“You’re so funny you know that Eli.” A woman with a soft voice said, giggling.
“The joke wasn’t even all that!” I said laughing with her. She grabbed my right hand and interlocked it with hers. I gave her a kiss on the forehead.
I love spending time with her. I get to truly be myself around her. I’ll never get tired of these moments. She’s been my anchor throughout these years.
“Eliza, life has been getting pretty hard with us about to become adults, and all.” I brought her in closer, “But I'm happy I have you… you just make me… so sure of everything you know. I feel like I can do anything with you by my side.”
She looked confused at first, then gave me one of her warm smiles. She looks so cute with her dimples. “I’m happy I have you too Elijah.” she started to lay down, resting her head on my lap. I began to stroke her hair. “I love you Eli.”
“I love y-… I…. I…. I…………..”
Her red hair that adored so much, feels stained. Her hand on mine makes my stomach turn.
“...this… isn’t right…”
“What’s wrong?” She let out another smile.
She began to caress the side of my face with the back of her hand.
Her soft touch feels wrong… This isn’t the woman I know…
“...You don’t love me.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Eli… what’s wrong?”
“You’re what’s wrong.”
I can’t even look her in the eye… only past her.
“What?”
“Get the fuck out of here…”
Just looking at her is making me wanna rip my eyes out of their sockets. Since when did looking at her become so distasteful? It hurts when I try to view even an inch of her.
My heart began to ache amidst the confusion of my emotions. It’s painful to bear.
“...Eli come on, you wanna go home? We can do that if you want, don’t get all upset silly.”
Stop talking… stop talking…
She started poking my face while giggling. “ Astronaut Eli, earth to Eli, do you copy?”
Her laugh felt like a knife twisting in my ear. I can’t bear to be around here any longer.
“Does the gravity of the moon have your brain floating as well?”
This is too much…
“...Get off of me…”
She stared at me, not being able to believe the words that just escaped from my lips.
“...,” she stood up from my lap, and looked me dead in the eyes. “...This isn’t funny anymore… Eli… baby, what’s wr-”
“GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!”
……………………………………..
“WAH!”
….
A dream?! …A dream.
I should’ve said more… I could’ve said so much more…
This is… so damn frustrating…
Oh…
I’m still… in the school?
“ ...WAIT! RYAN?!”
Where is he?!
I began to look around. I’m on a staircase.
“...Not again.” I looked up. I couldn’t see the top no matter how hard I squinted my eyes. “Well… it could’ve been way worse, I could’ve fell straight down to the bottom.” Looking down it was the same. The bottom is nowhere in sight. Saying this place is huge is an understatement.
We were gonna escape, but then ran into one of the staircases going upward along the ceiling. We crashed into it pretty hard. Just where could he have landed? What if… he’s still up there?! The guards…! No, the best scenario I could hope for is that he also fell down somewhere else. …But… would he be able to survive a drop like that?! I mean I had that strange green power protecting me. …If I had to guess, he may have fallen down the same staircase as me. But would he be more towards the top or the bottom?
I let out a deep sigh. “Why did we all have to get split up? I didn’t even think of that possibility. Nor the possibility of Ryan’s chances with that fall… You gotta believe Eli. You got to believe…”
I don’t wanna be here. I just wanna go home. Landing on the stairs has my back aching. It feels like my spine was ripped out, and placed back inside me upside down. At least I'm not bleeding…
Wait. My chest… it’s healed?! The once bruised, and bloody spot that covered my chest was now no longer there.
My shirt is ripped all over to where there’s no point in me even wearing it. I took it off but decided to keep it in case I get wounded again and need something to cover it with. No use in worrying about a little show of skin. I’m alone right now for the time being. If I don’t adapt to this place, I'll be eaten alive by it. I doubt any of the others are somewhere close. I’ll start by making my way down. Best case, I'll run into someone along the way. If they’re thinking like I'm thinking then they know that they have to keep moving.
……………………….
I’ve been walking for about twenty to twenty-five minutes now. I’ve been a little anxious the entire time. What if those walls open up again and those guards start flooding out? Running sounds like a monumental task right now…
I just can’t help but wonder... I mean I have every right to be angry but, what if it was my fault. What happened to Eliza…? Was she unhappy with me? I thought she was happy with me, …she said she was. I just wanna know why… Why did she do that? Maybe that’s why she didn’t wanna go to the same college. Maybe she was already planning on leaving me after we graduated…
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
I think the guy goes to our school. I don’t know how I'd react if I were to see him walking through the halls. …Or if I were to see her.
What if I see them in the halls together…?
It’s bullshit. That’s all I can see it as right now.
Why was she the one crying…? ….What could she possibly have been crying for?!
I just wanna know if she really loves me…
“C’mon… focus! I can worry about that later.”
I say that, but she’s the only thing I continue to think about.
Ten more minutes passed. It’s still quiet, no sign of anything. Just me, and these stairs. So. Many. Stairs. My knees…
“I’m taking a break… just for a little bit.” I stretched my legs, and leaned across the rail on the staircase, “Mhmmm, that’s better…,” I started peering down below. Trying to figure out just how much farther I am from the ground, “Wait… what is that?”
