16, Illusions and Terror. Part 2

I opened my eyes after bracing myself to see what kind of hell this next illusion would bring me into.

Much to my surprise, unlike the past 2 times, I was now indoors

Inside of a wooden building to be more precise, likely the basement since I didn't see a door out.

The thick beams wider than my body supported the roof above me and there were several more perpendicular to the ground holding them up.

This hypothesis seemed to be correct since there was a staircase in a corner which I saw when I left the alcove lined with shelving containing various foodstuffs sealed in clear jars.

I made my way to the stairs cautiously.

I thought that it would be too soon for something major to happen but I was just on the off chance something else was down here.

It turned out that my caution was unnecessary because I reached the staircase without any issue.

I started walking up the staircase cautiously testing each step before trusting it with my weight.

There were no booby traps on the steps either, surprisingly this seemed to be a pretty mundane illusion so far.

At the top of the stairs I opened the door and walked into an open room with some small furniture and 2 hallways.

A second later a woman walked into the room.

She had long dark hair which had sparse gray hair mixed in and several wrinkles on her face but she seemed to be a kind older lady.

She was wearing an apron that had several stains on it and she had some white flour on her face in a few spots.

I inferred that she was making bread or some other kind of baked goods.

"Did you get the pickles?"

She had a kind voice but I was unsure if she was talking to me.

"Looks like you didn't. Jacqueline can you help, oh I'm sorry dear i've forgotten your name. What was it again?"

I guess she is talking to me.

"It's Ed."

I gave her a fake name without putting much thought into it.

"Right, of course it is. I'm sorry Ed. Jacqueline! Get out here!"

A few seconds later a little girl came running into the room, she had dark hair like her mother and couldn't have been older than 7.

"Hi mom! Hi Ed!"

"What were you getting into this time?"

There was some soot on the side of the litter girl's nose, her mother licked her thumb and wiped it away.

"Mom!"

"Oh shush, if you don't want me to do this you need to keep yourself clean."

The little girl Jacqueline just puffed up her cheeks as she had no choice but to put up with it until her mother was satisfied.

"There, you are all clean. Now go to the basement with Ed and get the pickles, he seems to have forgotten where they are."

"Ok!"

Jacqueline was ecstatic to be out of her mothers clutches and replied in a sing-songy voice.

"Come on Ed! I'll show you where they are!"

She grabbed my hand and pulled me back down towards the basement steps, where I had left the door open.

It seemed I had little choice in the matter but I didn't fight her tugging, after all who can resist someone this adorable.

All the way down the stairs and to the shelf with pickles Jacqueline nattered away about everything that crossed her mind.

She had talked about everything from the other kids in the village and the games they would play together, to the favorite things her mom has made for her to wear and her favorite foods.

Needless to say I had gotten to know this little bundle of energy quite well in the several minutes it took to get to the correct shelf.

"The pickles are up there on this shelf! They are just too high up for me."

I hadn't ever really dealt with kids before but I had seen enough anime to know what I should do.

"Do you wanna get them for me? I'll pick you up so you can reach the shelf."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

She faced the shelf and lifted her arms in the air.

I went behind her and picked her up under the arms and held her high enough to grab a jar of pickles off of the shelf.

"I got it!"

I set her back down and she gave me a big smile that melted my heart.

I took the pickle jar from her and grabbed her hand and started our walk back to the main floor.

Jacqueline skipped her way to the stairs and jumped up each one two feet at a time.

Watching her made me reminisce on how good it was to be carefree, that is until I realized that this is basically how all kids should act and that I should remember this for when I exit the illusion.

This caused me to stop.

This wasn't real.

Jacqueline tugged my hand, she seemed to be annoyed at my standing there since it stopped her from jumping.

"Come on Ed! Lets goooooo! It's almost time for lunch!"

Her drawn out go made me laugh at my silly thoughts.

So what if it was an illusion?

She is just a kid, she wouldn't have any kind of ulterior motive.

"Sorry about that, I was distracted. Let's go bring your mom the pickles."

Jacqueline just smiled and continued her jumping progression up the stairs.

As we approached the doorway to the main floor, a delicious smell greeted our noses.

When we crossed the threshold back to the main room the smell grew stronger, we followed our noses and found our way into the kitchen.

In the kitchen there was a heavy robust but simple wooden table with 3 areas set and waiting for us.

There was a fairly large wooden serving bowl in the center of the table, it had small poorly done carvings done around it depicting different animals that were hard to make out.

There were small pieces of wood at each spot to act as plates and a small wooden spoon which looked to be hand carved was off to the right of each plate.

Several small loaves of bread were stacked on the table beside the center bowl, there was still steam rising from both telling they were both fresh off of the heat.

Jaqueline's mother was just placing the last loaf of bread onto the small pyramid of loaves when we entered the room.

"Look what we got mom!"

The little girl sprinted at her mother and jumped, tackling her and nearly knocking her over.

After stabilizing herself and hanging onto the small one she looked towards me holding the jar of pickles in one hand and smiled before turning back to her daughter.

"You did very well jacqueline. Now run and wash your hands before we can eat."

Jacqueline pouted and puffed out her cheeks, making an extremely adorable expression before running off towards the bathroom.

I made small talk with her mother who's name I learned was Jocelyn while waiting for her daughter to return from the bathroom.

The three of us all sat down and enjoyed a simple vegetable stew in a bread bowl with some sweet pickles on the side.

It was strange at first but I then realized the genius of using a baked bun as a bowl, it's a great way to not have to clean dishes and it complemented the stew excellently.

The bread soaked with the sauces was excellent, and with the food there was a bottle of wine which was very disappointing but I drank it to be polite.

Throughout the meal there was a very cozy atmosphere between the three of us, at this point I had completely forgotten that this wasn't real.

There was no way that these people would have anything nefarious planned for me.

Soon enough after eating my fill and drinking more wine than I wanted they started to clear the table and I needed to use the bathroom.

I excused myself and headed in the same direction I saw Jacqueline head earlier.

I didn't have any difficulty finding it.

The bathroom itself was not much to look at, there was a small wooden seat overhanging a pit, a pale full of ash from the fire and a small bowl of soapy water below a faucet.

Next to the faucet was a small bar of soap, it was a simple set up but still quite functional despite it being dimly lit.

I relieved myself and was in the process of washing my hands when I smelled something unpleasant.

It took me a second but I quickly realized what it was.

Smoke.

A dreadful thought hit me, only when things were bad did things get worse.

Ignoring my soapy hands I left the bathroom to see what had happened and what I saw was utterly shocking.

There was fire raging everywhere, it looked like something out of a firefighting movie.

Flames were all along the ceiling and the walls.

My first thought was to find the door but I realized that I had never seen a door outside in any of the rooms that I had been in.

Instead of running around I went to the bathroom and tore off my shirt and soaked it with the faucet before tying it around my face to try and prevent smoke inhalation.

I then steeled my mind for what I was sure to find before heading back to the kitchen to see what had befallen the mother and daughter.

What I saw was not good.

Jocelyn's side of the table had collapsed on her legs, giving me a good view of the two broken femurs that had been crushed and were painting the wood below in red.

The flames had consumed most of the room and were slowly working down the table that pinned her, I also couldn't see Jacqueline.

I Carefully made my way around to the other side of the table while dodging the hungry flames.

I finally found the little girl.

She was on the opposite side of the nearly overturned table pulling on her mothers arms trying to save her.

Jocelyn's face was contorted with pain and I quickly pulled Jacqueline off of her mother, but she did not let go willingly.

She screamed and kicked and flailed her arms around trying to make me let go of her.

"NOOO! LET ME GO! I NEED TO SAVE MOM!"

Knowing this was no time to be emotional I told her in a cold voice.

"There is nothing you can do. She has broken her legs. You're doing nothing but hurting her."

"NO I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! MOM! COME ON PLEASE GET UP MOM!"

She turned around and bit me causing me to release her as I grabbed my arm, tripped on my feet and lost my balance falling into the flames.

"AHHHHHH!"

I screamed from the searing pain as I landed on my back on top of an area that was burning intensely.

I got up quickly but in the process I burnt my hands, back and neck.

I also had to put out some small flames on my pants, I looked back at the girl with anger in my eyes and my thoughts were torn.

I watched the little girl back pulling on her mother causing her to groan in pain which was barely audible in the roar and crackling of the fire.

Part of me wanted to leave the ungrateful brat here but another part of me still wanted to save her, it understood that she was just extremely distraught and was thinking of nothing but to save her mom.

In the end it was the latter that ended up winning.

I grabbed the girl by the arms this time hissing as the pain in my burned hands spiked.

Before she could start to scream again she started to cough as the smoke inhalation was finally getting to her.

