Pandemonium

Stage Eight

"Don't you think it's strange?" Hector holds onto my arm as we continue walking on the stairs. Claude woke up a few moments prior. He didn't say a whole lot, which was unusual for him, but I don't mind the silence. I'd rather he remained quiet than speak nonsense.

"What?"

"We're using stairs to go up but aren't we going down?"

"What?" I look at him, confused. The thought had never crossed my mind before.

"The floors. We're going from 1 to 10. Doesn't that mean we're going down? Or is this building like a skyscraper? Are we going up? Or going down? If we're underground, we'd be going down, right? Why are we going deeper into the earth if we're trying to escape?" He paused for a moment and then continued. "But if you think about it, if we're going up, and this building is like a skyscraper, then why hasn't anyone found out about it? Why would we still be stuck in this game? That isn't odd to you? So, are we going up...or down?"

"Aren't we going up?" I reply, my eyebrows furrowing as I think about it. "The spikes...we've already seen them. So wouldn't anyone falling just be falling onto those spikes we've already seen? That would mean we're going up, right?"

"What if they're different spikes? What if there are some visual tricks to make it seem like we're going up when we're actually going down?"

"Well, we could've started at the top of the building and worked our way down...we don't have to be moving inside the earth."

"What type of building starts from 1 and goes down to 10?" Hector shook his head.

"What type of building is created just to kill people?" I reply. He gives me a look, disappointed in my response but understands where I'm coming from. Nothing about this makes sense nor is it supposed to. Each question just brings more questions. This place is never going to answer any of them. But, Hector is right at the same time. There is something unnerving about going from 1 to 10. It really should be going from 10 to 1. But we started at 1. There had to be a reason for that. Maybe it's a sign? But a sign for what? Are we just overthinking things now?

I turn my head to look at Faust who is right behind us. Faust stares at me, waiting, but doesn't smile like they usually do. Their persona is changing again, as if they're unsure of who they should be right now. The trickster? Or the helper? Or maybe just a bystander? I continue to stare, waiting for something to happen, and nothing does. Their soulless eyes stare back into mine, right into the depths, and my head starts to hurt. I turn back to facing forward. Why is my head hurting now? Thinking about the impossible building? No, there has to be something else. Some other reason. Was it staring at Faust that caused my brain to hurt? Their soulless eyes are really nothing to downplay. My head hurts stronger now. What did I just think about to make it hurt?

Is it Faust? Or a word specifically? Soul? I stop walking as the pain consumes my head. I clutch the sides of my head and close my eyes. Soul. It's the word soul. Is this the same thing blocking my memory? Why am I not allowed to think about souls? I've done it before. People have even said the word before. Why now? What is so different about now?

Faust grabs my shoulders and pushes me forward. They lean down and whisper to me, as we continue walking, "Stop thinking. Thinking will get you killed. We're almost there. Ask all your questions when we meet the game master, but not sooner. We have to get there first."

"But-"

"No," they say, cutting me off. I open my mouth to speak again but the look they give me freezes my entire train of thought. There is something in their eyes that has a mind of it's own. I can't place it but my body instinctively knew to listen. I close my mouth and keep walking. The door is almost there. I can see it now just a few stairs away.