The Traces Left By The People

The traces left by the people I watch on the streets are collected one by one.

Someone sadly stepped on the pavement.

One is with disappointment.

The other's wings were cut off in this street.

The other's heart is ripped out in that corner.

I don't know how you do it.

Why are you hurting people?

I can't solve it.

I told you, you're too far away from me.

I can't hear your words even if you're talking next to me.

*

I was soaring in front of the metal door as my body continued to radiate light, illuminating the morbid darkness. I felt that Pars' steps had stopped and his breath was somewhere near me. I waited to be ready, although I could hear his breathing quicken impatiently as I hesitated before touching the metal door handle, and after a few seconds, I landed on the floor and pressed firmly on the metal door handle.

As the metal door creaked open, I was surprised as I was confronted with a room that was dimly lit as opposed to the dark area we passed, but I entered and allowed Pars to pass me and to the person tied to the wooden chair in the middle of the room. I could feel the intensity of the darkness behind me and it was making me uncomfortable. So I closed the metal door with one last look into the darkness and leaned against the rotten wall next to the metal door and glanced at the people in the room. Cassian, Kit, and Leander stood over the person strapped to the wooden chair and the bag over his head. Since Pars and I entered the room, they hadn't moved or said a single word.

Madison was standing in the corner of the room, her right hand palm open. Beams of light emanating from her palm swept across the room in rapid succession, dispersing the darkness a little, even though I felt its presence. I had many questions about the darkness here that was choking and disturbing my soul, but I already had the answers to some of my questions.

The darkness where we landed was not like the darkness on earth, to be without light in this darkness meant to be left without a pinch of goodness in the evil. Now I understand better why they had their enemies kept here: What creature could withstand this morbid darkness? Finally, the Soldiers would be able to get what they wanted thanks to this terrible thing.

But I had one more question in my mind, I even had a few more questions. Why was this darkness different from the one above? Why did I feel like dying and hear voices when I was deprived of light in the dark? How did this darkness come about and what was its source? I was so curious about the answers to these that I realized that Pars was speaking later. "Before you get the death you so longed for, you're going to have to answer a few questions of mine. If you don't want me to hurt you, relax and answer my questions honestly. Do we have a deal?" When the person tied to the chair shook his head negatively, Pars furiously took the bag off his head and slapped the man hard. "Don't drive me mad!"

Although the man was hurt and his cheek was red like a tomato, he ran his eyes around the slightly lit room and started shouting the moment he saw me. "You must be the new weapon!" He said that sentence so loudly that I was startled. "Don't let them fool you as they fooled the others! You must get rid of this city!" When I pulled my back from the wall I was leaning on and frowned, only Pars turned his head and looked at me.

"What?" I said in a whisper of bewilderment. But it was too late for everything. I jumped three times when Pars quickly pulled the trigger of the black gun he pulled from the back of his pants and shooted 3 times at the man's head. My shoulders were lifted by the loud sound of the gun, and my eyes were growing uncontrollably because the man's smashed head was scattered on the floor. I wanted to vomit, at least I thought I would get relief even if I gagged, but I restrained myself and did everything I could not to throw up. They knew very well that I was psychologically weaker than them and that I was not used to these situations, but I still did not want them to see me as a weak person. I had to stay as strong as I could or I wouldn't be able to survive in this city at all.

When Pars nervously opened the metal door and left the room, the others followed. Madison followed them as they left the room one by one because they needed her light. This time I was lucky to stay in the background. The last time I tried to get out of the room behind Madison, Madison stopped and turned around, but the light beams from her palm continued to illuminate the path of the others.

As Madison glared at me, I looked over her shoulder down the dark and wide hallway and saw everyone getting into the elevator and staring at us, but none of them cared about us. I actually saw a little worry in Cassian's eyes, but it wasn't hard to see that that worry wasn't significant. After all, if you're really worried about someone, you shouldn't be afraid to take the first step, right?

I felt weird when the open door of the elevator closed and Pars' eyes only touched mine once. Maybe I shouldn't be afraid to face my enemy.

When I turned my eyes to Madison's, she smiled happily, but still didn't let the light coming out of her palm stop. Despite everything, I was sure that she was afraid of the dark. She was terrified of being without light in this darkness, but she was still trying to show me off by playing her brave role.

"Do you think I forgot what you did that day?" she said, hissing through her teeth. My stomach was boiling because of this ridiculous situation I was in. At that moment, I wanted to throw up in Madison's face, but I still refrained.

I was surprised when I frowned and lowered my eyes to her hands. Her hands were trembling. At that moment, for some reason, I forgot her hostility towards me and made the mistake of asking that ridiculous question. "Are you okay?"

I didn't expect her to do this. I really didn't expect it. The light that came out of her palm exploded in my face and disappeared as she lifted her delicate hand with beams of light and slapped my cheek hard. At first, I felt very hurt, and then the morbid darkness spread around us and completely enveloped us.

Even though she was so close to my body, I couldn't see her, I couldn't even hear her breathing. The pain in my cheek did not go away, my cold cheek ached from her hot hand hitting my skin hard, but the darkness was so intense that I couldn't make a sound.

My body stiffened when I heard the voices again. And then Madison's shrill scream echoed in the darkness as if she were in pain. Now we were screwed up.