In the darkness where neon lights are plastered on the wall. With no one in sight from left to right, I stood there idly, waiting for the heavy clunking of metal behind the elevator door to dissipate.
I had a small smile on my face when I grabbed my hair on both hands gently squeezing it. Especially the soft texture rubbing on my palms were soothing upon touch.
Pulling it to my nose, the scent of flowers passed through as it was the smell from the shampoo I used earlier mixed with the other from the rooftop.
"Maybe being a girl isn't that bad." I mumbled to myself.
Though I'm not completely human either, I ignored it as there won't be anyone out there to judge me. Until the view from the rooftop tells me otherwise, it feels lonely that there aren't any people around me.
With hair covering my face, satisfied with its therapeutic effect to my stressed mind. Placing my hair in front of me, my fingers picked up strands and start intertwining it with each other.
"Hm~ mm~ mMmm~ mMmMmHmm~" As my fingers wove my hair into a braid, I hummed a song that brought me nostalgia—
"La~ Laa~ Lalala~" Until my soft voice leak out in its place.
My pitch and rhythm were scuffed but I'd enjoy the feeling the song conveyed. With the clunking of metal as the drums, I immersed myself as I finished braiding my hair.
Dun...
"... Hm?" The sound of metal clunking suddenly stopped.
Letting back my hair down again, I waited until the doors start to open. As the trapped flickering light escapes through the crevice, my excitement was its peak. I wanted to know what's down there without going through the effort of straining my body.
"Ooh—"
But...
That brief moment of excitement was instantly replaced by terror as the deafening high pitched scream drowned the hallway.
"—aaaaUUUUUUUWWAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"
The elevator unveiled an unmoving body along with the putrid smell devastate my nose. My face turned white to the bloody mess of what's inside...
Stains that was plastered all around, their lower half devoured while the rest was left to rot, and their internal organs that shouldn't be exposed had its stench trapped inside began to spread.
"Hrmph—" I turned around and covered my mouth as bile burn its way to my throat.
"—————"
Crouching down as saliva dripped down from my mouth, the world around me starts to spin. The sight of gore was too much to handle... Until an unfamiliar hand grabbed my left ankle dragged me back to the harsh reality. With its tight grip, I reluctantly looked behind-
"S-save... M-me..." His hoarse voice called help.
I was terrified, What is happening? Why is he moving? What's waiting for me down below for him look like that?... Many questions kept piling one after another.
" N-no!" I tried kicking him away from me.
Despite my feeble attempts, he pulled my leg and felt my entire weight got smacked to the ground. The moment my body hits the floor, the elevator suddenly sank along with the ear peircing screech of metal.
"—AAAHHHH!!!"
I can feel my ears bleeding from that unbearably loud noise. I tried covering my ears but his grip to my arms was frighteningly tight just as he had an unbelievable amount of strength.
"S-stay away! Go a-away! P-please! Don't come near me!"
Making efforts to free myself from his grasps. He slammed his remaining body on top of me.
"Save... Me... I... Beg... You... "
I start hyperventilating which didn't help as the smell of death worsened my vision. I flailed my limbs in desperation while his ghastly mouth came near my face.
"——It... ——— Hurts... ——"
As the ground shook from every move I made, a sudden snap came from above, my body felt weightless from the sudden drop. Losing his grip, I took this opportunity with a last ditch effort to escape caused me to trip and fall barely landing outside the entrance.
With the unbearable shrill cry of rust fades into the distance, a weird sensation was still lingering to my left thigh.
"Hiiiiiii—"
Blood trickled down to my feet as the dismembered arm clawed its fingers under my skin. I slowly peeled it off me causing a pain while I threw it into the pit of trauma laid in front of me.
"H-haah... H-hh-ahhh... H-hah..."
With a thud shortly after, I held onto my lowered head tightly. As rugged breaths I no longer had control, everything I know about this place was falling apart.
My leg kept bleeding but all I did was silently cry into a corner.
[I wanna go home...]
But there was no home return to...
- - - - -
Three days had passed since that happened.
