Our Last Hope

Chapter 5

"So... I found out there were monsters down here."

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   I soon faced monsters. All different shapes, sizes, attitudes. But they didn't face me. I quickly grew accustomed to the fact they existed. I've heard the legends during childhood. Legends of monsters that lived in the underground, trapped by the humans. Still, from last nights experience, I find myself just as avoidant of them as they are for me.

   I walked through these endless purple halls. Most felt more empty but a monster appeared now and then. Monster, I feel bad calling them that. None have attacked me, they seem like any other living creature. The way they glanced at me was unnerving. It made me feel more venerable than I already have been.

   I couldn't stand to look any if them in the eye. Their eyes had such fear that might've been in my own eyes. The fear I tried to hide so much, it would've been brought out during the night before by my uncle.

   And that... thing. That thing. That is what I would call a monster, dare I say! I let out a sigh and my movements forward only got more sporadic.

   I am tired, hurting, hungry, thirsty, panicked. Even with all this happening, I push on. I don't exactly want die, after all. Though.. I did want a solution from all the suffering. My eyes hadn't been focusing on anything in particular and soon I found the walls being twisted and tilted. Before darkness finally enveloped my vision.

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   I woke with no pain, in darkness, a void of cold stone. I felt my eyes weren't even open but soon I realized they always have been. I felt up and down my body, seeing if I was alive and physically there. I felt the floor. I blinked. My eyes were open, I was living. The heart I had was beating out of my chest then into my ears. The feeling of impending danger and constant panic was inevitable.

   "Luna" my name was sounded from behind me. A voice had said it that hadn't been my own. Suddenly as I stared into this everlasting darkness my body froze in place. While all I could hear was my own heart and blood rushing throughout my body.

   I then felt something in this darkness. A cold breath of air touched the back of my neck. I had no way of seeing what was there. Instead, I just stood still in this obsidian cage. Slowly, surely, these breaths moved closer. Closer, c l o s e r, until I could hear it. I could hear its breathing. It now sounded right into my ear. It stood there, just as I did. For a moment, I didn't know if it even had seen me in the dark ruins.

   I saw nothing in this void. I could feel and hear. When I opened my mouth, I felt an inability to speak. Not move or see. Because of this, the senses I still had enhanced. The breathing that was against my neck was now against my ear. It sent goosebumps, it sent fear as shivers down my spine. Not a word was spoken from this creature so when it finally made a noise, I heard every word.

   "Luna, is that you"?

   The voice was that of my dead mother.

   "Luna, it's time for you to join us".

   Tears welled up in my eyes at the soft voice of my mother. Have I finally died? I still couldn't speak, I could only give breathless sounds and speechless pronunciations. The emotions I haven't felt for so long rushing back to me. They were all so overwhelming. The grief, suffering, confusion, panic, fear. It all made me want to scream, to sob, to destroy.

   She wasn't human any longer, I knew this once it touched my neck. Its hands weren't her own. They felt colder, cold as stone in the barren winter. I don't know what to call these hands of hers, as they weren't hands any longer. They seemed deathly skinny as one slowly reached around my neck. Their arm was just as cold.

   There wasn't any muscle. Their fingers, what would've been fingers, were no longer natural. The fingers were claw-like and as they dragged along my bare neck. Pointed, needle-like, and lengthy. Slowly the pressure on my neck increased and I could feel a warm liquid fall down my skin.

   My mind was racing but my focus was to show no weakness. What this thing wanted was prey that would squeal and sob in pain. She wasn't was mother anymore. They wanted to savor me for later. She wanted to watch me suffer. I've made it this far in life, only now do I want to survive. Still, even now, I can feel tears running down my face.

   It's voice cracked and shifted in tone.

   "You'll never get help. You're hopeless. You were never of any use".

   I felt my chest burn and before I knew what hit me, I could see once more. I saw my brother. His brown hair shown in this new light. My legs then collapsed beneath me and I felt his cold hands wrap around me fallen body.

   "You should've just died, Luna"