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This Novel features content which may not be suitable for some readers!
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Anna
Hurried steps on plastic flooring echoed through the endless seeming pathways of the labyrinth as Anna barely managed to drag herself ahead. Not far behind her, the slightly out of tune melody of a music box assisted by rapid metallic clanking crept closer and closer as she hurried through the various turns and twists which presented themselves in front of her.
Anna turned a corner as she pulled herself inside of another hallway consisting of bright colours and shapes. All sorts of giant children’s toys towered high towards the horizon, creating massive walls too tall to even see the top of them. Ominous red light was cast over the area as the reddened, starless sky stared down upon her, covering the entire scenery in crimson shade.
She almost tripped over a bunch of oversized marbles – which laid randomly spread across the colourful tiled floor – but barely managed to catch herself before returning to run for her life.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to turn out. The others could be anywhere by now, and she felt like her body could collapse on the spot as soon as she stopped moving. Every part of her being urged her to rest – to stop – but the fear kept her pushing forward.
This fucking idiot, she thought. This is all his fault.
The barely out of tune music had gotten quieter after she had turned the corner, so Anna decided to take the opportunity and turn her head while running to get a brief glance at the area behind her. Right as she did, the melody suddenly increased in volume as the abomination of a being slid around the corner.
Rows of metallic, scissor-like feet left scratching marks on the plastic flooring as the being stumbled and dragged itself forward. The expressionless smirk on its eyeless white mask hid what appeared to be its head. It pointed towards Anna as its black, oozy body rolled forward. Some lines of reflection ascended from its body upwards, but it was difficult to make out their source.
Anna continued dashing forward, her eyes locked on the next corner where she hoped to find a hiding spot, or – even better – a way out of this realm of nightmares.
The Doll-Maker screeched in inhuman frequencies. Then, a sharp hissing cut through the air as something embedded itself into the floor close to Anna.
Then again. And again.
One of the sharp, thin objects darted right past her – just close enough to be in her field of vision for the glimpse of a second – then got stuck inside of a giant teddy bear’s stomach not too far away. A line of shimmer reflected from the point where the object had landed to behind Anna’s field of vision. As the Doll-Maker realized it had struck cotton, the object flew back to where it had come from.
Needles. It throws needles attached to strings.
Anna could feel her pulse inside of her throat as she successfully managed to dodge another salvo of needles before drifting around the long awaited corner. She took a hurried glance at the opportunities presented in front of her, her eyes darting back and forth from item to item in rapid succession. The out of tune notes increasingly grew in volume as she struggled to keep herself together.
Then she spotted something: a ball-pit built into the floor, pretty close to one of the endless towering walls of playthings. Hundreds, if not thousands of plastic balls created an ocean of neon colours. Anna manifested her remaining energy, ran to the pit, and threw herself into the safe haven of colourful spheres below.
The mechanical clawing inched closer as Anna dug herself deeper and deeper down the ball-pit, using her hands as shovels in an attempt to cover herself fully before it was too late. It went dark around her, the red filter of the sky now out of sight.
Finally, some pleasing darkness. Finally, some rest for her eyes. The cheerful colours had started to freak her out.
She ceased all movement and held her breath as the music’s source once again inched closer. The melody had gotten calmer now, slow and almost in tune. Anna knew it waited for her to move a single muscle, to make a single noise, anything. Any mistake would be fatal now.
She hoped for the creature to just pass by, to leave her alone. And if she couldn’t find her way home afterwards, she was going to return to this pit.
And so Anna decided,
deep down hidden from the reddened realm,
that if everything went wrong, she would just stay in here.
And then she would be safe from all the dangers of the flamboyant world above,
silently waiting until the hands of faith put her to rest.
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Earlier that day
Hendrick
No… I am so close.
Overwhelming pain spread itself through Hendrick’s entire body as it was crushed down to the floor. It felt as if gravity had just been multiplied to a force too great for humans to bear.
Hendrick fixed his stare on the door in front of him as his entire body struggled in a desperate attempt to get up. He felt the pressure rise as he stared down the doorknob with pain driven gaze. It was close – so close – but barely out of reach.
He managed to lift up his right arm with shivering movements, his whole body shaking as he tried to reach for the door. Hendrick somehow got one hand on the doorknob, tried to turn it, but gravity increased again, causing his arm to violently crash into the floor with a loud crack.
No…
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The air got forced out of his lungs as the rest of Hendrick’s body started being crushed. Then, he felt his bones turning against his insides as his vision started to fade.
Darkness enveloped him.
