Submitting

Walk

The world around dimmed down and then completely ceased to exist as I took a step deeper into the dark and unknown abyss of something very unfamiliar and dangerous. Somehow this territory felt more threatening than that of the one upstairs. A certain heavy air, a tension that set all the red flags off in my head. Probably because Dimitri was here.

I was met with a wall after the last step on the descending stairs, two hallways yet again. One to the left and the other to the right. An indecisive choice, one undetectably more safe than the other. The light from upstairs appeared to come at an end as well, the hallways looming in the darkness like I was stepping into hell itself. There was no way I could have made a safe decision without being a psychic which unfortunately and most definitely I wasn't. 

Time wasn't a friend either. 

With the cards all turned against me, I took the right one like I did the first time. If something bad was going to happen then it would happen irrespective of what I did and the past was proof enough. Either I would have found Dimitri or he would have found me. The first obviously more in  my favour than the latter. 

Blind again, I grazed my hands on the walls of the narrow hallway and stepped very carefully on the uneven, jagged, and rubbled floor. With two dusted feet and one sprained one I trudged forwards until the texture underneath my hand changed into something smoother and cooler like that of wood. A door. 

I turned to face it in the darkness, nothing visible, not even the slightest streak of light escaping the slit in-between the door and the floor like I expected and hoped for. It was a good sign though which meant that the room was empty and free of any occupants, but my cautious self still not callous enough to take it as an invitation to enter the room. 

There was no noise in the hallways, just my breathing and my storming head causing all the havoc inside my head which made demons that didn't exist, exist a little too lively in this reality. Thoughts raced, mind boggled and imagination raced wild. This was not the time to have a panic attack which was surely progressing and growing by the second. 

I closed my eyes and placed my head against the door, hand on the door knob, still not letting myself breathe because I knew if the dam is once let open then the fierce currents would surely cast me away from control. 

The need for a distraction was immense which I found a little too suddenly. My heart threatened to leap out of my chest as it thud against my rib cage a little too ferociously. The sound of glass shattering into pieces echoed through the dark narrow hallway accompanied by a distressed scream of agony. 

"Why? Why? Why?!" The voice all too familiar but the reason unknown.

 I breathed heavily and kept my eyes trained on the direction of the sound even though nothing was visible through this impenetrable darkness. Fear gripped me in its strong clutches as I found the urge to run in the opposite direction, undeniable. I wanted to run but at the same time I knew I had to walk towards the source as well. 

He probably wasn't alone in there. He was definitely not alone in there. If he really wasn't then the other occupant won't be unfamiliar either and that was reason enough for me to walk deeper into the darkness. Hopeful and cautious. 

The silence that followed after was quieter than before. My ears strained to pluck another hint of noise, but my ragged breaths of pain engulfed everything else as I walked as fast as I could before I lose the end of the rope to a trace of something I finally found in this hell. And I did find that trace a little too abruptly when the wall beneath my hand gave away and instead another one crashed on my face. 

Another wall and a constant mumble that came from the much wider hall on the right. The only other way this time with a dim shine of light grazing its walls from the doorway with no door at the far end of this long walk. I didn't second guess the possibilities this time as I ignored the pain in my ankle and moved forwards. Just one peek inside, just one answer I needed desperately. 

I stopped a few feet away from the door and decided to stealth the rest of the way closer by placing myself flat against the wall and inching towards the glow as inconspicuously possible, all the while internally scolding myself that I was making too much noise by rubbing my back against the wall, by the rustle of my clothes, by just breathing while praying all along to let Dimitri be too engrossed in his unintelligible murmur to notice the chaos I was making outside. 

"I'm sorry, I am so extremely sorry. Can you please forgive me?" I stopped in my tracks. Completely and utterly shocked by the way Dimitri spoke and the words he spoke. This whining and conscience-stricken side of his never existed. It was out of the bounds of my imagination and possibly the people who knew him at least as an acquaintance as well to imagine that this man would ever ask for someone's forgiveness, let alone in the fashion he was. 

The urge to peek inside the room was intense. I wanted to. So badly. But the lack of a door or any sort of shade to the doorway made it almost impossible to do so without getting caught. I had no idea where Dimitri was inside the room or what he was facing...who he was facing. Will I get caught? How do I look into the room when all I could see from this side was the wall inside the room, closest to the doorway. 

"Forgive me." A little more dour and determination this time as he sniffled his nose and cleared his throat, leaving a trail of echo, in what I realized was a completely empty room.

 He was crying.

"You know I love you." 

My head spun for a moment. A cold chill ran down my spine and made me shiver uncomfortably. I didn't like what I felt nor the words that came out of his mouth. They were not meant for me. Did he really mean them?

Curiosity burned hot and high as I couldn't resist myself any more as I turned around to face the wall and put both of my hands for support before I inched my head slowly into the light. Heart beating, breath frozen, eyes unblinking.

A lone bulb hanging from the ceiling, Dimitri kneeling on the floor with his head hung low, a chair in the middle of the room occupied by an unconscious and pale Liza.