Chapter 27

Dear Diary,

Even when I convinced myself that I could handle it, that I could control the situation, the truth is that I cannot manage to do anything in this vacuum. I find myself inside the factory —in the control center— in front of all these screens that are off and telling myself that the best thing I should do is turn them on and learn to run this factory, but I can't move.

Knowing that this place was once the home of my worst monster fills me with a disgust you can't imagine. It is as if this feeling of revulsion has turned into a liquid and —drained into a syringe— has been injected into my veins. I really want to throw up so bad.

Too many memories come to my mind that my head is beginning to ache intensely. The faces of my mother and my reflection completely flood my troubled mind, so much that I ended up collapsing on the metal floor. My brain recreates the last nightmare I had before I was murdered in my room and I managed to disconnect from reality for a moment.

—Elena

[...]

—I will never allow you to run away from me!

The screams of her reflection could be heard too close, but when she tried to look in another direction, she realized that no one else was there. She was only in that room with white walls that caused her an abysmal fear.

—You will never escape my clutches, Elena. —Said the reflection behind her ear, but even when she turned on her heel, she wasn't able to see her.

Just when she felt someone blow into her right ear, she woke up from the state she had gotten into.

She opened her eyes and stifled a cry in her throat as she gazed at the place where she was. She snorted helplessly and lifted up from the metal floor, wiping her pants with her hands. She was still in that frigid void and that stirred her insides.

Elena turned to the screens that were kept off and she brushed her fingertips against the surface. She still felt how the little food that was stored in her stomach threatened to come out of her through her mouth, but she reminded herself that she must stay strong. For her mother and for her.

She scanned the monitors and the different colored buttons next to them until she came to rest on a dark-covered book. A faint smile appeared on her face knowing that all was not lost for her. That book she had found was the manual for that factory —that factory of nightmares.

She took it in one hand and tucked it into her jacket. She would know that she would need it later and she didn't want to lose it somewhere in that vast void.

She kept walking between the machines and the metal wall that contained the screens. She observed every minute detail that the dark factory was hiding when her eyes fell on two objects hanging from a coat rack: a key and an electronic pass that was shaped like a card.

Like she did with the manual, she took them and put them in the pockets of her navy blue jacket and then headed for the control center door. She directed both hands to the knobs and pulled.

Wandering through that dark void, an eight-year-old girl walked the halls of what was supposed to be her new home —although she was never going to admit it. This time, unlike her, when she came to this black void, she could clearly see the four doors of that lonely place.

Behind her was the metal door that led to the control center and at the end of the hall was the giant white-framed screen showing her old bathroom and part of what used to be her bedroom.

She prostrated herself in the middle of the only hallway there was and went to the door to her right. It had the number one at the top and its pommel was gold —just like all the others. She turned gently and entered that room.

Not two seconds passed when the lamps were lit and the once gloomy place was now fully illuminated. Appreciating what door number one was hiding, Elena only limited herself to forming one "O" with her lips, showing her sudden surprise.

There, standing in the wooden doorway, she could see what would become her future room. The bed sheets were as white as snow itself and from where she was she could swear that they would feel soft and smooth between her fingers that she would fall asleep and in the world of dreams if she allowed herself to be wrapped in them. Next to the bed were the wardrobe and a small but cute wooden dresser. She stood near the black closet and opened its doors. Again, she had to hold onto the wood if she didn't want to fall flat on the ground. What she saw astonished her exceedingly. The closet was filled to the brim with clothes of every color anyone could imagine. There were everything from pajamas to pants, from jackets to blouses, and different pairs of shoes. But that was not what surprised her the most about that wardrobe, it was the small blue screen applied to one of its doors that shone with intensity. Below were a few buttons that displayed the information on that screen. What it taught was the age, weight, and height of the person who would wear the clothes in the closet, so she could see that those spaces were filled with the data that belonged to her.

Knowing that her reflection had left the clothes of her size before kidnapping her and leaving her in that void made her smile with irony. —How stupid.

She continued exploring her new room until she came across an all-white wooden door —different from the ones in the hallway, as these were darker shades. When she opened it, she knew it was the bathroom. It had nothing out of the ordinary that a bathroom would not have: there was a white marble bathtub and a toilet next to it, while on the other side were the sink and some drawers that kept the clean towels. She wouldn't have given it any importance if it weren't for the fact that this bathroom looked almost identical to her previous bathroom —almost because it was bigger. Again, she gagged and she was about to sit by the toilet, but she wouldn't let it happen. Elena told herself that she must be strong and she forced to leave that bathroom, as well as her room. She thought it would be better to get some sleep, but she denied it. The best thing would be to keep discovering that new place.

So, she headed for the next door. This was described as the second room, as she had the word two carved into the dark wood. She took the golden knob and turned it, but this time her entire body began to emanate large amounts of determined attitude.

The ceiling lights came on as soon as she set foot inside that room, allowing Elena to know a little more from the room. The walls now sported white decorations while the floor was characterized by being oak covered in parts by beige-toned rugs. What was hidden there was nothing more and nothing less than a kitchen —with completely white drawers covered by a layer of marble and silver handles— and a small room that had five chairs and a table —both made of grayish wood.