Then, a familiar shape burned itself into the back of his mind for just a split second.
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Hendrick got ripped out of his nightmare by his alarm clock ringing on the nightstand next to his bed as he jolted upwards into a sitting position. The sound of it was already engraved into his brain, the high-pitched ringing noise emitting from the little metal device hurting in his ears like usual. The first pillow he threw at the troublemaker missed and tossed over an empty cup, which had been peacefully resting on his nightstand. An unnerved sigh escaped his lips.
“Damn it. Could have sworn I would make it this time.”
The relentless ringing got silenced by Hendrick’s fist as he hit the snooze button, then turned the alarm off for good. His pulse slowed down, but now his tiny hand hurt a little.
Ah... peaceful silence, he thought.
Sadly, he knew it was only going to last for a short duration of time.
“3… 2… 1…” he whispered to himself.
A feminine, lightly muffled voice reached into the young male’s room, “Henry? You already awake? Breakfast is almost ready.” Hendrick could lip-sync every single word of his ‘mother’ while she spoke. He had heard that line way too often already.
“Yea mom,” Hendrick announced with an ironic pace in his speech, “Give me 5 minutes to change and brush my teeth.”
“Alright sweetheart, don’t forget to wash your face,” the sugar coated voice behind the door responded, followed by the sound of footsteps on stairs getting quieter with every step. The room returned to comforting silence. The only noise left was the ticking of the alarm clock... almost as if it refused to shut up for good.
There needs to be a way I can get through that damn door, he thought. But how?
He stretched out a little to get the tiredness – tiredness which wasn’t caused by his lack of sleep – out of his body. Hendrick then got out of bed, turned to look out of his window.
A single butterfly had landed on a tree branch close to his window.
He looked at it, felt his expression tighten.
“Today I will break this circle of hell,” he said.
“And I will finally be free again.”
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Hendrick sauntered over to the little bathroom – which was just a corner to the left away from his room – and shut the door behind him. He made sure to lock it – standing on his tiptoes while doing so – as a swift turning movement of his right hand made sure no one would be able to disturb his well earned privacy. His ‘father’ would be here very soon, and every second he didn’t need to interact with him or the rest of his family was a good one. He moved the little staircase – which was positioned under the bathroom sink – in position, climbed up, and viewed upon himself in the big round mirror which hung on the wall.
His head was barely visible. If he got on his tiptoes yet again, the most of his face could be seen, but that was about it. Straw blond hair rested on his head, the round shape of a pot cut covering parts of the forehead above his roundish face. Hendrick leaned over the sink, scrambled around until he had fetched the toothpaste and toothbrush which had been placed just within range for him. He put some of the toothpaste, which looked a little like red ice cream, on the brush and started brushing his teeth. The taste of strawberries filled his mouth.
He frowned.
Hendrick’s appearance was the one of a child, 11 years old to be precise. His hair covered his ears, and his ocean blue eyes stared at themselves in the mirror in an indifferent manner. He was rather chubby for his age, and his pale skin was sprinkled with freckles mostly around his cheeks. He kind of looked like the weird neighbourhood kid no one wanted to play with.
Which wasn’t entirely true.
His self loathing got interrupted by a slightly off sounding rhythmical knocking on the door. Hendrick’s grip around the toothbrush tightened slightly. He already knew who it was. A very quiet dripping sound could be heard from the other side of the bathroom door.
“Good morning my little sunshine,” his ‘father’ said. And you could literally hear his voice vomiting rainbows as he spoke. “Hurry up, mommy made your favourite breakfast!”
“Okay dad, I will be downstairs soon,” he said in a slightly muffled tone, the toothpaste in his mouth limiting his ability of speech. He could hear his father move downstairs as well.
Hendrick hated how his ‘father’ spoke to him. It was the usual: ‘I don’t want my child to be confronted with any kind of bad stuff’ way of talking he did all the time, which annoyed him the most. He took another pitied look in the mirror before spitting out his toothpaste.
This was so stupid. Hadn’t he already suffered enough? Maybe he could convince them to let him go if he just asked nicely? No, they surely wouldn’t let him go that easily. He had to readjust his plan, find the missing step, and somehow manage to break through.
But Hendrick never recalled just asking like that before, so he decided it would be worth a try.
“Hey, you guys?” he said. “How long do I have left before I can leave this place? Can’t you just let me go now?”
For a fraction of a second, just the blink of an eye, it appeared like the lines of reality had shuffled a little, causing a slight distortion in Hendrick’s view.
Yet, nothing happened.
Like expected, he thought. But worth a try.
