healed that much. This is going to much more difficult, but I have to make it through this, so I keep limping along and only stop when I feel like I’m going to fall down.

The village itself is quiet with no signs of conflict or death anywhere unlike the previous three places. There’s no blood anywhere in any of the empty houses. It’s as if everyone just got up and left one day and didn’t take any of their things. Huh? I heard something in the fog. That’s my cue to hurry up while being careful. There’s absolutely nothing of interest in these houses except for the weirdly creepy drawings of the families and demons. Huh? I heard a knock at the front door of the house I’m in. When I go to the front, I don’t find anyone and instead find a piece of paper that says, “Now that you’ve read this note, your fate is now afloat. She will find you and when she does she will try to make you turn around, but if you do you will be like her and drown”.

So, the killer has some kind of paranormal powers and I can’t look behind me. Okay, that sounds simple but difficult. What this doesn’t tell me is where the exit is or if there is one. I just hear screaming from behind me. That could be a survivor or a trick. I’m going to go with trick, so I walk into the fog and away from town.

“Help me…”

That came from behind me again. Not going to look. Where am I going? I can’t even find my way back to the village.

“Look behind you.”

Ah! That was directly in my ear, but I’m not going to look behind me. I feel an overwhelming presence behind me that feels as if something is directly behind me. Like something is staring me down and ready to grab me in an instant. Where am I going? I’m walking in a seemingly endless fog. Ah! Now I feel something breathing down my neck.

“Turn around or die.”

That’s not going to happen no matter how I feel! I’m trying to run away as fast as I can. My body is screaming in pain as my injuries fight my efforts to move faster and the adrenaline of fear is starting to give way to my tiredness.

“I’m going to get you…right…about…now…”

No, no, no, no! Before I know it, I’ve limped my way back into my room. I’ve made it! All I had to do was ignore the killer behind me for long enough. Now, where’s my answer? The eye on the moon opens its eye as a message is written on the wall. It says, “The answer to your escape is in your faith”. My faith as in my faith as a Catholic? I don’t know about anything in it that talks about scenarios like this, so there has to be something more, but now I need to sleep…

Cycle of Suffering: Chapter 1 – Not Exactly the Final Girl

Chapter 1 – Not Exactly the Final Girl

“Mysteries can kill. There’s a reason why the saying curiosity killed the cat exists. There are a hundred people who will enter a near-death state every year. Nothing connects these people together. Virtue, wealth, influence, job, location, age, health, nothing. This has been happening for at least three hundred or more years with ancient documents that tell of almost the exact thing happening to them. Despite no one knowing what really causes this rare condition, there have been people that have tried to find the cause of it.

Mostly spiritual and religious people have been able to enter this sudden near-death state. My name is Rosanna and I’ve left this audio recording on my computer should I be affected by this mysterious condition that I am researching. My family has told me that it’s stupid and dangerous to continue looking into the mystery, but I just must know about it. Few are known to come out of these near-death states and the ones that do are changed completely and become devoutly Catholic or something like it. Since I’m already Catholic, I’m assuming that being in the near-death state teaches you some truth about the world that most reject and stay in the near-death state until their bodies die. Hopefully, I’ll find out soon.”

Why did was the recording I made playing on my computer? I’ve been trying to try it off, but even when it’s unplugged it kept going but now it won’t even work. What’s going on? It’s so dark outside that I can barely see anything. The moon and sky look awfully red. There’s a triangle in the moon and there are spirals in the sky. Did I enter the near-death state?

What the hell?! When the triangle in the moon opened to reveal an eye, the walls and floor around me have fallen underneath me and I’m falling into darkness into a forest. Thankfully, the trees and bushes below break my fall. The eye on the moon is closed now and I’m in some kind of dark forest. There’s not much around here. Perhaps I’m meant to find something here.

I’ve come across a kind of spiked wall. There are openings in the wall, but they’re too small for me to fit through. It looks like someone has tried to fit through it and may have gotten through with blood and pieces of clothing on the spikes. Following the wall leads me to a closed gate. There are three red lights near a switch that probably opens it. Half of the light just turned on by itself or did someone activate it? I don’t think standing around here will help me in any way, so I head back into the forest.

In the distance, I see small broken houses and buildings. The forest has taken over this small town. In some of these buildings are skeletons with weapons in their hands or appear as if some kind of massacre happened here. I have a feeling that I’m going to need a weapon, so I try to pick up a fire axe, but it seems to be glued to the ground. Even the skeleton that’s holding it, won’t let it go. That’s strange. Let’s see if I can get the other weapons. No. Not this one either. Nope.

Ah. I can pull this machete up-what the heck? It’s attached to a lever. Did that activate something possibly back to the gate? Whatever the case is, I have a machete now. Wondering if this did anything to the gate, I head to the gate only to be stopped by the sound of something coming my way. I turn around to see nothing, but I still hear the sounds. Quickly running away from it as it approaches, I run to the gate to see that two and a half of the lights are green. The noise is hastily approaching until I hear a gunshot in the distance. This seems to get the attention of whatever was following me as the noise sounds like it’s running in the opposite direction.

Whatever it is. The gunshot might’ve come from someone who is here with me. Maybe it’s best if I go in the opposite direction to activate the last light of the gate to open it. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. Going in the opposite direction of the explosion, I find a small camp. From the flag and outfits of the skeletons, it seems as if this was the camp of a military group of some kind. I wonder if it has anything to do with the inhabitants of the town. The other skeletons here have civilian clothing similar to that of the people in the town, so this connection must be real. I’d like to know more, but my survival is more important, so I try to look for a lever of some kind. Maybe one of these guns is part of it like the last one. It doesn’t look like it. All the guns are empty as well.

