Broken Nightmares

Broken Nightmares Part 7

My heart began to race, raging inside it's bone cage. The pain in my chest caused me to cling to my sweater. “Urgh, Rayne? Rayne... is that you?”. A figure in the shadow of the corridor before me slowly trudged before me. The shadow seemed to be mumbling to themselves, “Wing B connects to A through Floor 4.” the figure brought a strange blade to the wall, inscribing their thoughts. “H-hello?” I asked again, my heart raced but at least... at least I wasn't alone again.

“Oh... Lynne!” the figure dropped the unusual dagger to their sides before exposing themselves, slowly stepping out of the shadows.. It was Kri! ”Oh my God, Kri! You're here.. Why are you here?!”, his face seemed happy.. almost. “I've been here for at least 6 hours by now, I figured that I'd check this place out... and you'll be amazed with what I've found.”, judging by the writing I've seen on the walls in my travels – they seemed to be mostly written by Kri. “Was it you... writing on these walls?”, “Yep. It's a fail-safe.” he replied with a proud smile appearing through his small lips, he took a stance as if to make himself look cuter with his skirt waving in a short breeze shifting down the hallways. “A... fail-safe?” I didn't get what he was talking about.. but that was about to change.

We sat against the wall in the hallway that we first met, the moon could be seen clearly through the window opposite us, the moonlight rejuvenated the soft skin that held my face together. He began to tell me about his experiences.

I woke up in the middle of a corroded dog-legged staircase, crushing sounds can be heard from the distance. The air was hard to breathe in here, I wasn't sure if it was asbestos or a chemical slowly tainting my body but I decided to ignore it, I dragged my body up by pulling myself up using the staircase banister for support... which failed. The banister cracked and gave way, I slipped and before I knew it; I was tumbling down the old, dusty staircase. Every step that my body desperately attempted to cling to brought sharp pains to whichever area I rolled on, luckily though – there were less than 7 steps and I hit the floor with a -thump-. “Nnng...” was all that felt compelled to escape my mouth. My uniform became dusty and covered in dirt as I once again, attempted to pick myself up. Once this was successful, I patted most of the dust off of my clothing before noticing a figure in the shadows near to me, whimpering. During my comatose that I'd slept in up until a few months ago, I spent my years in a school kind of like this, crazed students killed each other to prolong their own lives, I guess this place didn't come as a shock to me either. I made it my goal to find a way out.

“Hey. Come out from the shadows.” I managed to speak clearly and confidently but in reality, my heart pounded so hard I almost lost consciousness. Although, thankfully the figure stepped from out of the shadows before me. It was a girl with relaxed black hair down to her back, her bangs which were just as long were restrained to the side of her head with hair clips. She seemed to be around 15 maybe, not much taller than 5'5ft. Her uniform consisted of a white shirt, pale vested sweater and a black skirt with black boots. “Um... Hi...” I could tell by her face; the tears in her eyes that she was scared as her hands viciously twisted around each other in front of her chest. “What's your name?” I asked her with confidence. “E-Emma... Emma Ringer..”, “Pretty name... You can call me Kuri Fiar.. my full name may be hard to remember.”, she gave me a terrified nod of approval before a stomping came from a distant corridor. Emma gasped loudly as we both peered down the dark corridor that became lit by the moonlight outside of the dusty, cracked windows. “H-He's coming for me!”, I tried to ask her who, but instead the girl didn't listen, she squatted down in a fetal sort of position with her hands tightly squeezing her ears.

My protective instincts took over, I quickly moved next to the girl, grabbing hold of her left hand as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I'll help you.”, the stomping became slightly louder, indicating that whatever it was, was coming closer. The sound of chains and clanging also echoed through the halls. There was, luckily another corridor leading off from the left of the dog-legged staircase which I pulled her down.”W-where are we going?” she asked me, “Anywhere but close to that thing.”. It wasn't long before I came across a rotting corpse next to a door branded with an 'X'. It had been inscribed deeply by a blade of some sort? “What's this...” I saw Emma bend down to grab a bloody blade, it was black and had a unique design to it. The bottom of the handle had a tiny horizontal blade whilst the actual blade became slightly curved, with tiny curved metal protruded from the blade. Whatever this blade is, I don't know however, I do know that it could do some serious damage. “Let's take it with us, we should probably mark the wall, so we know where we've been.” Came from Emma, it was a good idea though. “Okay... Let's do it.”. Using the blade, I carved two stick people running away from a cloud. I didn't know what it was following us so this is all I had to go from. “Okay... let's go.”, I never realised that the stomping was now, very loud. Almost as if it was right behind us.

