In front of us lies the empty elevator shaft, behind us is the incinerator room. I take a step forward and look deep into the elevator shaft. It descends down into darkness, there seems to be no sign of the actual elevator. I look up and strain to look for it up as well, but no such luck. I can see a floor below us on the other side of the shaft where the elevator would pick up.

"You're not thinking of jumping down there, are you?" Tom asked me.

"I'm afraid we need to, Tom. There isn't any other way we can go."

"There isn't any button to call this stupid elevator," Grace said.

"I guess so," Tom said.

"I really don't think I can make that jump, guys," Grace said.

"Do you think you could use the cord as a sort of in between? Like, if you don't believe you can make it all the way, which, let's be honest I don't think any one of us is physically fit enough to jump that far," Tom said.

"Right," I said, thinking about it. "You'd have to have enough momentum pushing yourself forward to not get stuck on the cord and have a one way trip to the bottom."

"Ouch, that sounds like it'd kill your hands," Grace said, looking at her own mitts.

"Are you sure down's the only way to go? Like, really sure?" Tom asked.

I look back out into the shaft, holding the left column for support as I peek my head out. I don't see any opening for any of the elevator's passage as I look up, whatever it goes up for must either be way out of my vision or not exist at all. Why make the shaft go all the way up, then? "Yeah, I think down's our way to go, I can only see the one exit."

"Okay, well, then I guess I see we have no other option. I certainly don't have the strength to climb all the way up," Tom said.

"Neither do I. I'll go first, if that makes you both feel better," I said.

Look at me, offering to go first into a possible death trap. Have I really gotten this soft in the course of an hour? I mean, if I die here I'll at least be able to ask my parents in the afterlife why they left. Got to keep thinking positive I guess.

Tom nods his head and I turn to face the shaft. I swallow hard as I run forward, my legs running like tiny machines of their own will. They carry me as I leap forward, time seems to stop as I reach out. I nearly slam against the taut cords and I grip tight around, but I can't find a hold, so I begin sliding down. My hands begin to burn as I go down, and I see the other entrance approaching below.

I push off of the cord and reach my hand out and it slams down onto the edge of the entrance. I grip my fingers around the edge of the flooring and pull myself to my elbows, breathing hard as my hands burn from sliding. I lift myself up and roll onto the side. I'm on my back looking up and I can see the ledge I'd jumped from. Tom stands out over the edge about where I was standing only moments prior.

"You okay, man?"

"Yeah, my hands hurt like a bitch but I'm largely okay," I said.

"I don't think I can do that," Grace said.

"Yeah, I think I'm in agreement, you almost just barely made it," Tom said.

"Aw, come on guys. We really don't have much time to be arguing over little things like this," I said.

"Little? My life isn't a little thing," Grace said.

"Your choices are to sit there and do nothing, go back and be burnt to a crisp, or get the hell out of here."

"I know but, like, jeez, if I knew I'd be doing this shit I wouldn't have skipped cardio," Tom said.

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"I just wouldn't have gotten kidnapped, to be quite frank with you," Grace said.

"Touché," Tom said.

"Come on already," I said, standing up.

"Fine, fine. Since there is no other way I guess I can just freaking go. God this sucks so much."

Grace backs up to give him room.

"If I die here, well, just fuck. If I die anywhere it might as well be highlighting my greatest flaw, physical activity," he said.

"You'll be fine," I said.

"Yeah, you got this," Grace said.

He backs up and I can see him make a sort of cross shape crossed his chest.

Huh, I wouldn't have taken him for religious

He begins to run and I see him jump. His lanky arms swirling in circles as he grabs out for the cord. He grabs a hold with his right and swings around it and grips tight with his left. His grip must be really strong because he stops still and only slides down slightly. He fixes his grip and stops just before the entrance. I can hear his relief and I admit I am a bit relieved too. There's an echo from up above.

"Okay, you actually got the hardest part out of the way, now you just need to get over here, do you think you could start by swinging your legs?"

"I think so."

He begins to swing ever so slowly at first, he grunts as he holds on tighter to the cord. The noise from above grows louder, I can feel something rise out of my stomach.

"Uh, Tom, you might want to-"

It takes a second. But even then he doesn't react quick enough. The elevator shaft from up above falls and seems to stop on a dime right in front of me. I heard a sort of crack as it hit Tom, but I can't see him. The shaft is blocking the way. I hear Grace scream from across the shaft, it echoes up and down it and it rings through my body. Just like that my irritation for Tom was gone. All that was left to replace it is the corpse falling somewhere near the bottom of this building. I guess it's cruel coincidence that he happens to be the closest to getting out of here, yet his body will never get the chance. The elevator door begins to open slowly, it creaks kind of slowly at first and then all at once. Leto stands inside, still as bare-chested as before.

"Gavin, what happened? Are you still there?" Grace yells out.

"Yeah...I'm here, and so is Leto," I said.

"What?!"

She walks out to me, she's holding something in her hand, it looks like a card of sorts. She walks out slowly and hands it out to me. I'll admit it catches me off guard.

"What the hell did you bring us here for? Who are you and why have you-"

She stops me and places it in my hands before running off. I look down to it, it looks like a get well soon card. Drawn over the front is a little teddy bear with an eye stitched closed. On the inside it said "I'm so sorry for your loss! I really hope Thomas feels better soon!" All of it is preprinted into the card except for Thomas' name, which is scribbled in with some sort of marker. It seems Leto was prepared for someone to die in this shaft. "Grace, find some way down here! I'm going to catch this son of a bitch!" I yell running after her.

Just down the hall I speed up and I'm sprinting now to catch her. She stumbles through a doorway into an open lab, I catch up to her and grab at her arm. The second I make contact she spins around and I can see her head flying forward into me. I try to lean back but her head comes through anyway and smashes right into me, sending me toppling back. My vision wanes as I hit the ground, I struggle to my feet as she begins to continue down the hall. I reach out and manage to grab her by her ankle and she trips and lands on her face.

"Yes, no running away now," I said, crawling over her and pinning her arms down. She struggles to get free and I push down harder. "No, you aren't getting up. Now, you're going to be answering some of my questions," I said, breathing a little heavy.

She's silent, only staring up at me with a vacant almost-smile.

"Are you Leto?" I ask her.

She nods, her eyes unmoving.

"Okay, good. Now this is progress. Why did you bring us here? What is your aim?" I ask.

Silence.

"What did you do to me before? Why am I seeing these visions?"

Silence.

"Come on! Answer me!" I scream, pushing down on her harder and my right hand slips off of her arm. She wiggles it free and I grab hold of it, to hold it back, but it doesn't come at me like I expect it to. She actually reaches for her face, her eye specifically. She begins digging her hand into her eye, clawing at it, scraping.

She makes no noise, no sound of pain, but she looks absolutely awful, screaming with no sound. I try to pull her arm away, to get her to stop, she can't get out of this without answering me, but her grip is much stronger than mine. A thick white liquid begins to pour out of her eye socket. She brings a finger up to the liquid and dabs it on her finger like a paintbrush. She moves lightning quick, pressing her finger to me once more and like before I can feel my body go numb all at once.