I almost frowned as I noticed the style of those pants but maintained my gaze as if I was looking into the hall. They had a weird cross flap front with ties. No buttons. No zipper. Just loose material that clung to his hips. How long had this man been in Hell?
He strode closer to me, his hands fisted at his side, and I sighed.
The simple act of exhaling made him freeze.
“Not hiding,” he said. “Unhappy.” He groaned, a softly tormented sound. “No, no.”
He turned a slow circle, as if looking for the source of my unhappiness and my middle gave an odd tug.
I shook my head at myself. It was an act. He didn’t actually care that I was unhappy. No one ever did. I knew better than to fall for it. Yet, I couldn’t help that part of me that wished it would be true. That someone would care.
While he was preoccupied, I left the room with my lit torch. It would probably be smarter to toss it aside. The monsters had already proven that they were drawn to light. But how would I see something as insubstantial as a soul without it?
Besides, as long as crazy-man was with me, I didn’t seem to need to worry about the other creatures. Only him.
He’s lulling you,my brain whispered. Yet, my gut wasn’t telling me to run away. It was saying I was safer with him. Besides, he couldn’t really lull me if I was aware of his game, which I was, right?
He caught up to me while I listened at the next door.
“I hate games. No, I love them,” he muttered.
His anguish had me feeling sorry for him, despite knowing better. They played on a human’s weaknesses, like sympathy. Then, when we were suitably lulled, they would make their move, just like the starving creature in the chains had done.
I knew it was dangerous to feel anything for the one following me. Dependence, pity, any of it could be used against me. But the dependence, I couldn’t help. And the pity? Well, he seemed so beaten down. That was something I could relate to far too well. What would I give to have someone show just a pinch of caring? Anything. Anything and everything.
But showing the crazy-man any hint of kindness would be my doom. So, I focused on the doors.
The next three were as empty as the one I’d almost fallen asleep in. The vacant spaces tempted me, and I wondered again what would happen when I finally gave in to the urge to sleep.
The door after those upset my crazy follower, and I listened a long time before deciding to skip it again. How many in a row could I do that to before he grew suspicious?
More importantly, how did he still think I wasn’t real when I was opening door after a door and holding a damn torch in the air? My arm screamed in protest, and I kept having to switch hands. It was a good thing I had no voice, or I would have started complaining to myself by now.
A rueful smirk tugged at my lips as I realized I would probably sound like the guy following me.
A light from ahead ripped my humor from me. Throwing the torch to the floor, I turned toward the wall and buried my face.
“Fear? Never. What is this game?” crazy-man muttered.
I watched his feet as he paced a semi-circle around me, oblivious to the approaching monster. Creature? Demon? What exactly did Hell have in it besides souls? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“I help?” a deep voice rumbled when the light drew closer.
The crazy-man made a frustrated sound, and his feet turned away from me.
“She belongs to none,” he said sharply.
You tell him, crazy-guy,I thought.
Something shuffled nearby, but the light didn’t fade.
“You help?” the creature asked.
Crazy-man’s feet turned toward me.
“I want,” he said softly. “I burn.” His feet pivoted toward the creature. “Is this real?”
The creature grunted a non-committal sound, and its lumbering steps faded into the distance.
