Uncovering Fables
Chapter Part 3.4
And soon, we found ourselves in a long hallway with doors along the walls. To get here, we walked through a door at the end of the tunnel we ran though moments before and as soon as we walked in, Maria closed the door behind us, breathing heavily. The hallway must have once been a nice place for the samurai to stay but now the dark place was nothing but decay. Human remains were scattered across the ground and the walls were smeared with blood. Tables, and large rocks were stacked by some of the doors nearby and Maria slowly pointed to them.
She whispered softly. “We should stack those against this door. Hopefully that will slow down that monster if it wakes up.”
I slowly nodded and I quickly started to help Maria carry a table to the door. I wasn’t much help for I was weak, but Maria was able to carry a lot of it to the door to block it off. After several minutes, I placed a table against the giant pile we had against the table and I breathed out heavily.
Maria noticed me breathing a lot and she looked at me worried. “Do you need to rest? W-We have been moving around a lot.”
I quickly shock my head, stumbling against the wall. “N-No, we need to get out of here. I… I can continue walking. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’m going to worry.” Maria looked back at the blockade that we built up against the door. “We might be able to afford a few minutes. Come let’s go sit down.” Maria slowly took my hand and despite me shaking my head, we walking into one of the first rooms in the hallway.
It was dark, so we couldn’t see much but through the light of the lantern, we saw a few things. A low table and lines of mats on the ground along with many supplies scattered across the ground that must have been for medical purposes. I guess we were in the healing quarters, but did that really matter at this point?
Maria lead me to a mat and slowly lowered me to it so I could sit. Maria sighed and sat nearby, crossing her legs in front of me and gently grabbed my leg in encouragement. She weakly smiled to me and I slowly returned it back. This made Maria smile a little more and it made me grin too.
Maria looked around and tried to joke around. “You know… when I said I wanted to bring you to Japan, I wanted you to meet my family not see all of this.” Maria weakly chuckled.
I smiled a little at this. “W-Well, um… if we make it out of here, you’ll have to bring me there sometime.”
“When we make it out of here and sure. That sounds like a lot of fun. I would love for everyone to meet you and…. And um…”
I spoke softly. “And what?...”
Maria quickly stopped herself and looked away. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired… I… I wish I could sleep but that’s a bad idea. Just this is all so hard. I want to get out of here, Maria. I just want to leave. And… and… I w-want…” As tears swelled in my eyes, my throat tightened and I was no longer about to speak. I started flapping my hands, trying to calm myself down and get myself to breath but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do this anymore. The dragon was still alive, the cave was falling apart and we didn’t know how we were going to leave.
“W-We’re going to die. We’re going to die.” I said this softly to myself, not meaning to say it out loud.
Maria quickly hugged me when I said this. “No, no, we’re not going to die. I would never let you die like that, Penny. I could never let that happen to you. You need to know that.” I slowly looked away, but Maria slow and gently made me look back at her. “No, you need to know something, Penny… I won’t let you get hurt. I would fight through heaven and hell before something harms you. Okay? Please understand that. You will be safe and you will get out of here without a scratch.”
I still couldn’t speak but I understood Maria, I just wished I could do the same for her. I wish I could be strong and brave like her. I wish I could have done something. Maria did everything for me and… and I leached off of her. I took everything from her without doing anything in return.
No wonder she…
If only I was better…
I could have…
No…
I should have…
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