Lovers (Norray)

Chapter 15

Norman P.O.V

Multiple hours into the journey, the excitement had faded. We were getting slower and taking more breaks. The only people on alert were the older kids. One thing that wouldn't leave my mind was how eerily quiet it was. I bet you could hear a penny drop.

I could hear Emma and Ray whispering in the back as they seemed to be lost in a conversation.

"Get down!" someone from the front shouted. We all dropped down, confused. 

An arrow passed above us.

Someone was following us.

"Run!" Ray and Emma screamed as more arrows came towards us. We ran in different directions, finding hiding places in large cracks and rocks. We turned our flashlights off and stayed as quiet as possible. I was able to make out a human and what I believe was a demon. There seemed to be more demons and humans behind them. I'm sure they didn't see us split up, but we still stayed apart for a bit longer. As soon as we couldn't hear their voices and footsteps, we jumped out.

Emma took a quick headcount, nodding when the number was the same. We continued on our path, but nobody spoke. Everyone was keeping watch now. We were lucky that time.

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Over the course of 20 minutes, we had managed to reach 7 dead ends.

"Are you guys even following the map correctly?" Don questioned. Ray and I looked towards each other and shrugged. We were using the map correctly, but every place we went to had a dead end. Emma examined the map, "They're right. We went to every available opening in the cave and not one leads to the opening we need. "But that's impossible!" Gilda whispered. "Yea, but it seems like it," Ray muttered. "Are you sure there was an exit, Don?" I asked. "Positive!" he answered.

We thought in silence until Ray spoke up, "What if the entrance got blocked? I mean, when we first entered the cave, a mass of rocks blocked the entrance. Who knows, it could've happened again." I nodded, "That seems reasonable." The others nodded in agreement. "Hear me out, that could be true, but what if there's a path we could be completely overlooking," Emma suggested. We all turned in Emma's direction to see her leaning on a wall that was leaving inwards. "I-wow." Ray stuttered. "Demons are so unoriginal," Emma mumbled. "At least thank them, we finally made good progress. Plus, this map finally makes sense!" I sighed with satisfaction.

"I'm so disappointed in the demons! Why does everything involve a secret passageway!" Ray yelled. "I know! Don't get me wrong, secret passageways are awesome but seriously?!" Emma responded. "Guys, quiet down!" I shouted. "Sorry," the two of them said. "There's writing on the walls over here," Gilda informed.

Ray P.O.V

After deciding to take a longer break, the younger kids were either asleep or eating. Some kids were analyzing the map. A few other kids went ahead to check if there was anything to be aware of. Norman, Don, and I were keeping watch, while Emma and Gilda were studying the writings. Don and Norman were arguing about video games. I chose to ignore them and go to Emma and Gilda.

"Hey, those two are being idiots, so I've come to bless you with my presence," I smirked. Emma rolled her eyes, "Seriously? Anyway, these writings are gibberish." I looked towards the random letters that were put together to form meaningless words. (hjynm kour wjrangdk ghreth sbd aieik snk wg. ngwah jhatkr hck lkdhegyp lds)"Well, it's definitely not any language I learned. Or any language in general." I sighed. "Maybe it's some code?" Gilda offered. That could be true. Everything else in this cave was cliche, so how about this? "Maybe it's the first letter of each of these words!" Emma exclaimed. That would be too easy. "That's not it. The result comes out to hkwgsaswnjhll. What the even is that?" Emma shrugged. At this point, Norman and Don joined in our conversation. "What about the last letters?" Don suggested.

"That comes out to mrkhdkkghrkps." Gilda said. "What does the period mean?" Norman asked. "It could indicate a space," I answered. "Try the middle ones," Norman recommended. "The middle ones don't work because some of the words have an even amount of letters." Emma sighed. "It's a pattern. You have to pick the middle letter from the first word, then the middle letters from the second. Then repeat the pattern." I explained. "Yea, but that would mean the space wouldn't make any sense!" Don exclaimed, clearly frustrated. "What if the period means that it's changing the pattern or something," Emma said. 

"That makes no sense, but let's go with it because it seems logical!" I responded. 

"That means it says You are being watched," Norman concluded. 

Shit. 

Right on time, the kids who went to see what was ahead returned. "There are four paths we can take, but the map shows that all four can make it out. We're thinking that each path has a catch." one of the kids said. "We need to go !" Norman yelled. A quick explanation was all it took to get everyone to pack up and run.

Just at that moment, loud footsteps began approaching us. "It's best if everyone splits up. Each orphanage has to go a different path." Norman said. "Just keep going straight and you'll make it out," I explained. Gilda had given every group (meaning orphanage) a copy of the map we were using just in case we had to split up like this.

The other kids were hesitant to go separate ways but if we all went the same way we would be caught a lot easier. The footsteps were getting extremely close.

"Now!" I yelled and we all left.