A LEAP OF FAITH

Chapter 39: The painful sound of silence.

After about four more days of walking, they were about halfway to the academy. Ari was in immense pain as he strained his leg by walking on it. His hearing was still shot, it made him feel unprepared. If someone were to sneak up behind him and make an attack, he'd have no idea.

"I wonder what the principal will say when she realizes that..." Sharlet trailed off. She didn't want to talk about the tragedies that had occurred. Kiren nodded. He understood what she meant. He felt a tingling sensation in his hands, similar to when they fell asleep. Though, they felt numb.

"Does anyone else feel... weird?" He asked, glancing over at Sharlet.

"I thought it was just me..." she mumbled. "Maybe it's just a coincidence." She shrugged. Though, after a while, they realized that it may not be 'just a coincidence.' The tingling traveled from their hands to their arms, from their arms to their torso, all the way down to their toes. Sharlet stumbled forward, grabbing onto Kiren's shoulder for support. "I... I don't feel..." She gagged and that was when the vomit came up. She threw up onto the grass, coughing and gasping as the acid poured from her mouth.

Maverick stared in disgust; he'd never seen vomit before. "Eugh..." he muttered. Sharlet stopped retching, groaning as she brought her sleeve up to wipe her mouth off.

"Dude, are you okay-?" Kiren asked, trying to hide the fact that he felt nauseous himself.

"It... might be food poisoning..." she mumbled, "I'm sure all of our food is old now, so that'd explain it..."

Kiren nodded and glanced over at Ari, who looked sick to his stomach. He pulled his hat over his face so nobody saw his weak expression.

"If you throw up on me, I'm punching you in the face," Maverick muttered. Ari tried to laugh, but it only resulted in the urge to vomit flaring up. The muffling in his ears got louder until he heard nothing but ringing. He stumbled forward, trying to grab onto Maverick for support. Though, when he hit the ground with a thud, everything went black.

Ari woke up, his head was pounding, but he could hear again at least. Though... there was nothing to hear. Everything was silent and still. He blinked a few times to adjust to the darkness, realizing that he wasn't in the forest anymore. He glanced down at his hands; they were still the same. He found himself in a vast void, filled to the brim with nothing but a black interior.

"Ari...?" He heard a familiar voice call out in a raspy voice. He glanced down and saw Kiren lying on the ground next to him.

"It's nice to see you, Kiren. Where are we?" Ari asked, wanting answers on where they could possibly be.

"How do you expect me to know, dude? I just woke up," Kiren mumbled and tried to sit up. Ari sighed, annoyed by the attitude he was giving. Though, they were in no place to be arguing, so he didn't say anything back.

"Sharlet, wake up," Ari said quietly. He had found Sharlet lying down a few feet away from them. As soon as he poked her, she immediately jolted awake. She looked around frantically until she saw Ari and Kiren, her breath steadying once she did.

"Uh... hi, guys..." she said awkwardly and stood up. "God, where are we now...?" She motioned towards the void that they stood in.

"I don't know, but we have to find Maverick before we can do anything. We can't be separated, especially not in a place like this," Ari explained. Sharlet nodded and walked in front of the two, leading the way.

They slowly made their way around the labyrinth of a dimension, trying to find Maverick. Ari had a bad feeling, and it wasn't nausea this time. A terrible empty feeling in his stomach, as if he knew that something may happen.