I look around, this is a 3 meter by 3 meter room, a door in the middle of each wall, there is a bed, a desk with a chair and a toilet with a sink, all in one room.
My ankle is healed miraculously, my finger too, no blood on my body, no blood on Zee either.
My bag is tightly wrapped around my back and shoulders. There is a present feeling of calmness that lingers in my lungs, the squishy void must’ve sent us here, but why does it feel like time has passed?
My internal clock is telling me that 2 months has passed.
“Zee?”
He isn’t beside me anymore but sitting on the bed, looking through the bedside table cabinets. He finds a diary in the bottom drawer, it has a combination lock.
“Book!” He smiles softly while showing it to me with both arms out, I walk over and grab my knife to cut the lock, it snaps easily due to being made of leather.
I sit on the bed trying to figure out my next move, everything is healed, I just killed a person in cold blood, I feel disoriented. I look over at the book zee is reading, it seems to have the start of a diary set in Year 3 of the 157th Olympiad. But there's no continuation, I have no clue what any of that means.
Zee stares it, “Olympiad...” comes out of his mouth in a faint breath, he unzips my bag and stuffs the book in it, standing up clearly ready to explore more of this place, “kill dream monster.”
Right, kill the dream monster. I'm guessing we are on the real floor 293 now, the other being a ‘trap floor’ as that man described it.
I stand up, still unused to how strong my body feels, like I'm the healthiest I've ever been in my life. Although i definitely need coffee or i might pass out. The four doors all looked identical, so I chose a random one based on how close it was.
The door opens and the next room is basically the same, a bed, a desk, a toilet and sink. This one had a sink but it's still just a 3 by 3 meter room. “Back in the city this room would be heavenly, and expensive.” I let out a sigh.
Zee giggles a bit, I look down genuinely confused, “you liked that?” I didn't think he would comprehend that sentence.
“Heaven!” He runs in and searches the fridge “room is heaven!” He takes out two premade sandwiches, this floor is a lot more normal than the others, but I can tell there is something else, there had to be something that lives in these rooms.
We both eat on the bed, deciding we deserve a little bit of a break, “swap?”
Mid bite he talks, food falling out as he speaks, “swap?”
I grab his sandwich and give him mine, his was some weird fish sandwich and mine was more salady. Both delicious, compared to the food you get on the higher floors at least.
As we eat, I realise I really don't know much about this kid, not about his past at least, “hey zee? How old are you?” I swear if he says he is 40 I'm going to be pissed off. If I'm just taking care of a manchild ill genuinely freak out.
He thinks for a second, “How old?”
I point at myself, “Alice is 27 years old.” He takes another bite while looking at the ceiling, his eyes seem a lot more weighted than usual, faint red marks that signify crying, when was he crying?
“Zee is 10 years old.”
I take a breath out, thankful. Now it's time for the difficult question, “is Zee human?”
He stands up instantly, leaving the half-eaten sandwich on the bed, “go floor 287.”
Well, that answers that, he is a monster or something, I figured. I have nothing against it, I'm sure there are some intelligent monsters on the lower floors that team up with humans. I get up and follow them, staying a strict 3 steps behind.
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He doesn't say another word, he opens a door, walks through, looks left and right, then walks into whatever door he chooses. Every room is almost the exact same, this is just a grid of rooms, the wall colours have been red, green and blue.
Every time he opens a door, I feel like there will be something waiting for us, there never is. This floor is probably the only one I see making someone genuinely crazy, it's like living in a white padded room, its disorienting and there's no stimulation.
After around 200 rooms visited, we just rest, I'm starting to get really tired, my eyes keep drooping.
“Alice no sleep.” Zee shakes my shoulders.
“I know... dickhead.” I say as I rest my head on the bed, I'm sitting on the floor and my back is digging into the steel bedframe, yet I feel so incredibly comfortable. Zee gets up and searches the fridge, he takes out what looks like genuine beer.