Inside a room with the bare minimum of furnitures, there was a lump on the bed covered in blankets. With pillows deprived from their stuffing, I curled myself hiding my body under those said blankets.
Despite sleeping on the bed far more comfortable than a box, I barely slept as that nightmare kept haunting me in my dreams.
Placing my hands on my thigh, the image of his fingers deep into my flesh flashed through my mind. I could only shudder as I feel the rough scabs that formed around smooth bare skin.
"Haah..." I sighed with my face buried to my knees.
I eventually got out of my bed after saying some motivating words to myself.
Walking to the corridor, avoiding the elevator, the stinging pain from my leg kept emerging. Taking it slow as there was no need to be in a hurry, I decided to go to the rooftop.
With an open doorway at the rooftop, I snack on some leaves to sate my hunger. With occasional glances down below, I wouldn't lie about thoughts of jumping off the ledge didn't come across my mind.
As the gentle breeze pulled my hair back, the sweet taste of the usual leaves seemed bitter.
- - - - -
Days passed which then turn to weeks. No progress had been made, the time I had were wasted like crumpled pieces of papers.
Inside the tub I was bored enough to clean, I sat at the edge while running water gradually filled the tub. As I'm waiting for it to fill, I rubbed the bar of soap to my body.
The wound on my leg was gone as if it weren't there in the first place. I had expected some degree of scarring but it seems that wasn't the case.
After I finished bathing, the water splashed as I got out of it. I then dried myself with a towel, but instead of using it as a makeshift skirt like I did previously, I used the blanket from the bedroom to cover myself.
I haven't found any clothes laying around so I had to improvise. Using the blanket like a cloak that was enough to cover my upper body down to my knees, I hanged to wet towels on the sink for them to dry.
One time I tried drying them on the rooftop... But by the I came back to it most of them went messing.
[I thought I had tied them tight enough...] I sulk as I remember the time I was too late too catch the flying towel.
Well, aside from the towels, the blanket were also a good alternative as clothing. It was enough to cover my private areas and it kept me warm as well. However the only problem left was-
[I don't have any underwear.]
Underneath the dirty white cloth draped around me was my defenseless naked body waiting for the wind to set the draped clothing to flutter for everyone to see. But not like I'd let it though, as I held tightly at the bottom hem.
Making my way to staircase with the usual breezy sensation between my legs was something I'm already used to.
Passing by the doorway, I immediately looked around for something to eat. Turning towards the tree that's been plucked from time to time, I head there to grab myself a snack.
With it's branches more visible than to what it was before, I tried reaching for the nearest one I could take.
"Nngh—"
After a few attempts I managed to snap one of its branches and retrieve its leafy stem. As I looked around a bit more, most of the plants on the rooftop had been weeded off. The grass that didn't taste good, I threw them. The ones that did were devoured, by me of course.
"Mm...."
Nibbling on the leaves on the branch I just took, I realized that it won't be soon for there will be nothing here for me to eat. Looking back to the tree, I don't wanna risk myself going further as those branches might snap making me fall into a painful death.
With nothing much to do, I laid down on my back against the concrete floor. Staring at the cloudy skies, I gradually closed my eyes as I doze off.
...
As the white fluffy clouds left a shade onto me, I felt something slimy crawling between my legs. I woke disgruntled as something disturbed my nap time. Sitting straight with sleepy eyes, I looked around my body if there's something weird on me, but so far there wasn't any.
Peeking under my cloth, I flinched as I saw something I didn't expect.
"... A snail?"
The snail looked different from what I remembered as this one had a transparent flat cone shell and had tiny patches of grass growing on its body.
I picked it off me and it immediately hid itself under its shell. With its slimy residue dripped on my legs, it felt somewhat cool despite its sticky texture.
It's size was as large as my fist but it was comparatively lighter than what it looked like. Though I could see inside of it, there were also red lines wrapping around its body.
Thinking it might be another food source, I took hold of it to find more of them. In which I did, they were found near the grass I plucked and snacked. Though I was confused where they came from, but what's strange is that some of them didn't move anymore and the lines wrapping their body were black instead of red.
