Life Or Death

Chapter 2

Obviously, it took me all of two seconds to realise I wasn't in my own home.
I sit up, rubbing my back. It hurts. I blink a few times and slowly get to my feet. Where is this? How did I get here?
People. I need to find people. Surely I can't be the only one here. What even happened?
I look around the room. It's empty except for a huge table stretching from each side. A dining room maybe?
"Oh. A door."
I quickly run over to it and turn the handle. The corridor beyond is dark other than a few wall candles, which emit a dim light.
"Hello?" I call. No answer.
I step out into the hall. Am I alone here?
I shiver. It's cold here. It's not just the temperatures either, the atmosphere sends tingles down my spine.
There's nothing else to do. I start walking down the corridor, and after a few minutes the most disgusting smell hits me. I want to throw up. I look around for its source. I have to destroy whatever it is before I'm physically sick.
It doesn't take me long to figure out it's coming from a charred black door. Cautiously, I approach it. I place my hand on the door handle and wince as it feels strange underneath my hand. I pull on the handle but nothing happens. Trying again i soon realise it's jammed shut. The smell of smoke is even stronger here, and mixed with the awful smell, I retch and turn away, dashing back up through the hall.
Once I can no longer smell it, I collapse against a wall, my face pale, body wobbly and feeling nauseated.
"Hang on a minute." I get to my feet. This isn't the same corridor I was in before. Did I run the wrong way?
I can hear something. A low buzzing. Talking?
Walking at a brisk pace, I follow the sound until it's much louder outside a single door.
"I just don't understand..."
"Me neither. Me neither. But it's-it's okay. I can protect you."
People?
I quickly reach for the handle and practically leap into the room.
Two gasps. I look up. There are two girls. One I don't know, and one is...Hiyori.
"H-Hiyori?" I exclaim with relief. At least I'm not alone. As for the smaller girl, I'm not too sure who she is.
"Aiko? Oh my god, we're not alone! That's reassuring..." Hiyori squeals.
"Uh, how? All it means is it's a group kidnapping, not just two of us. How is that reassuring in the slightest?"
I take a longer look at the other girl. She has short white hair, curled underneath her jaw. With her arms crossed, I take note of her outfit. She's wearing a necklace with a green gem, a pastel purple cropped jumper and a short skirt in the same color. Her tights are white with pink hearts where her knees and black laced platforms.
"What's your name? Don't worry we'll look after you," I turn to her.
"I'm not telling you my name. I don't even know who you are. And just how old do you think I am?" She replies, giving me a glare.
"Uh...twelve?" I guess.
A horrified look crosses her face.
"Twelve? What the hell? I'm not that short! If you must know I'm actually sixteen."
I gasp.
"I'm-I'm so sorry..." I mumble, my face turning red.
"You can trust us!" Hiyori quickly changes the subject. "I'll tell you our names. I'm Hiyori, and this," she gestures at me, "is Aiko!"
"I...already know that. You screamed the others name as soon as you saw each other. I meant the fact you could've teamed up to kidnap me." The white haired girl explains.
"Oh." Hiyori frowns. "Well we didn't do that. But how to prove it."
"Exactly." The unknown girl sighs. "I suppose I'll tell you my name. My name is Noelle."
"It's nice to meet you!" Hiyori pulls her in for a quick hug.
"Eh-"
I laugh as I watch them. Hiyori is so carefree. I hope it's not that which got us into this situation. Not that I was blaming Hiyori for this.
"Should we try find someone else? Maybe if you two are both here, someone I know is here too. Perhaps we were kidnapped in pairs." Noelle suggests.
"Stop saying we were kidnapped! It's scary," Hiyori shudders.
"Oh come on! That's obviously what's happened, isn't it? Unless you happen to know where we are? How old are you again? I can bet you're older. You should be calming me down."
"Guys stop!" I exclaim. "Noelle's right, we should look for other people. And don't worry," I added. "We will take care of you. I'm seventeen, and Hiyori just turned eighteen."
Noelle shrugs.
"Let's go then."
We step out into the hallway.
"Which room did you come from?" Hiyori asks me.
"I think it was a dining room?" I tell her.
"Lead the way," Noelle says.
"Oh-I...actually forgot. I forgot the way. I found this really creepy room and it smelled so bad I thought I was gonna throw up. I just ran. I didn't really pay attention."
"Oh you poor thing!" Hiyori squeezes my hand tight, while Noelle just nods.
We walk for what feels like days, but was probably only a few minutes, Noelle leading us.
She stops suddenly, causing me and Hiyori to crash into her. Her head whips round.
"Sorry!" I apologise quickly, as she looks at me the way a parent looks at you when they're about to give you a serious telling off.
She shakes her head.
"In here," Noelle points to the door on our right. "Listen."
We all strain to listen and hear a faint sound of voices.
Hiyori flings the door open and everyones head who's inside shoots up towards us.
Noelle freezes.
"Mai!" She laughs with what can only be relief. Noelle runs over to a girl with purple hair in messy space buns, wearing a black Alice band with spikes, a black choker with a gold buckle, a black cross wrap crop top and a black skirt that ends a bit above her knees. Her socks are knee high black ones with two white lines at the top, and her shoes are white platforms with black bases and purple laces that match her hair.
Mai. That's what Noelle called her.
Mai opens her arms and spins Noelle around in a hug.
"So you're here too?" She asks.
"Yeah. I met those two," she nods over at me and Hiyori. "They seem nice. They're called Hiyori and Aiko."
"Nice to meet you?" I shrug.
"Feelings mutual. So you've been looking after Noelle?" Mai asks.
"Yep yep! We've been wandering together," Hiyori explains.
My attention is suddenly drawn to the other side of the room. My eyes widen and I gasp.
"Yuta! Seiko, Kokomi! Rouh, Jin?"
The rest of our friends are stood clustered together.
I grab Hiyori's wrist and run over to them, tossing my arms around Seiko.
"Get a room you guys," Jin laughs fondly, ruffling my hair. I slap his hands away.
"Get off me!"
"Ouch! Okay, okay!" He holds his hands up.
"Settle down children. Don't make me put you in time out," Yuta looks at us both.
"Excuse you, you're like, one of the youngest here!" I protest.
"I'm sorry?" Mais voice cuts through the air. "When you seven are done goofing off, do you want to take this seriously?"
Her voice is cold, and she's surrounded by her own friends.
Is is just the two groups of us here?
She continues.
"Before we start introductions or investigations or whatever we're going to do...do any of you...recognise me?" The question is asked in almost a whisper.
"You?" Yuta looks her up and down. "Dont be so full of yourself princess."
This earns him a fierce, hard stare from the boy stood closest to Mai. It's clear she's like some sort of leader.
I clear my throat.
"Speaking of introductions we better at least tell each other our names."
Mais eyes lock on to mine for a second and she gives a soft smile.
"Yeah. Let's start now."