Darkness Dissolves When the Door Opens

The Radio

It was a month after Roger's death. The radio didn't entertain them. Only so little of the content was music, the others were either Japanese propagandas or battle announcements that no one could make out.

When finally the singing happened, the radio buzzed like crazy and immediately switched to a man talking with a native language. The man talked with spirit and energy. Jai said the man spoke Javanese, but he couldn't translate. After shouting a three-syllabled word, the speech ended with a loud thud sound.

"Wonder what that was all about," Blake said.

As if Blake was granted a wish, the voice returned and this time, it was in English.

"As for my fellow American, Dutch, British, and Australian combatants who are still stuck in Japanese military camps and shelters, we do not forget about you. Any of you who in a miracle can listen to me, who right now is hiding from the Japanese, we will come for you. We will not forget you, and we will help you. Though that day is not near and you all must be patient, it will come. You will not lose hope. We will come. We will bring you home. You will return to your families and homes safely. No matter where you are at. No matter that you're in the most isolated shelter or the most guarded prison. We will come"

The radio went static and the original Japanese broadcast returned.

Apparently, the Javanese was intended for the locals and the English was for the overseas soldiers being trapped in the island. Jules thought about it and for the first time he didn't feel as miserable as he did before. There were a lot of soldiers who suffered the same fate as them.

Not one second later, Yamako rushed into the dungeon. His face was sealed with anger and hate, but behind that, fear. Fear of the new spark of hope. And why did he come to the dungeon?

To destroy that hope.

Yamako and two armed guards stood right before Glenn's barred cell. He took a second to let Glenn processed the fear of what to come. But five seconds later, Yamako himself jerked the cell door open.

The two riflemen steadied their guns. They aimed for Glenn, and...

"Fire."

The gunshots were too loud to be heard. Nauseating bangs came overfilling the dungeon. Dread returned with its face in the front door. Everyone screamed at the same time.

Glenn's face was blank, confused. He witnessed the two rifles pointed at his face, and the last thing he saw was two bullets exiting the weapons' chambers, heading for his head.

Glenn fell to the ground. His life ended just like that, shot in the head after listening to an unwanted broadcast that they didn't even want to hear.

"Nooo!" Hal screamed across Glenn's cell and banged the bars hard.

"Fuck you!" Asher tried his best to body dodge the cell bar, and all he did was to bleed out.

"You'll rot in hell!" John shouted angrily. His face reddened and his tension rose.

Blake and Jai strengthened their grips on the iron bars of their cells. They were about to explode, about the bend those metals and walk out to choke Yamako to death.

Glenn's blank eyes stared directly upward. His pupils didn't react to the flaring light of the lantern. His skin turned white, cold. Bullets holed his left cheek and forehead, leaving two marks to his death. Glenn Sephard had died inside the dungeon.

But how did Jules react? Nothing. Jules just slumped down to the floor. His head throbbed real bad, banging the end of his skull.

Yamako brushed the stain of blood from his trench coat. The man stepped over Glenn's body and found the radio lying in the corner of his cell.

"You all will live and die in here. Everything you will see is in this room. These concrete, these floors, this lantern, these iron bars, and our faces are everything you will see forever. You will never escape. You will never live your life anymore, because all of you are my property."

Yamako picked the radio beside Glenn's body and slammed it on the wall. Its mechanical pieces shattered and clanged to the floor.

They all strode out of the dungeon. Glenn's body stayed.

Glenn, now limb and blank, transformed the hallways of the dungeon into something more dreadful. The red swam through the lines between stones on the floor. His eyes, reached through the emptiness of the world.

Jules was close to Glenn. Another part of him died when those gunshots echoed in his ears. Another identity was destroyed from Jules' own body.

The hatred for Yamako intensified. Jules already hated the man enough, but now, his only wish for continuing life was to end Yamako's in the most painful and disgusting way possible.

Glenn's death meant a lot for him. Jules didn't think he can suffer more losses. Not anymore.

"You have seen this, Jules," said the doll.

"Yes."

"How many times?"

"Too many."