The Perfect Shall Remain

Chapter Twelve

"But I think this is the exit."

"Me too," Reed confirmed.

I'd crawled part of the way back and told them about the creepy scrawls on the ceiling. The weirdest part was that it wasn't throughout the tunnel, just that section above the door.

"It's another impossible puzzle," Taylor quaked. I didn't need to see her to know she was slumped against the wall in defeat.

"I can't solve it alone," I called back. Every part of me wanted out of the tunnel as quickly as possible. Either the air was starting to thin, or I was slowly losing it. I forced it all down, trying to think of anything that could distract me...which happened to be solving the puzzle.

"I should find the others," Reed stated matter-of-factly. "With the six of us, we should be able to figure it out."

"You're just gonna leave me here alone?" Taylor's voice got even higher.

"It will be easier if you stay behind," he answered gently. "You can hold a lamp by the door just in case. I'll do my best to locate everyone."

"And if you can't find them?"

"If they aren't out there it means they found a way out. It's structured like a maze–long endless tunnels leading nowhere. I have part of it memorized, but not all of it."

"You have it memorized? Already?"

"I do," he answered confidently. "I'll be back."

"Wait–"

"We don't have time, Taylor," I called. "Be safe, Reed."

"Don't leave me here alone!"

"You're not alone," Reed's voice was fading, so I figured he was leaving the room. A moment or too passed before Taylor's wobbly voice started up again. "We're never getting out of here."

"We have to think positive," I reminded her. She didn't respond and I sighed. "I'm going to the otherside to see if I can figure anything out."

"You won't be able to, just stay here."

"It's not like I'm in here by choice," I shot back. "If someone comes into that room to get you, I won't be able to help."

"Why would someone come get me?"

"Why would someone put us in this mess to begin with?"

"I..." She fell silent, and then started sobbing.

Guilt shot through me. We were all stressed, we were all trying to figure this out. I didn't need to say that. Especially with her horrific memories from earlier. Whatever she'd already been through somehow sounded worse than what we were going through right now.

I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," I said somewhat softly. It was sort of impossible to be gentle when you had to get your voice through a wall. "None of this is normal, I have no clue what we're doing–but I can see light through the cracks in the other door–so if anything is close to being the way out we have to try. So I'm gonna go back there and see if I can find a keyhole or a clue or just something. Okay?"

"Okay," she sniffled back.

"Do you think you'll be able to wait at the door with the lamp? For Reed and the others?"

There was a brief pause. "Y-yeah."

"Thank you, be safe."

"I don't think that's possible..."

I crawled my way back down to the creepier end of the tunnel. I kept going until I was basically next to the door, the lamp making the "For many are called" shine in a sinister way. What did it have to do with anything? Obviously we were the many, right? But none of us had been called...was there some sort of call to make? I propped my head up by my elbows and flinched as a stone shard buried itself in my flesh.

"Notice something," I muttered to myself, counting my breaths to keep calm. "Notice anything...."

What's weird about this other than the obvious.

The note from Algernon had said to answer the call...but what was the call? And how did that fit in?

"Hello?" I said randomly. Nothing happened.

Is there a pattern?

Though the words were written over and over again, it was disproportionate. More appeared on the left side than the right. Did that mean something?

I rolled onto my back to give my neck a break and started counting.

1...2...3...

Twenty two times. It was written twenty two times on the left side. But on the right only fourteen times. What did that mean? And why did it sound so familiar? I rubbed the dust from my eyes. "For many are called..." I mused aloud. "Called for what? To do what? To be here? Why is it written only..."

I bolted upright and smacked my forehead against the ceiling. With a groan I fell back onto my back, rubbing my forehead aggressively. "Ow..."

"What was that?" Taylor's voice was distant. "Are you okay in there? Did you die?"

"I'm...fine," I ground out, rolling over.

Stupid low ceiling.

I froze then, remembering where I'd seen those numbers before. With shaking hands I turned my wrist over to catch the light from the lamp. 22:14 had been ingrained in my skin somehow. All of our skin.

And just so happened to match the amount of times that sentence had been carved into the wall.

𝕿һᥲᥒk ᥡ᥆ᥙ 𝖿᥆r rᥱᥲძіᥒg!

𝕴𝖿 ᥡ᥆ᥙ ᥱᥒȷ᥆ᥡᥱძ 𝗍һіs ᥴһᥲ⍴𝗍ᥱr, ⍴ᥣᥱᥲsᥱ ᥎᥆𝗍ᥱ ᥲᥒძ ᥴ᥆mmᥱᥒ𝗍.

𝒮𝒦♥