Glass

Names

The room is bright. I squint as light shines into my eyes, holding my hand up to block it.

"Morning Bandages!" The boy says, patting my shoulder. "Guess I shouldn't call you bandages anymore, since you're all healed up now."

I look over and tilt my head, confused. "What happened?" I'm surprised to hear my voice. It's clear and easy to use, unlike the scratchy-soreness from before.

"I saved you again, that's what happened. You almost died in the forest room. That's what you get for being such an idiot."

I sit up. Again, I'm surprised by how easy it is. Nothing in my body aches or hurts anymore. I look down at my left hand and frown. "But I thought..."

"What?" He asks me as I trail off.

"I thought I died..."

The boy looks at me for a moment, then breaks out laughing. "Are... are you... are you serious right now?"

I glare at him as he rolls all over the floor, clutching his stomach and banging on the ground with his fist. "Hahaha, died? Oh my god you're so stupid bandages, it's almost too much..." The boy cackles and lies on his back, still slapping the ground.

"He tends to be a hysterical person."

I whip around to see a cruncher standing behind me. It's just standing there, watching us. For some reason, I don't feel as scared of it anymore. "Did... did you just say that?"

It nods.

I turn back to the boy. He's finally calmed down. I lean over and slap him across the face. "What's wrong with you?" I say, angrily snarling at him.

He sits up, rubbing his face. "Excuse me?"

"You just tell me all that and then left me run off and almost die again? And why are my wounds all healed?"

"Just calm down bandages..."

"My name is not bandages!" I cry out. "It's Kanna!"

The boy rolls his eyes. "Obviously I know that, bandages is just more fun to say..."

"What's your name then?" I say, grabbing his arm. "You know mine, so tell me yours." If he's not going to answer any of my questions and he's just going to make fun of me, then I might as well at least make him answer this one thing...

The boy looks at me and grins. He swipes his short and messy blond hair out of his eyes, then opens his mouth. "Lu. My name is Lu."

I snort. "Lu? Seriously? That's like the dumbest name ever."

He glares at me. "Shut up, will ya?"

I fold my arms and lean back on the wall. We're in the square room again; somehow we always end up here. "So why am I healed?"

Lu pulls something out of his jacket pocket and flips it to me like a coin. I catch it. It's a small, blue, round tablet.

"That'll heal you right up if need be. We don't have that many though, so please try not to get that close to dying again, okay bandages?"

I glare at him, fold my arms, and nod, looking away. "I want to go home." I think again of my mom's homemade pie. "Now."

Lu sighs. "I'd love for you to go home and leave me alone, but we have to get the key first."

"From the glass room?"

"Yeah."

I look at the floor, frowning. "How?"

"Well, we need to go inside and get it... it'll be hard, the smilies are defending the key, so they won't let us in easy."

"Smilies? You mean the crunchers?"

Lu looks at me, confused. "What? Crunchers?"

I point to the creature standing behind us.

"Oh, right. I call them smilies."

I sigh and nod. "So, how do we get the key?"

"Well, we have to gather some supplies first. It's not like we can go in guns blazing, so we'll have to sneak inside."

"Wait, should we be... you know, talking about this, um... in front of him?" I look back to the cruncher. It's rotten grin turns my nerves to ice.

"He's fine, Mr. Smiley is on our team."

I frown. "Why?"

Lu's face falls. His smile drops, and the light that sits in his eyes fades. But only for a second, it passes so fast that I wonder if I imagined it. He laughs, shaking his head. "Because he likes us. Anyway, once we go inside the door will disappear behind us, and it'll only open again if a smiley lets us out or if we find the key. We have Mr. Smiley here as backup, but he doesn't like to help us, so we probably can't rely on him. That means that the only way out after we go in is to find the key."

"Where is it?" I ask, interrupting Lu.

"I don't know."

"What?!"

"That's why I've never gone into the glass room before, I have no idea where it is, and everyone who's gone inside hasn't made it out alive."

There's a pause. Lu's face is contorted in pain. His eyes look distant, as if he's not really seeing what's in front of him.

"Lu?"

No answer. I reach out and shake his arm. "Hey, Lu?"

He inhales sharply and looks at me, his face filled with shock. "What? Oh, sorry."

"You said 'everyone who's gone inside...' does that mean there were others?"

Lu shifts uncomfortably. "Yeah. Lots." Then he perks up, smiling at me. "But after this, no one else will be stuck in here again, alright bandages? No one's dying in here ever again."

Author's Note:

Thank you so much for reading! Please vote and comment if you like what you see!

What do you think of Lu? I'd love to know!