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Shadow of the Fallen
Chapter 4 Memories of a Dark Prison

Chapter 4 Memories of a Dark Prison

After waking from their dreams, they quickly scrambled to get up, but Rein hadn't missed the beat to notice Lee's knife had also been beside him. Strange, he thought to himself. The knife was definitely there when Lee fell asleep; surely he moved when it fell.

Rein put the thought behind him; they had to see what that scream was about first. As they were just rounding the stairs, a second ear-piercing set of screams hit them; now it was clearly something serious. They burst through the door to see his mom standing outside on the phone.

"Hello? Hello? When will the police officer get here? "Her sentence trailed off as she saw Rein and his friend Lee come up from behind her.

"Mom, what the hell happened here?" As Rein was saying it, he saw it. A car gets tossed, but by nothing; there was nothing there that could have tossed the car; it was just thrown at a civilian.

Lee had been quick to move to help the man. The man had been able to get out of the way of the car but still hurt himself when he landed on his arm. Lee quickly pulled him up and dragged him over to the sidewalk; Rein ran up beside them. He was about to ask the man the same question he asked his mom, but clearly whatever was throwing those cars was in no mood to let them talk and it seemed it got even been angrier.

One, two, or three more cars flew over; it didn't even look to be aiming anymore at them or at anyone else.

Stomp. Stomp, two large footprints were carved into the pavement; like a bear walking on sand, it seemed to take that thing no effort to make those. It stood beside the front porch of a house and began to claw at the brick. Rein was shocked and terrified. The claw print left behind had been enormous, roughly two inches wide per claw.

Then, after its anger tantrum, it began walking towards him.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. The claws were dragging behind him, leaving a deep imprint. Rein was stunned and frozen; just like when he saw the man in danger, he was not the person to run in and fight; all he could do was let himself die here.

Cold sweat ran down his face, his eyes darting, and his hands began to clench. His gaze shifted to Lee; his gaze shifted to Lee, he seemed almost composed, some clear fear on his face but sill composed. Rein felt a twinge of jealousy. He felt like he could never be that person. As he looked back at the man Lee and himself had just helped, he mustered the courage to take one step forward, but before anything could happen, the world froze. Well, at least it slowed down immensely, but that wasn't the only change. He hadn't noticed when, but he was standing in front of Lee and had to turn his head to look at him. For some reason, the freezing hadn't affected him, but he could see Lee's eyes again in that hazy blue. Not just that his arms were outstretched, almost as if we were controlling all of this.

Still in shock, he didn't notice Lee's eyes trying to direct his own gaze back in front of him. His gaze eventually landed on what had been in front of them this whole time. An ape, but without fur; it more so had tendrils of what looked like dark red skin coming off of it in place of fur. Its head had no eyes but an extremely large nose, and its hands were so out of proportion that he finally understood what had created those slash marks.

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Looking back between the creature and Lee, his brain finally put the pieces together, proving that Lee had been the one to hold this thing back. But just as quickly as it stopped, it came together again, and the creature suddenly began to move. It took a slow stroll, and it was in front of them. There was no escape. He glanced again at Lee; he regretted coming up to the front like this, but without a second chance to say something.

Stab. A whole was put into his stomach; the creature had driven his claw deep into Rein's stomach so far that he was sure it had come out the other end. And then the pain hit. Suddenly, he could feel what it felt like to have his organs cut, his intestines' severed, and bones in his ribs had been shattered—he didn't even know if his spine was still intact. The pain was akin to nothing he had ever felt before, but just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

His vision began to flash; all he saw were scenes of this ape living endlessly in this cage. No stimulation, no pack to call family—he could feel the emotions. He wasn't able to tell how he knew he was the ape, but it felt like asking how you knew you were you. He was the ape, and this dark tower room was his prison. Years went by, and with no change, the ape had long abandoned hope. His only solace was the window he was given, but it was a view with no change, as there had not been a living being out there in hundreds of years. His dark, empty room had been the only thing he knew until he was suddenly transported. In front of him, he saw a tasty morsel. "MEAT!" he yelled, but there was no reaction, not even a challenge; it didn't even look up at him. He was getting ignored, which angered him. YEARS! YEARS! he spent in a cage just to not even get looked at by this tiny thing. He grabbed the nearest object and flung it. He was in rage, but his last straw were these humans, who had not only not acknowledged him but began to take his prey away from him without even looking him in the eyes!

Rein had suddenly woken up to a familiar voice: "This one on me, kid, just for letting me split into this world, just a bit. But the next one is going to have to be dealt with by you, and when you do, you and me will get even closer." This voice had been the same that spoke to him before he fell asleep earlier—that same deep voice.

Looking around at his mom and Lee, especially Lee, he felt some kind of anger toward him just by looking at him. He could see him as the one who dared the least to look him in the eye, but that was strange; he looked him in the eyes right now. Lee hadn't broken eye contact this whole time, but Rein felt strange; he was scared and still in pain, but a feeling of challenge came from Lee, as if he needed to fight Lee. Another voice echoed in his head.

"The bastard that dared to stop me—I could tell he saw me! And he wouldn't look me in the Eyes!" The voice sounded more like a primal roar, but Rein could tell what it said, mostly through the emotions it conveyed. At this point, he knew the apes mind had been placed in his thoughts and all of the darkness it carried. Thoughts of that dark room still ran free in his head; they struck a chord of fear like no other in him, never being able to leave a room trapped for hundreds of years. No matter the darkness the ape brought with him, he almost felt some sort of sympathy for it, but it felt like he had to; it was part of him.

After he pushed himself up, he managed to look down. The whole in him had been covered up, but it was covered with some red skin and some growing red bumps. Looking at it, it made him feel sick. This was disgusting, but he had to reassure himself that this was better than having his guts just fall out of his stomach.

"Are you, you know, okay?" Lee sounded very concerned; he had just watched his friend get impaled through the stomach while he wasn't able to stop it.

"I mean, that's not the term I would use, but let's go with it." Rein responded; he gestured for Lee to bend over and whispered in his ear. "Once you were inside, you better tell what just happened, because it seems you know more than I do right now."

Lee sighed; he knew that was coming after he saw Rein survive that stab, or at least come back from it. Then he whispered back. "You better tell me what you did then, because I'm not seeing a giant ape anymore."