"Alright, kids, get in line, and let's head to our final treatment. Oh, I can't wait to see you all in your last treatment. But you kiddos got to do good for your last one, ok. For this old grandma's sake." The grandma's voice sounds sweet as ever, but dark and evil thoughts are hidden behind her words. With the wicked mask, she wears, the pearly white teeth show.
Sho also took notice of the grandma's bright blue dress as if she had saved it when she was younger from her size being rather tight. A capturing dress only made her grey hair stand out, almost like a reminder that time is a blink of an eye, and youth follows along with time.
'I never seen her wear anything besides a lab coat?' Sho furrows his brow and tilts his head to the right, pondering the thought. However, lost in thought over the fact that he hasn't seen her wear anything else.
"All right! Follow me now and don't fall behind, be a shame if you were to get lost."
Snapping out of the thought, Sho couldn't help feeling that her cruel joke went a little too far because he had lived in this cursed place as long as he could remember. How could he possibly not know each corner, each room that he has committed mass murders in, the pain that lives in this place that he calls home? His face showed a hint of emotion, and without looking back, the grandma's smile grew that much more.
Leading the way, the grandma's slow pace easily made were each kid keep up regardless of their injury. "Mhhh, Mhhhh, ohhh, what a day! For sweet little sheep's clump together. Jump, toward inedible gory nether, to never be seen. For hopefully, they might know the wintergreen with their unseen history. As the history is but full of mystery and misery."
With a bunch of little kids following her as if she was leading a bunch of elementary kids on a field trip, she started to sing, with her mood being so happy. Like a lullaby to put a kid's heart at ease, however, it held such dark meaning, but while she sang, no one said anything. Instead, they already knew this song from the numerous times she would sing it.
Even though they could all be qualified to be elementary kids by age, that was not the case. Being fully developed by the glimmer's hallways light had the opposite effect on the kids. Under the light like a moving crime scene, the kids were drenched in red. The smell of death followed as each step they took, some with bare feet and others wearing what was left of their shoe, had an ever-lasting imprint on the reflecting floor.
Scars, cuts, missing arms, eyes, and even untreated injuries that seem from medieval times all showed with these kids. Yet, 48 pairs of assertive red steps were freshly made with each step the grandma took, all following right behind her. A group that seemed as if they had already parted with the world devoid away from the concept of what makes a human.
It's funny how steps can represent a person. For example, if a woman is wearing high-heels makes the clicking sounds, men who seem to make cumbersome steps, elder people who have slight gaps of time before you hear their steps. In this instant, the children's vast hallway, echo-like taps became more like war trumpet with their feet taking quick steps to keep up with the elder woman matching their small frame.
As they progress through the almost limitless hallway, changes seem to emerge; the metal doors that separate each other start from having their characters. Appearing as some were broken, almost hanging by the last bolt, others matching the metal door of hell from which these devilish kids emerged. Some of the doors didn't even look like anyone ever touched them, while others were dyed red, maybe just as dark as Hiroto's shirt, or perhaps even darker.
Handprints just as the room the kids started in began to appear. Some were much smaller matching who knows how young, others seemed to be as big as an adult's hand. The lights covering each corner turned more sloppy, leaving some areas dark. Finally, however, the floors seemed as if it was never touched, as if the floor was a haven and everything else was hell. The surroundings of the floor were getting engulfed by murders, and corrupt, limitless odor taking every known space the hall gave. While the kids were the final turning point of the floor, corrupting the spotless reflecting white that it managed to save.
.....
Who knows how long the little kids walked, but the uglier the scenery became as they got further away from their door. Sho was the only one who showed any emotion in his eyes as they walked past the dingy halls, but it was not enough to be noticed.
After a while, the field trip finally saw something besides what could be considered normal. After a while, the group finally saw a figure in the distance that wasn't completely normal. Although it wasn't clear who it was, they could tell it was a person.
"Click...Click...Click"
The grandma's footsteps echoed throughout the limitless hall, and the sound was lonely without company. The previews echo-like taps related to a war trumpet the kids produced went away. The children were still behind the grandma; however, the steps turned silent when the body came in view as the eye of a hurricane. The kids' only trace left was the glowing red in the tainted hallway.
Taking around two minutes to match the old woman's pace, the group came close enough to see a boy. He looks to be around the same age as the rest of the group. He was on the floor, not moving, unlike the other kids. He had the same attire; however, the color was a hit of yellow, showing a glimpse of the previous shade it once held with three strips tingled around.
The old grandma's face quickly turned into absolute disgust. It covered her wrinkly face, walking up to the spotted kid's body. Getting a closer look, a pool of blood surrounded him, with his hand located on his stomach.
She walked up to the lifeless body at the same pace she was walking earlier. The old grandma's face turned into absolute disgust when she saw him. A pool of blood surrounded the boy, and his hand was on his stomach.
She stopped next to the body. She would stand on the statue figure if she were to take another step.
"Pow, Pow, Pow."