I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but what I definitely could see clearly was the ground.
Ecstatic, I walked a few steps further down for a better look.
“That’s… Zion?!”
He was laid out across a bed of flowers. His eyes, and mouth laid open. Blood, and bruises covered his body.
I sprinted down the stairs.
I fell down to the floor upon reaching him. I grabbed him, holding him in my arms. I was holding back tears.
“Zion, no… please! Wake up! I’m seeing things! Just like before! I have to be…! Not you… not you…”
One of my best friends… is gone…
He’s the youngest out of all of us. He doesn’t even graduate for another two years… Why?!
“…!”
I can’t even hold back anymore. I’m crying while hugging his lifeless body tightly. “I wasn’t there to protect you… I’m sorry Zion… I’m so sorry…”
His body is still warm. I looked at his eyes. They’re empty… it doesn’t look like he died upon impact… he had to suffer in his last moments…
Zion… If this happened to him… then what could be said about the others?
“I’m… all alo-”
“E-e…Eli…jah…”
“-!”
I was alarmed by the sound of Zion’s voice. Looking down at him I could see his eyelids twitching.
The light in his eyes is faint. I can’t tell if he’s breathing or not.
“Don’t try to talk… I-I’ll do something!”
“I… Don’t… l-let me… die.”
He grabbed my wrist. His grip was so weak, his hands slipped off as soon as he touched me.
“I-I got you! …I-I’ll try something!” I don’t how it did it but that greenness healed my body. Can I heal him as well? I grabbed the hand he tried grabbing my wrist with, “Trust me…?”
“...”
He gave me a little nod.
I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath.
Now… focus.
I want to help my friend. He needs me or he’ll die. Help him the same way you helped me. Save him… help him… please!
I began to squeeze his hand even harder. We both started to glow. Everything around me feels warm.
Is this it… is it working…?
His wounds started to close, as if they were being re-winded. His eyes began blinking normally, as his grip on my hand started to regain its strength.
“EUGH” Zion wheezed, jerking his body up fast, while holding his throat with both hands.
I immediately pulled him in, probably giving him the biggest hug in his entire life.
“...You’re okay! You’re okay…!” I can’t believe it!
This power is weird. The feeling is so eerie yet natural, as if it’s something I knew I could do. Yet I don’t understand it. Why can I do this? …I don’t give a damn! I just saved my friend’s life!
“Eli… you’re squeezing me.” Zion wept.
“O-oh! Sorry…,” I let go of him, “I-I’m sorry it’s just… I thought you were…”
“Yeah… I thought I was too… but what… what is that?”
“?”
The green aura around my body subsided, and vanished, as if it were never there to begin with.
“That glowyness! It came from you right? What was that?!” His eyes sparkled in excitement. A much better look from his state from before.
I’m still in shock a little from the sight of him from before. I can’t get the image out of my head, even as he looks me in the eyes with a smile.
“It was… well… where should I start…?
“Anywhere!”
I thought to myself for a moment before looking at him.
“...Okay. …A monster attacked me and Ryan. They weren’t like any of the guards we saw before. It kind of resembled an evil mermaid… I think Ryan called it a siren. Same thing though, basically. Long story short it jumped on me, and tried to bite my neck off. I didn’t wanna die, so I guess I got… a little upset, and next thing I knew I was floating in the air. I had this green aura around my body. I fought the thing, and crushed its throat.” I started to glare down at my hands. “I can still feel how cold it’s neck was, even when it’s blood spilled on my hands. …It’s weird, I don’t wanna have to touch another one of these things.”
“Woah.” That was the only word he could think of for it. “That’s amazing… Really, you’re like a superhero! And I thought me, and Robbie had the short end of the stick.”
I began to scratch my head, “I can’t really control it though. It comes, and goes. I feel really good when I use it. I have this nostalgic feeling when it comes out… as if it’s always been with me. Yet it still feels unknown to me. I’ve only used it twice- wait no three times now.”
He raised his head, and placed a hand on his chin. “The first time was for that, and you healed me just now. What was the second time?”
I let out an awkward smile. It’s gonna be embarrassing for me to admit. “I picked Ryan up, and jumped up high in the air to escape some of the guards… I failed both jumps. …We crashed into a staircase… and then I woke up on yours truly right behind us,” I pointed my thumb backwards at the staircase behind us.
“Woah that’s-”
“But what happened to you?!” I said, interrupting him, “You fell all the way down it!”
He was quiet for a few moments before opening his mouth.
“Me, and Louis got overcrowded by the students when we were all running. Robbie came back for us but before we got a chance to keep moving… that announcement.” He started to tremble.
“I remember that! Robbie said he’d be right back and to wait for till you all got back, but… They came for you guys too…?”
“Y-yeah. We tried to outrun them but they caught us. We were surrounded… One of them… came at me pretty fast,” He started to hold his chest tightly, “It kicked me straight in my chest, twice… the second time sent me flying into the air, then down here. I don’t know what could’ve happened to Louis and Robbie… they might’ve…”
“Hey… we don’t know for sure what happened to them. But I know that they’re still out there.”
