The Forbidden Children (on hold)

Chapter 14

Molly

Molly felt like she and her friends had been falling forever.

Gavin had been holding her hand the whole time, clearly seeing how afraid she was. He was running his thumb in circles on the back of her hand, which she wasn't going to exactly object to. Molly flipped over so she was facing downwards. She couldn't see Reilly and Dylan at all, but Paige and Sam were almost directly below them, just completely free falling. It was ridiculous. They were pulling random poses that were growing in stupidness. Molly could see them laughing, but she couldn't hear anything but the wind roaring in her ears.

Molly twisted around in Gavin's arms, her surroundings slowly growing lighter. Looking down, she saw a river rushing towards her, getting closer with every passing second. Dylan and Reilly were visible now, and she heard Dylan shout, although his voice sounded a lot more like a whisper, "The river! Aim for the river!" 

Molly shifted, trying to move through the air. It was a lot harder than she'd thought it would be. Gavin managed to pull her over slightly. Molly watched as Reilly and Dylan hit the river, Paige and Sam dropping in seconds after them. 

Then she landed head first in the river, and the voices started. 

"Give it up, all is pointless."  No, I've got Reilly, Dylan and Gavin.

"No one loves you, stupid child. "  Molly felt sadness course through her. Maybe...

"You'll die here, like all the people before you."  Molly closed her eyes. She was ready to give up. Pointless...

"Nothing escapes."  She closed her eyes, and suddenly she was very cold.

"You will be consumed by the dark. You will spiral into madness. Give. Up."  Something tugged on her arm, and she was snapped out of her daze. Molly get seriously terrified seriously quickly. She started struggling against the current, almost breaking the grip of the hand of her arm. The boy attached to the arm pulled her up onto the bank. The second her head broke the surface, Molly started gasping for air, which seriously burned her lungs. Gavin, who'd been her rescuer, pulled her into a hug, and she silently cried into his wet shirt. She pulled away from him after a moment, remembering her other friends.

Reilly was sitting on the ground about twenty feet away, with her arms wrapped around her knees, head down, obviously sobbing. Christ. Whatever she'd heard must've been just brilliant. Dylan was next to her, looking dazed, seeming pretty close to either raging or breaking down. He was tracing circles into Reilly's back, whispering in her ear. Paige was glancing out of the corner of her eye at Dylan and Reilly. Molly saw her get slightly mad, but after a second or two, Paige closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Sam looked pretty messed up, but he was still standing up. Watching. Making sure nothing was coming. Gavin still had his arms wrapped around Molly, holding her close. She looked up at him, letting out a heavy sigh as she met his gaze. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. 

"The river of Cocytus. That...thing...we just landed in, it said awful things to everyone. It told me girl I care about most would ultimately betray me, I...it...it's not true...is it?" Gavin said, his voice breaking a little. Molly pulled away, just so she could see his eyes. All the usual fire behind them had died, all the light gone. He looked broken. Molly shook her head. 

"You know that's not true. Gavin, I'd never do that, I don't think I could ever even bring myself to do it." she said, barely loud enough for him to hear. All the light behind his eyes roared back to life. He grinned, pulled her into him, and kissed her. The only audible sound was a slight gag from Reilly.

"Come on guys, we're kind of supposed to be in hell. The least you could do is not try to eat each other's faces, hokeyp?" Reilly said. Molly pulled away from Gavin, and everyone else started laughing. The laughs seemed to roll over the flat plain. In the the back of her mind, Molly knew it'd draw monsters from a hundred miles away.