Paper Hearts

Chapter 9: Life after Joy

All I could hear was deafening silence all around me.

The sound of water splashing as we walked through a dark passageway was creepy, in a sense. The darkness seemed to be threatening to devour us, to take us in, I started to hear voices saying "Join me, join me in the dark, don't stay in the light anymore." I shrugged away all the voices that were attempting to persuade me, and I continued to press forward.

"Hey, are you alright?" Mary squeezed my hand lightly. I looked at her, "Of course, my dear. After what that horrendous sicko has done not only to us but to many more, we need to put a stop to this. We cannot allow this tyranny to carry on." She nodded her head.

Finally, our footsteps led us to a huge and vast dungeon. The lights suddenly turned on, blazing through the darkness and leaving us to block the blinding light from our eyes. I took a sneak peek at what was up ahead, and when I thought this situation couldn't get any worse, it did.

Numerous cages with humans caged inside filled the entire dungeon. They all seemed to have lost their minds, muttering something incomprehensible under their breaths, and some seemed to be slamming their heads against the cages in hopes that they would break, and they would be free. I wanted to take a step forward, but Mary's legs seemed to be rooted to the ground.

"I...can't, they are too horrifying for me. I'm scared." Her trembling voice just barely managed to squeak out what she wanted to say. "Don't worry, darling. We can do our best to get through this, and we have to take it one step at a time." I said to her, and she hesitantly nodded her head.

So, we paced our breathing as we walked through this dungeon. As we walked, I couldn't help but look around. All the humans who have lost their sanity for being caged up in here for ages, and deprived for food, water, and comfort. I could not even begin to imagine such an atrocity of a monster Dr. Newton is. Once we have reached what I thought was the center of the dungeon, the familiar whirring came to our ears.

We looked up and saw the familiar speaking coming out of its hiding spot. "HEELLOOO, my fellow test hamsters! How are you doing after that scrumptious feast filled with various galore that even you couldn't even fathom? I enjoyed all the food that I provided the two of you *a chuckling sound comes out of the speaker*. Now, I am going to spice things up here a bit. Let me explain what I am about to perform. I will firstly give you two swords, and I would release all of the humans caged in here, depending on my preference, and you would need to fight them off.

If you do not want to fight your kind, remember, these are the ones who have not eaten or drink for ages. Even you and your little spouse Mary should be able to understand how it feels to be deprived of something you so badly desire,

You lose control.

Now, what are we waiting for? Let the games begin!"

The speaker retracted to its hiding spot, and a clanging sound caught our attention. It was two swords made of adequate quality I suppose. I picked up the swords and passed one to Mary. She looked at me with a pleading look, and I nodded at her. Then the sound of cages unlocking came to our ears, and we held our swords tight at the hilt, waiting for the humans to come at us.

They came at a faster speed than what we anticipated and rammed straight into us. One of them pushed me to the ground, and I started to grapple with him. "My friend, stop!" I shouted at him, but he still kept trying to pin me to the ground.

I kicked him in his shins, and he recoiled in pain. I then picked up my sword and swung it at the man, the sight of him being cut into half-turned my stomach upside down, but I couldn't vomit now. I sensed someone behind me, and so I swung my sword at the person behind me, and yet another person was cut down. This continued on for ages, and with each person that we killed, we could feel their blood on our hands.

We dropped our bloodied swords, and clapping came out of the speaker. "Wonderful, splendid, mindblowing! Who knew you could do so well to kill your own kind? I would like to introduce you to yet another trial, but it seems that it is not the time yet. So now, keep on walking, and you just might get out of here alive."

The speaker retracted to its hiding spot yet again, and with our clothes covered in blood, we continued to press forward to what seemed like freedom.

However, the reality was never that forgiving.