A•N•D•R•O•P•H•O•B•I•A

Beauty's Beast • Part One

"Amber!" I jolted awake to the sound of my name. I quickly looked up and was surprised that I was no longer in the hole that Pyxl made, nor was Pyxl beside me where he should've been. Instead I was in a rather all-too-familiar laboratory. "Amber!" I looked ahead, and quickly realized where I was.. I was dreaming.. I was dreaming that same dream I had the other night. The boy who had occupied my previous dream, was here again. However, he hardly bore any resemblance to that boy anymore as I looked at him. "Oh God!" I choked, feeling tears in my eyes. Christopher, the boy who I met in my dreams, was tied in chains, against a turned-up metal table, not looking all-too-familiar himself. "A-Amber.." He wheezed as I slowly walked over to him.

I made sure not to move too fast so as to not alarm him. Now that I was closer, and had a full view of his face, I felt like the air left my body. Half of Christopher's face, if you could still call it that, had been skinned off. Right off the bone, like cleaving raw meat from a cow's calves. The way the skin had been ripped off must've been quite a struggle, because the flesh breaks, reached the corner of Christopher's left eye, which practically made his eyeball bulge out from its' socket. The lower right side of his face was also skinned off. I could see a row of bloodied teeth at the gap made. The blood trailed all over his body. There was more blood on his torso, and I no longer lingered looking there, probably just might see something worse.

"Amber.." He called weakly. I struggled with my balance, fighting the nauseousness. With difficulty, I turned my head up to him, and managed to look at him in the eye. "Where.... where...were... you?" He whispered frighteningly. I was appalled at his question. I only dreamed about our encounter, hadn't I? And I explained that to him, and he believed. If he believed it, then wouldn't he know that I would disappear once I woke up? "Where were you?" He asked again, now with more throb in his voice. I opened my mouth but no words came. "You said... You said that you wouldn't leave me.." He said with agony. My knees began to knock against each other. Oh God. What was happening? "You lied to me... You lied.. You were gone and then... They...They.." Christopher gritted his teeth, blood seething out from the gaps. "THEY DID THIS!! THEY DID THIS TO ME!!"

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I bolted upright, taking deep, shuddering breaths to calm my heart down. It was just a dream. Just a dream. A dream that I had twice. I hand, lying itself on my shoulder, stopped me from my thoughts. I looked to the side, and was met with Pyxl looking me over worriedly. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Just a little dream." I told him. He nodded uncertainly and gave me moment to myself. After regaining my composure, the two of us got out of the hole. I stretched my arms, a little sore from the position which I chose to sleep with last night. I checked the time on my bracelet and it read 7:31 am. "We should keep on track." I said. Pyxl nodded and offered me to ride in the cage on his back, which I so happily accepted. "Let's go." I said and we continued the trek.

Like we did last night, I had the radar-map up so we could tell if we were still far or gaining to our destination. But it seems that with Pyxl, the amount of time to travel is lessened. I can't believe I never noticed it before, but going by the map, it seems that Pyxl and I had covered at least 3 kilometers last night. I looked around as Pyxl walked along in a medium pace. The endless metal walls were beginning to disappear, and were slowly being replaced by stark white walls, that had garnered dust throughout the years. "I guess this place must've been some sort of underground facility." I said to myself. Out of the big blue, a loud sound suddenly ruptured from the silence. A low grumbling sound. Pyxl stopped and looked over his shoulder to me. I blushed in embarrassment. How could I get hungry at a time like this?

I sighed and looked back at Pyxl. "Sorry. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning, and it looks like my hunger's caught up with me." I said. Pyxl bobbed his head as if he we understood and was considering doing something. His real eye suddenly sparked up, an idea obviously forming in his mind. He tapped me on the finger and gestured to my bracelet. I handed it to him and when it was in his possession, he began to walk on again, this time faster. And instead of going straight, he took a left turn until we came to a series of glass doors. Pyxl walked up to one of the doors and looked it over. When it seemed to be the one he wanted, he cracked the glass open with a punch and entered nonchalantly. Once inside, and after taking a short look, we were clearly inside a lab. An old one, to be exact.

