Darkness Dissolves When the Door Opens

Roger

Himari finished her work in the dungeon. All mouths had been fed and the guard locked the door after she stepped out.

“Didn’t visit last night Himari,” John applied.

“You knew. How? You were always asleep.”

“God it’s been like what? A month, since I knew? She always came every night. I enjoyed y’all stories though.”

“You sneaky little bastard.”

“Impossible to be unheard, Jules. It’s pretty entertaining.”

“Well, maybe next time, you can give us a notice that you’re listening. You can maybe share your stories too.”

“I’ll be the third wheel.”

“No, you’ll be the supplier of more stories.”

“True, but that is if there is a next time.”

“Well so.”

But there was no more next time. Himari was always locked at night, and Jules would always wait for her. He wouldn’t sleep until she showed up. He fought the sleepiness until the drowse took him away anyway.

The morning came.

Himari just recollected the plates and set the lunches for the prisoners. She went out, but not two minutes later, the door burst open again and the man who stepped inside was Yamako himself.

Yamako’s boots stomped the stone floor angrily, but his face wasn’t very… aggressive, to say the least.

He stopped in front of Glenn’s cell.

“You’re good at fixing, no?”

“Sorry?”

“Can you fix a radio for me?”

Glenn shot a look. A powerful, meaningful look. 

“Sure I can,” he answered slowly.

“I need you to fix one for me.”

“A radio?”

“No, a tank. Yes genius, a radio.”

“And why should I do that?”

Jai slapped his face.

“Because you are my prisoner.”

“You killed Ezra. I won’t help you. You can excruciate me all you want.”

“I can excruciate your friends and make them die slowly, painfully. Would you risk your friends for your thick ego?”

“Honestly, we’re all gonna go mad in here. Why not?”

“I’ll give you a 1935, unused Dutch radio in return. How about that?”

Everyone rose to their feet. A radio would be nice. Himari was nowhere to comfort him, maybe a radio could cheer Jules up a bit.

“Fiiinneeeeee. I’ll fuckin’ do it.”

“Superb.”

The Japanese guard unlocked Glenn’s cell and horded him outside.

“They’re not giving us a radio,” Jai said.

“For Christ sake, can you not be pessimistic for one goddamn second, Jai?” Blake complained.

“I’m simply being realistic.”

But the corporal marked his words and gave Glenn a not working Dutch radio with a bullet hole in the center. They did give him some unused spare parts and tools.

Glenn worked for the radio for so long that days and nights passed. 

“Come now Glenn, it’s not about to work,” Jai commented harshly. “If it does work, you’re not going to be able to hear anything other than some Japanese mumblings.”

“Maybe some Japanese music then,” Glenn said. “It’ll be quite entertaining still.”

And it did work in the end. Glenn spent about two weeks on repairing the radio, while Jules just prayed every night for God to make Himari returned.

One week after Glenn fixed the radio, Roger was standing like a depressed zombie at the edge of his cell. Roger opened his eyes, staring intensely at the iron bars concealing him from the outside world.

“Roger, what the hell are you doing?” Hal asked.

The sound of metal clanging could be heard until John’s cell.

“What the hell is he doing?” John asked. 

“He’s bumping his head to the bars. Roger, freaking stop it! You’ll injure yourself.”

Roger kept doing it. He couldn’t feel pain anymore.

“Roger, fucking stop it!”

“I can’t stand this anymore!” Roger’s voice changed. He was like a whiny, sobbing boy being decapitated.

The bangs bantered. It was so loud that perhaps the guards outside could hear. 

“You’re bleeding!”

“Roger!”

The last stroke was the loudest as it produced a different sound. It was like the squirting of the brain.

Then, a sound of a body dropping to the floor.

And the dungeon grew quite. Quitter than a haunted cemetery. 

“Rog…”

And when Himari came to feed the prisoners, she dropped her tray, screamed, and called for the guard.

Roger’s body was carried outside.