My eyes swivel around the broken shelves, the musty scent almost too strong.
And then I glance down and see it.
A hatch door, mostly hidden, but I know it’s there.
My lungs hiss as I reach down and pull it up, the hinges creaking as I open it, staring down into nothingness.
There’s a ladder. Nothing more. My vision whites out, and I feel strong arms wrap around me.
“What is it?” Georgiy asks softly. “What have you found?”
I can’t speak, just stare down into the hole.
A place I know I’ve been before. Why? Henry lived here. Virgin too. Emma and Samvel. Did I live here as well? I must have. I know this place. I fucking know it.
Don’t make me. Please don’t make me.
And yet I go, my body twisting from those familiar arms and down into the place I belong.
Nothing. You are nothing.
As my hands hit each rusty rung, I feel myself start to struggle to breathe. Even as my legs carry me down, farther and farther away from everything I once knew.
I glance up and see someone standing at the opening—an ugly, shadowed face, a twist of red lips, an evil laugh.
Then suddenly, it’s dark.
And I’m alone.
My hands trail along the dirt walls, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. I can hear footsteps above me, but they’re muted. No one knows I’m here.
I’m invisible.
I belong down here.
That’s what he said.
My hand grabs onto the makeshift shovel, the one made from pipes and screws, and I make my way to the end of the tunnel, using it to dig. To try to escape, to try to find a way out.
You’ll never be free.
But I hold on to hope. When I get out, when I see the sunlight again, I’m going to do things. I’m going to…
I stop digging.
I don’t know what I’ll do.
I was never good at much. Once I had a pet rabbit, a cute little thing until it died. After that, I played with it in my free time, prodding it, peeling it apart. Discovering, learning. Until he took it from me.
Burned it.
Sasha.
Gone.
Just like me. I’m nothing. I don’t even have a name.
Nothing, just like the blackness surrounding me.
