As I craned my neck around the first archway, that’s when I finally saw it. A set of holding cells that were filled with people.
From my angle, I couldn’t see fully inside to see exactly how many people there were per cell, but I knew it was at least three to four.
Anger, sadness, and a mix of other emotions surged inside of . From what I could tell, there were even basic necessities in the cells, not even a blanket to lie on.
I wanted to rush over and pry the bars open with my bare hands, but I knew that was impossible. Even at full strength, I wouldn’t be able to nudge the bars open.
I looked around a bit more and realized that just on the other side of the stone archway that I was hiding behind was a wooden door.
I wonder where that leads to? It doesn’t seem like a holding cell.
Just as I was about to walk out behind the pillar, a sudden, paralyzing bolt of pain caused to fall to the floor. My arms and legs felt numb, but that wasn’t the worst part.
If the pain I experienced in the previous room felt like soone was splitting my brain apart, this felt like soone placed my head inside of a blender.
The pain was so intense that I couldn’t manage to do anything other than breathe. It felt as if I didn’t put all of my conscious thought into breathing, that I would keel over and die.
Grunts of pain and labored breathing escaped my mouth through gritted teeth.
Why? What is happening to ?
I was certain that whatever this pain was, it was going to break . It was so miserable that I began wishing for death.
But just as I wished for death to claim so that I didn’t have to experience this pain any longer, Leslie’s smiling face appeared in my mind.
No. I can’t. I still haven’t made things right with her.
And just as I finished the thought---
---
When I opened my eyes again, I noticed that I was hunched over on the ground. My face was resting awkwardly against the cold stone pillar.
Huh? I must have fainted from the pain...
I tried moving my head so that it was in a more comfortable position, but I realized that I couldn’t move it.
Am I paralyzed?
A sudden panic spread, taking over . I glanced down at my hand and put in all of my effort to wiggle my fingers. They moved.
Oh, thank goodness. I must just be too exhausted to move.
For the next few minutes, I simply sat slouched against the stone archway, resting to gain any sort of feeling back into my body.
About ten minutes later, I felt the numbness in my head finally subside. It was replaced with a very dull, and ever-present ache, but I was finally able to move my hands and feet.
I suddenly straightened up and looked around.
It was familiar.
This underground dungeon, the room before it. Everything.
Days upon days’ worth of mories ca flooding in. It was like a warm stream flowing through my head.
Tears began rolling down my face as I rembered the many precious monts I spent with Leslie. Her warmth and smiling face as she looked at with nothing but joy.
I rembered the mont she ca to at the engagent party, and the night after.
mories continued to pour in, restoring day after day of missing information. I sat still, allowing them to co through while I relived the forgotten monts once again.
It was the night that I told Leslie about my mother that had choking up the most. It was a very difficult mont for , but she was there listening gently by my side.
I rembered how she even allowed to selfishly use her to calm my scattered emotions that night. It was then that I realized it.
"I’ve loved you this whole ti, Leslie. I’ve loved you more than I knew."
I wanted to smack myself across the face for how stupid I’ve been with her after she confronted about overhearing my conversation with Zach.
All she wanted was to hear tell her that I loved her. She was willing to look past all of the other nonsense...
A new fire ignited inside of . As soon as I was finished here, I would go see Leslie, even if it ended up being the middle of the night. I would tell her everything. Tell her how I felt and how I wanted her to spend the rest of my life with her.
After settling my emotions, I turned my attention to what was in front of . A serious expression appeared on my face as I looked around the familiar scenery.
Right over there was where I got ambushed.
They hit over the head with a heavy object, but that only knocked out for a little bit. I rembered waking up a while later, in a room filled with dical equipnt.
There was a doctor wearing a mask and glasses who injected with multiple liquids. That was the last thing I rembered before waking up at the hospital.
They did sothing to manually distort my mories. I wonder if they do this to the people they auction...
I finally gathered enough strength to stand up. This was now a race against ti. I wasn’t sure how long I had fainted for, but I could hear a faint sound of footsteps in the distance.
Peeking over the edge of the stone archway, I looked down the long hallway towards where the sounds were coming from. I couldn’t see the people, but I could see their shadows flicker in the distance.
They’re probably here to present another person.
I waited for the footsteps to disappear before finally coming out from behind the arch. Carefully, I walked a few steps down the hall to the second arch and hid behind it.
From this angle, I could see the group of guards pulling a person out of the cell and dragging them farther down the hall, in the opposite direction from .
That way must lead to the stage upstairs.
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