The Eden Projects (FINAL EDITING)

Chapter 53. Three Blind Mice.

I know he's breathing.

Just beyond the wall.

Kasper stood with his forehead pressed against the storage room doorframe, listening. 

He hadn't left that exact spot in over a day.

The weight of waiting settled so heavily on him he imagined his boots leaving impressions in the concrete if he stood there much longer. The key dug into his palm as he turned it over and over, its jagged teeth biting into his skin. Consequence. He listened. Is this the consequence for living? Every now and then there would be the faint rustle of fabric.

A cough.

A sharp inhale.

The quiet murmur of cells pushing themselves around.

Then silence.

Long enough that he became convinced the boy had died again.

Until another breath proved him wrong.

"What do I do now..." he muttered.

If I go in there... I have to face it.

The part of himself he'd spent years trying to bury.

How could someone want so desperately to remember... and need just as desperately to forget?

Oh hope. You bastard.

Footsteps echoed down the hall.

"He should be awake, right?" Kasper turned immediately.

He knew the cadence of those steps better than his own heartbeat.

Zak slowed beside him, resting his own head lightly against the door before closing his eyes. There he listened. "I'd say so."

"Mh."

"You're really gonna do this..."

"I have to know." 

"You don't. Let him go, and we can run." 

"I have to do this." 

"Well... go slow." Zak looked at him. "It's been years for him. Who knows what they've done. Don't scare him. You can be scary."

"I'm not scary."

Zak barked a laugh. "Ha. Very funny."

Kasper tightened his grip around the key. "You don't want me to do this, do you?" Kasper sighed the words.

Zak rested a hand on his shoulder. "No." He gave it a gentle squeeze before turning away. "I don't wanna watch you get disappointed. I want you to let go." A few more steps, then he stopped. "...I don't wanna have to pick up the pieces."

Kasper watched Zak move away.

"But we both know I will." His voice echoed down the corridor.

"Right." He looked back at the lock.

Just open the door, what does he know.

He inhaled slowly and carefully fitted the key into the lock. "Let's say hello." His heart stumbled against his ribs. The latch clicked. For years he'd been closing doors. Drawing curtains. Sealing gates. Opening one felt... wrong. Especially this one.

His sleeve rode up as he reached for the handle, exposing the ragged bite scars wrapped around his forearm. What have I been doing? If nothing could sate him then he'd just have to become the thing he needed. Is that what this is for? 

Stop being a baby. Just go in.

He wasn't a kid anymore.

He'd become something that would've made even Adam blush. He'd done things, seen things, tasted the forbidden fruits twice over and all of it ran him here. Yet somehow, despite it all, he was still just as scared as the boy left to rot in that house of pigs.