The Truth

All he saw was darkness except for a little light bulb hanging from a wire in a corner. There were no windows in the room, only a small metal door lay in the wall. He was sitting on a small cot, the color of a faded lint yellow. The walls were made of dark, dirty concrete. He exploded.

"let. me. OUT!" His voice boomed, reverberating around the room, and which shattered the light. Now he was in complete darkness, but, somehow, he could still see his surroundings fairly well. Feeling defeated, he plumped himself on the cot and waited for something to happen. Something did.

Around 20 minutes later, the door opened ajar. A humble looking old man in a lab coat stepped in.

"Hello, Arthur." The old man croaked. “I need to give you-” Before he could continue, Arthur seized the moment, and raced to the door, smacked the old man aside, and dashed to find an exit out of this mysterious place. There was a hallway running down both sides, with linoleum floors, and dim, greenish fluorescent lights.

As Arthur ran down the hallway, he could hear the old man yelling-

"Wait! You have to stay here!"

Ignoring him, Arthur kept running.

He passed a door labeled storage, and jumped inside, hoping to get that old man off his tail.

In the storage, there was a smell of an animal, like a wolf. Submissing it, Arthur stayed in the storage, and waited once again.

Suddenly, Arthur felt a tap on his back

"WHO IS IT?" He yelled in surprise.

A man appeared holding a flashlight, right next to Arthur. He was at least 7 feet tall, with an impressive full beard that ran to his chest. His hair was in dreadlocks, reaching his hips. The man was wearing a beige trench coat, and a shady look masked his face. For some reason, his eyes did not look human.

"Hey." The man said in a gruff voice. "Names Baird. I'll getcha outta here."

Feeling relieved, Arthur chirped- "Great. Where do we go?"

Baird looked up. "That-away." he pointed at the ceiling as he ripped open the vent and let a small wooden ladder fall down. "I always prepare." He chuckled menacingly as he leaned toward Arthur's ear and whispered- If you wanna get outta here, you follow whatever I say. Got it?"

"Got it." Arthur said, and they both climbed up into the vents.

As they crawled through the vents, Arthur asked- "So, why were you in the storage room, anyway?" Baird did not respond.

"Turn right." Baird muttered.

After a few more minutes of crawling, they reached the exit.

"Go first." Baird said.

Arthur opened the vent hatch, and jumped down to a carpeted floor. They had arrived in the foyer of the building. Outside the doors were barren snow covered hills, with trees piercing the ground all around. Arthur was exhilarated. He felt like he had never seen the outdoors before!

The trench coated man jumped down. "Here we are!" He boomed in a fake sounding excitement. A smile crept on his face "Lets' go outside, friend."

At the same time, the old man was running toward the media center. He threw open the door, and ran to the building's security camera center.

A security guard was lounging in a chair. "Anything wrong?" He asked.

"Yes, something is wrong." The old man responded. "Get up camera 7."

The feedback glowed. The old man's face turned to fear, and he raced to the computer, logged in, went to files, and sent a video.

"Are we gonna go or what?" Baird asked Arthur. Before Arthur could react, a piercing pain impaled his brain, and he fell on his knees.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Baird asked as Arthur fell on his face and blacked out. A few minutes later, He opened his eyes, but this time, he was somewhere else. Arthur was seated on a couch in an expansive castle room, high rising ceilings everywhere. Everything looked out of a medieval movie. A cobblestone fireplace glowed in the side of the room. Arthur was wearing hosen and a medieval tunic. The room was illuminated only by torches. There was no daylight in the room whatsoever, but there was a curtain. For some reason, Arthur was not in control of his body. It seemed like a memory, from a very long time ago. Arthur's controlled body stood up, walked toward the curtain, and curiously reached out to open the curtain. Before he could though, the sound of hurried footsteps clicked behind him, and a woman's hand grabbed Arthur's wrist.

"Arthur!" The woman chided. "You must remember what I have told you many times before! That place is off limits!" Then suddenly, the piercing pain came back again, and Arthur was back in the foyer, Baird kneeling next to him.

