012 — NO WAY OUT.

🦪DALE LAZARUS 🦪

I drive straight to Umbra, with one thing on my mind: the picture of Dora lying numb on the ground, looking lifeless. The fear of losing someone I cherish more than my life wraps around my head, my heart feeling so heavy I can’t explain it, like a thousand iron balls pulling me down. “I won’t lose my baby,” I murmur to myself as I badge into Umbra.

I open the door to the empty dark room, which has another door with a slot hole, the only place light emerges from.

“It’s The Reaper! Umbra’s number one!” a voice hails, followed by applause. “Although you are our top one, and you hold so much value, you can still be punished for breaking the rules. I told you not to ever think of coming back here.”

“You sent me the pictures, didn’t you?” I retort. “If you didn’t want me badging here, you shouldn’t have sent it.”

A short chortle escapes his lips, “Oh that… I just wanted you to see her progress, amazing, right? It’s the first time you have a weakness, I feel very satisfied, exploiting it.”

“What can I do for you to let her out? I want her erased from the history of this blood sucking organization, so tell me, I’ll do anything,” I mutter, breathing heavily.

Umbra clicks his tongue, “Nothing, Reaper. You know, I never thought she was going to survive or be useful that much, but now, she’s currently investors' favorite. We even got a large amount of tips after the fight. They kept laughing when she kept running out of the ring, having a lady who’s that little and weak, facing men is so thrilling. And in business, you have to give investors what they want. The good news is, she survived this one. I can’t promise you she’ll survive the next one. As you know, Umbra doesn’t interfere or favor anyone in a fight; whoever dies is up to fate.”

“I’ll find a way,” I growl, “I want her out, and I’ll find a way for her to do that.”

A devilish laugh vibrates in the air, “She can't get out. No, I will never let her go. We need her here; she remains here until she dies. You know what happens to those who back down from a fight. Once she gets the umbra card, the person you are trying so hard to protect would be dead. Umbra will see to that. I will personally lead the operation of her elimination.”

“She’s just a child,” I whisper sadly. “She has a good future ahead of her. Why are you trying to take that away from her?”

“Leave Reaper! We don’t care about children here,” Umbra says in a dry tone. “After all, she signed the contract on her own.”

“You can leave now, Reaper,” he adds. “Please fuck off, calling security would leave a large trail of your blood, it’d be such a mess.”

I get up to leave when the room begins to spin away from me. The light emerging from the slut hole melted first, then the solid forms in the dark room dissolved into streaks of meaningless colors. Everywhere blurs.

I blink hard, but it only seems to make things worse, forcing my lids almost shut until my eyes are nothing but thin, miserable slits fighting for a pinprick of focus.

Suddenly, a fine, searing wire snaps inside the confines of my skull. It isn’t loud, not in the way thunder or shouting is loud, but it is absolute. It is a sharp, tiny sound, like a high-pitched screech that happens when a microphone picks up the amplified sound coming from its own speaker, creating a continuous loop.

It isn’t heard by the ears but felt directly by the brain, a precise, silver ting.

My legs, which had been holding me upright a moment ago, decide they are done, and I fall back to the ground.

It took a while before I got back to normal, this time longer than the first time it happened.

“What is this?” I thought, just while I was in a world of my own, Umbra’s voice swallowed the air.

“You should see a doctor; almighty Reaper looks like he’s beginning to fade away. With the way you look, I don’t know if you'll walk out or be carried out of the ring during your next fight. Although I do wish you’d walk out of it, you look more like someone who’d be carried out, wrapped in white clothing. I mean… dead.”

“Where is she?” I struggle to ask, dragging myself from the cold floor.

“I wouldn’t know,” he retorts coldly. “All I know is she barely walked out, her eyes were slammed shut, she probably collapsed somewhere, but she has left Umbra.”

“If that answers your question, then please leave and never show your scary face here again.”

I lean closer to the slot hole, gawking straight into the hole, "Umbra," I begin. "The next time I'm here, I won't be here to show you my face or lay silly complains, guess what I'd be here for?"

I rush back home in search of Dora, but she is nowhere in sight. Panic set in as I began to think of multiple places where she could be, ignoring every negative thought that whispered of her passing out on the street.

In no time, after running around like a madman, rain begins to fall, and I find Dora lying on her father’s grave, beaten by the rain.

She didn’t move, or tried to take cover, she just slept there, under the sky, weak, covered in bruises, and shivering from the harsh cold that covered her. I sometimes wonder if she is really scared of rain.

"Dora..." I call softly to check if she was conscious, hoping against hope and praying so desperately she was conscious.

As soon as Dora notices me from the corner of her swollen eyes, she whispers, “Dad… Why does rain fall when I’m miserable? But somehow, this time it’s giving me strength, or am I just imagining things? Is it because I'm close to death? Everything is beginning to feel good, is that a bad sign?”