She raises her foot and starts kicking the kid's body with all the energy she could possibly afford. Every time her foot made contact with the lifeless body, it would move an inch or two. Even with that case, her foot and the boy's body echoed aloud in the hallway. It was like someone playing the drums, which resonates in an empty theater.
Sho looks at the lifeless body that's getting bombarded with the grandma's brittle leg. 'That's Kaoru Takahiro from class 33. Maybe when he was going through the previous treatment, he decided to escape instead. However, he couldn't escape the box that we call fate.' The look in Sho's eyes held no sympathy. Instead, there was nothing! It was like he was staring into the air. But at least he took the time to remember the kid's name laying on the ground; perhaps that was his only way to still feel like a human.
"Uhhhh...Uhhhh" After a while, the old woman stopped, as she was breathing in all the air that her lungs would allow her. Physically she could not keep up with such forceful moments, or she would still be kicking the kid.
"Oh, my! Sorry kids, I just got a little caught up. Come, let's hurry, we're going to be late. I would not want your big day to be delayed." She then began to walk with the kids, moving at a much slower rate. Passing the kid, no one even gave a glance at the corpse that was on the ground. However, the original echo-like war trumpets the children's feet produced were pronouncing themselves to the endless hallway once more.
"Up ahead is a room that you all need to go in. Just go straight." Finally, they reached their destination, another metal door that matched all the others; however, the only difference is that it was at the end of the hallway. The grandma walked to the side of the metal door and pressed a couple of buttons to open it.
"SCREECCHHH."
As if the metal door was screaming, leaving marks behind the spotless floor showing its overwhelming weight. No one went in until the door was fully open all the way. Hiroto led the line first while the older woman smiled again, walking away.
Walking into the large room, the kids quickly saw that it was split into four sections. Breaking the sections was a dirt path in the shape of a plus sign, with enough room for six kids to stand shoulder to shoulder, meeting each end of the horizontal ends.
Meeting the door on the right side was a plentiful number of trees clumped together, with bright green grass an inch tall covering each corner, with no leaves or branches, on the ground. On the left side of the door was the exact opposite. Sand covers each corner of this square outbox as if they grabbed a piece of the desert.
The back left corner of the door was a swamp, covering the rims of the dirt path with muddy dark green grass going tall enough for adults to hide standing up within, then going to the center of the swamp was brown water with long grass blades to cover. Finally, the back right corner was covered with grass and spaced out large rocks enough to easily hide behind six or fix children.
The room was illuminated by an oversized black glass circle that covered the entire ceiling, with four speakers installed at each corner. The remaining walls were the matching color of the hallway. The brimming light didn't skip a beat covering each corner, trying to take away any existing shadow. The smell was of fresh paint, and the wildlife of the trees mixed.
Sho looked back to see that the grandma had already left, like dropping the kids off at daycare, while the doors closed behind him.
….
"Today is the day!" One man holds a cup of wine in the air. His hand touching only gold entrapping the liquid. He's lumbering against the window with a look of amusement.
"Indeed, today is the day we have all been waiting for." A man whose belly stretches out said with a black bread that ran down his chest—also leaning against the widow breathing heavily as if he's ready for animals to fight each other.
"Finally, after years of all this, we finally get to see our fruit grow." The younger slender woman said, whose excitement was apparent, almost jumping in place ready for the horror movie.
"Hush, it's about to start." An older man away from the widows but was instead sitting down, with his golden cup of wine, almost as if he was not part of this group.
With a room filled with many men and women dining and talking. All dressed in fancy tuxedos and dresses, each with different expressions, prominent. The surrounding walls are blue, with the only window to stare down at the children as if you were looking down within a zoo on all corners.
Besides, that were paintings, flowers, ribbons, balloons, and so on. There are seats and tables spread apart with a huge stadium. TVs on all corners so if you were on the opposite side of the glass and you didn't feel like looking down, instead you could watch the TVs.
"Whoosh" The lights cut out from the room, making it briefly dark.
Spotlights blaring at the crowd working their way up into the stadium, reaching to the middle of the stage as the floor cuts out a circle with a man coming out from the ground.
"Hello people my name is doctor Shiro Ishii, and I was the man in charge of this project. Today shall be the last day to this project as we get to see the end product of what are fruits bare." The man speaking was the sweet grandpa from earlier, but he didn't hold the same air of wickedness or sweetness this time. As a professional business owner, proud of what was coming, everyone in the room got to see his creation.
A spontaneous reaction everyone in the room starts to clap their hands for Shiro Ishii.
He waved his hand and smile back to the crowd. "I would explain what the end product is but what's better than seeing it yourself. Lamia if you would, could you bring the button?" Out of the side came the lovable grandma in a blue dress pushing a cart with a single box with a red bottom covering the top.
"Thank you." The grandpa smiled at her as she walked off the stage. He then turned back to the crowd and began to talk again.
"Everyone watch! Go to the window, and watch the show. Don't worry. They can't see you all. For all, there is the black stainless window, and with that I welcome you to the Failing Ark project" The remaining people walk over to the window and look down on all the children standing in a line.
.....