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Otto's old drum set. His first one, actually. Through the years he'd added to and customized it. It had amazing sound. Accessorized to the nines. Beautiful, and his favorite shade of orange. Whenever he was feeling angry, frustrated, or alone.. he'd lock himself in his room and bang on those drums for hours.

He hadn't even missed them that much until he saw them just then.

There they were, every part and piece just as he remembered. The symbal, snare, the drum head. Every shining detail right before him. He was in some strange room. It had a lot of things he enjoyed. Old books he read so often the spine was falling apart, and other things that made him feel nostalgic. But that drum set, he just wanted to sit down and play all day on it.

But he never did. Something happened.

There was a room below. A dark room. If there was one thing in the world that terrified Otto the most, it was the dark. He simply couldn't handle it. He'd had several situations where he'd been thrust into dark spaces, and it never ended well.
So of course, he had no intention to go down there. Why should he? He had his drums. Why go downstairs?

But his feet began to walk. Everything inside him said no. Don't go. Don't go down there. What if he could never turn back? Things lurked in the dark. Terrible things. But his legs kept moving. What was making him move?
In his mind he called for Tenya. He needed her. Over and over he called.
Silence.
Where was she? He needed her. Why wasn't she helping him?

Down, down, further and further. The walls became darker, light faded. A hallway of pitch black awaited him.

He began to hyperventilate, panic. He was already afraid and it was only getting worse. Flashes of memory began to haunt his mind. His parents reprimanding him for waking them up in the middle of the night with his cries. His old girlfriend calling him trash and walking away.
Then more recent ones began to point and accuse. Hunters he didn't like, sneering and judging. Gale, Robert.. Condemning him. Hunters he did like to an extent, looking at him with disappointed stares. Like Reine, and Eva. It was them, right? It looked like them. They were giving up on him, pointing and yelling. What had he done? What did he do? Why were these people surrounding him like this? More showed up. Jude, Molly, Dakota. More and more. Marcus, Justin, Rep... He was surrounded.
Pointing.
Yelling.
Taunting.
It was humiliating, and horrifying. Just make them go away! Leave me alone!

Soon they were overtaken by darkness, eyes glowing and vanishing. Was he alone in this darkness? Was this any better? But it wasn't over.

Hunters he had watched die began to appear. Most recently Julie. Her ugly image, hollowed out and surrounded in disgusting insects. The two hunters he'd left to die in the Labyrinth with the snakes. Their eyes gooping with poisonous ooze, their skin rotting and bloated from the water they were left in.
The mass of hunters from the Sahara. Torn apart, bloody, spilling their innards out before him, even as more darkness overtook the room.

You left us.

You did nothing and watched us die.

He could hear them ever still, even as their nightmarish images began to disappear into the darkness. Otto began to scream for help. "Don't leave me down here! HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE!"
Who would help you? When you wouldn't lift a finger for them? What nice thing have you ever done? No one will ever risk their life for you.

It was too dark. He couldn't even see his own hands. The lingering presence of others was replaced with something grabbing his ankle and drag him to the floor. He cried out, terrified, barely able to scream. It dragged him forward. Everything was pitch black. It wasn't even fast. It was slow, agonizingly slow. Otto wished it could have been quick, to end his terror. Otto struggled, his hands reaching for something to grab onto, scratching at the floor until his fingers bled.

The images of his friends flickered, watching him get dragged to his doom. Just watching. Waiting for the finale.

Nothing he could do. Helpless. Hopeless. His heart beat so fast he thought it might die out before he reached the end of the tunnel. That dark tunnel.

Help!

Closer...

PLEASE!!!

Closer.....

----

"AA---" Otto almost screamed aloud, clasping a hand over his mouth. Where was he? It was so dark. There were faces everywhere. It was the barracks, but in his panic, Otto felt as if he were in Hell. He jumped out of bed, his clothes damp from sweating in terror. He nearly tripped several times as he ran out of the room. He wanted to cry. He was. Wanted to scream. He might. He felt like he needed to puke, and even gagged all the way to the bathroom.

It had all felt so real. Hadn't it been real?

Were they all still waiting?