The snail on my hand squirmed as it tried to break free from my grasp. Looking at it objectively, there were some people who ate snail raw... So maybe it's safe to eat?
"... Ugh..."
Taking a closer look, it looked kinda disgusting. But as if on cue my stomach growl from the lack of nutrition the leaves from earlier provided.
"Well... F-food... is food..."
Closing my eyes, I took a quick bite which led to it causing a mess the moment I opened it again. With a texture like mochi but taste hella salty, I see the snail on my hand made a fountain of red sticky goo all over my arms and staining the blanket covering me in red.
"Uweegh—"
Spitting out as it was too much for my tongue, I threw the decapitated snail from my hand. With drool leaking out from my mouth I went to the bathroom to wash out this lingering taste.
As I made my way down, my body felt uncomfortable with all the sticky substance all over my body. With each step, everything went blurry and I start having difficulties in breathing.
Noticing my life is in danger, I decided make a run for it while ignoring my exhausted body.
"... Hahh... Haahh...Oh god... I shouldn't have done that..."
With my body start to feel like I'm burning. I immediately quickened my pace.
"Khaah... Ghaah—haa..."
Arriving at the bathroom shortly after with erratic breaths, I could barely navigate myself to the sink due to my blurry vision. And when I managed to do so, I desperately washed my mouth and vomited any remnants of that snail.
"————Hack! ————— Huegh——— "
Though I did feel a bit better shortly after, it didn't save me from that bloody diarrhea minutes after. I had I heart attack thinking I might die from blood loss but somehow I'm still conscious, albeit barely.
"... shit... ——ugh... " While holding my stomach, I'm sitting down on the toilet with a pale expression on my face.
- - - - -
After that incident the other day, food supplies are running short. I tried coming up ways such as using curtain rods to extend my reach, but that only delayed a day or two from the inevitable. Even rationing it to the best I can was only a temporary solution.
...
Walking around the corridor thinking various solutions, I passed by the stairways leading to the rooftop and so as it is going down.
I paused and stopped for a moment. Though I had the idea, my mind always avoided that topic.
By my feet were steps leading down into the unknown darkness. My body hesitates to even go one step below the floor I'm on. I didn't like the idea, though I would progress but the dangers lurking was unimaginable.
Having an internal conflict, debating to go or not to go. I always thought that I would delay it until I was desperate enough. But here I am, in a desperate the situation I'm familiar with, but don't want to be put into.
I gaze into the darkness once again...
Gulp*
Having no other choice, I silently swallowed my fears.
While holding a curtain rod as a weapon, I took a step down despite my trembling body.
I took another step again...
Then again...
And again...
Slowly but surely until I was engulfed in it. With my footstep were the only indication of my progress, I kept on going... Until I came to a temporary stop.
It was not because of something dangerous or something scary but it was something bright. The ray of light came from around the corner, without letting my guard down, I went towards it.
Taking a peek, I finally knew where the light came from. It was nothing grandiose but something simple instead. The lights passed through the cracked windows showing the outside.
"Haa..." I sigh in relief as for now there wasn't any immediate dangers.
Looking around on what looked like an open office. The office chairs were scattered and the desks misaligned, though some of them were toppled down.
Passing by a carpet of document papers, I went over to the dusty computers. Despite it being dusty, they looked pretty advanced compared to what I'm familiar with. If from the time I came from were flat screen TVs then this would be super flat screen TVs. The monitors were almost paper thin, even after messing with it looked flexible.
"... Maybe I can play some games here."
Excited to know more about the future of entertainment, I wanted to turn it on. Looking around in search for a CPU, no matter how much I tried, there wasn't anything of sorts near the monitor. Though there was still a keyboard but thinner, I couldn't even find any wirings on both.
"Mmrgh... "
Giving up my search a bit frustrated, I went ahead and moved on as there's no point in crying over spilled milk.
While I was wandering around the room, I noticed a flickering red dot on the table. Out of curiosity, I grabbed the light emitting object.
"What's this?"
