Diosi’s legs swung back and forth in a repetitive motion. He stared into the restricted space that confined his presence. On the ledge made from pieces of metal bent out of shape by those formerly stuck behind the confining bars, he swung his legs forward and back.

This is boring.

“Hey!”

Diosi yelled out to the door in hopes of a response, but his echoes were the only thing that parried back.

“I know you’re there! I can feel your presence!”

Once again, silence was the only thing coming from beyond. Diosi silently jumped off the metal ledge and walked over to the thick, metal door. With only a little bit of pull back, his fist slammed into the door leaving a large dent in the room.

“Answer me dammit!”

Still, no response. Another dent formed in the door.

“You better fucking answer or I’ll bust this door open!”

Following the silence, Diosi began to rapidly punch the door, creating dents on its surface.

“Tch.”

After a long while and plenty of new dents in the door, Diosi finally calmed down and jumped back up on his ledge. With him finally relaxing, a small hatch inside the door opened, revealing the eyes of the man standing beyond the door. Without saying a word, the man threw the food into the cell and quickly closed and locked the hatch back up. Diosi, quite happy about having his meal, snarled as he looked at the bowl of slop.

“You forgot my fucking drink you bastard!

The hatch opened.

“Now you’re listening to me?”

Diosi screamed at the man, but he just silently stared through the small gap.

“Hurry up!”

A hand and cup that just barely fit through the gap appears past the gap. As Diosi approaches to grab the cup of water, the hand holding onto it lets go, leaving it to spill onto the floor.

“You-!”

“Would you quiet down?”

From the cell next to Diosi’s, and coming through a small hole that was impossible to see through, was the voice of an older man who seemed to do nothing but sleep in his old age.

“This fucker won’t give me my drink!”

“I don’t care. I wish to sleep.”

“Fuck!”

He very quickly threw a punch at the door before throwing himself back on the bar. His silence soon turned to boredom.

“Old man.”

“My name isn’t ‘Old Man’”

“Don’t care. Anyways, what are you down here for?”

The voice beyond the wall seemed to sit in silence as if ignoring the question, leading Diosi to ready a punch into the wall, but it only took a few more moments for a voice to finally respond.

"Now’s not the time to be asking such questions.”

“What do you-?”

“Let’s get you that cup of water, shall we?”

The old voice began to knock on the door to his cell, grabbing the attention of the man standing guard.

“Get the boy his water.”

In only a couple of seconds, the gap in the door opened up once again, and a cup of water was calmly placed inside the cell. The hand moved out as effortlessly as it moved in, and the one behind it once again stood back in his place.

“How did you get him to do it?”

Despite not being able to see his face, Diosi could clearly tell the old voice was smiling.

“I have quite a few people who owe me great debts. They’ll do even petty labor if I need them to.”

“Damn, I almost feel jealous.”

The old voice laughed from behind the wall. He seemed to finally be awake after so long. After his long string of laughter, the old voice released his breath, followed by a yawn.

“That’s hardly something to be jealous of.”

His words escaped through the yawn which penetrated through the walls. His yawns lasted a long time before ceasing.

“Hey kid, I’ll be heading to sleep. If you hear the guard knocking on either of our doors, wake me up immediately, got it?”

“Uh, sure.”

Despite his skeptical and curious nature, Diosi did not ask any further questions, having the strange feeling that none of them would be answered if he did.

…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of the door’s constant banging awoke the half-asleep Diosi. Pulling himself up next to the hole, he attempted to wake the old voice from his slumber.

“Old man, get up.”

The old voice did not respond beyond the wall.

“Wake up!”

“Would you shut up? I heard you the first time, you loud bastard.”

He sat in silence for a moment before knocking on his own door, drawing the attention of the guard once again. A silent whisper was shared between the two before a loud creak came from the cell door.

“Unlock the boy too. Once you do, give us ten minutes before announcing the prison break. Only then will your debt be paid.”

The guard stood still for only a moment before turning his way to Diosi’s cell. Key in hand, the guard inserted the key inside the hole and turned, leading to a loud click reverberating through the hall.

“Through the dark and near endless hall was nothing but brick-lined walls. There were no paintings, no decor, no accents. It was a bland and dreadful sight. The old voice, who had a nicely trimmed mustache and beard despite his long stay, began to bear a dreadful smile.

“Seems you owe me a debt now, boy.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The old voice chuckled to himself and began to walk forward into the darkness.

“You’ve been down here for so long; why did you decide to leave now?”

The old voice opened and closed his mouth multiple times before stopping his walking and turning to Diosi. His eyes seemed to show a mixture of fear and desire, and his posture seemed to hint at his odd mixture of thoughts.

“How well do you know?”

Diosi’s head tilted to his left as he looked confusingly at the old voice.

“How well do I know wh-”

“Never mind, I’ll explain it to you later. It will take too long to do it now. Let’s go.”

As they continued down the hall, the old voice seemed to try and muster up a few words from his throat, and finally, some did.

“Whether it looks human or not if you ever see anything that is physically painful to look at, run. Run and don’t look back. Abandon everything, even your own name if you have to.”

 

 

Author's Note:

I failed my week streak.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please share with others if you feel this series is deserving.