Waking up with a gasp, Lou goggly looked around himself. He saw that the girl was sleeping with her head against the side of the bed and he boy was lying on the end of the bed. In the corner of the room Lou thought he saw a figure standing there, it move.
“Good to see that you are awake, the kids were worried!” said a deep, rumbling voice.
The room’s door opened, flooding the room with light showing that the figure was hidden by a cloak. In the doorway appeared an old woman.
“There is nothing to worry about my dear!” the old lady stated in a calming voice. “We are your downstairs neighbours!”
“We were surprised when the girl ran into use screaming and crying!” the cloaked figure spoke as he stayed still in the corner.
“What’s happening?” the girl asked with a yawn. “You are awake!”
Lou watched in silent as the girl rushed to the end of the bed and begun shaking her brother awake. When the boy awoke his eyes were wide in shock as tears begun to flow. Lou watched in silence as the boy tried to give him a hug only for the figure to grab him and lift him up.
“Remember what I told you!” the figure said, sternly. “He needs to rest and recover before you can give him a big hug since you can’t really control your strength!”
“Ok” the boy said between tears and sobs as he was placed down beside his sister who gave him a big hug instead.
“Now children let’s have something to eat while he recovers!” the old lady stated as she led the siblings out, closing the door behind her.
“You can speak?” the figure asked as he pulled out a bar stool from somewhere and sat down. “If you can, answer some questions for me since I can’t get much from the kids!”
Focusing on the roof, Lou wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond nor how much he should end up telling.
“Yes” Lou barely got out before his throat begun hurting a lot.
“Do you want a drink of water?”
Not desiring to make his throat hurt more, Lou nodded yes. As the figure got up and left the room, Lou closed his eyes trying to remember what could have caused him to end up here. The last thing Lou could remember was passing out with the boy hugging him and crying. ‘Why did I agree to care for the siblings when I can barely care for myself’ Lou thought to himself as he felt tears form, h felt like a total disappointment.
“Hay now, you are going to be ok now!” the figure said as he assisted Lou into a siting position. Wiping the tears away, Lou opened his eyes and took the drink. Taking a sip, Lou begun to drink greedily surprised with how thirsty he was. The figure took away the drink as Lou begun to cough before being gently patted on his back.
“There there!” the figure said. “Until your parents come back, we will care for you!”
Hearing the words parents, memories of him being with them begun to flash before his eyes. The fact that they died, and he would never see them away, Lou burst into uncontrollable tears.
It didn’t help that as the tears wracked his body, Lou’s chest begun to hurt extremely bad just making everything so much worse. Soon Lou found himself struggling to breath and the panic reaching fever pitch at the thought that he might end up like them. He couldn’t tell what was happening around him until a drowsy feeling overtook him, making him pass out. Waking up with a gasp Lou found himself in his room, he was all alone. Slowly climbing out of bed, Lou held onto it tightly as he waited for his legs to stabilised. Using the wall Lou was able to reach the door which he opened it a gap. The sound of voices begun to come closer, Lou was just able to make it back to bed before the door fully opened. The figure walked in, followed by the old lady.
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“From what the children told us, you were left in charge for the week until your caretaker comes back, that’s right?” the figure asked, not bothering to hide his concerns or worry.
“Yes” Lou mustered, not 100% sure how he should feel around these strangers. ‘They did save me but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any bad intentions’ Lou thought as he realised, he would likely not be able to protect the siblings, much less himself in his current state.
“What are you going to do to use?” Lou asked clearly failing to hide his suspicion as he caught a glimpse of the old lady looking hurt.
“Ha ha don’t take it personal Mia!” the figure laughed. “His smart to be concern since he knows he can’t prevent anything from happening in his state.
“That’s true!” Mia stated as she composed herself.
“Remember that I told you we will take care of you till your parents, well caretaker, comes back!” the figure stated. “I mean it truly!”
“Ok” Lou replied, knowing he had no choice but to trust him since it would take a while for him to recover fully.
“For the time being you should rest in your bed, I’ll get things for you to do while Mia prepares something good to eat!”
“Thanks!” Lou replied as he watched the figure and Mia leave the room.
As the door swung close, an image of him being dragged by the boy towards the elevator as a fire grew around them. Shaking his head, Lou suddenly felt uneasy. ‘What the hell was that’ Lou thought. Feeling an urge to look outside, Lou carefully got out of bed and made his way to the window. Just before Lou could pull the curtains open, the door opened.
“Now, now!” Mia stated sternly. “Get back into bed and rest now!”
“Sorry!” Lou repeated as he turned around and climbed back into bed.
Settling down Lou allowed Mia to spoon-feed him the food before everything went dark. Waking up with a gasp Lou saw that the room was dark but the urge to look outside was growing stronger. Getting out of bed, Lou made his way to the window. Pulling the curtains open, he was shocked to see that it had been boarded up.
“When the hell did this happen?” Lou asked no one but himself.
Making his way to the door, Lou carefully opened it, tying to prevent it from creaking.
Getting out Lou tried all the doors, but they were locked. Pressing the up button on the elevator, it did nothing at all and all the windows were boarded up just like his room.
“What is going on?” Lou asked out loud, not caring if someone could hear him.
Searching the kitchen Lou was surprised to find a hammer when the elevator dinged open. Keeping down low Lou carefully peeked from the side to see that the figure and Mia was standing there. Gripping the hammer hard, Lou begun running to his room, it was the only place where he could lock the door. The sound of them behind him grew louder but Lou was just able to slam the door and locked it before they begun to bang.
“Open up now!” screamed Mia.
Racing to the window, it took a moment before Lou worked out how to remove the nails from the planks. Hearing a crack, Lou looked behind him to see that the door was beginning to crack. Grabbing the side of the table Lou pushed it in front of the door before putting the bed on an angle so that when they try to open the door, the side of the able would hit his bed and prevent the door from opening. Returning to the window Lou managed to get the two planks off when the door bashed against the side of the table and stopped du to the bed. There was a gap but Lou didn’t want to get stuck to he begun to rip the remaining planks off as the pleading to stop begun, Lou did his best to ignore them. Once the planks were off all Lou could see in front of him was a bright white light. Taking a final look back to see that the figure was almost in, Lou jumped. Opening his eyes, Lou saw that he was lying on the floor with the boy holding tightly onto him, crying. All around them was fire and smoke, it felt extremely hot. Trying to sit up or just move a bit, Lou realised that he was couldn’t really move much.
Forcing his remaining strength into one of his arms, Lou managed to lift it ad brush the hair out of the crying boy’s face.
“Run!” was the last word Lou could muster before darkness begun to pull him in. ‘I hope he is able to get out of this one way or another’ Lou thought as he lost the fight against the darkness. As the darkness pulled him in, Lou felt that it was like drowning. ‘This is all my fault’ Lou thought, accepting that it was true as he felt nothing, becoming nothing at all.