??? — "Hmm"
He slowly opened his heavy eyelids, but could distinguish nothing. He was crouched in total darkness; the only thing he could hear was a constant, depressing sound that pierced his chest every time it echoed.
A sound like water dripping from a half-closed faucet.
Ploc ploc pl—
A metallic, unbearable smell filled his nose.
Under his hands, there was something… He wanted to know what it was.
He ran his hands over the surface of the floor.
It was… cold… sticky… liquid?
His heart sped up. He tried to sit up, but slipped backward, his body soaking into the sticky, slimy liquid.
??? — "Ouch"
He was out of breath, as if he had just run a marathon.
His memory was empty. A single thought came to mind.
「What am I supposed to do?」
??? — "Get up, kid! You must get out of here quickly—for our survival."
His breath caught. He froze. A voice had just interrupted his thoughts? Questions flooded his mind.
「Someone spoke? From where? Here? Us? Is there someone else? But where am I anyway? Was he talking to me? Survive?」
The voice came again, more commanding.
??? — "I'll say it again—get up!"
Terrified, fear took control over his thoughts. His memory still silent, he had nothing to hold onto. He obeyed almost out of desperation, gathering all the strength he could find in his legs. He managed to stand, though barely.
He wiped his hands on his pants, as if to erase every sensation, and began to walk as best he could. Each step brought more questions. The sound was getting closer.
His legs trembled as he suddenly stepped back. A faint sound—he had bumped into something? The darkness prevented him from seeing.
The only way was to check.
He crouched and picked up the object. Feeling around, his fingers pressed a button. A blinding light burst forth.
Startled, he fell backward, dazzled.
「That scared me… It was just a flashlight.」
Now holding the flashlight, he pointed it at the floor—and his face slowly twisted into a grimace.
「This liquid… blood? Why here?」
??? — "Alright, I told you to get up and get out of there fast, otherwise he might come back and we won't have any escape left."
The words were simple. The action even simpler. They should have been enough. Yet he searched for some reason to doubt, something that contradicted the voice's urgency. He found nothing but uncertainty—and that wouldn't take him far. Standing still brought no answers, only wasted time.
He took a short breath, weighing the pros and cons. If he was alone, following a stranger's voice would be suicide. As parents often say: don't talk to strangers, don't listen to them.
But if, in this case, he wasn't alone—if that voice was here to help… to guide him—then maybe not listening would be worse?
He gathered his courage and shone the flashlight around him, scanning every corner of the room.
「A bed… a wardrobe… posters? I don't recognize the person on them. It looks like a bedroom, but it's not mine, I'm sure of it… or at least I think. And there—a door?」
He approached what looked like a door, fingers tightening around the flashlight. His head muttered theories.
??? — "As soon as you open that door, run with all your strength… We need you…"
Boy? — "Who the hell are you?! And who am I, exactly? What am I doing here?"
The boy searched his memory, but found no answer to any of those questions that seemed so essential.
「If he's lying… it's a trap. If he's telling the truth… then I need to act.」
??? — "That's not what matters right now—we'll deal with that later."
The reply was curt. But what could he do? Survival came first, right? He didn't like giving in, but he liked even less the idea of staying there, motionless, waiting for a silent death.
「If it's a mistake, I'll realize it soon enough. But I need to move.」
Hesitant, he opened the door anyway and began to run. Not out of trust—but because standing still was worse: an option that led nowhere.
As he ran, he slammed two or three doors behind him, each crash echoing through the hallway.
The red liquid streaked the floor like a trail. The darkness and dull walls made every corridor colder.
Eventually, he found a window and stopped, panting. He looked through it. And then—his face froze.
「What is that sky… so dark… and the moon? It's red?! Is it night? And those lights behind the moon, what are they? You can even see the clouds a bit lower.」
Still stunned, he was staring at a landscape he had never seen before.
The moon was the most striking—bright, glowing with a vivid blood-red hue that clashed with the dark sky. The clouds reflected the same crimson glow, creating a suffocating atmosphere. The sky was pierced by tiny flickering lights. Stars? He couldn't remember.
He looked down and realized he couldn't see the lowest point. Looking closely, it seemed like he was inside a building—but he couldn't be sure.
Boy? — "What the hell is happening here?"
??? — "Hmm, that scenery looks unnatural. Gives me chills. Honestly, I have no idea what's going on here, but you'd better get out as fast as possible."
The voice sounded honest in its ignorance. Strangely, that reassured him. If the voice could admit it didn't know everything, maybe it wasn't trying to manipulate him…
Boy? — "Yeah, you're not wrong. I'll try to do that… even if I'm not sure how."
??? — "That's true. Actually, no—you should probably try finding something to survive with, because you… well, we're going to have to stay here for a while."
「We? Who is he talking about? Him and me?」
??? — "And as you probably noticed while running, there doesn't seem to be any electricity. And judging by those clouds, jumping isn't an option. So we'll need to find a way down. We'll probably find stairs somewhere."
There was logic in those words: if the outside was as abnormal as it looked, the urgency to prepare became real. Finding food, shelter, understanding where he was—those seemed the right things to do. The voice, mysterious as it was, had just given him a path to follow.
He started walking again, with a bit more confidence—though some distrust remained.
Boy? — "Yeah… I see, thanks. I'll try that. But now that your so-called danger doesn't seem to be here, you can answer my questions and give me more info, right?"
He kept walking. The voice replied more candidly:
??? — "Yes, indeed. To put it simply, I am you and you are me. Your name is Mike, and I don't know what we're doing here either—I feel like I've forgotten."
A name was given to him: Mike. It wasn't a great revelation, just a small piece of identity to cling to.
「He's me and I'm him? What is he talking about? Mike? That name sounds familiar. He's probably telling the truth. For now, I'll follow what he says… but I don't trust him.」
??? — "I can also tell you that you're not the only one here, and the others might have more information."
「The others? Who are they supposed to be now?」
??? — "And… I think I forgot my name. So call me the voice for now—it'll be simpler for us."
Mike — "Tss, fine. The voice."
After the hallway, he found a half-open door. It looked like an abandoned apartment.
His stomach growled and, almost instinctively, he headed straight for the kitchen. He scanned the room with his flashlight, and as soon as he saw a cupboard, he opened it. Inside were some biscuits, which he devoured as if he hadn't eaten in days.
Full now, exhaustion overtook him. He walked to the bedroom, collapsed on the bed in front of him, and fell into a deep sleep.
Voice? — "I think I forgot to warn him about something important… Oh well, we'll see when he wakes up."
His body began to move slightly in the shadows…