With calm steps, she approached the counter where you could see a sink embedded in the surface. Beside it was several books arranged vertically, supported by a pillar. Curiosity made her grab one and start reading it —and Elena wished she hadn't done something like that, nor had she decided that day that she should know every corner of the void in which she found herself, because maybe if only she had been limited to knowing her room, the control center, and the kitchen, things would not have taken a complete turn, shaking her body as she read those pages. The lavender cover book had Recipes as its title, which wouldn't sound strange when stored in a kitchen, but what came next would. She grasped the next sheet with the delicacy of her fingers and she turned the page. There, in black letters and in capital letters, she read Recipes for Monsters and that was when the whole world —and her situation— came on top of her.

The security that Elena's small body had manifested when entering the kitchen door had completely vanished in that instant. Her stomach began to burn with intensity as if there were a burning stove under her feet and she tried to appease her pain by placing her hands on top of that place and giving her light caresses. But it didn't work for her anyway. After a few minutes, that burning began to rise up her esophagus until it reached her throat and the pain began to increase in the area. She pushed her hands away from her stomach and if it weren't for the speed she had to get to the sink, all that thick vomit would have littered the hardwood floor.

«What?», was all Elena could think after recovering from her nausea. Her head started to ache a bit when she tried to calm her breathing, but that little detail didn't matter. It didn't matter at all when she had just read those words and everything inside her fell apart. It didn't matter when her sanity was slowly fading. Slow but if she didn't push herself at least a little, she would end up a slave in that void. It was difficult, that was very true, so much true. It required a lot of effort that she did not yet possess, even she needed to become a little stronger in the face of the circumstances. She was still an eight-year-old girl when she lived in the flesh what it was like to be completely alone, without any protection provided by another person.

Even with all the adversities thrown in her path —and in her life— she decided that the best thing to do would be to calm down and continue the walk she was taking to that dark void. With shaking hands, she held on tightly to the marble surface and moved closer to the books she had seen before. She carefully took the one that had Monster Recipes written on it and started flipping through it.

Elena couldn't believe what her eyes were watching. She wasn't sure if it was a practical joke on the part of her reflection or if that was true, but in the book, they could be found from light breakfasts to the most unknown desserts that no human had ever cooked. And the most shocking: all especially for monsters.

«But if monsters don't exist.», Elena thought, convincing herself more than anyone else. It was at that moment that she wished with all her soul to continue thinking that way. To keep naively believing that even when her reflection had made her life miserable while she lived in her old house, the monsters themselves could not be conceived as real. And she wished so badly that she had stayed in room one and took a nap because her entire body shook at the sound of a roar followed by several scratches coming from the room next to the kitchen. Room number three.

With fear embedded in her veins, Elena could realize that there was only one explanation for the existence of that strange book: the monsters were real, but the most terrifying thing was that those monsters were there, in that void next to her.

She put the book on the counter and ran to the door. When she finally left the kitchen, she headed, as fast as her little legs would allow her, to that door that bore the word three on the dark wood.

The pounding throbbing in her chest kept getting faster and faster, and her palms began to sweat uncontrollably. When her fingertips brushed the metal of the knob, she could feel the cold sinking her bones deep inside. However, she was unable to open it. She tried again, spinning harder, but her efforts were in vain. She glanced from her to the object and realized that there was a small metal box with a rectangle-shaped blue glow screen. She tried to think of what she could do to get into the room until she remembered what she had gotten from the control center. She opened her coat and quickly took out the pass, then directed it to that box.

This time, the door opened, leaving in its wake the familiar darkness that surrounded Elena since she arrived there. It was icy and possessed a hint of loneliness, as well as the dark walls that surrounded it, which seemed to come dangerously close to it. Even with her head aching like a hammer hitting her, she completely ignored everything that was around her.

Like the other rooms, the lights came on as soon as she stepped foot into the cold room. She wanted to stifle a scream that threatened to come out of her throat, but she couldn't. Her high-pitched voice bounced off the totally black walls of that room, unlike the walls she had observed before. The difference was in the appearance of the walls. Those that she saw seemed to contain no life, even being simple walls, the humidity helped those dark walls to begin to peel, with paint chips scattered on the floor.

However, that was not what made her cry out. But it was what was behind the metal bars, in the dark.

She did not know exactly how many were inside that room, but the dim lighting that the lamps gave, barely revealed a kind of cages that hung from the ceiling —there were even other metal boxes that were located on the floor. The bars were thick and —although she was far from those prisons— she could know that they were as cold as ice itself. Unfortunately for her, those metal cages weren't empty.

Another growl was heard in the darkness and Elena could clearly perceive what was locked inside that prison.

There —inside room three— were the monsters that tormented her countless times in her nightmares, each of different size and shape, but just as they ended up being what they were: monsters; and that's why she held a grudge against them.

Fear suddenly left her body and she eyed those creatures with disdain. The horns and scales that covered their bodies disgusted Elena beyond measure. She searched with her gaze for something that might help her put an end to her past until she rested her gaze on a lever. It said: Turn the key and pull the handle to start the torture session. Oh, of course, Elena wanted those beings to suffer for a long, long time, so she decided her next step.

She moved quickly towards the lever, while she released the key that she kept inside her pocket when a voice was heard behind her. She stopped and turned on her foot too late. One of them had escaped. The reddish fur monster that killed her the last night she was in her house was in front of Elena.