the Night Before, part II.

Richard is walking around the park. then he stops in front of a painting of a boy in blue shorts holding a red balloon. tears come out of his eyes. he falls on his knees. he holds the painting close to his chest. so much he has lost to time. his innocence. his youth. his dreams.

Tom is standing behind Richard. Tom feels bad for the friend he lost. so much has happened on the last few years. things that made life worth it, and even so. he never paid attention to the present for living ahead on the future.

Hanna keeps her distance. her past is gone. her future unknown. and the present is all that matters to her. Louis is at her side. he is trying to understand her disdain for those who represent the life she used to live. the people who bring up her past.

all of them broken in their unique ways. all of them with hidden truths and false lies ahead of them running and walking while they can barely take a step forward.

"I think we should move forward." commented Louis with a friendly smile.

the four of them keep exploring the park. there is something so peaceful and sinister about a place that seems to be so livid while being hollow. it lacks life. and it works in such an organic way that is truly terrifying.

"Did you hear that?" said Hanna.

the four of them keep walking around until they find themselves in front of a young lady. she seems to be lost and confuse. Richard remembers that he saw her on the bus. she keeps asking if they had seen her child. she is about to cry. she presents herself as Emily Black. she tells them her story from how her husband died in a car crash to the present day.

the wind blows hard. here comes a calm rain that soon turns violent. the five of them walk around trying to find somewhere to take shelter. they stop in front of what appears to be a museum at the heart of the park. they walk inside without thinking twice.

inside the museum there are strange statues of faceless figures standing in contortioned postures all standing at the side as if they were awaiting their arrival. there are some disturbing paintings on the walls. one is of a monstrous man salivating as he holds a baby.

the five of them keep advancing carefully. they don't notice as the statues move slowly and they stare directly at them. a statue touches the front of its own head. with its sharp fingers carves a sinister face on its own head.

 the paintings seem to move as if they were alive. there is a painting of a man driving a car. the man crashes against a wall. he is left badly wounded. and then it repeats. each wound accumulates on the man who is miserable. the horror never stops. he is aware of his fate, and he has given up on scaping. his eyes are the eyes of dread.

"Did you hear that." said Richard unaware of the danger ahead.

they group keeps walking until they stop in front of a painting that covers an entire wall. it seems to be the main piece of the exhibition. there are lights illuminating it. the painting shows the face of horror of the three friends. then there is a car crash. another one of their friends is badly wounded and begging to be saved. he crashed against another car. in the other car there is a family man who lose his life instantly. there are childish cries as the three friends run away from the incident in a moment of desperation.

"That is my husband. and those are the cries of my child." said the woman with teary eyes as she falls on her knees devastated.

"We are sorry. we were racing. it was our thing. and one of our friends was drunk. we told him to stop and he didn't listen, he never listens. and he had the accident. we were too young. we were too stupid. we were scared." said Richard as he cries.

Richard falls on his knees. he drags himself in front of the woman. he begs for her forgiveness loudly and with desperation. all his life stopped moving that night. his light was turned off by a violent touch of guilt. he drags his head on the floor. he is desperate.

"Do you truly regret it." asks the mother.

"Yes. I can't die nor live. I am in a gray state in which I am not either alive because the guilt stops me from appreciating life. nor be truly dead because I breathe." he said.

then a loud noise distracts everyone. they turn their heads to the direction of a long hallway from which the statues are coming from. some of the statues merged together. their limbs and multiple heads take a horrifying form. a noise similar to lightning comes from them.

by itself walks the statue that keeps committing self-mutilation. the statue carves a shape to its face and carves details to its body. it keeps mutilating itself in search for humane perfection that it won't ever find within itself. it looks at them with contempt.

Richard feels a soft hand touch the top of his head. with teary eyes he looks up at the woman who walks directly towards the painting. Emily gets inside the painting. she walks slowly carefully towards the car. she stares at her husband. she carefully opens the door. she gets her husband out of the car. she then gets her son out of the car. they are still breathing. she tries to keep them alive ignoring what happens out in the real world.

Richard yells her name. Richard asks her to come back to the real world. 

"We need to do something now. we need to live for us." said Hanna feeling anxious.

"There is an exit this way. we need to live now." someone screams in desperation.

"What do I do. what do I do." whispers Richard with a rational dilemma at his hands. he could abandon his morals and live or die seeking the ultimate redemption.