Part 260 – Lost In A Temporal Loop

Night came.

And Ambrose was hungry.

He stood up straight and the cage door swung open.

He walked through the door.

A girl sat against the Gondola of Doom, waiting for him.

He approached her.

She looked up at him, waiting.

Her neck was bare.

She didn’t have any scent that he could detect.

But her neck was bare and she was waiting for him.

And he was so hungry.

She stood and turned her neck to the side – an obvious invitation.

He accepted it.

He bit her neck.

And…

He startled awake.

It was night and he was hungry.

Elsie sat beside him. Her long fingers twirled through his hair. She smiled at him with love and approval.

“Is this—” He clenched his teeth as his stomach hurt from hunger.

He startled awake.

It was night and Ambrose was hungry.

Maria had taken Elsie’s place. “Ambrose.”

“Maria.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him forward for a kiss.

He closed his eyes to kiss her.

He opened his eyes.

It was night and he was hungry.

Barbara stood outside the cage.

Her image flickered from Barbara to Elsie and back to Barbara. “Ambrose.” Her voice warped between her own voice and Elsie’s voice. “Ambrose.”

“This isn’t real. You aren’t real.”

He woke up.

The cage was empty and dark.

It was night and Ambrose was hungry.

He crept over to the cage door.

Thick, impenetrable thorns sprouted out of the metal.

It isn’t real.

I’m hungry.

He reached through the thorns.

They melted into holy water.

His skin bubbled and burned and popped in an endless cycle of misery.

He bit back the scream that tried to escape on him. It isn’t real. It isn’t real.

His blackened skin peeled away and he could see his muscles and bones.

His heart raced. What if this is real? What if? What if?

His stomach growled.

And he woke up.

It was night and he was hungry.

He searched for a  way to open the door.

The door turned into an iron-clad wall. There was no way through it.

And he woke up.

It was night.

And Ambrose was hungry.

He pressed his forehead against the wall.

It turned from iron into the hottest fire.

But he didn’t move away from it.

He woke up.

It was night.

“I’m hungry. I’m hungry.”

And he woke up.