Glass

Running

Red light fills the room along with my voice. I look up to see dozens of crunchers looking at me, and I know immediately none of them will be as calm or kind as Mr. Smiley.

And then I see Lu, face distraught at the sight of me. He's holding up both mirror panels, one on each side of him. I know I can't run to him, as the crunchers will follow me, so I turn towards the opposite direction.

And run.

As the light is dying and the crunchers are after me, I turn on the flashlight and throw it to my left, turning to the right and dashing forwards. Eventually, I stop and wait.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

All that time, stuck in here, I think, and yet he still puts himself before me. I can't see a thing, except for the flashlight laying on the ground a hundred or so feet away from me.

All I can do now is wait, and hope I distracted them enough to save Lu.

"Hey!"

I hear Lu shout from far away. Red light fills the room. I crouch down low, even though I know it won't really help me hide. I can't see Lu, so I'm guessing that means the mirrors are working. He probably needed the light to see.

Crack.

My eyes widen as I watch a mirror fall to the ground. It shatters instantly.

Lu is standing there, face to face with a cruncher. I can see the fear filling him as he realizes what he just dropped. The cruncher reaches out, ready to grab him...

"Hey! Over here!" I shout, cupping my hands together around my mouth. "Come and get me you assholes!"

And they did indeed come to get me.

I turned and ran, not sure in what direction. I kept making noise, calling out, turning around to see them almost on top of me.

And it wasn't that bad.

Until I tripped.

Shards ripped through my hands, tearing the skin to pieces. No, no, not again! I cry out as the pain fills me. My knees are bleeding badly. I stand back up to keep moving, but wince as I realize one of my shoes fell off.

You've gotta be kidding me.

I know that I have to keep running, so I do. I have to do it for Lu.

But as I turn around, I see that Lu is doing just as bad as me. And I know there's no way we can get to that key, and back out alive. I run towards him, crying as my feet hit the shards over and over again. I trip once more and lose the other shoe. Keep going, Kanna.

"Bandages!"

I look up to see Lu moving towards me. He hands me an extra pair of shoes. "Hurry up! Jesus, you're such a klutz. Let's go! Come on! We can try again another time!"

I rip on the shoes and nod at him. He drops the glass and starts running, and I follow.

And then I see something shiny out of the corner of my eye.

It's not like the glass shards, it's... golden. It's bright yellow, and it sparkles like the sun.

The key! I turn away from Lu and reach for it. Just as I'm about to grab it, a band of white light stretches across my hand. I look up to see the door is open.

Mr. Smiley came to the rescue.

But as I turn back to the key...

It's gone.

In its place is a puddle of black slime, and as I look up slowly I see a cruncher towering over me. Its hollow eyes seem to be staring into mine, and my heart starts pounding as I watch it open its mouth.

Run!

I turn and dash towards the doorway, moving faster than I've ever moved in my life. I don't even take a moment to look back. I watch as Lu makes it through the doorway. He turns, and his face falls as he realizes I'm not there yet.

Just keep going, just keep going...

I start to sigh with relief as I'm only a few steps away from crossing through.

And then the door shuts.

⧫ ⧫ ⧫

Lu watches everything happen almost as if it's in slow motion.

Kanna running towards him.

Her face lifting as she's so close to him.

And then the door swinging closed.

And everything inside him breaks.

He jumps forward, ripping the door open again. But his stomach drops as he sees that Kanna isn't there.

She's nowhere to be found. 

Author's Note:

Thank you guys so much for reading! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I think it's my favorite so far. Please vote and comment! What do you think will happen? I'd love to hear your ideas!