On The Verge

Chapter 21- The Lost Get Found

———————Chloe———————

⠀⠀"Are we at the wrong place?" I questioned. Part of me hoped the answer to my question was affirmative. If Josh wasn't in the building, then any lead we had on his whereabouts were gone. If he wasn't here, I wasn't sure we would ever find him.

⠀⠀"This is the place." Nia uttered. Tears brimmed in my eyes; tears that were worried for Josh's safety, tears that feared we wouldn't find him. I blinked rapidly, holding them back.

⠀⠀Suddenly, a creak resounded loudly, originating from a different room. I looked at my friends in anxious astonishment before taking off in the direction of the sound.

⠀⠀The sound had come from a room that we had previously missed. I placed my hand on the doorknob of the room, taking a deep breath. My mind flashed back to the last time I had held my hand over a doorknob; the door to Paige's room in the sanitarium. The very moment that had changed the course of our lives. Perhaps if I hadn't opened that door, I wouldn't need to be opening this one. It seemed that every time I opened a door, a different door down the line closed itself up tight.

⠀⠀Thoughts rolled through my head faster than I could push them aside, thoughts that questioned whether or not this door should be opened. Telling myself that Josh's safely was the main priority, I forced myself to turn the knob.

⠀⠀As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, I took in the contents of the small space. Unlike the other rooms, this one was not empty. The next few moments, when I became aware of what dark secrets the room held, the world seemed to slow down. I couldn't stop the screamed wreckage of sobs that escaped my lips. I couldn't stop myself from falling to my knees. I couldn't pull my eyes from the single piece of furniture located in the room.

⠀⠀A single chair was placed in the centre of the room. The wood of the chair was thin and splintered, hardly containing the heavy body of the boy whom I had grown to love. Josh's blonde hair was tangled, dark dried blood that was nearly black smearing in parts of it. His head was lopped to the side, as it was in the photo. The only difference from the photo was that now, his blue eyes stared openly at the floor beside him. They contained no light, no life. His chest was a tie-dye of his white t-shirt and his dark, crimson blood. The white fabric and the dark colour blending together in complex patterns. His chest did not rise and fall and the amount blood was so excessive that his condition was no question.

⠀⠀He was dead.

⠀⠀Sobs tore through my body like a thunderstorm, my tears falling like the rain in such a storm. My hands sought out my face, burying themselves within my hair as my gaze remained trained on Josh. The agony was unbearable. Never before had a felt such a sharp yet infinite pain that only increased the longer my eyes were in contact with his broken figure.

⠀⠀Josh; who had loved me through everything. The one who knew me better than anyone else, who was always so kind and so gentle. Josh; whom I had loved with every ounce of my being.

⠀⠀Was dead.

⠀⠀I felt Maddie's thin arms wrap around my torso, pulling me out of the retched room. She began guiding my sobbing body towards the entrance of the building. As she drug me away, I noticed Nia wipe the door handle with her sleeve, removing any fingerprints.

⠀⠀A new wave of sobs raked my body as we exited the building, leaving Josh's body behind. I leaned all my weight on Maddie, burying my face into the soft fabric of her smoke-smelling sweater.

(A/N: so this is kind of a depressing chapter... Oops. Kindly vote and comment!)