Termino.
Erebus
--
The ringing from the shot still echoed in his ears. The man in front of him collapsed like a rag doll, the bullet going right through his chest. Seconds later, Hiro felt a sharp pain in his chest in the exact same location. Horrified, he clasped his chest, only to find his hands coming back bloody.
He felt faint, his consciousness ebbing in an out, his thoughts getting murkier by the second. He fell to his knees, a morbid, slow-motion replica of the man he had just shot.
What have I done?
Hiro opened his eyes. His head throbbed with the pain of a week’s worth of hangovers.
He struggled to get up. Every part of him ached.
In front of him was a long corridor with a door at the end. Where am I? What is this place? That’s when the voices started. He heard shrills screams of abject terror from a familiar female voice. “HIRO!” she said. “Save me!” The screams now turned into crying that seemed to echo in his head. It was his wife’s voice, he realized, and a claw seemed to grip over his heart.
In desperation, he clawed at the walls, trying to find where the voices were coming from. It felt like the voices were coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He felt useless, like a pawn in the grand scheme of things. His wife was somewhere right here and he couldn’t do anything to help her or to relieve her of her misery.
He hit the wall until his fists bled, taking all his frustration out to no avail.
He made his way across the corridor, each step painful. His gait quickened to a run, his legs seemingly moving on their own. The door was getting closer and closer, but the voices were getting fainter and fainter. He was terrified that he was going to lose her forever, and he didn’t want to do that again.
He pushed the door open, his heart racing.
The voices were loud again, but the screams were more desperate. He was back in an identical corridor with the same door at the end. He couldn’t control his pace anymore, but he didn’t want to. His feet were burning, he was severely out of breath and he felt like was walking barefoot on rock. But he soldiered on. For her.
He opened the door, only to find another corridor with another door at the end of it. His body was screaming for him to stop, but he couldn’t. He was bleeding and every breath was painful and shallow. His lungs were screaming; it felt as if he was drowning, drowning in desperation.
He had been through countless doors now, and the voices had not vanished. He was crawling through the corridor, his body damaged beyond repair, disfigured beyond recognition. He collapsed, simply unable to take the physical toll anymore. His mind was screaming in symphony with the voice of his wife, but he could do nothing.
Helpless, dejected and utterly exhausted, he shut his eyes, taking solace in the final embrace of darkness. The nothingness provided comfort. Anything to get him out of this nightmare.
Hiro opened his eyes. His head throbbed with the pain of a week’s worth of hangovers.
He struggled to get up. Every part of him ached.
In front of him was a long corridor with a door at the end.
This piece of work was concocted, experimented and realized by Akshaya Subramanian, Rohinee Phatak, Ashwin Shekhar, D Rohit, K Shreyas Mahesh, Naman Karn, isha jha, Yin Rav, G.s. AviNash, Akash Mani, Daniel Sujay R, Vedanjali Polaki, Antony Terence and Abhishek Ramachandran.
Stay tuned for more intriguing pieces of work from Team Content for Festember!
