Maynia Day #1
Maynia Day #2
Maynia Day #3
Maynia Day #4
Maynia Day #5
Maynia Day #6
Maynia Day #7
Maynia Day #8
Maynia Day #9
Maynia Day #10
Maynia Day #11
Maynia Day #12
Maynia Day #13
Maynia Day #14
Maynia Day #15
Maynia Day #16
Maynia Day #17
Maynia Day #18
Maynia Day #19
Maynia Day #20
Maynia Day #21
Maynia Day #22
Maynia Day #23
Maynia Day #24
Maynia Day #25
Maynia Day #26
Maynia Day #27
Maynia -- Day Twenty-Eight -- 1,233 words
“Luke, I said don’t—” But he only briefly turned back towards as he tipped his helmet before he headed off anyway. The fucking bastard was like on some banana chaser or something—he’d completely lost his mind!
I cursed to myself as I saw the light from Luke’s headlights got smaller as he went through the underground tunnel before I stood back up and glanced straight through the tunnels where I was left alone in. Try to go straight ahead, he said.. I gritted my teeth and did just that.
It was when I felt like I was walking for hours and started second-guessing myself that I heard the insistent sound of what sounded like a.. beeper? An incoming text or call maybe..? I stopped walking and focused on the darkness that surrounded me despite the headlight I had on, then as if on loudspeaker, I heard the voice of my father as it boomed in the darkness, “Jackson! You can’t get on that plane! Your mother and I got in an accident! She’s bleeding all over the place!”
I tensed at that as a memory flashed before me—an image of my mother all bloodied as she was rushed to the hospital—No, that was no accident, I was sure that father had done it on purpose—pulled some strings and made it look like an accident where he got out mostly unscathed and my mother had taken most of the brunt of that so called ambush.
I shook myself from those memories as I focused my senses on my surroundings, I knew what the demon was trying to do—trying to feed off its victim’s bad memories or past traumas and twisting them into nightmares—that was how its victims died of shock, there was nothing like a bad dream coming back to seemingly haunt you in the flesh.
I gritted my teeth and inched my hand closer to the gun holstered to my side, it didn’t seem to matter now if what happened to my parents was really just an accident or not, because mom still adored my father till the end, even though he would now stay as a part of her past. At least, no one would be hurting her anymore when I decide to leave town…
I was thinking that when I heard a scuffling sound from behind me, causing me to turn and aim my gun at.. Z! I quickly put my gun back in its holster and crouched down beside his unmoving figure as he just continued to sit there surrounded by the dark, it was when my headlight focused on his face that I noticed the blood all over him as he held on to something that looked like a bloody dog tag.
“You.. you left me!” Z shouted accusingly at me, I felt myself freeze on the spot as my past guilts started to come after me—I always somehow did feel responsible for having left Z just before we were about to depart for the training camp, maybe if he wasn’t alone out there in the battlefield, I could have prevented those scars on him and the demons that plagued him after, that was Luke’s job but maybe—if only I could have—
“You made her die!” I was caught off guard when he pounced on me then and wrapped his hands around my neck, feeling the air starting to get choked out of me as I tried to pry off Z’s hands while I looked up at his furious expression, “She died because I wasn’t there for her—because of this!!” He removed a hand from around my neck as he pointed to his bloody right ear, I knew he wasn’t referring to it being slightly torn, and that he was referring to the damage it had caused to his sense of hearing.
I was gasping for breath now as I slowly inched a hand closer to the gun on me—I’m really sorry for all my short comings, Z—and with a slightly shaky hand I aimed the gun right between his eyes before I shut my eyes tight and fired.
“Jack!!!” I dazedly opened my eyes then as I heard someone call out my name.. Luke? It was only when my eyes adjusted to the light that shone on my face that I saw Z crouched down beside me. I scrambled to sit up then as I reached for my gun—“Woah woah woah there, Jack! Is Luke with you??”
I stopped and took a good look at Z then, seeing him with his hands up as he looked back at me with concern written all over his face. I felt myself relax as I let out a breath of relief, holstering my gun back instead as I asked Z, “Hey man… I’m—really sorry ‘bout what happened to your mom.. you know, after you got back—”
“Hey—” Z stopped me there as he laid a hand on my shoulder, “I never blamed you on anythin’ man. You know how my mom already had problems with.. using it—specially after my dad left and never came back, right?” I stared back at him then, confirming the fact that this was the real Zephyr Clancy that looked back at me with guiltless eyes. Maybe I could let go of all the guilt too..
I thought that before I started to tell Z about what happened to Luke, “He—dropped into some sort of hole in the ground or something. He told me to go straight in case it somehow connected to up here, but I just—”
“A hole in the ground? Does it have a tunnel in it?” I was surprised at how Z even knew that as he grinned back at me and continued saying, “I found that spot when we were in high school man! Didn’t really get round to telling you ‘cuz Diana started snoopin’ around the place—but now that I think about it..”
Shit. We both stood up as if a sudden thought came to us and I looked seriously back at Z, “Lead the way.”
“What the fuck do you think Luke is doin’ right there??” I couldn’t really give Z a reply as I focused on the swirling space that could possibly be the rift before I glanced over to where Shiela was tied down to, I felt my blood boil as I saw the dried blood that was evident on her face and hands.
“Diana, calm down. It shouldn’t be like this..” Did Luke really think that crazy bitch still had it in her to calm the fuck down?? Z and I stayed crouched from our position as we watched Luke try to get a hold of the situation, a slight movement from the corner of my eye made me focus back on Shiela and I watched as she inconspicuously glanced at Diana and Luke through her hair, that slightly covered her face, before she slowly started to lift her foot towards her hands tied to her back. That’s my girl.
I watched as she slowly took something out from the heel of her shoe before she put her foot back down ever so slightly. Seeing she was trying to get free, a plan then started to form in my head..
“Z, I need you to listen up.”
to be continued...
Image from Pixabay, by Phan Minh Cuong An: https://pixabay.com/users/minanfotos-9565064/ (edited with dreamscopeapp)