Chapter 28: Never is an awfully long time

It hadn’t been so apparent before; now the stench of iron stung at my nose. “Keep looking,” I urged Yusuf as much as myself. “There has to be something we missed.” 

He kept dry heaving as he prodded around behind the dolls. I wouldn’t have fared better if I weren’t already fuelled by a life long hatred against the damn things. I never liked their dead eyes, or lifeless limbs. 

They reminded me of things a child should never have to witness. 

“Here,” he wheezed nasally. 

He’d dug through a group of dolls to reveal an indentation in the wall. A dark hole. Just large enough to fit an arm. Yusuf was already pale from sifting through the macabre collection of toys. I gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I’ll do it. You rest.”

Hh nodded and sat down on the bed, staring at red stained hands.  

I stuck my charred hand inside. Nothing but air welcomed my prodding fingers. It wasn’t until I shoved my entire arm inside the hole, all the way up to the shoulder, that I felt something. Just barely. I scraped against the surface with my fingertips. 

As I pressed on it, it gave way. But nothing happened. 

I strained further, wooden chips biting into my chin. Instead of pushing, I pulled. The thing came loose. The crescent shape had a deep crevice that reached into the wall like a latched handle, similar to those modern cars have. 

I gave it a pull. To my relief, something inside the hole clicked and rattled, just like the bookshelf on the upper floor. 

Pieces of crushed stone and dust came loose as the trapdoor scraped open inwards. It pattered against my head like rain. 

I shook my hair, creating a small cloud of dust. Yusuf coughed behind me as, I turned to see that it settled in front of his face. 

I winced, “Sorry.” 

He waved it off and nodded. “Let’s go.”  

The same vile and viscous dark as upstairs filled the insides of the narrow path. I pulled a thread of magic from the veil and tied it around Yusuf’s waist, then did the same around mine. 

“Make sure not to lose this,” I said and made it corporeal. 

He nodded, and cradled his pipe tight enough that I feared it would break. He kept it close to his mouth, ready to inhale the smoke at a moment’s notice. 

I shouldered the wand and summoned Silent scream. I wasn’t very keen on blowing my friends- my friend, to bits. The dagger would have to do, at least until our eyesight returned. 

“I’m ready,” Yusuf declared. 

I nodded and stepped inside, letting the dark swallow me whole. 

“I really hate this house,” Yusuf muttered.

“That makes two of us,” I said with a grin. Knowing he couldn’t see me. Neither of us could.  

I prodded my way forward, one step at a time. My dagger scraped against the planks, just barely biting into them. The room had been entirely made out of wood, but our shoes clicked against the floor as if on stone. 

Mid-stride, my foot didn’t find purchase. 

I stumbled. 

If it wasn’t for the thread tied between us, I would have fallen down the steps. Yusuf pushed into my back from the sudden tug on the thread. 

He was light enough that his weight didn’t make a difference when I recovered from the initial flailing. I pushed my back against his chest, firmly planting my feet on the ground again. “Stairway,” I whispered—despite already having made a ton of noise. 

I felt my way down the staircase, walking down slow enough that I didn’t pull at the thread between us. Yusuf cursed under his breath every other steps. It seemed that when the floodgates opened, they didn’t close. 

Every step felt like a leap into the unknown. I never knew whether or not there would be a next step, if I made it down, or if this whole thing was a trap. I kept my weight on my back-most foot and used the other to feel for the security of something solid below. The whole process was nerve-wracking, especially so with Yusuf breathing nervously down my neck. 

“Get the fuck away from me!” a mumble escaped the dark. 

Nea.

Yusuf brushed past me, ravenously inhaling the smoke. I tried to catch him by the shoulder. He was emotional, impulsive. And lucky.

There was no knowing if we had made it down before he rushed forward, but we had. The thread tugged at me, so I followed. Even without seeing it I could feel the thread near me. The slight vibrations as his hands brushed against it—how the entirety of it pulled taut every time he tried to rush ahead. 

I could even feel how it coiled around his waist. 

I reveled in the feeling of… just knowing. The thread jerked violently to the side. There was no precursor to it. Suddenly, Yusuf sailed through the air like a kite, dragging me along with him.

He smashed against something, his breath seeping out of his mouth, blowing the thick scent of tobacco onto my face. I wouldn’t have known it if I wasn’t pressed up against him. 

My shoulder pressed so far into the pit of his stomach that I was close to coming out on the other side. 

He pushed at me to get off. I pushed myself to my feet, with Silent scream at the ready. Still I couldn't see a thing. Yusuf heaved for air, almost masking the mellow sound of his robe folding against the floor. 

“Filthy vagrants,” a grating whisper rolled over the room like a riptide. 

“Sorry,” I said and cut the thread. Silent scream cut through it soundlessly, not even resulting in a snap. 

He tried to say something. I leaned in close, gently pressing my hand against where I thought his face was. “Quiet,” I whispered. “Stay here. I’ll draw its attention.” 

I focused on my hearing, more acute than ever. Being robbed of my other senses let me focus fully on a few, and it seemed that they had been heightened along with my physique. 

A few meters down the room, I could hear what I assumed to be Nea squirming to escape. Her clothes ruffled against… crispy textiles, like the disposable sheets used in hospitals. The sounds of her voice were muffled by something shoved into her throat. 

I bit my cheek. She wasn’t only a pain in the ass as a travel partner, but also the loudest squirmer I had ever heard. 

