Searching For Time (book 2) ✔

First Steps

As they moved further into the dungeons, rows of shackles and cells appeared just like they did before. The gang felt the same anxiety and simmering anger as they did before but Carlos was different. He could only sense and feel darkness over his eyes as he looked around, and guessed that maybe he was blindfolded?

A moment later they entered a large room with stone walls that were moulding and causing spooky echoes to appear from the smallest of sounds. The tense and slow breaths created a raging cacophony all around Carlos and his ears began to ring as the intakes became louder.

"Stop." he whispered and held his hands over his ears.

"Stop what?" Evie asked as she looked around to find whatever seemed to be hurting Carlos.

"That. Stop that! Please be quiet, it hurts." he shouted and squinted his eyes shut as he battled the headache forming; it felt like something was trying to burst out of his head and it pounded against his skull as if begging him to let it out.

"Carlos-" Harry began and moved closer to the teen.

"Stop. Just stop."

Harry gave a frown in Carlos' direction before looking at the gang and placing a finger against his lips, telling them to be quiet. Everybody nodded and stopped all movement, quietened their breathing and resisted any urges to talk. After a few moments Carlos cautiously removed his hands from his ears and let out a sigh of relief.

"Thankyou." he muttered as the cacophony began to settle.

Carlos lifted his head up and met the worried faces of his friends. He was about to explain to them what he heard, and partially opened his mouth, when another voice cut him off.

"Carlos..." the voice spoke melodically, and the boy whipped his head around to look at the shadowy darkness in the corner.

He took a few steps closer, so he was halfway across the room, and tried to see what was there. He spared a glance at the group to see if they had heard anything but they looked the same.

"Carlos..."

"Who's there?" he asked and took another step forwards.

"Come closer... take us back... let us in, Carlos..."

"What-"

"Hey pup, what're ya hearing?" Harry asked in the calmest and quietest voice he could muster.

"You don't.. But I-"

"Carlos..."

Carlos seemed almost entranced as he crossed the room and into the darkness where shapes began to form: long silhouettes set out in a uniform row.  He held out a hand to touch them and let out a small shout of surprise when he felt icy cold iron brush across his fingertips.

Suddenly, visions of screaming and something clanging against the bars erupted in his head and he stumbled back a few steps. His body was shaking when Harry caught him and once again asked what was happening.

"Are you remembering anything?"

"I, I don't know." Carlos whispered.

Once he calmed down he took another step forwards and trailed his hands across the row of metal bars. It must be another cell. But this one felt different, it felt like it was calling out to him. He followed the direction of the bars and eventually reached an iron door that had a large, broken lock hanging off it. He moved the lock out of the way and pushed onto the handle which sent the door creaking open and cast a sound not far from cackling.

Carlos took a few breaths to steady himself before entering the cell, the sounds of laughter and screaming still at the back of his head. As he reached the centre of the cell, and his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, he let out a shout. The smell he had thought he was imagining earlier became a hundred times worse, and he knew why.

There was blood everywhere, splattered onto the walls and gathered in mangled pools on the floor. He looked down at his pale and freckled skin, his fingertips tracing the cuts and scars visible, and realised this was his blood.

What happened to him?