As we let the darkness consume us, walking further and further into the bowels of the castle, trying to reach an unspecified destination while we try to see with our hands instead of eyes... we saw a dispersion of true black into less than complete. I saw, vaguely, where Adam was. That was quite an eye-opening experience. Or a slightly pupil-narrowing one, if I have to be literal.

With the silence enveloping us, we moved in the direction of the light. As we turned right at the end of the corridor with quite a few dark sideways passages, we saw a fireplace. Through the chimney of which light passed from higher floors.

“Sir Aki, tis’ thee way up!”, announced Adam cheerfully.

I was substantially more skeptic about the whole climbing part he so cheerfully announced. Walking into the room, I noticed a dark stain, which flowed from the wall to the floor, where it once must have formed a puddle. The source of a hushed gossip that someone had been killed here. Goosebumps immediately appeared on my arms.

It could have been because of the cold, still prevalent and kept preciously as a treasure in the cellars by the castle itself… or it could have been the stain.

“I’m not so sure about going up, Adam”, I said, standing by him and looking up into the chimney. “It’s quite wide… I mean… it’ll be quite easy to go up, but I wouldn’t want to fall from up there.”

“You’re such a worrywart. We’ll find a way out through one of the close-by trees. You’ve seen those thick branches going into the castle, haven’t you?”, he replied.

“But… Adam, those were two floors above us!”, I protested.

“Shhh… Did you hear that?”, he whispered.

“Hear what?”, I whispered back, then stayed silent, as Adam put a finger to his lips to silence me and showed me the entrance to the corridor from which we discovered the fireplace. I listened intently. Then I heard.

Footsteps of a few people. Not walking casually. Not walking like explorers or people geocaching. Not like teenagers, either. They were sneaking. Sneaking up on us. We knew that sound well. Some bullies in school gave off the same vibes. There was little time to act.

“Quickly, go in!”, Adam rushed me.

I was so scared that only a push from Adam made me move. It wasn’t that I didn’t agree or meant to protest against his decision. I agreed completely, but my hands were shaking and my head was spinning. I went into the chimney and tried to go up as quickly as I could, with my back against one side, my legs on the other, my hands stabilizing my position. My jacket scrubbing against the sooty bricks, I slowly went upwards. It felt as if I was moving in slow motion. Adam went under me and pushed me up as far as he could. Soon I was halfway to the first floor (on ground floor the way in was patched with some floorboards). I didn’t dare to look back.

But I felt Adam almost just behind me. As I got hold of the fireplace with my right hand, Adam screamed.

I couldn’t look back. I couldn’t fall. I only heard. And felt.

“Get your filthy hands of me! STOP!”, then, a thump and almost immediately after that: “Go!”

I shifted my position 90 degrees and pushed myself into the fireplace. I was so scared.

Scared to look. I heard someone muffling him, I knew I had to do something. Whoever it was there, they were a threat to my friend’s well-being. It was common knowledge to not let children go here. There had to be a reason.

I felt the reason. It made my thoughts murky, I couldn’t think well. I looked around to find something, anything.

“Go there, you f*cking coward. The other one went up there, I saw his legs.”, someone said in a low, husky voice.

Someone else cursed.

I heard someone going up. The shuffling of boots. The heavy breath.

With the corner of my eye I noticed a few bricks. I took two.

I walked to the fireplace.

And threw one in, without looking.

It hit.

The person in the chimney shouted, fell, shouted and cursed.

I looked into the chimney. My eyes met with the eyes of a middle-aged man. “You brat!” - he was the one with the husky voice. The one who fell down had blood spilling from his shin. I could see his bone.

I felt my lunch coming back, as I backed from the fireplace, clutching the brick I still had in my hands. I had no idea how many people were there. I looked to the small pile of bricks to my right. There were three more. I can throw four.

I can throw. I can. I…

Heard scratching in the chimney again. There was nothing in my head. A void. Not a thought. On stiff legs I walked to the fireplace. I didn’t want to look. Looking made me feel nauseous. I stopped with my hand ready to throw another brick. Then my head hurt. Nauseous.

Blood I spilled. I hurt someone. Blood. Blood.

Trying to defend myself. From someone, whose goals I didn’t even know, but I remembered what I had heard. Of gangs, of dealers… My imagination ran wild… Adam said “Go!”, but there was no place else I could go from where I stood. Two windows in the room. No trees that would be close. The doorway was shut. I couldn’t go anywhere else.

Why did Adam want me to go first? Why?

I couldn’t let him be taken. I couldn’t let myself do nothing.

Throwing that brick was the hardest thing I could do. The easiest when it comes to action, but I knew that if I throw, I do it with the premeditation to hurt. This brick was chipped from two sides. It could hurt very easily. I was afraid.

But I stretched out my arm. I loosened the grip. It fell.

I heard it fall. It fell into something. Into something, not on the ground.

“F*ck, boss.”, someone said. “F*ck”.

I fell on my knees. Then I vomited.

“Now we have no choice, wait till that boy up looses his strength, then bring him to me.”, said the boss.

My ears started ringing. Why weren’t they enraged? Why no one cursed anymore?

I crawled to the edge of the fireplace and made myself look down.