After jumping down the little staircase, the boy pulled on his clothes, which laid – already folded and ready – on a small dresser close to the sink. It was meagrely one metre high, which was perfect for him to reach. His parents had built it just for him... how cute. The clothes fit him perfectly. He readjusted his shirt, then sat down to think.
I need to squeeze out every last minute of planning time I can get without getting punished, he thought. Otherwise I might fail again.
A few more minutes went by as he sorted his thoughts, ideas and strategies, which he had come up with in the last weeks, if not even months. He never had been good at time management, but the current situation made him lose track of the days, and he had stopped counting a while ago. Sadly, he couldn’t write anything down, since it would never stay in its place.
A loud mechanical clanking interrupted Hendrick’s thoughts as a red sign popped up in front of his vision.
It was bright and flashy, transparent yet still clearly visible. It remained in the centre of his vision, even if he turned his head or closed his eyes. There were exclamation marks all over it. In the middle of it, there was a thick white text written in capital letters:
“Delay detected. Please proceed! If ignored, punishing measurements will be undertaken.”
Seems like my thinking time is over for now, he thought while getting up then crossing to the door. He unlocked it with a turn of his hand, then swung it open with a silent creak.
The sign disappeared.
Outside the bathroom, the smell of bakery products and sweetness welcomed him. He walked along the rather short hallway – light blue wallpaper plastered alongside its otherwise rather cold looking concrete walls – before turning right to go towards the stairs.
Hendrick ignored the trail of small blood drops his father had left behind.
He took one deep breath before placing the first step on the dark oak staircase.
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Hendrick’s parents, as well as his little sister Lea, were already sitting on the round kitchen table as he descended the stairs. He sat down on his chair without gazing up, focused on his food as his family started eating while asking the usual questions:
“Did you sleep well, honey?” his mother asked, acting out great interest.
“Yes, mom…” he responded in a monotone manner.
“Are you looking forward to another great day at school?”
“Yes, mom…”
“Are you sorry?” His mother’s voice remained in the same calming, nice tone. The other family members didn’t react to the out of the blue question.
Hendrick stayed silent as his mother continued eating as if nothing had happened. He impaled a piece of pancake with his fork, chewing it slowly. It tasted like sponge.
He put down the fork, in an attempt to delay the inevitable fate nicely arranged in front of him. He wouldn't be able to handle eating this shit again. It had grown him tired long ago.
Another message-box popped up in his field of vision – the usual uncomfortable metallic sound attached to it – as the surrounding area froze. No eating sounds of his family, no forks or knives on plates, nothing.
“Warning! Proceed like usual or punishing measurements will be undertaken!”
Hendrick stared down the pile of strawberries resting on his plate, wanted to puke. He attempted to erase them with his gaze, but they didn’t budge. Hesitant fingers placed on the cool metal of the fork. After he picked one strawberry up, the box vanished as fast as it had appeared, and the metallic screeching sound, which had been slowly increasing in volume, disappeared together with it.
The eating sounds returned.
“You sure love your strawberries, son,” his father said. “Make sure to eat up! They are good for your growth and health.” His voice sounded like he was smiling, but Hendrick didn’t look up to prove this assumption.
“Big bro like berry! Lea like berry too!” Lea was around 3 years old. She stuttered around a bit if she attempted to construct more complicated sentences. At least that was what he had observed with the limited time he had spent with her so far. She wasn’t of any importance to his plan.
The grip around his fork tightened. “Yes, good job Lea. I looove strawberries!” Hendrick said with a hollow, cheerful voice. There was no use in pleading or refusing, playing along was the only option given.
After all the strawberries on his plate had been somehow decimated while almost vomiting at each bite he had taken, Hendrick got up and quickly crossed to the other end of the room. He fetched his school-bag from the wooden tiled floor, swung it onto his back. He then turned towards the front door located close to the kitchen and got ready to leave.
Sadly, one thing was left to be done before he would be allowed to leave the house. Still facing the floor, he could hear his mother’s footsteps limping closer. He saw her slippers and legs, but didn’t look up.
Some of her bare feet, which both had a deep round hole inside of them, were clearly visible. The pink fabric of her slippers could be seen at the bottom of the holes, pieces of splintered off bone exposed next to some blood covered parts of pale-white flesh. Skin belched out of the wound’s sides like a freshly exploded piece of cake.
Hendrick’s mother put her arms around him, holding him close in an affectionate, cold embrace.
Hendrick returned the embrace.
Seconds felt like ages.
She let go.
And he left as fast as possible.
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