Beguile

Chapter 10

"I found one!"

I wipe the sweat trinkling on my forehead. We werent able to find anything in the mini kitchen, but after scavenging 2 rooms I finally found one!

"Karl! Karl! I found one!" I keep my voice down but my excitement can still be heard.

Karl quickly ran towards me. "You're the best!" He raised two thumbs up as his eyes sparkles in awe. "What's the can? I hope beans"

I made a stride towards the nearest window, then excitedly raise the can towards the light. My hands trembles both from now realized hunger and desperation but the moment I read the label my smile fell in an instant. "Its for cats..."

"And????" He raises an eyebrow

"Its tuna for cats"

I was taken by surprise when he let out a big sigh of relief. "Lucky! Better than those little pebbles thats for sure"

He snatched the can away.

Im not yet hungry but I will be, if this continues, then I got no choice but to maul what's in front of me.

We took another few minutes and other than fabrics and papers, not even a candy can be found.

Im currently sitting on the couch across Karl. He suggested that we should get to know each other, that an ally is best in this situation. Though its weird, that someone so desperate for food could think such idea.

"-And that's how I tricked him into giving me the burger." He finally ended. "But you'll never believe what happened the next day-" I guess not.

He bubbles on our time left before sundown. His stories were filled of his adventures with food and drinks that now seems unreachable. While he was talking like a cramped opera, my vision slowly blurs -it was the constant cold and the motion of the dim light which made somewhat soporific.

My skin burns and my right wrist is throbbing from pressure.

Before I could react, the air had already slaps me and my back stings when it roughly met the hard ground.

"You ruined it!"

I heard someone screamed in anger. I was baffled by the sudden happenings, yet i kept inert, my body is writhing in pain when my last memory is of me catching the drowsy cold.

"You ruined everything!"

My eyes slowly adjusts to the dark and Karl's silhouette came into view. He keeps screaming. Punching and kicking the door with extreme anger, when the moonlight  flashes his skin, fresh blood gleams from harsh wounds.

"You just can't wait, can you?" This time he kicked me, right to the stomach where I felt my guts already crushed. I couldn't form words nor a groan, my response was merely vomiting blood and stinging my lip from a cut I cant remember. "You just hasten your death" he growled before he shut the door behind him.

I stayed on the floor for a few minutes to ponder yet my memories couldn't connect the pieces- I just slept then awoke to harsh pain and screams.

When I came to my senses, I drag myself towards the wall to sit upright. My skin still burns from being dragged but no signs of broken bones however that's not what worries me.

The door is locked and the room is dark, and electricity is never an option.

I can see the moonlight behind the unmoving red curtain. If it was a normal day, I would've complained about the hideous pairing of hues but going insane in a dark four-corners holds greater weigh. Even more when Im injured and the room smells far from lemons.

A kick from the door jolt me out from my thoughts.

"By the way......." Karl pauses as he started. I couldnt see him but I hear the continous tap of his finger on the other side of this wooden door. There were no crickets or swoosh of the wind to join him, the tapping sound almost seemed unreal.

When there's no change, I got up to reach for the windows. I drew the curtains to reveal a bright fullmoon, immediately lighting up the whole room.

I only just realized that its a bedroom- a small one unlike the student's dorm. I sneak over the table and my light steps was hushed by the still continuing taps. I got over to the papers, even opened the two cabinets which squeaks on the act. Yet aside from surprised and disappointment, I was able to grasp my own stupidity.

I will never learn, do I?

First, I didnt protest when I was taken. Second, I helped to look for food with someone I couldnt fully trust. And third, I was in denial of my own instinct.

"This was all planned" I murmured as I hovered on the center of a bedroom who bore nothing but empty papers.

"Kennedy" The tapping stops. "Im kinda hungry" he breathed

I dont see a reason why he have to tell me that. I just stood there as I was waiting for what he have to say next.

But he said nothing after that. All I hear is how his breathing hardens as seconds pass.

"Where is the guard?" I finally ask, its the reason why I came here in the first place.

"You should try to be smarter than that."

Its not surprising, I already assumed that much. I came here on my own accord. I fell in an obvious trap laid for people whose ignorance overpowers their little judgement, and I am that people. I am ignorant. I am stupid. I am a prey. And my death is predictable.

And yet...... I felt my heart sunk and tears stains my cheeks.

Suddenly, the room who once laid empty feel so crowded, like a stampede crushing my lungs- drowning me, suffocating me as my vision blurs from whimpering on regrets.

I shouldnt have believed anyone! I -I -People FUCKING LIE!

Knocks on the door made me come back to my senses. As he talks, I climb over the window to secure the curtain rod for a weapon. I remove the curtains down as discreet as possible, the tiny metallic sound it made were buried by the echoes of complains on the other side of the door. For the first time, Im glad that he is loud and enough to get me time.

".......did you greet your roommate yet?" I came to a halt. Despite the lack of air, a shiver runs down my spine. I was busy rummaging the closet and cabinets that I forgot to look elsewhere.

With the curtains down, the room brimms from the moonlight and I can oversee its stillness.

At the corners, the shadows seems to speak but when I look again it disappears into molds of my own silhouette.

Im scared and my heart is plummeting out of my chest, but if I see orbs glow under the bed Im sure to pluck them out of its sockets.