Memory Files

05 - The Manhunt

     After maybe an hour or two of searching around the labyrinth we were in, we heard a loud crash come from the room in front of us. Scared, Maia grabbed onto my hand which was placed on the handles of her wheelchair.

"What if it's him?"

     I let out a sigh and kneeled in front of her. Every time she got worried, I would play a game with her to help her relax. In this case, we played patty-cake until she calmed down and we kept moving forward. Based on her appearance, she seemed to be maybe only a year younger than me, but she acted like a child at times. All of a sudden we hear somebody approaching us from our right. Her hand, still latched onto mine, starts shaking violently. Out of nowhere, a poorly made bright pink monster that looks straight out of a children's book appears in front of us. Maia let out a quick shriek before quickly realizing it was just Cerberus' alter ego.

"Sorry about Lola, she likes doing that sometimes," Cerberus said, clearly holding in his laughter. Behind him came Oizys, who was acting uncharacteristically quiet.

"We couldn't find anything, unfortunately..."

     We decided to walk back to the cells together and hopefully meet up with Coeus and Eris. When we finally reached the cells, we noticed Coeus and Eris standing in front and felt relieved.

"Hey, look who's finally back," Coeus said with his arms crossed. "I'm guessing none of you found anything either, huh?"

     We shook our heads.

"Right. Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but we're feeling a bit tired. How about we take turns guarding the cells just in case he comes back?"

     It's been maybe two hours since we started searching, so it made sense that we were all completely drained of our energy.

"Will we be in the same pairs?" Cerberus asked quietly.

"We'll be splitting up in different pairs. I'll be with Apollo, Oizys will be with Maia, and Cerberus will be with Eris. We'll take turns every 10800 seconds, or three hours, starting with me and Apollo and ending with Cerberus and Eris. In the morning, Cerberus and Eris will wake us up and after breakfast, we'll meet up at the throne room." Coeus was speaking in a more serious tone than usual.

"Why can't we just stay in the same pairs?" Cerberus asked again, slightly louder. Coeus gave him a piercing stare, sending shivers down Cerberus' spine. Everybody besides me and Coeus quietly walked into their cells, shutting the loud metal door behind them.

"I was sure Maia wouldn't come back alive, but I guess I was wrong." Coeus' comment caught me off guard. "The time on Aphrodite's watch matched up with the time you must've arrived at the bathroom, but her disfigured face is a clear indication that it was Zeus who punched her to death. I thought you might've snuck out a knife when you followed Eris and Aphrodite into the kitchen before the dinner and used it on Zeus before we arrived. It would explain why none of us found him while we were searching."

     Even though I knew I was innocent, what Coeus had said made cold sweat drip down my back. I wondered if the others were just as suspicious about me as he was. We argued for a while longer until the three hours were over and it was Oizys and Maia's turn. Oizys didn't seem as talkative as usual. Even when the typically shy Maia tried to start conversations, Oizys stayed quiet. After a few minutes, I was finally able to fall asleep, but I woke up almost two and a half hours later and couldn't go back to sleep. I heard somebody mumbling to themselves to my right, most likely Cerberus or Lola, but it was too quiet to tell what they were saying. Thirty minutes passed and it was Cerberus and Eris' turn, just three more hours until breakfast. I heard a relieved sigh coming from the person to my right as he opened his door and walked outside. I fell asleep right after.

                                                                                [12960]

     It was finally morning and we were all awoken by a loud knocking on our doors.

"Wake up, sleepyheads!" yelled Eris. "It's time for breakfast!"

     The food we had served for us was repulsive, I'm assuming the loudmouthed Eris was the one that cooked it. Everybody was feeling a lot more energized now that we all got some rest, with the exception of Cerberus, who looked like he barely slept at all. Our watch was almost at zero, so we decided to start walking to the throne room as a group. As we were walking down the hallway, I noticed a particularly repulsive yet familiar stench coming from one of the rooms. We checked every room in the hallway one by one and they all seemed empty apart from the very last one. As we approached the medical room the stench got stronger and stronger, and I finally realized why it was so familiar. It's the same scent the bathroom gave off last night. By this point, everybody knew what we were about to see. Everybody knew that inside that medical room was the corpse of the athletic, loud-mouthed Zeus. Coeus and I decided to go inside first, and we saw exactly what we expected. A large muscular man coated in blood with a deep knife wound on his chest. I managed to stay somewhat calm this time and went to investigate the body. In the pool of blood, something stood out. There was a bright pink chunk of fabric, obviously belonging to the only puppet I knew. I hastily grabbed it and hid it in my pocket, hiding it from Coeus. All of a sudden our watches started ringing and a small bear appeared on the screen.

                                                         [It's time to meet up! ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ]