The Passion House

IX (Part I)

Steven marches towards that stranger who closed the door.

“WHY THE f**k DID YOU DO THAT?!” as his fist flies towards that man’s jaw making the latter cuss under his breath and slouch because of pain. “WHAT IF WE COULD HAVE SAVED HIM?!” Steven throws another punch. We can’t blame him though, he has just seen the love of his life being crushed by a huge hanging wall speaker out of nowhere and right in front of his eyes. Steven needs an outlet to let his frustrations go. Unluckily, it’s that man. The stranger’s face starts to bleed as fists continue attacking him. He must have felt guilty for what he has done as he does not even dare to lift his arms to protect himself. “We had so many plans that we needed to do yet those will not happen anymore,” Steven pauses as he felt his limbs slowly get tired so he can only sit on the ground. He runs his fingers to his hair and he looks up to see the man who has closed the door. “because of you.” 

Steven is crying. 

We are all crying.

How did our night become like this?

“Stevie,” Stacey crawls toward his brother and hugs him from behind despite the injury she has acquired. She’s crying, too. Our sobs are synchronous in this empty white room of stairs.

“I’m sorry,” we hear the man’s humble voice crack as he breaks the silence, “but someone had to do it or else...” he trails off... “We would have lost you, too, if you ran to there.” He says. 

“I don’t want to lose you, Stevie,” Stacey whispers to her brother. 

Thank God my brother is not here, I realize. Or else I do not know what I would do if we are stuck in this situation, together. 

There is this thing about siblings. You see, even though we argue every time, I will give a kidney to him if he needs it.

“Guys? I think we should find a safe space so we can formulate a plan. And this place definitely is not the best area,” the unnamed woman reminds us.

“Right,” I tell them while trying to compose myself. “I have something to say, I know how we can leave this place.”

“You said that these stairs lead to the rooftop,” he asks me.

“We are 2 floors underground so this building has 5 stories. If we aim to go to the rooftop, we have to go now,” the nervous girl tells us. 

Slowly, we all stand up. Steven carries Stacey on his back as Yohanne helps them to their feet. Steven’s mood obviously has changed. His blue eyes have gone cold and his mouth is firm. He looks very different from how I have met him before- with Melvin, he’s really playful and carefree. I reach out to him and hold his arms. He looks at me. I give his arm a light squeeze and him a sad smile. He returns it with something fake, too.

I do not know what he is thinking. He sure is sad right now. But you see, we have this ray of hope with us, that the people who have died here could have just woken up in real life. However, seeing them lose their lives right in front of our eyes is really terrifying. Also, this place feels so real and as I lost the rush of adrenaline, I can now feel the faint pain in my right torso. I touch it and look at my hands, it is bleeding. 

No... I think to myself. I look at Stacey and her leg. We should leave this place as soon as possible.

Slowly, we climb the stairs in silence. Nothing but the sound of our footsteps can be heard in the room. I hold on to the frame tighter as I feel the pain slowly feel like it is tearing my side. 

I have to be strong for everyone here... and for my mom... and for my brother back home. I chant within myself. How did I even get this?

It feels like ages until we have reached the door to the rooftop. Yohanne turns the doorknob and I can hear my fellow survivors' breath a sigh of relief. 

We are finally safe.

The rooftop is empty. It seems like we are the only ones who might have escaped from the bar unless there are also some exit points that we have not noticed from there. Steven lays his sister on the bench near us.

“So... what are we going to do now?” the shivering girl asks us while both of her hands are clenched together.

“The usual exit from this dream is to wake up by sunrise, but this nightmare seems so real that it actually affects our perception now,” the unnamed man tells me. “Do you think there is any possible way to wake up?”

“I asked my attendant back in the real world earlier if there is any way that we can wake up aside from waiting for the sunrise,” I tell them. “And she told me that we should go and find a mirror that reflects us and that is the portal to reality.”

“But we don’t see our reflection at the mirrors here. How can we find it?” the serious unnamed girl asks me.

“That’s actually pretty simple,” I answer, “I suspect that everyone’s mirror is located in our own rooms. I have found mine in my own suite here inside the hotel. It is that vanity mirror.”

“Oh right!”

“We should go there now,” the unnamed man tells us, “but how?”

“We do not know what is happening outside. What if the entire hotel has turned black now?” Yohanne asks

“We still do not know who and what causes this yet so there could be danger anywhere if we go back inside?”

“Our safety is not ensured.”

“While we were climbing up the stairs, I saw a door that I think will lead to the lobby. That must be the easiest route as it is the only available door for us aside from that door to the bar,” Steven says. “We can always run.”

“That’s too far,” the anxious girl interjects and what she has said makes us silent. That’s true. She has been silent since we have started to share some ideas on how to escape this place.

She’s not wrong but seeing Stacey and everyone’s state right now, we have to do everything to leave this place.

“There’s no assurance that if we die here, our actual bodies will also die in reality,” she adds. “So I’m thinking... what if we kill ourselves here instead?”

No~ I hear a whisper.

Don’t do that.

And this unnamed girl takes out a broken chunk of glass from nowhere to show it to us. She seems to be hiding it from us from the start.

Is she implying that we should commit mass suicide?

“Have you been carrying that, Sid?” the unnamed girl asks the woman with the glass. 

So, her name is Sid?

“What if we wake up if we kill ourselves here? That there is actually a better option than that mirror because we won’t have to run from place to place?” Sid tells us with tears in her eyes. “What if... we can always wake up now?”