Nothing ventured. “Why are you doing this?” I asked with a hushed voice, then stalked toward Nea. 

My voice bounced around in the room like a ping pong ball. It faded into nothing. 

“Aah, the truth… So sweet…” the voice was sharp and carried no echo. It was everywhere, and nowhere. As if it stemmed from the very darkness itself.

“You… You’ve seen it. Touched it… Ooh, how I envy you…” 

Behind me. 

I turned and stabbed without a thought. Silent scream cut through the air with a sharp whistle, yet it hit nothing but vicious dark. I gulped.

It giggled. “Close… Yet so far.”

Stay calm, I told myself and squeezed the dagger tight. 

Maybe leaving Yusuf behind was a shitty idea. Having him by my side would have felt a lot better by now. But staying on the defence didn’t feel very compelling. Offence is the best defence, after all.

Stride after silent stride I moved toward the direction from which I heard Nea’s hushed mumbles. I never let my arms stop moving, running them through the dark around me in hopes of finding something. Friend or foe. 

The air grew cold and stale, stinging in my nostrils. I brushed against me like the caress of a lover. 

My hand pressed against the uneven wall of stone. The cracks and creases of it pressed into my hand as I used it to guide me forward. 

A gust of warm air struck my ear.

“You smell like him,” it whispered. 

My chest caved in. I was sent skittering across the floor like a kite with its string cut. 

I tried to grit my teeth, to not give it the satisfaction… But I heard myself whimper with every bounce.

“Cal?!” Yusuf shouted. A poor choice. 

As I finally came to a stop, the string around Yusuf’s waist moved again. Rapidly. Then came the sound of his body crashing against the floor, and the wince of pain. 

I heaved for air. My stomach was hot. My knees and hands too. I got up on my knees and patted my body. The warm, sticky feeling was unmistakable. Blood. 

“I fucking hate being impaled,” I growled, not noticing the lithe fingers until it was too late. They clamped around my neck like a vice, lifting me into the air.

“Ooh, how serendipitous!” it exclaimed and sniffed my hair like I was incense to be revered. 

I slashed and stabbed with wild abandon, kicking and punching at the damn thing too. It winced as my blade cut through its flesh and splashed blood every which way. 

My magic rushed to the knife enhancing the bleeding for the first time. 

It moaned. “How sweet, the pain. How sweet, the sound. How sweet… the blood.” 

Black spots appeared in my vision. Fucking let go! The dagger sunk deep into her arm, to no great effect. My mind started floating. 

No! Not like this!

“Stop!” the old lady screamed as I was pulled out of her grip. 

Her feet slapped against the ground, charging after me like a wild beast. 

The sweet taste of air rushed into my lungs like a wild river. The dark spots in my vision cleared, only to be greeted by the thick dark of the room. What use were eyes if they didn’t let you see?!

“You alright?” Yusuf panted from my side as I skidded to a stop. 

I coughed and rubbed my throat. “Yeah.”  

“Nea?!” Yusuf shouted. 

Her muffled attempts at speech intensified.

The old woman wheezed. “You ungrateful louse,”  her somber voice turned venomous and sharp. 

“Don’t worry about me,” Yusuf whispered. “I’ll make do on my own.” 

I didn’t worry about him anyway. I was fully occupied with fending for myself. The fucking thing didn’t seem to mind getting cut, in fact it seemed to enjoy it. How the fuck did you beat something like that? 

I didn’t offer him a verbal answer as much as I did one of action. There was no more time for caution. 

With a burst of speed, I charged through the room in hope that I would get to Nea and the others before the monster got to me. While running, I plucked a thread from the weave and let it unravel as I went. 

I couldn’t see through the dark, but I felt my strings.

The soft echoes of my steps echoed in the room. At first I didn’t notice, but then it became apparently clear that something followed me. A skittering sound, always one step behind. I didn’t turn to look, there was no point. I just kept running, letting the string untangle as I circled the room, praying to whatever the fuck that I didn’t smash into the monster or any of the others. 

“Shit!” I yelped. My ankle. Something clawed at it. I picked up the pace, and smashed into a wall. 

The old lady cackled at my misfortune. 

As I clambered back to my feet, feeling the warmth of blood flow from my crooked nose, something climbed up my leg. 

I kicked and squirmed, yet it didn’t let go. Only after a series of stabs, that might as well have hit my own leg, did I manage to pry it loose. It was a small thing with a cold and emaciated body. It felt as if it was made up entirely of bones. 

“That’s not very nice,” it whispered, its breath wafting against my neck. 

I twisted around with burst fuelling me. In a flash, I felt the hilt of my blade strike against its flesh. It screamed and threw herself backward, taking my dagger with it. 

Finally, a reaction. I grinned. Knowing it felt pain made things a hell of a lot easier. 

The dark trembled, the whisper growing more and more agitated. “You… you… you!”

The viscous dark pulled and swirled, brushing against my like a small storm. I covered my face with an arm, my hair and scarf fluttering wildly.

Rudy’s satchel was caught by the wind, and sailed through the room, emptying its contents. My bullets clattered against the floor. 

“Shit…” I muttered.

The dark converged around the screeching monster, retreating bit by bit, and revealing the room. The walls of stone were adorned with barred windows that barely let in any light from the street. The room was monochrome and grey. Buckets of dirty water and filthy cloths laid strewn about on the floor. But, most important of all. 

We could see her.