The smell of dried-up chemicals, and the after-smell of air-conditioning filled the room and it was really unsettling. I looked down to Pyxl and he seemed to be surveying the room, looking for something. His sights stopped at a rusting crate at the far side of the room, and he quickly made for it. As he stood over it, he knelt down so I could get out of the cage, and stood beside him. Without a word, he opened the crate and, cold air whooshed out from the seams. When it cleared, I peered inside to see the contents, and gave an exclaim when it turned out to be food bars. Back then food bars, were like small chocolate bricks that could give people energy. It was like a substitute for a power drink or a real chocolate bar. Now, food bars are the sustenance of all scientists throughout the world. Every single lab is stocked with them, which made me realize why Pyxl brought me here.

Unable to contain my hunger, I quickly grabbed one bar, and unwrapped it. I bit it without a second thought, not even minding, how probably old it is, just wanting to satisfy the annoying ache in my stomach. The flavor that rolled in my tongue was interesting. It tasted like raw meat, coated with some additives and then just processed in one whack. But, giving in to my own hunger, I managed to gobble it all down. "Thanks." I said to Pyxl, getting another bar. He nodded to me in reply and took a seat on the floor while I ate. Biting into my second bar, I turned around and leaned against the crate, taking in the sight of the lab. Now that I looked at it closely, it seemed like it was trashed by something. Like some sort of animal, probably being examined and tested on, tried to break free, and ended up making a mess of the place.

My sight suddenly got absorbed by the dark traces of some substance on the other side of the room. Curious, I got up, and leaving my bar on top of the crate, walked to the other side. I stopped to look at a slab-like test table, the kind where people would fit. The traces of the black stuff, came from here, because the table was white, and now it was putrid black. "What is this?" I asked myself. I ran my hand, unconsciously on the table, feeling it hard and cold. For some reason, I was getting the feeling of nostalgia. I've seen this table before. No.. It wasn't just the table. It was the entire room. I know this room. I've seen it all before. But where? Where? I gasped lightly when I felt Pyxl tap me on the shoulder, causing me to turn back to him. Suddenly, I felt the time stop.

Pyxl was standing just in front of me, an inquiring and worried look on his face. As I looked at him closely, the feeling of nostalgia welled up so hard that I could feel my head weigh down on me. "Oh my God!" I exclaimed breathlessly as flashes of a memory suddenly thundered through my mind.

Someone is screaming. It sounds like a song. A song of agony. One that doesn't stop, not for the last 14 hours. That's how long Christopher'd been 'tortured' and still his abusers won't stop. Won't stop drilling into his flesh; won't stop tearing his flesh off of his body; won't even stop to knock the poor boy out with anesthesia, so he's feeling it all. Feeling every single shred of pain, that no man had, on this earth could even imagine. It's a living hell. And Amber could see it all. See it, as the unexpected event's helpless witness. What hurts the most is that, Amber could feel it, too. She could feel the poor boy's pain, as if it were her own. This is probably what Christopher meant on her recent dream, when he said, they did 'this' to him. The scientists stop, and Amber thinks that it's over, but it isn't. The scientists take their tools away and replace it with a large machine with long tubes connected to drill-like needles. The drills whir as they spin, and it deafens Amber. She no longer looks when the drills dig into Christopher's flesh. And the only thing she hears, is that he's screaming. Her name...

I gave tearful gasps, as if I had just come from a long period of crying. Still, Pyxl was looking at me with that fearful expression on his face. I broke down all the sudden and Pyxl staggered down with me, wondering what was wrong. His one hand was one my shoulder, while the other held my hand. I couldn't put much of my attention to him, since I was so busy piecing the puzzle in my mind. Every single detail that I had managed to remember. It was painful, like my skull was being split in two at what I was straining myself to do. When I felt that I pieced it all together, I finally managed to look at Pyxl, who looked like he would die from worry. "Pyxl..." Or rather... He waited in anticipation at what else I might say. My mouth slowly opened, to call him again, only a different name came out... "Christopher.."

TO BE CONTINUED