(EDITORS NOTE: we apologize for the late chapter! It was supposed to be released on the 26th, but there were...specific circumstances that kept both our writer from writing and our editors from editing. We're back now, with an equally disappointing attempt at a semi-entertaining story! Also, we apologize for the lack of consistency of present vs past tense in the previous chapters, not sure how we all missed that! We're working on better quality now! Enjoy! (or don't, we don't get paid enough to care). Also this chapter will be shorter than usual due to the messed up and rushed release date, we'll be back to our usual length soon. Thank you for your understanding.)
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And with that, we were off. It felt like I'd just got here, yet I was already so impatient to leave. I never did like this hallway, not once in the who-knows-how-long I'd been here. The floor that looked more like a field than a floor. The windows that worked more like mirrors than windows. The lights that felt more like miniature suns shoved into pieces of glass than actual lights. Nothing about this place was right, and I could wait to leave it behind.
Yume twirled around, somehow already several feet ahead of me. She smiled at me, her gaze speaking a million unsaid words. I couldn't understand it. She looked so...peaceful, so calm, so content. None of those were words I'd use to describe our less-than-ideal situation. And yet...she didn't seem to mind any of this. She'd had one of her eyes torn out, possibly had all other kinds of damage done to her I hadn't noticed net, been taken from that awful torture chamber where all of that happened by a total stranger, and was now walking into what might be the worst place we'd even seen (or the best, but I doubted we'd be that lucky).
"Hey! You coming down here or what?" She shouted. Her voice was weak and shaky still, but she seemed excited. I was too. We were finally getting out of here. Whether or not I wanted to leave, I wasn't sure. On one hand, I was ready to go anywhere with this girl, even though we'd just barely met a few minutes ago...or was it hours now? I couldn't tell. And I was even more ready to be farther away from the general vicinity of whatever did this to her, to all of them. And yet...the more I walked through this place, the less I remembered about where I was before. I didn't know who I was anymore. The girl I saw every time I risked looking at my reflection was looking more and less like me at the same time. Every time I saw her face, I couldn't tell if I was closer to recognizing her or to forgetting her face entirely. Hopefully I'd forget it soon. I didn't want to keep seeing this stranger in every window, every mirror, every piece of glass, every collection of water I happened to gaze into. She wasn't me, so why was she trying so hard to be?
I smiled back at her as I walked to catch up with her, trying to force myself to sound positive as I spoke, "Or what." Yume rolled her eyes at me as she gently slipped her right hand into my left and we started walking. Her skin was cold and smooth on mine, like glass.
"I thought we left that joke in, like, the '90s," She said, her voice sounding forced as well. Her gaze kept wandering back to the window/mirror things—I wasn't sure what to call them nor what they actually were—every couple of minutes. It was like she couldn't look away from them. We never once made eye contact. Not that I minded, of course. I've never particularly liked eye contact, it's always felt forced and uncomfortable to me. But I didn't like how she wouldn't look at me. Wouldn't look at the grass. Wouldn't look at the walls. It was always the windows.
"Hey, Yume..." I mumbled awkwardly, squeezing her hand to get her attention, "Everything okay?"
She glared at me, but it felt half-hearted and weak, matching her tone as she whispered, "Y-Yeah...Yeah, I'm okay."
"If you say so..." I shrugged. If she didn't want to tell me the truth, that's her own problem. I was too busy focusing on surviving. Get out of here first, ask questions later.
As we walked, her gaze kept floating to the most reflective object in sight. The windows, a piece of shattered glass, a puddle of strangely clear water, stuff like that. I couldn't tell what she was looking at. The light was almost blinding still, but it slowly got dimmer as we walked. That was nice. I could finally see the things around me without feeling like my eyes were going to explore or something. Even though the scenery here was nice (if you could ignore the horrific things we'd already witnessed and whatever else might reside here), I found myself instead choosing to stare at the beautiful girl holding my hand. She was a bit shorter than me. Her hair was a light shade of blonde, with a grayish-pink tint to it. It fell over her shoulders in elegant waves, accentuating her face in a way I couldn't help but be drawn to. Her eyes were crystal-blue, like the ocean on a beautiful summer day (if those even existed). They reflected the light perfectly, looking almost as if they were glowing. The only problem? Her left eye wasn't there.
That didn't particularly bother me. I still thought she was the most beautiful human being I'd ever laid my eyes on. I didn't even really see it as a flaw, but rather just a part of her. Just something that made her so pretty to me. And yet...I could tell it bothered her. She kept staring at herself in every reflective surface we walked past, at the gaping hole where her left eye should've been.
I felt Yume's hand squeezing mine. Her grip was so tight it almost hurt, but I didn't think anything of it. I'd never held anyone's hand before, so I figured maybe it was supposed to be like that. Until she squeezed it even harder. It sent a shock of pain radiating up my arm.
"Hey, Sayaka...?" She whispered. I heard her voice shaking. I felt my face heating up as she called me by name. Somehow, my mind was already processing this new name as mine, just because she'd given it to me. Maybe it was because I liked having something to call myself after waking up here with no idea who I am, something to say when someone asks who I am now. Or maybe it's just because she liked it, because she picked it.
I stop walking and look at her, squeezing her hand back to give her some kind of comfort as I spoke, "Yeah? What is it?" I patiently waited for a response as she slowly formulated the thoughts in her head into words.
"...does your reflection...look weird too? Or is it just me?" Yume asked, her entire body shaking. I pulled her a little closer to me, squeezing her hand again.
"Yeah...Yeah, it does. Does yours?" I question back, a wave of relief washing over me. So I'm not crazy, that's good. Either that, or we were both going crazy. I wasn't sure which I'd prefer.
"Mhm...Mine looks exactly like me, but my left eye is still there. It is gone now, right?" She explained. Her voice shook with fear as she spoke. I subconsciously pulled her even closer to me, until I was holding her small, fragile body against mine.
"Yeah. It's gone now." I answered, watching as she just stood there, letting me hold her. She didn't make any effort to pull away. I couldn't tell if that meant she was comfortable with me now, or if she had just given up and accepted her fate already. The second seemed more likely.
"...promise? Like, it's completely gone?" Yume asked again, her voice trembling and soft.
"Yes, I promise. There's nothing there." I assured her, feeling her body shake as she sobbed. Yume leaned down, gently resting her head on my shoulder. Her skin was still so cold.
She only nodded in response. After a few minutes, she finally pulled away from me, letting me see her face again. I checked just to confirm, even though I already knew it. Her eye was still missing. I smiled softly. I wasn't sure whether she was thankful it was gone, or wished she hadn't lost it. She seemed oddly comforted knowing it was gone, though. Probably just because it meant the reflections here were just distorted.
I gently wiped the last of her tears away for her, and took her hand in mine again. She squeezed my hand again, smiling weakly up at me. I took a step forward, silently hoping she'd walk with me. She did, thankfully. And with that we both walked off down the hallway, and in the opposite direction of that awful torture chamber.
Hopefully whatever's in it doesn't come with us.
