Spirit World Adventures

Chapter 20 - The Great Escape

The last thing I wanted to do was go back through the maze. There didn't seem to be any other clear way out. But when Kya lifted from the ground, she revealed a trapdoor underneath her.

'Not sure I like this plan, but I guess this must be the exit,' I said to her, before grabbing the handle and heaving the wooden door up.

Peering down through it, I shouted, 'hello...hello?' but no answer came. There was nothing else for it, I had to climb down and hope for the best. There was a slippery ladder off to the side, which I clung to for dear life as I made my way down and down and down in the darkness. Kya was still watching from the hatch up above. Just when it felt like the ladder would go on forever, the ground beneath me materialised and I hopped off the ladder, landing on hard wooden floor.

'Okay, you can jump down now, girl-'

But I turned around and she was right beside me.

'No fair,' I huffed, 'Must be cool to be a spirit.'

Looking around, I saw that we were back in the library. Ghost Girl was nowhere to be seen, though. As I passed by the rows upon rows of books housing other people's lives, I wondered if anyone could pick up the books and dive into other people's memories. It was sort of an invasion of privacy, like reading someone's diary, but it would be cool to see how other people lived and what made their personal stories so interesting.

I turned a corner and saw the best thing ever: Olivia. She was panting and leaning over something on the ground. Polly, her shadow-kin, was in full glory right beside her. I could have screeched in joy, but I settled for a flying hug. Olivia was knocked sideways by the force of my hug and clearly surprised. Maybe attacking her after she'd been trapped in this dark, scary place wasn't the right idea. But as I hugged her and she settled into my embrace, realising who I was, I felt no regrets.

'I'm so glad to see you,' I said, pulling myself from her reluctantly and helping her to stand up.

'As crazy as it sounds, I'm pleased to see you, too.'

'Did you...go inside of your story?'

Her gaze didn't meet mine, 'Yeah... you?'

'Yeah...'

'Look, I have something I need to say,' she said suddenly, squaring her shoulders and focusing too intently on me now. 'You've...you've been a bad friend lately. Hardly a friend at all, actually-'

'I know, I-'

'I'm not finished!' She roared, her eyes frantic and her hand held up in front of my face, 'You hurt me. You're not the only one, but with you, it hurt the most. I wasn't confessing my love for you, you know. I was just telling you...who I am. So for you to...to walk away and...it hurt like hell, Ten.'

Silence fell between us. I waited a while to see if she would continue, my head hung in shame. But then I realised she was crying, so I tenderly reached out my hand to hers. I saw Kya moving to intertwine with Polly.

'I am so...so angry with myself for what I did,' I started. 'I could give you excuses and reasons, but it doesn't matter. I'm slowly realising that now. All that matters is you are hurting and as your friend, I'm here for you. And from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry for what I did. I will continue to be sorry until you see that I am worthy of the title of friend again, deal?'

Olivia lifted her head, revealing a snotty wet face. Her snotty wet face made my face go all snotty and wet, too. And I think we probably sobbed and cried with our heads together for about a million embarrassing minutes until we realised, suddenly, where we were.

'How do we get out of this place? You reckon Master Jack is around here somewhere, watching us?' I asked.

'No, I think this mission... I dunno, don't you think it was different from all the rest?'