“Wow... What happened?”, Kri didn't seem to answer me though. “Lynne... do you think people can die in dreams?”, I didn't know what he meant, but it was something to think about. “Well, if they can't... Then what is there to worry about?” although every time I returned to this place in my nightmares, I've always been able to die. Or... wake up in a bed of sweat. “Daijyobu, Kuri.”, Kuri was originally Japanese, so he hated it when I spoke like that. I just giggled it off though, before standing up. “Well... You don't need to tell me what happened. Let's just see if the others are here, okay?”, “Okay.”.

We ventured down many corridors, Kri and I. Along the way he kept writing small arrows on the walls with his abnormal blade. “Do you have to do that?” he just seemed to hum a melody whilst writing. I knew this melody all too well, but he made it sound happy. “These markings show us where we've been, and alert others of traps, and ways not to go.” I guess it made sense, although I haven't noticed anybody yet... I remembered the boy though, the boy I saw when I was with Rayne. This almost forced thoughts about Rayne into my mind... “Will she be fine on here own? Why did she run off...” I guess it was no use thinking about it, I had to do something. “Listen, we should go back the way we came... I was with Rayne a while ago and she ran off, we should find her and everyone else. At least if we're together we can work to find a way out of here, right?” My panicking didn't seem to phase Kri, instead he grabbed my sweaty hand. “Listen, We can't go back. We must never go back, do you hear me?!”, “W-w-why?!” he didn't answer me though, he just dragged me along in the direction we were already walking. That's when he came out with something bizarre.

“I thought you were dead...” I gasped, what was I supposed to say to that? “W-what?!” he stopped in his tracks, nothing but a soft breeze could be heard – and felt. “I saw your body... Hanging from a door-frame.”, my mind flashed back to when Rayne wouldn't let me see what was at the entrance of the room. Maybe it was me? He continued “I didn't know what to do... it would only of brought you more pain if I cut you down, I just don't get how you're perfectly fine now.”, it was something to think about... Something I didn't want to think about though. “Well I'm okay now, that's what matters, right?”, “I guess.”.

We came to a crossroad type of area, 4 corridors lead off in different directions. “Listen, Lynne.”, “What is it?” I asked, his face had changed to a gloomy look though. “We can cover more ground if we split up, if you find the others, we'll meet in the courtyard every hour, okay?”, what was he thinking? Splitting up in a place like this?! “What are you say-!” I was cut off, “We can move quicker, and easier as one. Just remember these several rules for me. Number 1, never turn back. Number 2, never move predictably, in other words move randomly, pick corridors at random. Number 3... never offer to help anyone. Trust nobody.” his eyes fell heavy, as he inscribed an arrow into the wall. “I... I got it.”, “Remember, the courtyard every hour. It's easier to get there by following the source of the breeze that rolls through these corridors.” And with that, he made his own way, and I made mine.

My heart was racing again, it made it hard to even stand up with the pressure added to my rib cage. I made note of the soft breeze that whooshed past me every 5 minutes or so. I made it my goal to look for Rayne, something about her gave me butterflies in my belly. Thoughts raced through my head as I passed room after room although, one room created a tainted rotten smell that hit me like a train. It had to 'X' marked on the door though, so I raised my shaky hands to twist the door knob. My heart became ever more destructive within its cage as I slowly pushed the door open with a -creak-. A horrible smell worse than burning flesh hit my senses, I gasped and fell to the floor which seemed to be less infected with the smell. “Eurgh” I clipped my nose shut with my fingers as I pulled myself up. I couldn't believe my eyes when I did. This... This is horrible.

Desks were laid out like a normal classroom, 6 x 5 they sat perfectly, although cracked and dusty. The chairs were knocked over, in a hurried fashion. Although, above where the chairs would of sat... hung a student. Each desk had their own, totaling of an entire class of 30 students, each hung above their respected desks by ropes tied around a beam that supported the ceiling. I couldn't breathe.