“Oh my god! How many?” I crawl over to the fridge, looking inside the white interior, I see 2 4 packs of genuine beer, it's called ‘dirt drink,’ but I can tell, this is beer. I grab it and cut my finger while taking the cap off, my mind is only on the drink in front of me.
I take a swig and yep, definitely alcoholic, strong too. 4%? “Thanks Zee!” I hug him and drink some more on the floor.
He seems to just be watching, he points at the beer and asks “drink?”
I waft my hand, “go ahead, it's not like I'm your mother.” I giggle as I take another sip, then another. He takes one out and hands it to me to open it, I do so and hand it back over without the cap in a simple exchange.
This is the one bit of happiness I've had in a while, oh! Speaking of which I should check out those marble things that man gave me so gracefully. I unzip the bag and try to find the marble he said would heal me, it's not in there, the rest are though in the little baggie.
“Ahhh who cares, hey zee if I start spouting something like ‘nothing matters’ make sure to slap me.” I giggle finishing the first drink, my eyesight starts becoming delayed as I improvise myself grabbing another beer.
Zee just calmly sips his, he is barely a third through, “Zee, that's not how you party, this is a celebration, we survived that wall crushing room or whatever, come on!” I tip his drink a bit, so it pours into his mouth, he spits it out coughing.
“Oh, sorry.” I really don't know how to act around this person, he is obviously smart, learning the language at supersonic speeds. But if what he says is true, he is just 10, is giving a child alcohol wrong here? I mean it is hell, I shouldn't be following earth rules. Nah none of this matters.
I ruffle his hair again, something he seems to enjoy, “if you drink more you get all happy, trust me.” Thats kind of a lie considering the last time I drank I tried to off myself, but still.
I drink halfway through my second and zee finishes his first, he is wobbling a bit and reaches for another, “noooo, answer my riddles and you shall pass...”
He looks confused a bit, “are you human!” I say again, hoping he has let his guard down.
He smiles softly, “downnn, down down down.” While reaching for another, I decide to let him, who am I to make the rules?
“Down down down, I get it zee, I do, I'm pretty down in the dumps, ya know?”
He takes a sip at the same time as me, “Alice is up, Good alice.” He reaches over and tries to ruffle my rough hair, falling over onto my lap. Finishing his second beer at high speeds, reaching for the third.
“Okay that's enough beer, lightweight...” I giggle and take the bottle from his hand, he rests his head on my lap while looking up at me.
His breathing comes out as shallow, I'm not sure if alcohol poisoning is an actual issue with kids, I mean I started drinking at 12, so it can't be that bad right? “Alice... kill dream monster, make home, Zee, Alice.”
“Together?”
He seems to grasp the word and nods, “together!” I touch his hair, I realise my thumb is completely healed, there's no cut on it, like it never happened. I wonder if zee has some healing power.
He tries to reach for another beer, “okay, but let's do a toast.” I finish my second and grab a third, I clink mine with his, “to dying!”
He seems to pick up what I'm saying, “to heaven!” He figures out how to open his own cap without me, drinking in big gulps, it's weird to see such a small person drink a normal sized beer, they should make beers for kids, I think that is an untapped idea for a business.
The lights all turn off at once, signifying its night.
“Oh... shit...” I try to stand up but there's genuinely no light anywhere, I go to the fridge to hopefully open it and give some sort of visibility, my hand finds the cold metal handle but its fully turned off.
Theres no light anywhere.
Zee asks confused, his words not really English, “dark...?” Is the only word I could understand.
I nod, knowing he probably doesn't even see me, I find the bag and reach in, hoping to find more of those glowsticks. Thankfully there are 2 left, one red and one yellow, I crack the red one because it seems like it would be the best for the scary mood.
Once it cracks a red light fills the room faintly, showing a figure standing perfectly in the middle, arms and legs straight. What looks to be a doll, with barbie like proportions, its back is facing me, showing off its flowery sundress. I look over at zee and he is passed out, God damn it.