Exit

Leo

I woke up quite confused when I realized I was inside a closet with Casey, she had a little flashlight in her hands and an apple holding her other hand.

—Where'd you get it? —Leo asks as he watched the apple.

—One of the shadows left her in every room, I had to be very cautious so she wouldn't see me, we have to hurry because she'll realize we took her. You must be hungry, you eat it —Casey explains, as she pokes her head all over the room.

—Thank you, what happened? —Leo asks as he rubs his eyes.

—You fainted from the high fever you had. Don't thank me now, we have to be united to get out of here together —Casey replies as he smiles at Leo.

—But how are we going to get out of here, we haven't seen an entrance or exit since we got here —Leo says.

—Then we'll have to make one —Casey replies determinedly.

—Even so, we are not in our world, how will we return? —Leo insists.

—How can you be sure of that? —Casey asks curiously.

—I can't explain it as such, but I know and I can feel like we're not in our world, plus sometimes I think I see my mom —Leo replies a little embarrassedly.

—Maybe they're hallucinations from such a high fever —Casey replies, trying to find a logical answer.

—Since before I had the fever, I saw her —Leo insists.

—Well, first you have to recover, so we can find a way out together —Casey replies as he caresses Leo's hair.

It took a few days for me to make a full recovery, those days were almost eternal and I almost thought I wouldn't make it, Casey took care of me all the time and brought me the fruits that left the shadows in each of the rooms. Casey had to go to the other rooms so the shadows wouldn't find us and so that I wouldn't move so much, we both took care of each other and shared the little food they left us.

We were constantly changing rooms, but we never got to see the exit or the front door, although I was under the impression that Casey was hiding something from me about the exit. The rooms of the house were very similar all to each other as if the house had infinite doors and endless corridors with shadows that were constantly hanging around. Nothing made sense in this place and I constantly asked myself if there would be more people here with us.

—Leo, how do you see your mom? —Casey asks curiously.

—I don't know, she just seems out of nowhere, sometimes she just shuts up and watches me, and sometimes she tries to talk to me, but the shadows come up when that happens and they won't let me continue the conversation with my mom. I miss her as much as Dad, I wish this was just a nightmare and when I woke up I'm home to my parents again —Leo says sadly.

—Believe it or not, I also miss my home and my mom, despite the conflicts and all that I just want to go home, but she thought she doesn't think the same way I do, maybe she's better off without me and isn't even looking for me —tears fall from her eyes as she sobs.

—Hug Casey —I don't know what troubles happen in your house, but even if she's not looking for you, I can assure you that someone else is and like me, we'll never leave you Casey because you've become my family since you started taking care of me —Leo says as he looks at Casey.

—But if you have parents waiting for you at home and I don't, my brother was my only family and now he's alone —Casey sobs.

—My family can help you, in our house, you can come and stay —I promise I will convince my parents to let me take you and your brother —Leo says.

—Leo, I haven't told you everything —Casey says a little embarrassed.

—Is it about the exit of this place? —Leo asks curiously.

—I didn't want to scare you, but I saw something that can help us, only it's very dangerous and even I got scared when I saw it —Casey explains.

—Can you tell me, please? —Leo asks kindly.

—Before I meet you, I just know there's a room where we all go when the shadows find us, but going there means losing the game and you don't know exactly what that means —Casey explains as quietly as she can.

—I understand, how surrounded is it? —Leo asks as he imagines the room.

—That time I walked in without knowing, but there weren't many shadows just a lot of corpses, I think that room is key Leo and we can find out something, but I don't want to risk you without first thinking about other options —Casey says as he takes Leo by the arm.

—Now we're in 0 there's no other option and we don't know if they can rind us in a world like this —Leo reasonably says.

—We can still find someone else here, maybe there's someone else stuck with us, and then we could think about how to get into that room —Casey replies as he tries to calm the situation down.

Without realizing it we fell asleep together, after talking about this whole red room situation, I hugged her and I was left thinking that we can't wait any longer to get out of this place, even if we have to risk everything, it's not fair for Casey to have to put up with more painful things, she and her brother could stay at my house, she's very big and if I got in the way of getting in her way out of here I wouldn't hesitate as long as my parents help her, they would receive her with her brother very well and even treat her like a few more children, I know that it hurts her to talk about what's going on in her home and that's why I want to help her as she helped me and probably does because she reminds her of her younger brother.