The City of Havamon

Chapter 5 - Hall of the Beheaded

It's been two months. Dimitri was right. No one was ever going to find him. It's been two months... two months of horrendous torture. He can't take it anymore. He wants his suffering to end, even if it costs his life.

Laine laid helplessly in the same room, covered in his own blood, praying that it will all end soon. Not a single inch of his body was left to have peace without pain. He curled up into a tiny ball as tears poured down his hollow cheeks and over his stitched mouth. When was it going to end? Every time he thinks it can't get worse, it does anyways. Was this just going to continue until Dimitri got bored? Judging by what Laine has seen so far, that wasn't going to be any time soon.

Just as Laine was feeling his most hopeless, he noticed the guard standing at his door leave. Confused, Laine tried to get a closer look, but standing up was too painful for him. So instead, he just watched closely through the small window in the door.

Before Laine could figure out why the guard left, Dimitri appeared at the window and opened the door. He approached Laine and crouched down next to him with a menacing expression.

"Wondering why the guard left, hm? Well, let me explain. You have reached a point where running would cause you to bleed to death. You know what that means, don't you? It means you die tomorrow! Tonight, I'll let you sleep. But in the morning, you get sent to the Last Room. After which I will take you to my hall of trophies!" Dimitri explained with a grin much too cruel

Laine looked at Dimitri, confused. What did he mean by trophies?

Dimitri smiled at Laine, somewhat less sinister than the smiles before. "Go ahead and try to escape, Laine. I'll even tell you how! It'd be so fun to see you have hope in your last hours of life!" He said as he grabbed Laine's chin and turned it to him with force.

"There is a door, right next to this steel one, which will be unlocked just for you! The neighboring door is wooden and titled 'Hall of the Beheaded.' Once you get to my hall of trophies, you will suffer mentally to walk down it, but if you manage to get through without crying and letting the echo alert us, you get to the room of your belongings. It will have all your stuff that was on you when I captured you. If you manage to get your phone, however, you'll find that it will be on exactly 1% and there will be no signal. Luckily for you, however, there will be a window in that room that you are just small enough to escape out of. And if you manage to make it all the way home without bleeding to death, then you will have successfully escaped me. But I cannot guarantee you will be safe from me."

Laine, shaking from his pain, looked up at Dimitri. "w- why are you telling me this?" he asked in a pained voice, moving his mouth as little as possible. The wire Dimitri had replaced the thread with a month ago had started to cut its way into the sides of Laine's mouth, making it impossible to talk without further pain.

Dimitri laughed at Laine's pain then leaned down into his ear and whispered, "Because you won't make it." Such simple words for such a horrible situation.

As Dimitri walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving it unlocked, Laine felt something he hadn't felt since day 5. Determination. He was not going to die. Not today, not tomorrow, not any time soon. It doesn't matter no one has ever escaped Dimitri, because he was going to be the first. And even if not, he would die either way, it would be better to go out knowing he at least tried. Either he has a great chance of dying but a small chance of escape, or a 100% chance of dying

Once Dimitri was fully gone, Laine clenched his fists and forced himself up. He made his way to the steel door and with all the strength he had left, he pulled it open and fled to the neighboring door.

Horror struck Laine's already pale face as he peered into the hall. What was he expecting from such a title? He stared down into the hall, hundreds of severed human heads, most of them children, all hanging on the wall like animals in a hunter's room. He had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from puking at the sight.

Laine's eyes teared up and he could feel his limbs begin to tremble. If he fails this attempt to escape, he would join them. Laine took a breath and moved forward down the hall as quietly as he could, remembering what Dimitri said about the echoes. As he neared the end, the walls were left blank. Then, to his horror, he noticed two blank spots on the wall. One titled "Helena Eldenwood" and one titled "Laine Cohen".

At first, Laine felt only white hot fear covering his mouth to make sure he didn't scream, but then a realization hit him. If Helena's head wasn't up there, she may still be alive! Maybe she escaped! It gave Laine a bit more hope, something he hadn't felt in a long while. He dashed as quietly as he could to the door at the end of the hall with this new sense of hope. Maybe he didn't cause Helena to die!

But just as Laine entered the room, his hope quickly faded. Helena's severed head sat on a table right in front of Laine's belongings, with a knife stuck directly into her skull. Laine's heart sank and he couldn't help but cry out. And just as Dimitri had warned, the cry echoed. In a panic, Laine slammed the door and hid under the table, hitting his head on the way down. It wasn't a strong enough hit to hurt him, but it was strong enough to knock the head above him down to the floor below with a sickening squelch

Laine covered his mouth and shut his eyes, trying hard not to make any noise, as he already heard footsteps coming down the hallway. A crooked and sinister voice said "I knew you'd try to flee." followed by a laugh. Without a doubt, it was Dimitri.

As Dimitri approached the door, Laine decided it was not going to end here. He very carefully removed the knife from Helena's head, whispering a shakened apology, and held the knife with a white-knuckle grip in his hands, ready to attack.

Dimitri kicked the door, swinging it open, immediately searching the room. The window was closed, so he couldn't have gotten out. Dimitri laughed to himself. "Didn't get far, did 'ya?" He mocked. Then his attention was drawn to the head on the ground in front of the table. He smiled and bent down to make eye contact with Laine, but his expression dropped as he saw the sharp glint of the knife.

Laine acted quicker than he had ever acted before, and with a rush of adrenaline, he thrusted the knife into Dimitri's stomach and broke through the window, scrambling for his escape. He ran as far as he could, making it about one block away from his home, when the adrenaline stopped working and he collapsed. Knowing that if no one found him he would bleed to death, he ripped the wire out of his mouth and screamed for help.

... Would anyone respond?