As I stared into the gaping hole on her face, where her eye should've been, I felt tears well up in the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill onto my own face. Who could've done this...? I pulled her away from the chains on the wall that held her in place. The cold, rusting metal stung my fingertips and the palms of my hands as I pulled those awful chains off the wall and threw them onto the ground. They made a loud clattering noise as they collided with each other and the cold, hard cement floor.
The girl collapsed forward, her small and frail body making contact with mine. She was cold. Like, ice cold. Her freezing cold skin pressing against my body sent a shiver through my entire body, but I still didn't drop her. We couldn't stay here. And asking this person was my best chance of learning anything about this place, so I wasn't about to just leave her here to die. Her skin looked pale, as if the blood in her body had almost run dry. She was shaking like a leaf as she desperately clung to my body like a lifeline. I wasn't sure whether it was from fear, starvation, or pain, but either way, I'm no good at comforting people. I lifted her up and held her gently as I stood up to walk out of there. Her legs swung over my arm without much effort as she laid with her head against my chest. Her body trembled as she sobbed, and yet there were no tears streaming down her face. Was there not even enough water in her body to form something as simple as a few tears?
I just stared down at her, not sure what to do. She seemed so...broken. So fragile. So weak. I didn't know what to do. Anything I could've done might've just made it worse, so I just stood there for a moment, staring at her. Thinking. Thankfully, before I got too lost in my own thoughts, the strange sounds started behind me again. Footsteps I barely recognized approaching. Voices I knew I knew but also didn't know whispering my name...no, it was like they were yelling, but someone had turned down the volume. Like they were walking on cushions and screaming through water. They were saying my name, but I didn't even know my name. It was like I knew exactly what they were saying, somewhere in my subconscious, but my conscious mind couldn't comprehend it.
I took off running, or more accurately speed-walking, back out into the hallway. I never thought I would be so thankful to see those awful, dimly-lit hallways that resembled my old school. And yet, when the lighting returned to being painfully bright, as if someone were driving a flash of lighting directly into my eyes, I finally breathed a sigh of relief and stopped running. I glanced down at the girl in my arms, checking to make sure she was still alive. She was definitely alive. I watched for a moment, observing the way her chest rose and fell with every breath she took in.
I gently set her down on the grass and brushed her hair out of her face with my hand. As her body first touches the ground, she inhales sharply, as if she was trying not to scream out in pain. Why, I don't know. Maybe it was simply out of instinct, maybe her vocal cords were too damaged to make a sound, or maybe she knew there was something here...something that would find us if we were too loud. I wasn't sure, but I decided to be quiet, just in case. If there was something in these halls, I certainly didn't want to be the one to wake it up.
The girl still laid there on the dried-out, dying grass, her body trembling in pain every time she moved. Even something as simple as breathing seemed to be difficult for her. I wanted to help, but I didn't know how. I glanced around the room, looking for anything I could make any kind of use out of. Whether it was something that could be used to properly bandage her injuries, or lessen her pain, or even something containing information about this place, anything would be helpful.
As I looked around, my eyes caught my reflection in one of the windows to one of the other rooms. The windows didn't really even seem like windows, though. They were more like mirrors with slightly lowered opacity. If you squinted and looked really hard, you might be able to see what's on the other side. I tried to avoid looking through it. Considering the last room I walked into while just looking around, I'm sure anyone would understand my caution about entering—or even just looking into—strange rooms. My reflection stared back at me, but the girl in my reflection...wasn't me. Or at least, she wasn't any version of me I knew. Her long, elegant black hair fell against the elastic waistband of her dark blue skirt. Her shirt was neatly tucked into her skirt, with a nice, blue jacket that matched perfectly with her skirt and a properly-tied tie of the same color. Her lip gloss was the perfect shade of red, vibrant enough to draw attention without looking like she was trying to draw attention. She stood with her hands neatly folded in front of her and smiled back at me. That was the creepiest part.
