Downstairs

Part 6: Evelyn

I hid inside the bathroom. I just couldn’t watch the match. Takami stayed on the bed. 

“Hey Evelyn! The match is over. A little boy won.” he said. I came out of the bathroom. 

“No way. Are you serious? A little boy?” I was astonished. “Well, that means we have to get going. They get the room. Come on, let’s go.” I sunk my head as I approached the door. Takami grabbed my arm. 

“Wait! What do we do now?” He asked.

“We get put in cages.”

“But, this will be my first time being in one. Are we going to get separated? What about thinking of a way out of here? What if I die? What if you die?” he started panicking. 

“Then the game will be over for us.” I said. I could feel tears starting to fall down my cheeks. “On the bright side, at least I know not everything down here is rotten.” I turned around and opened the door. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

“Evelyn?” I started to cry. 

“Addison! You were the winner? Is that Audrey? Oh my god, you survived!” then I paused. “Wait… how on earth did you get down here? I thought I was the only one who got trapped.”

“You were, at first. But me and Audrey started panicking. We waited for dad to get home, and we tried to tell him what happened. But he didn’t believe us. We even showed him the bear, but dad called us crazy and took it from us. The next day, he sent us to school. We couldn’t concentrate. It was too much. So that night, we waited for dad to go to sleep, and we searched for the bear. He was hiding it in the medicine cabinet. When we got home from school the next day, we tried everything to get the bear to open back up. Pulling it, cutting it, burning it in the backyard. Nothing worked. Out of anger, I put it in the microwave. I turned on the timer for ten minutes, but after just one, the door of the microwave bust right off the hinges, and these weird greenish yellow ghost hands grabbed us.”

“You always have been a little master of destruction.” I laughed. An alarm went off. The door had been open too long. 

“Oh no. The men are coming to take you away to a cage.” Addison started crying.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’ll be fine.”

“But what am I gonna tell Audrey when she wakes up? She is going to be so upset.” he whined. The bridge lowered at a diagonal angle, and I pushed the twins into the doorway of the room. There were two men at the bottom of the bridge. Takami and I slipped, sliding down. The two men grabbed us in a bear hug. “Wait!” Addison yelled. They stopped and looked up at him. “Let them stay!”

“Are you sure? Why wouldn’t you want the room for yourself? You earned it. It’s yours.” one of the men said. 

“If it’s mine, then I want to share it with those two.” Addison said, crossing his arms.

“Suit yourself. Redhead, girl, follow me.” The man said. The other one stuck his hand in his pocket, and the bridge started to lift back into place. They lead us to a corner behind the elevator to reveal a door. They opened it, and asked us to step inside. We did, and they shut it behind us. We were surrounded by walls. 

“Hey! They tricked us! We’re trapped!” Takami yelled. Suddenly, the room vibrated, and the wall behind us slid to the side. We saw the elevator door. We walked towards it, and the wall slid back into place. The elevator rose.

“I had no idea that back door was there… Is the elevator like that on every level?” I was confused, trying to process what just happened. The elevator door opened, and we were back at the bridge. 

“We’ll worry about it later.” Takami said as he grabbed my arm. “Let’s go.” 

We stepped into the room, and shut the door. Addison was sitting on the bed, and Audrey was laying down beside him, barely breathing.

“So can somebody tell me what’s going on here?” Takami demanded.

“Addison and Audrey are my little siblings. I’m astonished at the fact that a twelve-year-old, you nonetheless, was able to win a match.” I hugged my little brother tightly.

“I warned ‘em not to touch Audrey. I should’ve done better to watch her.” he held her in his arms. “I’m sorry…”he said with a shaky voice, and tears started falling down his face. I sat down beside him.

 “She’s going to be okay. I’ll make sure she is. But what about you? You look like a ghost, and your hands are covered in blood. Go wash up in the bathroom, and when you come out, there will be food waiting for you.” I lifted Audrey, and Addison went into the bathroom. I looked down at my worn out little sister. “Poor thing. Y’all shouldn’t have come down here. You could’ve been killed.”

“You could’ve been too.” Takami said. “They were probably really worried about you. I can see why. You’re so kind to them. I find kids to be irritating usually. You handle ‘em well though, it seems.”

“Thank you. I love them with all my heart. Our dad is always busy, and life’s been pretty hard since mom died. I’m the one who watches over them all the time. They’re good kids, but Addison is a troublemaker and Audrey is a follower. I’m relieved to see them, but now I just don’t know what ‘m going to do. Seeing that they are down here too, it’s more important than ever to try to find a way out of this hell hole. And quickly too… I can’t let anything else happen to them.”

“What are you gonna do about her?” Takami pointed at Audrey. “She’s really banged up.”

“Yeah, would you hold her up straight for me just a moment?”

“Uh, sure.” Takami held Audrey lightly by her shoulders and sat her up straight. I felt her ribs and spine to feel for breaks or dislocations. 

“Nothing’s broken. She’s just really bruised, and looks malnourished. She got so thin. I wonder how long they’ve been here. Addison said they got here two days after I did. But I’ve been here for more than a week, and in 5 matches. I hope they haven’t been through too much.”

“Well I’ll tell you what, that little brother of yours is quite the scary one.” Takami said with a smirk.

“Oh yeah, you watched the match. What did he do that was so scary? He’s never been very strong.”

“He could’ve fooled me. When he found these two teens with his sister, he went crazy. He shoved his thumbs into a girl’s eyes, and then tore her jaw right off the hinges. Then he knocked the guy off of his feet, and stomped down on his throat!” Takami sat down at the foot of the bed. “Remind me not to get on that kid’s bad side.” 

Time passed, and we had food brought up to us. Fruits, salad, ribs, and pizza all fresh, warm, and good. When Addison came out of the bathroom, he sat down to eat, and I took Audrey in and ran her a warm bath. I washed the blood off of her body and out of her hair. As I started washing her back, she started to wake up. When she was fully up, she screamed, jolted back and covered herself with her hands. Her back was still facing me.

“No! Don’t touch me you creep!” she yelled.

“Audrey calm down. It’s me, Evelyn.” she turned around and smiled.

“Oh my god! I missed you so much! We were afraid you’d be gone forever! It’s horrible down here! I want to go home…” she started crying. “Where are we?”

“We’re in the bathroom of the royalty suite. Addison won the match, and he carried you here. You’ve been unconscious for a while now. You’re pretty banged up too. There is a large bruise on your back, and other bruises across your body. Not to mention, you look thinner. Have you not eaten at all?”

“We were given new cage mates, and they were two really mean teenagers. They took everything, and we got the scraps that were left. You said Addison won. Is he alright?” 

“He’s fine. He was really worried about you. Apparently he killed the people who were messing with you. But anyways, now that you are awake, finish washing yourself up. I’m gonna look in this cabinet for something to help your wounds.” I handed her the wash cloth, and opened the cabinet under the sink.