Proud to be a Coward
Act I: Chapter 4
There I stayed, in my belly crawl position, patiently, nervously, and disgusted by the smell of the dead bodies. Thankfully, the creature was too tall for me even to see anything above his calves, so I could keep my eyes open for as long as I had to. To my dismay, however, he didn't move. Not an inch of movement can be seen from this thing.
My body grew numb; it started hurting, specifically my shoulders and arms. It was because of the position I was holding.
Being in this state reminded me of back then, when I was still living with my brother, how I always had to stay still on the top bunk of the bed, as my brother would always wake me up and complain very aggressively whenever I moved even an inch off my position. He always complains that "it makes too much noise" or "the bed's shaking too much." Every night, I had to stay still, no matter how numb and tired my body grew. I had to make sure not to make "noise" or even the slightest type of movement, or else he'd get extremely mad. This also meant I had to stay awake until I was sure that my brother was asleep so that he would stop complaining and being a bitch about it.
Remembering made me think my brother was an even tougher challenge than this. I mean, how hard can walking with my eyes closed be compared to holding an army crawl position all night? Memories of my brother being a bitch came surging back, from him always ruining my schedule because of his selfish, outright ridiculous neediness, causing me to be late to class, to him complaining about the smallest of things. Getting reminded of my resentment towards my brother made me forget about every other emotion I had, heck it almost made me forget I could die if I fuck this up. Thinking I was in a decent state of mind, I was ready to try and walk. I didn't notice the time had already passed at 1:55 pm and was nearing 2:00 pm.
And now that I felt as if I was in full control over my body, I stood up, eyes closed, with my head tilted facing the floor and my arms raised forward. I took a step forward, beginning my journey towards the hall from which Tago came. I carefully chose my steps, making sure I wouldn't trip, slip, or fall; I would raise my knee first and then feel around the area I was about to step in by gently tapping it with my raised foot.
I knew I'd be stepping on bleeding bodies, but what other choice did I have? I kept my arms raised, praying I wouldn't have to touch the monster near me, and for a while, my fingers didn't feel anything. Each second felt like an hour, and each step felt like a mile... "The stairs were a harder challenge," I told myself, trying to suppress the fear piss I'd been holding in.
After finally getting used to this very meticulous process of raising and checking, I felt my fingertips touch something. It felt unnaturally tight, like a thin, clammy surface stretched over a rigid frame. It was smooth yet disturbingly hard, almost like leather over steel. There was no warmth— just a cold, brittle texture that felt both fragile and unbreakable at the same time. I prayed it wasn't what I thought it was, but I couldn't open my eyes to check either. "God, please, if you're real, just take me to you already… —In a painless manner, please…" I took a step to my side and proceeded to walk northwest of where I was originally headed.
After walking for what felt like an eternity, there were no longer any corpses that were being stepped on, no matter how many times I checked. I asked myself, "Is it finally safe?" I was very hesitant to open my eyes, thinking it could have followed me or if I hadn't walked far away enough. I grabbed the straps of the backpack and pulled it down, placing the body of the backpack over my head and covering the upper area of my eyes as if it were a hat.
For the first time in my life, I was thankful for being only 5'6 ft, thinking this could be an advantage since, at head level, my eyes could probably only reach up to Tago's chest at most. I think... I carefully opened my eyes, and as I slowly started staring at the floor, ever so slightly, I lifted my head upwards. I didn't see the monster's feet, and very gently, as I kept on raising my head. I saw that he truly was, thankfully, not in front of me.
With that, I finally decided to let go of the straps, making the backpack covering half of my eyes fall back to its original position. I carefully observed the hallway I was in and noticed a door in front of me, which seemed like the pantry room. I felt overjoyed. The room was filled with foods and drinks that seemed as though they could last me for years. I thought I should stay in this room for as long as possible, or maybe even until I die! (of old age, of course.) And with the journal being confirmed true as well, staying here would give me the opportunity to study the monster listed here.