Trapped

Down a snowy slope, with a group of friends, though I don’t really recognize them from anywhere. Sometimes, a man (whom I shall call Zaraki-sama) would be there, but not quite. 

We came to the edge of a low cliff, and below, a troop of enemies marched. We were not supposed to be seen, so we held on with all our might to keep from falling. 

However, I was in front, and I fell. As I did, I tried to float, and instead I gently flew towards a group of banana trees nearby, near the mouth of the cave to where the troop marched. I tried my best to hide, but eventually, some enemies, who stood by to watch the troop, saw me. I was hoping my friends would come rescue me, but some also fell, and were caught. 

We were all brought through the cave. On the other side, was a dark snowy city. 

It was like a secret world, only to people that are like them. I’m not sure what was strange or different about them. Eveything looked pretty normal. In fact, the city was snowy yet very beautiful and the tiny lights gave life to everything. 

I ended up with one or two other friends (sometimes one, other time there’s two of them), and we were brought to a mall. It was past mall hours so one of the malls becomes some kind of headquarters where prisoners are looked after. 

I knew we were never going to get out. That even if we managed to leave the building, we would always be in the city. And the daylight was ages away. In the city, the nights were much, much longer. 

All the doors of the mall were automatic sliding doors. However, they won’t open for us. It only detects people from the city. I think they had something in them or wore a small gadget that made them detectable by the machine. But I knew it was one of the things that made them different. They are all part of this system and they live on it and feed on it, and are protected by it. I felt so alienated. 

After a while, I and my friend were allowed to be on our own, but still within the mall. We came to a door which won’t open for us, of course. I was starting to panic because I felt that we could be used for experiments, given that they are contiually developing their city by every means possible. 

Then we came to a series of sliding doors. Near each of them was an old lady who was either standing by or passing by. The first old lady looked at us and walked past the door, causing it to open, so we went through. Nobody noticed, so we realized we just might be able to escape, look for the cave, run through it, and come back to our own world. 

I looked back and saw that the old lady went back to the spot where she stood. It was like she just passed by to make the doors open for us, but she didn’t say anything so she would not be blamed. Then came a next door. Another woman, who looked pretty much the first one, was on her way out, so as the door opened, we followed her immediately. Just one more door and we were out in the streets. 

Another lady was standing nearby and we quickly apologized while gently dragging her towards the door, then running out as it opened. 

We couldn’t find the cave and were not sure where to look. The whole city is their world, and we have nowhere to go. Even the trees were not safe hiding places. They had detectors which can identify life forms hiding in trees. 

Then there was a huge black brick building. It was like the city hall, and there were people in front of it celebrating something. In a while, there would be fireworks.

We stood at the corner of the building. We realized that a tree stood right at the corner of it. We climbed. At the top of the tree, I looked up and saw that we might be able to hide ON TOP of the building, on its roof. I knew that people won’t look at the top of the building, and if we crouched low, no one would notice us. We can travel safely from there.

Suddenly, children were down below, playing. One of the girls, a skinny girl in a pink shirt, started climbing the wall. She was telling her friends that she will show off to her family (from among the crowd) that she can stand at the top of the building and not be scared.

My friend and i decided to get up really quickly, before the attention of the crowd was brought to us. Suddenly. I found loops of rope embedded in the bricks, which will make it easier for me to hold on to it as I climbed.

However, the girl was on the way and I had to wait for her to climb up. The children didn’t mind us being there, as long as they didn’t realize we were not one of them.

After she got up, she ran towards the center of the building to wave at her parents. My friend and I managed to quickly get to the roof and crouch. That way, even if they looked up, all they would see is the girl.

On the roof deck, we looked for some place to hide.

I saw a part of the roof, and I knew it was hollow inside, so we can hide in there until the event was over. The roof was made up of the glossy pages of a fashion and makeup magazine. If the wind blew too hard, it would fly off from our heads. 

I sat underneath, and my friend found a hole that lead to the kitchens. He was going to get food for the both of us. I decided to worry about bathroom and clothes later on. 

He was taking so long so I decided to follow. However, he was already seen by someone, and that someone ran to alert the others. He told me to climb up quickly and to stay under the roof no matter what. He will run off to some other place away from me, to distract them. Whether they catch him or not, I should just go on. He will lead them away from me so I can be safe. 

I sat under the magazine page roof and I think I cried. 

Suddenly, I was tired and sleepy. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. If before that, I knew things like people won’t look at the top of buildings and stuff, by that time, I didn’t know anymore. 

Just then, my friend came back, and he held a knife set. He was panting and he showed me the set. It was a cute pink container, and inside it were two knives. He told me that they knew where I was hiding anyway, so he decided to just come to me and we can try to escape, or just get caught together. But he didn’t want me caught. So he offered the knife to me. He said it would be better if we just killed each other at the same time. 

The offer came to me as such a sweet relief. I almost cried because of gratitude at his wonderful idea. I was exhausted, and knew I could no longer go on. 

We held a knife each. He held it towards me - I’m not sure if it was on my leg or my stomach (I was sitting on the floor) - and I held it to his neck. He was going to count. Just before he came to three, our other friend, the one which was vaguely there since the beginning, arrived. He was very calm and asked what we were doing and why. He was trying to say that the city people’s plans for us shouldn’t be so scary and that we should wait and see. 

My friend with the knife knew, and I knew because I read his mind, that this vague friend wanted to stop us because he wanted to give up my knife friend to the people, but was planning to save me and compromise with them so that they don’t take me and him, and instead just take my knife friend. 

Before he could take steps to come closer, my knife friend stabbed me on the leg. I knew instantly I was going to die of blood loss. I immediately started feeling weak. He gave me a look that said I should stab him on the neck already, and that I shouldn’t look if it pains me. 

As I pushed at the knife blade through his neck, I woke up.