Last Regrets

[Day 5]

DAY 5

The screams continued. Nate fluttered his eyes open. Impulse already had him on his feet and sprinting towards the source of the calamity.

It was Lia. She was huddled over George with Garrett right beside him, jerking him with the utmost agitation.

‘Nate he's not breathing!’ he cried without glancing back.

Nate pushed past Garrett and felt for the carotid artery.

No pulse.

He pounded both his hands over George's chest and pushed with all his might, performing several resuscitations along with it.

‘Wake up damn it!’ He chanted with every force he exerted on his chest. 'Wakeup. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!'

His body was stiff. Cold as steel. Pale as snow. His eyes glassy, empty of life.

Nate didn’t pay any attention. He wanted George to wake up.

After several minutes of further, ineffective treatment, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Garrett.

‘Nate…’

‘Wake up! Why the hell isn't he waking up?’

He brushed off Garrett and continued.

‘Nate!’

‘No! Dammit no!’

‘Nate!’

Garrett pulled him with all his might and both of them fell back to the floor, gasping. Lia was sobbing harder than Michael. The two young boys were scared stiff in a corner, crying quietly.

Garrett shook his head, eyes wide. ‘He’s gone….’

Nate wasn’t able to comprehend his feelings. He didn’t want to feel anything. He wanted to run away. Far away from this place. From everyone here.

That's it. The first sign. The first sign of their future was revealed. The omen was crystal clear: Fate had already decided it. They were all going to die.

And it seemed like another person in the room was thinking along the same lines.

‘He’s dead. He’s dead…George is dead David.’ It was Shawn. Staring at the body, his cheeks stained with tears. ‘Are we going to die too?’

‘Yes...Yes we are Shawn. We’re gonna die. Just like him.’ David's voice was barren. Robotic almost.

‘David!’, Garrett turned towards him.

'It's the truth... George is dead.. and we're next.'

‘David!’, Garrett warned.

‘Can't you see? Look in front of you! re you people blind!? He's dead! And we're all gonna die here! Just like him!'

The words kept tumbling out of David's mouth. As if he had been holding them inside all this time, waiting in agony to have himself heard. Building up slowly and then erupting out like a volcano.

Garrett turned and hurried towards David, who seemed to have lost control over his speech.

‘Why the hell are you all pretending!? No one's coming to rescue us! No one's coming! How many days has it been? Are you really that dumb? Do you really have to lie to yourself to stay happy!? We're stuck here for life, and it's only a matter of time till one by one we all-'

SMACK!

The roaring came to an end as David yelped and was hurled to the floor, his head colliding against the carriage door.

Garrett was breathing heavily.

Shawn was wailing.

Lia was shivering and whimpering, her arms tightly wrapped around her crying baby.

It was as if all the sorrows of the world had gathered there, inside that tunnel. Misery, misfortune, suffering, wretchedness. That was all the scene depicted. Ghosts had come out and begun to wail, their cries echoing all over the dark realm.

The first person to regain control of his motion was Garrett. He walked over to the yowling David on the floor, picked him up and pulled him into a hug.

‘No one’s dying here. George was already ill and injured. He couldn’t take it.’ He whispered. ‘But no one else is dying here. You hear me?’

David nodded and continued to sob in his shirt.

'I'm sorry', Garrett whispered, not leaving his firm grip on the boy.

Nate snapped back to his senses. Garrett had pulled himself together, but he still couldn't swallow in what just happened. They were the only ones who could do something. What was he doing? They had to survive. They had to stick together. They still had people who were alive. People who needed them.

He walked over to Shawn and Lia and put his arms around them. Tears stung his eyes. For the first time in days. Tears. They wouldn’t stop. They continued to come out. Washing away all the agony.

Do you really have to lie to yourself to stay happy!?

The kid said it. What Nate had been ignoring in his mind all along. He spoke the truth without any hesitation. Spoke what everyone else was dreading to think of. What they were beating away again and again. He stated it out loud and clear. They couldn't run away from it now. Couldn't shrug it away anymore. The words couldn't be unheard. They could no longer cling to the non-existant hope, desperately trying to find an alternative. They'll have to face it.

The truth.

If only he was deaf... if only.