“How can you… how can you say that for sure?! That ‘thing’ kicked me all the way down here! We can’t be so certain that the other’s got off any easier.”
“What…?”
He started to grip each side of his pants tightly. His teeth quivered as he began shaking.
“Elijah… I'm scared… You can say anything you want about me right now, but I'm terrified. I don’t wanna die. …That moment keeps flashing in my head every second of me speaking. The pain… everything. It just all happened so fast… and I couldn’t do anything. If I… if I didn’t lose you all in the crowd then maybe-”
“Shut up… it’s like I said, we don’t know for sure what might’ve happened to them. There’s nothing you could’ve done, and that’s okay… no one is gonna blame you. Lift your head. We’re gonna find them. Me, and you.”
He stopped shaking. He loosened the grip he had on his pants and raised his head.
“Thank you… this place is… taxing. It feels like I can still feel the pain from that kick. It was putting me on edge a little. …I don't think I've had this many near death experiences at once like this before.”
“I get what you mean. Shit I don’t think I've ever had one in my entire life before this.”
“I have… I wasn’t strapped in all the way on a rollercoaster when I was nine, and almost flew off… my dad managed to grab me in time, and he held me down on his lap.”
“I remember that…”
We both let out a laugh. This is a refreshing interaction.
I remember him telling me about that randomly during lunch one time. It still sounds crazy even hearing it the second time. What was even crazier was how much money his parents got in lawsuit money.
His eyes started to widen with curiosity.
“So how does your power work?! What can you do?! What is it called?! Is it-”
“Woah woah woah, slow down! …I don’t really know how it works. Like I said before, it comes, and goes. But… I think it… enhances my physical body, maybe.”
“Can you elaborate more?”
“Yeah I can. My body starts to feel a lot stronger. I was able to move way faster than a human would be normally capable of, and my senses, my perception, it was as if nothing could get past me. Well I guess not everything. If that was the case I wouldn’t have crashed. But as for how I healed you… I'm not really sure. It healed my wounds so I think I was able to use it to heal yours as well. This is puzzling.”
“It’s a miracle, is what it is! You saved my life!” He lets out a joyful smile, “Thank you. Really… Thank you so much.”
I let out a smile while giving him a pat on the back. “You know I got you. We’re brothers. But still I wonder now ....”
“What is it?”
“Do you think you could maybe do it too?”
“Are you joking?” He shot me a smug look. He’s not taking me seriously.
“I’m serious. Think about it for a second. This strange place we’re in. The awful timing of it all. Not to mention those monsters. What if you awaken them too? I think it might be fate!”
“You make a pretty good point, but I was already on death’s door like you were and nothing awakened out of me. But then again, that couldn’t have just been some once-in-lifetime thing. I wanna hope that it’s possible.” He gave me an intense look with sparkles in his eyes. “Then I would have powers as well! I’d be like Spider-Guy!”
“Still, this is real life we’re talking about. We can’t just jump to conclusions like that. I doubt attaining these powers will be that easy. And again this is just assuming that you guys can do it as well… no offense.”
“None taken.” He crossed his arms, “Real life. Well do you think we should keep moving? I don’t think we should stay in the same place for too long.”
“We should… but I think we should try to come up with a plan first.”
“What are you thinking?”
I stood up, and crossed my arms.
“Well for starters, if we run into any monsters we need to be able to quickly assess our situation, and act calmly.” I pointed towards the vast hallway in front of us, “We have to stay calm, and can’t give them the chance to corner us. We’re gonna be in another hallway, the worst power they have is their numbers. Not to mention the size difference. So I was thinking that when we make our way down the hallway in front of us, we should both walk close to the wall on each side. You walk on the right, I’ll walk on the left. It’ll give us both opportunities to check out what’s inside some of these rooms through the windows. That’ll help us find where we need to go faster. And it’s also good for if a monster tries to approach us. It’ll give us time to put ourselves in the right positions.”
“What, we have battle positions?!”
“This isn’t a video game…, but you can call it that, I guess. It’s not anything fancy. If a monster shows up, on my word, we’ll both rush to the center of the hallway. You’ll get behind me, and I'll be in the front, facing the threat, so don’t worry about anything like fighting. I’ll protect you. If there are multiple monsters I’ll find an opening to get us past them so we can run away without having to turn back around. But if there’s only one… I’ll try to kill it. …Well what do you think?”
“I have no complaints. You sound confident so that’s all the assurance I need. That power of yours looks promising… and cool! Help me up,” He extended his hand out to me.
I helped him up. He started to examine himself. Probably wondering if his body had truly healed fully.
“How do you feel? Good?”
“I-I feel fine! It’s like the fall never happened. I kind of feel oddly refreshed as well.” He raised his arms in the air, stretching his body. “Mhm… well then… I'm ready when you are. I need to get away from these stairs.”
“Ready as I'll ever be. Also, remember, don’t leave your side of the hall until I give you the go ahead.”
He gave me a firm nod. “Got’cha”
“Alright then… Let’s go!”
We both started to march towards the hallway.
Just try to hold out a little while longer guys. We’re gonna get out of here!