Reality Is Merciless 2

Chapter 5

"IZZY!?" I let out a huge gasp before quickly reacting, grabbing Isabelle's arm and pulling her back towards me.

Eventually, she manages to scramble back into the hall, away from the dark cell.

"W-who...?"

We both stand there, frozen in place, staring into the darkness of the cell beyond us.

The more I stare, the more I start to see the tall silhouette of the stranger, slowly getting closer.

The black void is then consumed by white locks and bright teal eyes...and that was enough for me to recognize who this figure was.

I shake my head, attempting to snap back to "reality", and bolt towards Hall A, Isabelle following behind.

However, I wasn't imagining things. The person's deafening footsteps could be heard not too far behind us.

They got louder,

and louder,

and louder,

...until...

"Ah!" I yelp as I feel a fist aggressively gripping my shirt. I then decide to turn my head around and face the truth...

It was the person I expected it to be from the beginning.

Short, white hair. Bright, teal eyes.

"Lu...na?" I feel a lump in my throat as tears build up in my eyes. Her grip just kept getting stronger, until she was digging into my skin.

I knew I had to do something, even if I didn't really want to...

"Forgive me, Luna!!"

I use all my body strength to swing her forward, causing her to loosen her grip and go crashing through the door of Hall A.

TCHSH

A slashing noise echoes throughout the building.

I feel my lip tremble and my jaw slowly descend...I fucked up...I really fucked up...

"Mika?" Izzy approaches me and puts her hand on my shoulder, "What's wrong?"

I cover my mouth with both my hands and put all my effort into holding back my sobs. "I'm so sorry...I'm so so so sorry..."

We're suddenly interrupted by groaning noises coming from the other side of the door.

I hear Izzy take a deep breath as she gently opens the door......

Luna's body lay there at the entrance, and behind her was a piano wire...dripping with fresh blood...

I looked closer, until I could see her head on the floor behind the wire...detached from the rest of her body.

Blood was being coughed and spluttered all over the floor as she let out noises of agony out of her throat.

"...i...mi...i...ka...a..."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I whimper and sob pathetically, wetting my cheeks and shirt.

"I...I was...ss...g-go...ing...to...marr...yy...you..."

"W...w...we...were...goi...n...ng...to...get to...tra...ail...e-enm...a...togeth...er..."

"W-why...why...did I h...hav...e...to meet...t-th...e...s...s...aame...fa..te...?"

"W...why...?"

She takes her last breath, and her eyelids slowly drop...to never be opened again.

~~~

It took Isabelle a while to calm me down, but when I finally did, I make a short prayer to Luna's corpse and head to our next destination.

Making sure to avoid all the piano wires, we pass the glass testing rooms and enter Monika's office.

"There has to be some form of information for us here!" Izzy exclaims confidently.

I nod in response and begin to rummage through the boxes and drawers atop the desk.

As expected from the manager of Markov, everything was very organized and I could navigate through it all quite easily.

A few minutes pass before somebody speaks up, "I think I found something!!" Isabelle announces, holding up a small note in the air.

"What is it?" I ask curiously.

"This note seemed pretty out of place," She explains, "Let's see what it says..."

I peek over her shoulder and we read it together.

The code to the exit is the amount of buttons, levers, screens and post-it notes present in Glass Testing Room 1.

"Oh, that seems easy enough." I smile, beginning to gain confidence.

"Right??" Izzy grins back, "Let's get to it then!"

Without wasting any time, we rush over to the first glass testing room and begin to count the features that were listed.

There were 9 buttons of various shapes and sizes, as well as 2 levers - one big and one small - and 4 screens displaying confusingly detailed information.

Stuck all over the the countertop were yellow sticky notes. I had counted 6 of them, but as I looked closer, I could see that somebody had written on them in pencil, with the same childish handwriting as the note I found at the reception.

They all said some pretty menacing things, such as "You're not going to make it" and "You're going to rot alone"

"Hey," Isabelle waves her hand in front of my face, "What did you count? I managed to get 9, 2, 4, 6."

"Oh, yeah, I got the same." I reply blandly.

Once again, we set off, through Hall A and into the reception.

"Ough..." I see Izzy shiver, "It's so eerie in here...feels like we're being watched."

"You're right..." I clench my teeth and try to shake off the feeling.

"Anyway," She skips over to the door, "You wanna do the honors?"

"Okay!" I nod and start to press down on the keys of the keypad attached to the middle of the door.

9...

2...

4...

6...

KACHUNK

The heavy door opens up, inviting us into the unknown.

I look at Izzy, and she looks at me.

Both nodding in unison, we leave Markov and enter Kage Forest.