Wellspring Children

Story 2: Nightmare of Tribulations

I'm not exactly the kind of guy who gets held captive very often, but I suppose there are worse ways to start my day. I open my eyes to see that I'm in an old, dimly lit room with a black and grey teselating triangular pattern on the walls. The floor I was laying on was hard and uncomfortable, practically urging me to sit up. I did as my instincts told me and groggily pushed myself upward.

From behind me I hear a girl's voice. "Ilma! Ilma Sols! That's you, right? Thank God you're alive! Are you alright?"

I looked over and saw who the voice belonged to. It was a girl from my class, my friend, Malaya Verig. In that dark and ominous room, I admit, seeing a familiar face made it a lot easier to breathe. "Yeah, I'm fine... So like, where are we? Is someone finally going to kill me?"
"Don't say that, this is serious! I'm scared... What if we were kidnapped?"
"If that's the case, we need to stay calm. They probably want us to be scared, it makes us vulnerable. Let's look for a way out before whoever is responsible comes here."
"It's already too late..."
"Huh? Why's that?"
"Just look..."

Malaya pointed to the center of the room, where my greatest fear had been realized. There was a person laying face down with pale, lifeless skin and tattered clothes. There were gashes and scrapes along the length of his body, and his tangled hair obscured every inch of his visage. He wasn't moving at all, not so much as breathing.

"Is he..." I tried to speak, but I was too choked up to finish my sentence. Shakily, I inched forward to the body, slowly and dragging my feet. I crouched down next to it and tried my best to contain myself. I grabbed its wrist and tried to find a pulse... but there was none. He was dead.

My mind was racing. Without realizing it, my breathing became sporatic and uneven. Malaya's eyes sunk as she averted her gaze. "I wanted to check his pulse earlier... same with yours... but I was too afraid that... that there wouldn't be one..."

I stared at the now dead boy that lay before me. He looked to be around sixteen, the same age as Malaya and I... He was a kid. He had dark brown hair and had on a torn, white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans that cuffed at the bottom. Just from looking at him I knew I had seen him before, but I couldn't quite remember who he was. I grabbed its shoulder and started to flip him over, but was soon interrupted. "Wait!" said Malaya. "Um... is it okay if we just leave him like that...?"
"Huh? Why? We need to know who he is. If we don't look at his face, we won't be able to tell the police who was killed."
"I know that, but... It's just that... I've never seen a dead body before... I've heard stories of people who were murdered that still had the look of fear frozen in their eyes after they died... I don't think I'm ready to see that..."

I hesitated for a moment. My curiosity took over my mind like a plague. I was about to tell her to look away and check for myself, but... I had to respect where she was coming from. "I understand... I'm sorry, I didn't even consider that it would be too much for you to see... Once someone comes to rescue us, we'll tell them where the body is."
"Thank you, Ilma... I'm sorry for being difficult, I just... I just don't think I could ever unsee that."

While I wanted to respect her viewpoint, I also wanted to know who this was. I swear I know him, but without seeing his face, it's impossible to know anything. He has an average height and build, and one of the most common hair colors, which didn't exactly help figure it out.

"Well," I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "at least he doesn't have to sit through biology anymore."

Malaya was not pleased, and I regretted what I said as soon as it left my mouth. "Ilma, this boy lost his life, don't you dare joke like that!"

I have a tendency to tell jokes at the worst possible times. I guess it's something of a coping mechanism. I can't stand when situations get too bleak or tense, it makes me uneasy. But I just know, one day my big mouth is gonna get me in a lot of trouble if I don't learn to watch it.