Viewing it from different angles, it looked more of a rectangular pen that was as thick as my fingers. Covering the light with my thumb as it was a random thought of 'Would the light be bright enough to lit up my thumb?'. A soft click came from accidentally touching it.
As pen suddenly split vertically into two, a thin plastic film connecting both side appeared. I tried picking it up, and when I did the film lengthened. With a general idea of what to expect, I pulled both sides until I couldn't anymore. The plastic were wobbly at first but when fully extended, it hardened.
After messing with it, trying to figure how to turn it on, the device eventually did it on its own. With the screen looked like a hologram from sci-fi movies, the screen displayed:
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
Choose Language:
ԵɧԾՐȝՌ
ᏁᏒᏋᏖᏕᏋᏬ
ﾑ乙ひ爪ﾑ
కꪮꪊᦔꫀ᭢
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
"I guess it wants me to know what writing I prefer... Well 'ﾑ乙ひ爪ﾑ' it is!"
With the touch on the screen, it turned black and showed a loading sign. As I waited, a pop up message appeared soon after.
'Warning: Low Battery! — Please charge the device'
Then the screen shuts down before making a pattern on the surface. The pattern showed an even spacing of dark blue rectangles with corners cut off, and overlapping them were dull thin white lines.
"Umm... How do I charge?"
There weren't any hole I could plug something in to. But I might have gotten a hint with a yellow sun symbol glowing from the corner.
"I guess I'll bring it with me... Maybe there's some good music inside too."
Pressing the two sides to each other in an attempt to compress it, the plastic film bent and automatically rolled back inside like a tape measure, which was really a neat feature for a futuristic phone.
...
Wandering opposite of the office, I stumbled across what looked like a clinic. Inside were human sized capsules with weird machinery above it.
"Just how advanced is this place?"
Stepping inside the musty room, I went towards the capsule and inspect it.
Putting my hand inside, I rubbed my palm on to the foam which is soft and squishy. It would be comfortable to sleep in if it weren't so cold and damp. Though the pillow is a different topic, compared to what I have upstairs, this is far better if dried properly.
"Yoisho! "
With that, I have a phone on one hand and hugging a large pillow to my front. For convenience, I placed the phone inside the pillow. As I am right now, I look like a kid ready for at a sleepover. If it weren't for the blood stains on the blanket I'm wearing, I would have looked cute rather than creepy.
"Heheh~"
Satisfied with my loot from the capsule, I went somewhere else inside the room with a grin on my face.
Checking the equipment, I didn't dare to touch it as it might accidentally break without me knowing it. I thought it would be really useful if I properly learned how to use these in case of emergencies, but as of now these are practically useless.
Avoiding the thick wires on the floor, I head towards a large medicine cabinet.
"Hm..."
Opening it to check out its contents, to my surprise it looked more basic than I thought it would. Aside from the set of syringes which I couldn't read the label, the others are pretty standard such as: Cotton, Bandages, Band-Aids, A small pair of scissors, Antibiotics, Latex Gloves and many others as I failed to recognize but familiar with most of them.
Taking a look at the other side were pills and other medications stored in there. I grabbed a small one with a person having some Zs since I wanted to try it out as I knew intuitively it was sleeping pills, unless I was wrong and this is some sort of coma inducing pills or something much more dangerous.
"I mean... it's inside a medicine cabinet so it's safe, right?"
I was already sleep deprived before I even went down here, so having these pills might be useful to catch some good night sleep.
Stuffing the pills inside the pillow that turned into a bag at this point, I left the clinic satisfied with my haul.
As I was going back to the staircase—
Growl~
—My stomach as usual reminded me how I kept torturing it.
I basically explored this whole floor, with it having an office, clinic, and restrooms. There were also locked doors but there's nothing much I can do about them. Since there's no food here, then I'll just have to go lower.
"...I don't really want to do this... "
Arriving at the staircase a bit exhausted as I've been running around this whole time. I took a quick break before going further down.
"... wait..."
Going down the stairs hugging a pillow, I stopped as if I'm forgetting something.
Checking what's inside the pillow, I have the pills and a phone. Scratching my head thinking what else I'm missing, I recollect what I had done this few hours.
