August 25th, 2016

I was home again.

A burning sensation ran across my body as I stood myself up. I grimaced in pain, but this wasn't the first time and I easily overcame it.

I was safe.

Again, I had survived, with more questions now than answers in my mind. The sun had peeked its head through my living room window.

People were alive out there in that world, whatever that was. My lips were parched as I groaned and stumbled myself to the kitchen to get some water. It seemed like Rainbow had still not returned, where had she gone was she lost? The realization dawned on me further about my situation without her being here. Opening the fridge, I grabbed a water bottle, unscrewed the cover and placed it towards my head. The rest was poured over my face.

Taking a deep breath the lingering heat left my body as I followed my routine. Push ups, breakfast, and then a bath. By the time I had finished it was 8 am. I grabbed my pants and a shirt from out of the drawer, not really to my liking, but would have to suffice for now. They were other pressing concerns at the moment. The head one was in the downstairs apartment.

Hearing a swarm of activity beyond my apartment door, I stepped outside to see a gathering of police by the old man's door. There was a loud knocking noise and no response. Followed by the door being hit open by what looked like a battering ram. Watching over the men pounding on the door was the same police officer that I had seen with Zora. His name slipped my mind.

Shifting my gaze from the scene, I focused my eyes towards where I was heading.It wouldn't be good to linger to draw any suspicion. When I reached downstairs, I walked and stopped outside Ash's apartment.

Sweat ran down my face as I lifted my arms up to knock on the door. I swallowed my saliva as my hands came pounding down on the door.

The door slowly rolled back and behind the door looking at me head-on with eyes of contempt was Ash.

I couldn't tell if she wanted to kill me here, but I needed some answers. The ones that only she had.

"Can we talk?"

"Why should I talk to you?"

"I need to understand what's going on... and about those people."

"Isn't that already obvious?"

"Not really, I didn't expect to see so many people in one place. Are you the one helping them survive?"

"Yes."

I looked left and right to make sure no one was listening. "Is your mom home? Can you let me in?"

"No, not here," she replied, "somewhere else give me one moment." She pulled in the door.

I waited for a while, looking around watching and hearing police moving back and forth from upstairs.

It wasn't long before she appeared again and closed the door. She kept an unsure look at me as she walked, placing herself in a strategic position in the car park in the line of sight of the police officers.

"So you wanted to talk? Here would do. What do you want?"

I looked around uneasily as the sun bared its weight on my forehead. The carpark was busy with the police in the area and the shifting of onlookers and people going to their cars.

"Well, why did you never tell me about all those people that live there and how are they so many people there?"

"Tell you? So that you could kill them later with your master? Are or you looking for more souls to sacrifice to save your own existence?"

"I..."

"I see exactly what you are and you play their game."

"That's not true, yes, I did something that I shouldn't off, but you can't judge me. I only acted in any way to save my life. I am trapped in a lion's den, how else should I respond. I don't want to die or see other people dying, but I had no choice. It was either him or me. What would you do in my position?"

Ash laughed at me. "In your position I have been going to that world for over a year. I just like you had a problem, someone, I wished I could be like." She squeezed her hand on her shoulder tightly. "She was great at everything and I was not. It was at that moment she came to me, this monster and gave me a drug and a choice."

"That was quite similar to my circumstances. Then you should understand my plight."

"Yes, I am sure it wasn't easy, but nothing in my life is. A mother who couldn't blink an eye at me, a father that was never home and a sister who was too into herself. Yet no one in that world I killed; I helped them instead. I had to make amends."

"What do you mean amends?"

She paused, looking up at the sky. "You remind me of her and the more I talk to you, the more I dislike you too. When I took it and went there, it was not without a condition... but even now I try to right that wrong that I made. Helping those I can but it's not enough and in the end, they change from being corrupted. Some people eat humans to survive and drink their blood. In that world that may come across as a nightmare."

My phone vibrated silently in my pocket.

"I was afraid too when I first went there... but unlike you, I sent no one there. I sacrificed no one to save myself, I accepted it. That's when I realized the more I went and survived that the scared little girl in me was gone. That part of me was gone, I was stronger, faster, and more determined to find a reason to keep living. That's when I helped to create that sanctuary. For those who get stuck in that world and provide for them as much as possible. Even the weak banded together can sometimes overpower the strong. The only thing I couldn't see or predict was the world itself and the impact it was having."

"What do you mean?"

"I was only easing their suffering like watching a patient in a hospital you know they're dying but there is nothing you can do. The more corrupted the person is, the faster they mutate in that world. People lost hope of going home and began relations with each other which brought with them, children."

She looked off into the distance. "I am merely easing their pain. What are the actual intentions of those demons? What exactly is that place? I always wonder each time I go. I searched and searched but can't find any clues to stopping it. Is that place our actual world and is it a place that we are looking at every day? What the hell do those demons want? That person, in particular, it's almost as if it's a great big game. I can sense your mark and I know there are others. How many more in total, I don't know. All I ask you, Domenic, is to don't give them what they want or I might have to kill you."

She left heading back to her apartment, leaving me with those words.

"Kill me, huh," I whispered as I looked back at the commotion behind me.

I pulled out my phone to see I had a miss called from Zora. A hand touched my back, it was the police officer that Zora knew I still couldn't remember his name as I turned around.

"Hey," he said to me," It seems this is turning into a missing person case. I just wanted to ask you some more questions now, especially since Zora isn't here."

I scratched my head, pretending to hide my face from the sun. "Yes, sure, no problem anything, in particular, you want to ask me."

"Yes, by chance did Mr. Buttersmith happen to have any enemies or anyone he didn't seem to get along with any particular habits you saw from him that seemed strange or different?"

"Ummm---"

"Take your time now, don't rush it, anything you say might be useful."

"Well, I haven't noticed him harbouring any aggression nor enemies towards anyone. He seemed like a rather reserved person. We spoke now and then on a morning. We weren't the closest, but we were cordial. He never seemed to carry much company. I don't know if any of what I am saying is helpful."

"Ah, okay thanks, I will ask around some more in case just was wondering. Thank you for your time." He said as he walked away.

"Sure, no problem."

My phone vibrated against me as I sat sheltered within Betty.

"Hello."

"Ah Mr. Domenic, Eric here, I was just wondering how your new life was feeling? I came across a proposition for a new home recently and I thought you might be interested. If you aren't busy, you can swing by today and we can go look at it together."

"Ok, no problem, I will be there soon."

I slammed Betty's door and made my way to the lawyer's office. It took a little while before I was there, the traffic was heavy this morning. I parked Betty in the crowded carpark and headed into the office. A queue of people were lined outside the building. No doubt here to engage in a dispute over losing their jobs.

I pulled out my phone and called him. "I am here."

"Great I will be outside in about five minutes."

I opted to stand instead of sitting down as I twitched and fiddled myself in one place.

Finally, Eric came walking out, a smile on his face as his hand greeted mine.

"Come," he said leading me back outside. We walked for a while until he got to his car. He pointed towards it and opened the passenger door. It was clean and smelt of money."Get in."

I got inside the car and glanced at the area where I had parked Betty. I wonder what this house would look like.