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Chapter ??? - No, no, no...

Aren’t I?

Yeah, there’s no doubt about it, I’m perfectly sane. I may be a little paranoid, but that doesn’t mean I’m insane… Yes I get scared by that monster of a dog, but that’s normal, right? His bark is horrifying. Maybe I have some vivid nightmare, but-

“Kieran, are you listening?” Said Jamie. Oh yeah, she was telling me a story about a weird dream she had. About how she saw Hell, or something. Somehow she seemed convinced she’d end up there.

“Mhm.” I said, biting into my dry, overcooked piece of meat. I wrestled with it to pull a bite off.

“You were mumbling again.” She replied, ripping her bread into little pieces. Lucifer sat patiently staring at the food.

“Was I? Hm.” I said, turning away a little. Why am I the person everyone confesses things to now? Jeez, I can’t keep up. After nothing I just have onslaughts of information, people telling me things endlessly about themselves or their lives. I don’t have the heart to tell them that they’ll probably end up dying before the end. Either that or they’ll live in one level forever.

I still don’t know which one I'd rather go for.

Staring at the monster dog, I wondered how he even ended up here. I haven’t seen any dogs here at all, apart from him, and I sure wish I hadn’t.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how’d your dog end up here, anyway?” I asked, attempting to chew the tough meat. Jamie shrugged.

“Dunno. He just did. I’m glad, though.” She said, feeding him her leftover meat.

I sighed, “Don’t waste food on the dog. You need as much food as you can get, otherwise, you’ll ‘become like Kieran’.” I pulled up my sleeve, showing her my thin arm.

I’d lost a phenomenal amount of weight in a short amount of time. Eating just small bits of bread and meat, and working hard really sheds some pounds. I pulled my sleeve down again. I’m worried about becoming malnourished, to tell you the truth. That’s why it’s important to grab as much of different types of foods now.

Everyone’s staring at me. Had I said it too loud? Who cares, let them stare.

I stood up. “Yeah, you heard me. Don’t waste food on this damn dog, you’ll be skin and bone soon.”

With that, I ventured back into the forest. It’s creepy at night. You can only see the thick trunks of the trees in front of you, and feels the rustling of the plants that curl up around your waist. There are spots of moonlight illuminating small areas of the forest, through gaps in the trees.

I pulled out my axe, swinging it around carelessly. The feel of the sturdy wood of the handle is reassuring. This axe is my saviour. I can’t rely on people. They’ll leave me. They will, I know it. Like Jordie and the girls.

Everyone will leave me eventually, it’s just fact.

I don’t care. I don’t care if they hate me. I don’t care if they-

“Kieran!” “Kieran, wait!” “Why are you running away?!”

Shut up, I don’t care. I don’t need you. I was fine on my own. You can’t comprehend how fine I was.

Simple task: don’t feed that damned dog food that should be helping you. The truth is that that dog will probably be eating you as soon as you die, given it gets hungry enough. Leave it alone with the food, it’ll eat it. You’ll go hungry, you’ll starve to death.

They can be as cute and loyal as they like. Just for god’s sake don’t feed it. Feed it if you can really, really afford it.

I struck a nearby tree with my axe, pausing and listening for Spinners.