"... I went down holding... Ah-"
My body flinched the moment I realized I dropped my weapon, the curtain rod, somewhere above the floor. With my stomach grumbling, I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to climb up those stair with the amount of effort to climb one in the first place.
If I went up and gone down I would be too exhausted to even explore and I wouldn't have a choice but to take a long break. And by the time I recovered, the sun would be already down, leaving this entire floor pitch black.
"I-I'll just find something better in this floor..."
On the off chance I encountered something dangerous, I would just run and find a nearby room to barricade myself in.
...
At the 8th floor with the number '8' painted light blue on wall, although it was deteriorated I could still tell based from its shape. I tried to recall if there are numbers like this on the upper floors.
"The paint must've worn off..." Talking to myself as that was the only conclusion I could think of.
Scanning my surroundings, there was a dim light to the right so I went there first.
Upon arriving at the doorway, I was ecstatic about what I saw in front of me.
There were tables and chair but different to those office. With the clue of having spoon and forks on the ground, I could say with certainty that this is a Cafeteria.
I trot over to the counter ahead and went under the trap door thingy on the wall.
Heading inside that appeared like a kitchen area, I frantically looked inside in search for a fridge. Though in my search I stumbled across cans laying on the floor, I immediately stopped as I already found something I could eat.
Picking up a dozen of canned food and placing them on the table. I looked at it with sparkling eyes while drool leaked from my mouth. Some may think I'm overreacting but I'd like to yell at them and ask them to try and starve themselves to the point of eating tree leaves everyday.
With the food laid out in front of me, I look for something to cook it with.
"W-where's the rice cooker?"
Trying to find the versitile tool for cooking, I turned my head left to right in this dimly lit kitchen where the light source comes from the entrance. I couldn't see anything that's the shape of said rice cooker. Though I saw stoves and ovens there were also the sink and a pile of unwashed dished above the broken plates on the floor.
"... Fire... Coal..."
With a memory of having my last meal cooked on the stove tastes like burnt coal. I was reluctant on using it as I might burn down this building like my friend almost burned ours.
"Now that I think of it... How is he doing right now?"
Remembering my childhood friend that I forgot his name, and with all the advanced technology around me, I just hope I didn't outlive him since I still want to meet him again.
Holding a can of Cornbeef on my hand, I weakly pulled the pin to open it.
Snap*
"..."
Staring at it blankly on why it suddenly snapped, I was irritated but decided to calm myself and just open the others.
"I'll open it if there's no other choice."
In my hand was another canned Cornbeef, this time I carefully pulled the pin.
Snap*
"... O-okay... There's still others... "
With different cans with different contents—
Snap*
"—Kh!"
Snap*
"Why—"
Snap*
"—Does it—"
Snap*
"—Keep on—"
Snap*
"—SNAPPING!!!"
Snap*
...
"Haah... Hah..."
The last can of the pile was in my hand left rolling on the floor. And I, on the other hand was despairing at my predicament. It was already dark and I haven't opened even one of them yet.
"Uuuu..."
Tearfully glaring at those annoying cans that won't let me have a taste of them. My stomach went silent as if they knew it can't be helped.
Standing back on my feet, I went towards the butcher knife I found on the counter then grabbed it. Looking at the can filled with contempt, I had already lost all reason as I'm already at my boiling point.
"Hyaa!"
With a thunderous war cry from my point of view. I used the butcher knife to slash the can in half. As pathetically weak as I currently am, the weight of the blade was enough to split the can open just enough so I could spoon out its contents for later.
"Haahh... Haa... Yes!"
Although some of its contents were spilled on the floor, there was still enough for me to feed on. Unfortunately, I don't have time to cook it as it almost took all my strength from just holding the heavy butcher knife. With a spoon I washed from the sink, I took a spoonful of raw Cornbeef to my mouth.
"Sniff* Finally... Hic* Some good f*cking food..."
Even if it's bland, Remembering the taste of my favorite food brought a wave of nostalgia enough to make me cry tears of joy.
On why it is my favorite, I could no longer remember.
...
* * *