Paper Hearts

Chapter 8: What a feast!

As we held each other's hands and trudged through the darkness, I mumbled a silent prayer to allow us to escape this place.

"Are we there yet?" Mary said weakly, her legs were wobbling, face paler than ever before, and looked as if she was about to collapse at any moment. I clutched her hand with whatever energy I had left, and reassured her, "Don't worry, we are going to reach soon."

At that moment, my future felt bleaker than ever before.

Just then, a whirring sound pulled me out my thoughts, and I saw this speaker appear out of the ceiling, "Hallloooo my test specimens! How are you dooooing?" I stared at the speaker with hatred, and Mary spits at the speaker. "Oh my, don't do this to my precious speaker! I still need it to talk to you lovelies! Anyway," the speaker crackled in the dark hallway, "You are in luck! My generous side has decided to treat you two to a meal! Just head straight and you will see a canteen with a buffet laid out for you!"

I looked at the speaker in shock, and said, "Why? There must be something planned from you in this, you have a motive!" The speaker stayed silent for a moment, and then crackled again, "Well lovely, I can't have my specimens dying in the middle of my experiment! How bad would that be? I would have to find new ones!" The speaker crackled as Dr. Newton laughed, "Honestly, you two have been the most perfect so far, and the last thing I would want is to lose you two. So go on! There is a scrumptious feast laid out for you just...let me see...a few minutes walk away!"

Before I had a chance to reply, the speaker crackled and said, "Welp, that's all for now! Seeya guys!" The whirring sound came back as the speaker slowly retracted back up into the ceiling.

Mary and I looked at each other, knowing there was no choice but to comply with the commands of that sadistic madman. We dragged our feet across the cold steel floor and after a while, we reached.

If we were not in this predicament, we would actually have enjoyed the meal. The place was decorated as if it was a palace banquet. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, chairs and tables were draped across with royal cloth, and there was really...a magnificent spread of food in front of us. Food ranging from mouth-watering sushi to perfectly curated seafood, there was nearly everything you wanted.

Naturally, Mary and I rushed for the food, grabbing all that we could fill our stomachs with. We munched on everything possible and devoured the food until there was nothing left. I let out a satisfying burp happily, unleashed from the inner walls of my stomach. Just then, the same whirring sound came back, and the speaker came down.

"Helloooo my fellow test specimens! How have you been enjoying the food?" The voice crackled out from the speaker.

"Great! Thanks for the excellent service!" I said to the speaker, and Mary nodded her head readily.

We heard the voice laugh devilishly through the speaker, and then the voice came back, "Well, I sure hope you enjoyed the food. I will have you know that the food you consumed just now is made by our finest top-quality chefs in this facility. We wouldn't want our test specimens to think we are neglecting or abusing them, do we now? Now just to add a smallll detail.."

"The food you ate just now, was made out of human flesh."

My eyes gouged at that word, and I frantically clawed my throat in an attempt to regurgitate out the food, Mary was doing the same.

"HAHAHA! There you go, this was the catch you so anticipatedly waited for. HOW DO YOU ENJOY IT?"

I glared at the speaker with added hatred and disgust. "HOW COULD YOU? We were waiting for the meal and we got it, but you just had to add in this catch!"

The voice laughed devilishly once again, and said, "Well, the food was good, was it not? I have to assure you though, the ingredients we sourced for are of the finest quality, we wouldn't want our finest specimens to collapse in the middle of the experiment, do we now? Remember the first trial you went through? The one with the grinding gears? That was where we got our ingredients to serve you the FINEST, most MAGNIFICENT, and the most DELICIOUS meals ever! Newton Meal Catering, at your service."

My eyes opened wide with horror, how could this sicko get even more sick and revolting? I stood up from the chair, now reenergized by...whatever it was I ate down my throat just now, and I grabbed Mary's hand and pulled her along. Her feet dragged across the floor, and I opened the door that led to the next trial, and we entered through it and closed it with a slam.

The speaker was still there, and it crackled once more, "Well, well, these specimens aren't the most observant, are they now?", and the speaker retracted back up into the ceiling.

What I didn't realize was, there were three doors.

Did I go through the right one?