The Twilight Zone

Chapter 25

 The two girls trudged down the slick cave. The walls were mossy even though, Ellie pointed out, that there was no way for rain to get into the zone.

At which Amelie gave Ellie a sly smile. Then, grabbing onto her hand and laughing, happier than she had been in a long time, she ran out of the cave into a drenched area, open and happy. And the sky. It wasn't the Earth or a hole leading to their village, but there was a sky. The two ran around in it for a bit, taking the puddles and splashing each other.

Then Amelie cried out, a small whimper.

There was Noah.

And he was drenched.

Not in water, although he was soaked in that too, but in a red fluid that both of the girls noticed as his own blood.

Ellie's heart dropped.

There was Noah.

And Noah was dead.

Ellie dropped to her knees, expecting to cry again, but she couldn't, nothing came out of her eyes nor her mouth.

She took the water from the puddle nearest her and began to splash her face, telling herself to wake up from this horrible dream. His last words to her had been I don't love you. But Ellie knew that she still loved him, none of it had been his fault...

Hadn't it?

She looked around for Amelie, but she was gone, just like how she had left Ellie the first time at the Cavern-but then Noah and Alex had found her and helped her, taken care of her, befriended her...

They were both dead now, together, and all Ellie wanted then was to join them.

Instead, Ellie took a stray rock from a puddle, sopping wet, and held out her arm, cutting a slash into it that made her cry out horribly.

"Ellie..." The voice trailed off, barely a whisper.

"NOAH?!" The word caught in her throat, and then the tears came.

"You were going to just leave me here?" 

"Noah, no, I thought you were-"

"Huh. Guess I look pretty-"

"Yeah." Neither of them could bring themselves to say the word that so many of their friends were now. Dead.

Noah held out his arms, and at that moment Ellie didn't care that her shirt was sticky with his blood, or that her arm was throbbing and hurting worse than anything.

Noah was alive.