"Stop dazing off and lets go!” Baird yelled, irritated.

“Uh, I think I can’t go outside.” Arthur said. “It’s off limits.”

“Ah, so now you smart up.” Baird chuckled, and stepped back a few feet. “I was hoping it didn’t have to happen this way.” Baird sneered, and suddenly, his body disappeared, and his clothing fell onto something big. 

“What the..” Arthur muttered. 

There was silence for a few seconds, and then an ominous growl emanated from the clothing, and the biggest wolf that Arthur had ever seen stepped out. The wolf was 6 feet in height, on his four legs. His coat was a mix of black and gray, and his eyes glowed red. The animals teeth shined with the fluorescent lights, and blood dripped from the tips. “Have you met a werewolf before Arthur?” Baird sneered. 

The canine jumped on Arthur and bit his shoulder. Arthur wailed in pain as blood flooded his arms. 

In a fit of anger, Arthur yelled- “NO MORE,” and punched the animal as hard as he could. The wolf went flying to the other side of the foyer, making a giant dent in the concrete. Amazed at his strength, Arthur gazed at his fists, unscathed. 

“You’re stronger than I remember!” Baird the wolf commented as he rose from the rubble, his face a mess of blood and fur. 

“We haven’t met before this!” Arthur said as he had another vision. This time, Arthur was in a horse drawn carriage that was rumbling down a dark forest, the trees looming above him. A man and woman were in the front seat, and a girl, who looked about 9, was sitting next to him, smiling. 

“Only a few more trees now!” The man in the front said cheerily. As they continued to ride, a girl’s scream echoed through the forest close by. Arthur looked to his right, but the girl was no longer there. The carriage stopped, and the man and woman jumped out, yelling “ELIZE! WHERE ARE YOU!” Arthur then saw a wolf far away, barely visible with a girl on his back. He then was back in the foyer.

“YOU!” Arthur boomed at the wolf. “YOU TOOK MY SISTER!”

“Oh yes, that was a while ago!” Baird chuckled. “Now it’s your turn.”

Baird and Arthur charged at each other, but Arthur was still disoriented from his visions. Baird swiped a paw to Arthur’s face, throwing him to the other wall. The wolf strode up to him, his eyes gleaming with victory. 

“Your kind doesn’t belong here.” Baird growled. “And now, I shall eliminate one of the last,” He said, as he raised his paw, ready to do the final blow. Before he could, though, the door to the building swung open. It was the old man! He was holding a knife in his hand, the blade emanating a silver-like glow. 

“Arthur!” He yelled. “Take this kn-” Before the old man could finish, Baird swung his paw to the old man, throwing him into the building. The object that he was holding flew from his hands and flew across the floor toward Arthur. Arthur crawled toward the knife and grabbed it. Before he could rise to attack his foe, a paw crushed his forearm, which exploded in pain.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” The wolf said, his massive form looming above Arthur.

With Arthur’s wrist still free, he stabbed the Baird in the paw with his new silver knife. The wolf howled in pain, and kicked Arthur to the wall once again. Furious, Baird charged toward Arthur, but before he could reach him, Arthur, using luck at his side, threw the silver knife towards Baird. The knife planted itself in the middle of the wolf’s head.

“ENOUGH!” Arthur boomed as the wolf collapsed into a heap of fur. A sound of groaning came from the door to the building. Arthur ran to the aid of the old man. He lied on the floor in an awkward position.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Arthur asked

“No.” The old man responded. “But you can find your sister. Wear this, you will be safe outside if you do.” The old man reached into his pocket and placed a witch enchanted lapis lazuli amulet in his hand.

“How will I find her?” Arthur asked the old man.

“Listen for her. Trust me.” The old man said as he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

Determined, Arthur, now wearing the enchanted amulet, swung open the door to the outside, changed to a bat, and flew away, on a journey to be united with his sister, and eventually his family, once again.