Huh? There’s a note on this bed. The bed looks recently laid in. Reading the note reveals that it’s from a soldier who’s talking about attacking this town that’s said to have terrorists in it. I remember this event. There was a story on the news about a massacre that happened in a remote town. One soldier went rogue because he thought everyone was a terrorist. Since he shot first, the rest of the town fought against the soldiers. There were no survivors, but the rogue soldier was never found. Is this where he ended up?

Pulling the note further away from the bed pulls a lever along with it. The note disappears into ash as I hear a loud noise in the distance. That must be the gate opening. While running to it, I hear someone chasing after me again. I keep running as fast as I can until I hear footsteps directly behind me. Since I can hear where it is, I spin around and hit whoever is hitting me. The man I hit behind me looks like a soldier, but I hesitate to think of him as one because of how monstrous he looks. He has the flag of his country painted on his face with blood in his mouth and hands that are holding combat knives. The man looks starved and bloodthirsty but injured at the same time with cuts and bullet holes in his body. Despite his injuries, he’s been running faster than I have. What made him like this?

No, there’s no time to think about this. I keep hitting him with my machete, but he doesn’t fall or even stagger. He laughs at my weak attacks until I throw the machete into his head which finally causes him to stagger back. I run with everything I have to the gate and into the dark fog beyond it to find myself…back in my room. The moon and sky look as red it was before so I’m still in the same dimension as I was before. My door is locked along with my windows. How am I supposed to leave? The eye in the moon opens as words are scrawled onto the walls of my room with fire. The writing says, “Escape every killer or your fate will be bitter. The answer to your salvation is found will every victory.” My room then burns into ash before making me fall to the ground yet again. Am I back in the forest? No, this is a farm.

So, I just have to keep winning to find out how to get out? Whatever is controlling seems to want to draw this out. I guess I don’t have a choice. How am I going to escape this farm? I go through a small corn maze and into the farmhouse to see if I can find something that I need. Someone appears to be living in this house with the lights being on and the door was opened when I came in. What is that smell? I look around the corner to see stitched up people in the living room. All of them have stitches in their necks as if their heads were torn off or their necks were slit. They’re posed as if they were having a fun party. If the previous killer was related in a major way to their surroundings, I wonder why this killer would do human taxidermy. The people here might be the key to escaping so I try finding something on them only to have one their heads fall off in the process. This isn’t good. Come on, go back on already. Ah! Now the head has fallen apart. There’s no way to put it back together now, so I continue searching the house only to find more people stuck in place.

None of them have anything on them or seem to be holding something useful when I touch them. The last place left to check is the basement. This place is full of naked cut up people with different kinds of clothes around them. There are a bunch of props down here as well such as video games, comics, medical tools, business papers, schoolbooks, and other things related to different roles. What are these labels for? David, Lily, Hilbert, Mark, Klein, grandma? There are scripts here too that play out different events that a family would go through like graduations, parties, fights, reconciliations, and vacations. This is beyond strange.

I wonder what these keys on the wall are for. Pulling them reveals that they were a lever. Since there’s nothing else here, I go the front porch of the house to see people running past it towards what looks like a gate in the distance. Ah! Someone’s grabbed me from behind! What did they just stick in my neck…?

…ah…uck. What’s happening? Where are my clothes? I’m hung up in the basement of the house with chains suspending me above the ground. There’s a guy with an Italian artisan mask in a suit looking through the sets of clothes. He takes two pairs out and holds them out one by one in front of me as if picturing me in them. These chains are too tight to slip out of. There doesn’t seem to be a way out for me.

“There’s no use in struggling, my dear,” he says, “No one has been able to escape me once I’ve caught them. It’s not like you can anyway since the gate has closed and won’t open at least for another day. I know you may want to say some choice words to me, but I’ve already taken the liberty of cutting out your tongue and sewing your mouth shut if you aren’t aware of it yet. Since I’m a gentleman unlike the other men and women out there, I’ll tell you a little of myself as I pick out the best outfit and role for you.”

I can’t die like this…I can’t…

“I never grew up with many people that I cared for. Life was so unfair to me and never gave me the people that I wanted to be with, so I took the people who I thought I would like to be with and gave them the personalities I wanted them to have. I would’ve made real friends and had a real family if I didn’t find so many unlikable people out there, but now with the help of whatever controls this dimension, I can have the simple life I wanted without having to worry about the authorities catching me. I can make the family and friends that I want with events I want to play out in the house I’ve always wanted. You are more beautiful than any of the women I’ve seen so far. Maybe I’ll make you my daughter, my mother, my wife, or how about my guardian angel? Mine has left me long ago.”

I don’t see a way out…This can’t be the end…The man holds me and put his mouth to my neck.

“I’ll make this a quick death for you, my dear.”

Helplessly I watch as the man’s mouth expands to a monstrous degree. There are so many teeth in his mouth and the face under his mask is barely human. Before I know it, he bites into my neck and everything turns black. When I open my eyes again, I’m floating up to the red moon with its eye wide open. Various spikes come from its eye and pierce through my body. If that isn’t painful enough, I can feel my inner being become weaker. When I blink again, I’m in my room again.

Was that a dream? No. I’m still in this damn dimension, but I really do feel weaker. As if something was taken from my soul that makes me feel less hopeful of finding a way out, but this could just be a trick. I will find a way out. If other people could do it, then I will too.