Episode 5: Lost Labyrinth (1): Uncertainty (1)

I put my hand over my forehead and began to laugh slightly. "Ha. Ha. Ha..." Gradually, my voice began to raise, "Hahahaha!!!"

"Hey man, calm down."

"Calm down?"

"Yeah, calm down."

"Like hell I can calm down! I'm just a god damn idiot!" I slammed my fisted hand on my head. "Why did I not think of this sooner!?"

"Hey, stop. Regretting won't help."

"We could have..." I began to say sniffing a little. "We could have not wasted so much time and looked for Rose!!!"

"Hey, hey, did you hear what I said? Regretting now won't help." Sam placed the bandages into Rose's bag and slowly closed it.

Closing my eyes, teardrops fell down my face, like a waterfall, as I slammed the floor harshly; Sam flinched. He loosened his grip and the bag slipped out of his hands as it fell towards the ground. Bottles of pills rolled out from the unzipped bag. It rolled and followed the trajectory under the table.

"Argh!" Sam groaned. "What did you do!?"

"Ha...." I sighed calming down a little. "Sorry..." I lied down and looked under the table trying to find the medicine bottles.

It was a tight, dark gap and I couldn't see anything, not even the pills, but in the distance, I could see a line - a bright yellow line. I squinted my eyes a little and stared straight at it.

"Hey, can you hurry up? Let's get out of here quickly and find Rose," Sam said.

I didn't reply. I continued to look straight at the line of light. Slowly, I grabbed the pills and sat back up straight.

I glanced at the pills and said, "This is it."

"What?"

"Light."

"Light?"

"Where there's light, there's electricity..." I murmured.

"Hey, hey, what are you talking about now?"

I clenched my fist tightly on the pills and stood up looking into the ordinarily-looking walls. "There's something beyond this way. Perhaps... a security room? We can locate Rose."

"Wait, wait, wait. Wait a moment."

"What?"

"How did you come to this conclusion??? How do you know there's something behind this wall."

"The light. There's light underneath and behind this wall."

"Could it just be light coming from the outside?" Sam rolled his eyes. "Let's not waste more time."

"You're probably right... but this is the only way I can redeem myself, the only way to find Rose quickly if there is a security room here."

The cold, dark room began to dim as the flashlight ran out of power.

It was dark.

"Do I really want to risk this?" I thought to myself. "I can just run after her outside now. I think it's not too late still..."

I calmly recollected my thoughts and said, "Let's go."

* * *

Moments later, we managed to get past the wall and into the hidden room. The wall was able to rotate and revealed the elevator behind it. We had to push the cold, smooth table away first as it was in the way.

"Why is this even hidden?" I said.

"No idea. Well, it looks like we found our way in."

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

I walked forward and pressed the button. The display changed and the elevator was heading up towards our floor.

"This was similar to the time I went to Janda's accommodation..." I thought to myself.

"What?" Sam questioned.

"Ah," I replied. "Did I just say that out loud? Hahaha," I laughed scratching the back of my head. "What I mean is that there was also an elevator at my best friends accommodation. That's also where I met Rose..."

"So then, where is Janda?"

"I... I don't know."

"Haaaa?" Sam crossed his arms and glared at my doubtfully.

"I don't know. He just left us a message and-"

*Ding*

The elevator arrived on our floor and the silver door slowly opened up.

"Let's go," I said.

"Yeah."

We walked into it. As I pushed the first button, I noticed something odd; there were only four buttons. The open, close, 0 and -1 buttons. The door closed and we headed down.

* * *

Moments passed but we still had not arrived on the lower floor. It was like that time in the elevator back then; I was waiting and waiting as it ascended towards floor 20. But, this time, there were no ominous feelings.

"Hey, why's it taking so long?" Sam questioned.

"..."

We were drifting away from Rose. Away from the only clue we had about her whereabouts. My blood began to bubble.

"Did I make the wrong decision, again?" I blamed myself. I slammed my fist against the wall.

"Ugh!!!" Sam slammed his foot on the ground, at the same time, and the elevator shook a little producing a metallic, echoing sound.

We stood there. We didn't speak. It was silent and only the mechanical sound of the elevator could be heard.

"Damn it!" I yelled as I felt the elevator slowing down.

It halted and the door gradually opened.

The dark, endless corridor stood in front of us. We couldn't see anything beyond the void, but suddenly, the ceiling flickered and it was lit up. The navy-blue, matt walls and crystal-like, shining floor covered the area.

We walked slowly through the corridor. I looked around and up at the ceiling finding any security cameras, but there was none. It was as if they magically sensed us and turned on the lights for us.

Minutes passed but we were still walking. We didn't reach the end of the corridor.

"Man! How long is this corridor?" Sam said annoyingly.

"I thought there might have been a security room somewhere... sorry... it's not too late. We can-"

"It's too late! By the time we head back, it would have been like 20 mins already!"

I was speechless. Facts, truths, realities were pushed in my expressionless face; I couldn't say anything back. Everything was getting worse as time passed and I didn't dare to speak up with my fragile, little courage.

Sam looked back towards the front. "Hey, it looks like the corridor ends there."

I turned my head and pointed towards the end of the corridor. "Maybe around the next corner!"

I had slight hopes that it would be true but I knew I was fabricating lies to myself - to hide my guilt. My emotions, anger, they blinded me; I made the wrong decision. I couldn't hold it in any longer. My tears welled up and they began to fall down my cheeks unwillingly.

"I'm sorry..." I said quietly. "It's all my fault. I made the wrong call. I was too obsessed and ignored the facts, ignored the important things!"

"..."

"I should have listened to you... We should have gone back... I'm sorry Sam..." My hiccups deafened my hearing as I slowly muttered, "I'm sorry... Rose..." I put my arms across my eyes covering them. Gradually, I rubbed my eyes and I felt a painful sensation. My heart was being ripped apart. "It's painful..."

"Of course it is."

I glanced over at Sam. He was standing there looking at my arm.

"You're using your wounded arm to wipe your face... of course it would hurt."

"Is he right?" I thought to myself. I couldn't tell. My emotions were blurred. I couldn't tell if I was hurting physically or mentally anymore. I just felt devastated.

I leaned against the wall. "Damn it."