Retrospect

Forty-six

   A man wearing a metal mask with hollow eyes rose up out of the ground on a platform, swiftly stepping off of it before it continued upwards. His hands were behind his back and his stride was slow, only making my anxiety grow worse with every echo of his footsteps.

   "I'm impressed. Truly, I am," his distorted voice said, so it was impossible to tell how old he was. He stopped a few yards away, a clicking sound coming from him. He was abnormally tall, making me feel like an ant on my knees in this horrific room. I noticed he had installations in his feet, the same ones that I saw at the aquarium on the party-goers, only his made him much taller, around seven feet I would guess. "I finally meet them..."

   His head turned, scanning all the faces of the other thieves. When he saw mine, he stopped for a few seconds before strolling on. A shudder passed through me, wondering what was going through his mind. He was pacing slowly, examining us as his boots clinked across the floor. The ticking could still be heard from somewhere on him, I just wasn't sure where so I was actively looking for any odd accessories.

   The man walked over to Malachi who was at the very far end of the line. A red light shot out from the eyeholes of the man's mask, scanning Malachi's pupils before he turned away. The man then nodded. "I know just what you need, Crane," he spoke.

   "Where is she?! Where are the memories!?" Malachi shouted, twisting and turning while an officer restrained him.

   The masked man laughed, though it sounded more like a low rumble. "You must be here for your sister, right? It must have been so terrible to hear how lost she was, unable to remember anything. And then poof! She's gone! Oh no!" He threw his hands up dramatically. "Don't worry, she's with me now. Her memories are pretty worthless honestly, but it's fun to watch you squirm." He tilted his head. "Oh wait, were they her memories we destroyed or someone else's? I can't remember. Hm. I guess I wasn't supposed to tell you that," he laughed, "whoops! But she doesn't even know who you are anyway, so what do I care? You know, I might just pay her a visit..."

   I watched Malachi as he fought to break free, beads of sweat falling from his nose. I could see in his dark eyes how much the man's words affected him, poisoning him until he was so weak, he couldn't keep what little food he had down.

   The man turned away, obviously disgusted by the mess Malachi had made. "Hope you like heights..." the distorted voice said.

   Then, just like that, two iron claws came down on wires from the ceiling, clamped onto Malachi's legs, and sucked him up, close to 80 feet in the air. He was dangling upside down, crying out as the claws squeezed tighter around his ankles.

   The man went to Murl next, scanning him just like he had done with Malachi. "Oh, so you're one of those Butterfly Shop guys. Didn't expect someone so..." the mask's eyeholes dilated, "pathetic. C'mon, you can do better than this," he sneered, gesturing to our group lined up. "Time for the flies I guess." The man shrugged and glass rose up from the floor, encasing Murl so he could not in any way escape the little, translucent room.

   Murl rapped on the glass, yelling something, yet nothing could be heard beyond the strange glass. Then I saw one, two, three glowing wasps emerging from somewhere at Murl's feet. He instantly froze up as one clung onto him, but I wasn't sure if it had stung him at all. Then more insects flooded out from holes in the floor, filling the box and my breath hitched in my throat.

   The man just marched on, taking in Ana who was as pale as the white lights shining down on all of us. "Wow, this'll be easy," he said, "not much fun with this one."

   Ana looked about ready to faint, her eyelids drooping as the man prodded her with the toe of his boot. She had had enough. He scanned her and shook his head. "Not anything interesting about you. We'll keep your death nice and quick," he suggested, drawing a gun that glinted silver under the bright lights. Ana looked down the barrel, her eyes challenging him to kill her. She had given up. Ana had given up. How long until the others would do the same?