How Long is Forever [COMPLETED]

Insecure

Waiting has never felt more excruciating. Not only do you hope Chishiya will be fine – actually, you just know he will be. It is more the fact that you don't know when they will come out again that drives you crazy. You don't even know what time it is and how long it has been since the four of them entered the casino. The clock tower doesn't work anymore, it still shows high noon and the stags haven't moved again.

You could just stroll around and see if there's anything interesting to be found in the area, but you're afraid the game will end when you're not here. It wouldn't surprise you if Chishiya just disappeared in case you were not there to wait for him, and you don't know if you'd be able to find him again in that case. Sure, he'd try to clear another Diamonds game, but when? Today, tomorrow, in a week?

With no clock telling you the time, it feels like hours pass by and nothing happens. Sniper shots fill the silence now and then, but they never come close enough for you to worry. More than once, you press your face against the cold metal bars, trying to hear some noise or voices, anything that could indicate the status of the game, but you're greeted with nothing but silence.

The sun slowly moves over you, though it's still hard to tell what time it is. It feels like half a day has passed already, but judging by the sky above you, it's been probably just one or two hours. Time that you could have easily spent looking around, and yet you're afraid that if you move away now, the gate will open.

Hunger comes back and you wish Chishiya would have left you a few more cereal bars, but what causes you to move in the end is thirst. You can't just keep on walking up and down in front of the casino forever without getting some water, and you decide to look around while staying close enough to see the entrance.

You start to feel paranoid as you walk, throwing looks over your shoulder every few seconds. There! Was that the sound of a metal gate moving? Are those voices you can hear? Laser shots?

It is nothing of course, the gate remains shut and the casino stays silent. As far as you can see, there is no grocery store near. It's only bank stores, cinemas, offices. There is always a possibility to find something useful in there too, but most of the doors you try are locked. All except one, though the building you're entering now is so dusty and full of dirt that you almost don't want to step inside.

The stench covering the staircase is breathtaking, and you stumble over more than just one decayed rat on your way to the closest flat door. It's the sweet smell of death, and you wonder for a second why there are so many rats inside here, and why they all are dead.

It takes a handful more of steps for the answer to come in sight. As you reach out your hand to open the wooden door, you catch something from the corner of your eye. A pair of feet – human feet -, the rest of the body hidden behind the turn of the staircase. Whoever it is, he has probably died a long time ago, serving as a festive dinner for the rats. Not that it helped them to survive in the end.

You don't even care to look if he has a laser hole inside his skull or what has been the reason for him to die. The door seems to be locked, but flat doors are not as hard to break as front doors, and the wood retreats as you throw your unharmed shoulder against it with all might.

The pain in your shoulder makes you forget the stench for a second, and it helps you not to throw up. It's not much better inside the flat, but at least it's mostly dust and rotten food instead of human remains.

A breath of relief exits your mouth as you hurry to the kitchen window and the casino is in clear sight, everything unchanged. You still have time left.

Steering clear of the badly smelling fridge, you dig through the storeroom, concentrating to breathe through your mouth only. Whoever has lived here made sure that food won't run out, but most of it is not edible anymore. You grab a cloth bag that has been attached to the door knob and put in every kind of instant noodles you can find. There doesn't seem to be any water and the juice bottles have such an unhealthy color that you definitely don't dare to open them, but there are two bottles of what seems to be a kind of energy drink.