From The Maw

Chapter Five

  I look at the kid as he pleas with me to help him. I don't know what to do. Should I help him?

Six.

Mono's voice says in my head.

Help him, like I helped you.

  Voice Mono has a point. "Okay." I finally say. I start pulling on the cage door and the kid pushes on them as well. Finally the door busts open and I stumble back as the kid falls forward out of the cage. He stands up and brushes himself off. "Hi. My name is Seven." He holds out his hand. "My name is Six." I say as I shake his hand. "Thank you for helping me out, for a minute I thought you were going to leave me behind." I shake my head. "No, I lost a friend once, I don't want that to happen again." Seven looks at me sadly. "How did you lose them?" I shake my head. "I don't wanna talk about it." He nods and I look around for a way out. I see a lever close to a door.
  "Hey maybe if you boost me up we can use that to open a door or something." I say pointing to the lever. Seven nods and we walk over to the lever, he boosts me up and I grab onto the lever pulling it down some. A door opens up in front of us. "Go on." I say to Seven. He shakes his head. "Hiw will you get through?" "I'll swing." I say. He nods and goes into the next room. I swing from the handle and when I have enough momentum I swing forward again a let go of the lever. I land in front of the door but before it can close I run through and join Seven. He smiles at me. "You know, that was kinda stupid." I shrug. "Let's just say I pulled a Mono." He looks at me odd. "Was that the friend you lost?" I nod sadly and reach into my pocket gripping Mono's paper bag.
  "Did he do stuff like that?" Asks Seven. "Yeah." Seven drops the subject and we walk forward only to be met by a door that won't budge. I turn and see a cage like door covering the door we just came through. "I think we can climb that." I say. Seven nods and we start climbing it easily. We crawl through a hole in the roof and Seven jumps off the boards we started climbing and onto the floor. "Come on, I'll catch you." "That sounds familiar." I mutter to myself remembering I said the exact same to Mono when we entered the city. I jump off the boards and Seven grabs my hands making sure I'm on the floor.
  I see a candle next to us and I pull out my lighter to light it. When I do I see a guillotine in the corner, what's more unsettling is the blood on it. I gasp and stumble backwards into Seven. He wraps his arms around me keeping me from falling. I shake off my surprise and push away from him. "Thanks." "What are friends for?" Tears threaten to spill over as I remember Mono saying that and me repeating it. I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my raincoat and walk past a bathtub and through a hole in the wall. I fall onto a box that has carpet on it, Seven falls down next to me and when I go to jump down onto the regular floor he grabs my hand holding me back.
  "Just to be safe let's walk on the carpet, it will muffle the sound of us walking if the Janitor is close by." He whispers into my ear. I nod and now I finally have a name for the monster. The Janitor. We walk on the carpet into the next part of the room and I almost gasp when I see the Janitor close by. Suddenly his hand reaches for us, I go to run, but then he reaches into the box right next to me and Seven, and pulls out a kid. He pulls the kid towards him and lays them on a table. I'm glad he didn't hurt us but I feel bad for that kid. Me and Seven sneak behind the Janitor as he wraps up the kid and places them on a hook going past him.
  Me and Seven climb on top of a cage and we jump down onto carpet. We crawl through a vent and I see a crank handle on the floor and a trapdoor attached to a rope. I go and pick up the crank handle and put in into the hole for it. Seven is standing by the trapdoor and gives a thumbs up. I turn the crank and it squeaks loudly. I open the trapdoor as fast as possible and Sevn jumps down, suddenly the door behind me busts open, with the Janitor emerging into the room, and I run and jump down, not wanting to become one of those kids that he wrapped up. I fall down a vent and land on top of Seven who was waiting at the bottom. "Ow." He says. "Sorry." He shrugs and crawls up onto a higher part of the vent, he turns and holds out his hand helping me up. We crawl forward and soon we come to an opening. We jump down into a small room and I light a lamp next to wall before following Seven into another vent.
  We fall down a short way and continue forward, I flick open my lighter to light it but Seven shakes his head and turns on a flashlight he has. I put my lighter back in my pocket and I suddenly notice how many shoes are in this vent. "Um Seven, why are there so many shoes in this vent?" "I don't know." We reach a vent opening and since Seven is in front he hops down first. "Six! I think I have your answer in here!" He calls up. I hop out of the vent onto a suitcase in a room filled with millions of shoes.