When the Lights Go Out: MAN OF MEDAN [The Dark Pictures Anthology]

vi. memory

"Junior." The main guy sternly said and then one of the guys took me by the arm and harshly made me stand up. It was really disturbing how alike these men think. A single name slipped through his tongue and they already knew what to do.

"Open the goddamn door!" He ordered as he aimed a gun at me in point blank range finally making me gasp and completely freeze in place.

"Olson!" The Asian guy yelled, hoping to control the rage from his colleague and somehow prevent him from shooting me dead.

The guy, Olson, still demanded. "Open it!"

When I didn't do as I was told, Olson hit me in the cheeks with the gun he was holding. I shrieked in pain and cried. The pain in my cheeks wouldn't go away and it's still making my entire body go limp. I could feel blood from where the gun had hit me but none of that matters now. What I need is a decision.

I gritted my teeth and pondered whether or not I should open the door and put the others in danger.

Do I put their lives in imminent danger or do I put mine instead? Well, it still wouldn't matter since I'm pretty sure they wouldn't just give up right away and that they'd still be able to open the door sooner or later, even without my help.

I slowly reached for the doorknob, sobbing while doing so. It still wasn't very clear to me if I should be doing this, but there was no time to think about this and I really couldn't think straight under pressure.

"Faster!"

Momentarily screaming in panic, I fumbled through the knob quicker, earning a laugh from Olson.

When I finally opened it, a small light bulb lit in my head and decided to get in quickly and lock them out but Olson was too fast and got a hold of my neck first and slammed my head on the door.

"I ask you one thing and you do it!" Olson raised his voice and I just cowered in fear. "As simple as that. But you're too fucking stupid, aren't you? Huh?!"

Olson once again hit his pistol in my head very hard and then everything went dark.

When I fluttered my eyes open, the surroundings were different once again. I wasn't in the Duke anymore nor was I in the Curator's repository. I was... somewhere else... I was at a beach, for some reason. A beach so familiar yet really strange that I can't quite put my finger on what beach it is exactly.

"Stop thinking about it too much, sis."

I turned around and saw a man and a younger woman walking together. Furrowing my eyebrows, I stared at the both of them when I realised they weren't just any brother and sister, but it was me and my brother.

Wait, is this from six years ago? No, this can't be.

"I just really have a bad feeling about this." The younger me said.

I slowly approached them, looking straight into my brother's eyes as tears fall down from mine with a small smile.

I couldn't believe it. This is him, I'm actually looking at the real him...

"Ed." I called him softly while slowly reaching out to feel his face once again. But my hand went through his face and received no response nor acknowledgement. Can't they see me? I frantically waved my hands at them but nothing happened. They just continued talking.

"El, a single beer won't kill me. You know I just drink whenever I'm with the bros." Ed tried reassuring my younger self, but she doesn't look reassured at all, instead even more worried.

"I know, I know. But earlier, in the dive, you—"

"Hey." He turned to her and spoke with his voice soft and calming. "I'll be fine, 'kay? Chill out."