The roar of the fire was getting louder and I knew that time was ticking away and if any of us wanted to get out of here alive I would have to move fast.

"You are too weak to pull her out! Let me see what I can do for her!."

This finally got the girl to stop her struggling and finally calm down her hysteria.

Despite knowing better I took off the now slightly damp shirt that was on my face and tied it to Jacquelines, it wouldn't do much for her but it was better than nothing.

"Breathing through this will make it hurt less!"

She nodded her head to show she understood.

Tears were running down my eyes at this point from a combination of smoke, pain from my burns and now from inhaling the hot air.

I bent down and got close to Jocelyn.

"JOCELYN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! NOD IF YOU CAN!"

Her dry and raspy voice responded as she nodded and spoke in a low tone.

I leaned in close, putting my ear right next to her mouth in order to hear what she was saying.

"There is no hope for me. The exit has been blocked. Please. Don't let her suffer."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!"

I didn't understand what she was talking about, my heat crazed and panic stricken mind couldn't comprehend it.

"Don't let her be consumed by the flames. Please. I beg you."

Tears began to fall from her eyes and her already horrible voice began cracking further.

Jacqueline's voice interrupted as she yelled.

"COME ON MOM! YOU CAN GET UP! YOU HAVE TO!"

All her screaming accomplished was making Jocelyn's tears fall harder.

And she finally whispered.

"please kill her before the fire does."

The world stopped.

The fire seemed to freeze.

Her words reverberated through me.

"Please kill her."

"Kill her."

"KILL."

I looked at Jocelyn and my eyes must have conveyed my horror because she broke down with tears and snot cascading down her face.

"i am sorry. i am sorry. i am sorry. I have no right to ask this. but that's all i can do. please. please. don't let her go like this."

I stepped back from her with my mind and body, my heart and soul in turmoil.

Seeing me step back from her mother and seeing her crying expression Jaqueline ran towards her and tried to comfort her.

This had the opposite effect on her mother as she deteriorated into a mess of tears and hugged her crouching daughter tightly.

She flicked her eyes pleadingly towards me before turning her full attention back to her daughter.

Seeing this heartfelt display amidst the hellish scene before me I knew there was no right choice.

On one hand it was damning.

The other was condemning an innocent child to die the worst way possible.

I never thought I would kill a kid, never thought I would ever have to kill anyone, but proved that inaction was worse than action.

No matter what I did the kid would die.

I realized that there was no way to escape alive, there was no superhero.

There was no savior, only death.

But there was another choice before the outcome, how to die.

Burn in agony until your body shuts down, or die in a less painful way.

I could at least provide that kindness for her.

Because that is what it is, a kindness in this horrible situation.

I hardened my heart and looked for something that I could use as a weapon.

It needed to be at least 5 inches long to have a chance at giving an instant death.

Knowing what I needed, this damned illusion gave me exactly what I wanted.

A dagger that I hadn't seen before was lying on the ground as if someone else placed it there.

Now realizing that this was the torture the illusion desired to put me through I had the impulse to kill myself and end the illusion, but I didn't.

Because even if it would end it for me, I would have to live with the knowledge that I let the mother and daughter duo burn to death because I was too weak willed.

They might not be real but my experiences with them were.

I owed them at least this kindness.

I picked up the dagger and barely noticed the pain as I repeated to myself that this was a great kindness and nothing else.

This was death to save her from a fate worse than death.

I slowly walked up to the duo and made sure to keep the blade hidden by my left side.

The mother looked at me and noticed a different look in my eyes and my strange posture and relief flooded her eyes.

I kneeled behind Jaqueline amongst the inferno and lined up the blade to where I imagined her heart to be and looked her mother in the eye and nodded slightly.

Jocelyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and when she opened them again she had a big smile on her face.

As if the surroundings were a field of flowers, not a nearly collapsed fiery hell.

"Do you want to play a game Jaqueline? Close your eyes and count to 10 and when you open your eyes you'll see something special."

Jocelyn's daughter closed her eyes and started to count.

"Ok mom."

She closed her eyes and started counting down

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6."

I took 2 deep breaths and as I exhaled the second I drove the dagger straight forward into the little girl.

It encountered some slight resistance on the dagger as it hit the ribs but it still continued on its path straight to puncture her heart.

Jaqueline never continued her counting, and my vision went dark as I felt her warm blood run onto my hand still holding the dagger.

My first murder.