I can't tell how long we've been walking. It's been a while but we see no end to the pathway, the last remaining semblance of light from the torches behind us is out of sight. We're both surrounded by complete blackness. My eyes wander to a random place in the room… and I see eyes looking back at me before vanishing. I can't tell, was that really there? Or… is this place making me see things.
The darkness around me feels as if I'm walking at the bottom of the sea. It feels heavy… Suffocating… but we must keep going. I can hear subtle noises from behind me. But my instincts are telling me not to turn around. It feels like hands are reaching out to me. So close to the point I have chills crawling on my back but they never touch me.
"Huh? What… are you doing here?"
I hear Aiden's voice come from behind me as he begins to quicken his pace. As he's right beside me I stare ahead to see what he's looking at, who he's talking about… but there's nothing there.
"What? What do you mean? I… No."
"Aiden… There's nothing there. Get a hold of yourself."
"No… I didn't leave you. I did all of this to keep you safe… What?"
"Aiden… listen to me."
"Where… are you going. It's not safe here. No… NO"
"AIDEN!"
He rushes ahead of me breaking out into a sprint following whatever he's seeing. Shit… this isn't good. I quicken my pace and run after him… but after some point I can't even hear his footsteps anymore. But he's still somewhere up ahead. I need to remain calm and take my time. It would probably be even worse to panic now. I do my best to reassure myself and continue walking along this pathway. However, with Aiden gone I begin to feel even more paranoid. I'm alone now… The only thing here with me is the darkness that surrounds me. Im… alone… my teeth begin chattering as I quicken my pace.
"...Alone? Who said you were alone ◾◾◾◾◾◾◾"
That voice… I look to my left to see my wife walking beside me. I grit my teeth as I can feel my face becoming distorted. I wonder what kind of face I'm making right now. All I can feel right at this moment is repulsion. This thing walks alongside me. I blink multiple times, I rub my eyes, I turn my head, but I can't make it do anything to go away. She… looks just as beautiful as the time I lost her. I almost can't bear to look at her… remembering the state she's in now.
"Why… couldn't you save me"
Hearing her say those words shattered my soul. Despite me being aware that this is all fake. I feel my heart throb as her words play over and over like a record in my head…
"What…"
"Why… Did you let me die…"
As I look towards her I watch as her face… her body… gradually diminishing to that same decaying corpse i carry on my back…
"No… stop…"
I grit my teeth as I struggle to hold back tears. My mind is haunted by how feeble and weak she looked on her last few days. How powerless I felt… It's all replaying again… No… this isn't real. THIS IS NOT REAL.
"How could you… It's all your fault…"
I blink my eyes a few times and her appearance changes... She now has the same appearance as when she was sick. There's no life in her face at all, my mind is flooded with memories of how much pain she was in. How much she tried to smile and make me happy. I can feel my heart shattering more with every passing moment… This feels like an eternity but how long has really passed… How close am I to the exit… When will this be over? When…
"Not gonna say a thing huh? Why… why couldn't it have been you…"
No… I don't want to hear another word.
"It's all your fault… You're the one that killed me."
"I couldn't do anything to save you… I tried everything. Every doctor, every medicine. I put countless hours of research into this. I did everything I could."
"Didn't you find it odd? After the day that YOU suggested we go out. A public place filled with people, something we didn't often do. Don't you remember i got sick not long after that."
No…
"What? Have you forgotten? Or do you just not want to acknowledge the possibility that you really did kill me. That it really is your fault"
No… Stop..
"You… are not real."
As she sobs i hear her voice get even more desperate
It's not real. It's just the delusions of this place. It's not real, it's not real.
"It's all your fault, it's all your fault, you killed me. YOU killed me!"
"STOP!"
I take off into a sprint. My head is pounding, I can hear her voice still in my head. It's as if it's coming from all around me. I can no longer hear my footsteps, their voices… Their voices are all I can hear… She… doesn't really feel that way right? No… I can tell she… she still loves me. I know she does. She doesn't blame me… I didn't do it… I DIDN'T KILL HER I DIDN'T. Just… be quiet… SHUT UP… I trip over something and fall to the ground. Suddenly… all at once. Everything… simply stopped. I was left alone once again… No… I wasn't. The darkness was with me engulfing everything that is me. As I stared at the ground, the only thing that was here with me were my thoughts… Did I really kill her? Is this all my fault? Did I ruin everything? Did I… destroy everything…
As I ponder these thoughts I can hear another voice speak out to me. Although this time I can't tell if it's this place simply playing tricks on me or if it's actually something in my head that I created. Because the person I heard talking was myself.
"She's right, you know… At the very least it's a possibility…"
As I hear those words tears begin to roll down my face as I ball up on the floor into a crying mess.
"I… I couldn't have. This… This isn't real. I couldn't have killed her no…"
I raise my head up
BASH
I bash my head into the floor… and raise my head once again
BASH
…
BASH
…
BASH
BASH
BASH
"Why… WHY! WHY! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHWYWHYWHYWHYWHY!"
At some point I could see only red from the blood in my eyes. At least I assumed it was red… All I could see… the blood that was dripping on to the floor beneath me… it was all black. It was as if the entire world had lost its pigmentation. It sounded like I could hear a faint laughing in the distance. A laugh coming from all around me… From this dungeon itself. If hell exists I'm pretty sure this is it. I had a thought pop into my mind… The me that was beside me said what I was thinking before I even opened my mouth.
"You can't live in a world without color can you?"
"No…"
"Then die…"
It was as if I were a puppet on strings with this dungeon being the puppeteer. I reach in my pocket and pull out my knife. I point it to myself and slowly bring the blade to my throat. With a smile on my face, and a mixture of tears and blood running down dripping to the floor from my chin I open my mouth to utter the last thing on my mind…
"Haha… I'll be seeing you soon okay"
A hand grabs my arm, pulling the blade from my throat and getting me to my feet.
"NONE! LETS GO!"
While still in shock I realized it was Aiden who stopped me. I look back to see if I was still there. Sure enough I was, He didn't follow us however. He watched with a smile on his face as we ran. In that moment I also saw what I tripped on. A dead body… followed by countless others and skeletons that only stopped due to darkness shrouding everything beyond that point. Those bodies and I soon vanished, engulfed in the darkness of this floor as we moved forward.
We reached the exit… and in an instant I realize something that make me burst out laughing… Aiden looked at me with confusion but I think he quickly realized what I was laughing at too due to how his face changed…
"HAHAhaha… I… was only like a minute away."
Neither of us question what we saw, we can both tell neither of us wants to relive that again.
"Thank you. You saved me."
"Don't mention it. Let's keep moving."
"Right."
We open the door leading to the staircase and begin to descend.
"O lord
In exchange for pain
Grant me health."
As I feel my ripped skin repairing itself and shattered bones molding itself back together… I catch myself smiling. This pain. For some reason, I can't really describe it… it feels oddly comforting