Star vs. The Forces of Evil - Never Hold Back

Chapter Eight

The cafeteria remained nearly silent as Oskar and Timothy entered. The dim ceiling lights flickered ominously, the tables flipped and chairs strewn about. Oskar sniffed the air, searching for signs of life.

“So far, I smell MREs,” he began with a whisper. “I know what blood smells like though.”

“See if you can find the culprit,” Timothy whispered back. “I'll look for victims and survivors.”

Oskar nodded and headed forward through the room, gripping his pocket knife firmly in his grasp. He peered behind tables, only to find were bloody kitchenware and lifeless bodies. He winced at the sight, recognizing the dead. Ryan, Peter and Lynn. He couldn't help but shed a tear for those who lost their lives so early. Ryan had taken a steak knife to the lower back, and possibly some other fatal wound that Oskar simply couldn't see, Lynn had been shot through the head from the side, and Peter had-

CLANG!!!

“HELP!! HEEEEEEELP!!!” a voice ringing through the rooms screeched in helpless terror.

Timothy’s voice immediately responded.

“NO!!! NO!!! GIVE HER BACK!!! PLEASE COME BACK!!! STOP!!!”

It ended with a loud crash, and then it all went dead quiet. Off to the rescue, Oskar ran towards where Timothy had left, his weapon in hand. The path led him to the kitchen, a dark, creepy room with surprisingly no blood stains. He carried on, looking around as he did so. As he moved, he began to hear soft weeping nearby, echoing off of the steel cabinet doors. Soon, he saw the faint light of the night outside, and the source of the bitter crying.

There was a large hole in the wall, exposing the night sky, and kneeling in front of it was Timothy himself, shivering with despair. Oskar walked over and knelt beside him, placing his hand on the crying boy’s shoulder.

“What happened?” Oskar asked softly.

Timothy took a deep, shivering breath, and flung himself into Oskar’s arms, hiding into his chest. Oskar paused, unsure of how to react for a moment. Concerned for Timothy, he proceeded to wrap his arms around him, even though he wasn't really anywhere closer to figuring out what was wrong. After a few moments of reconciliation, Timothy finally separated from him and spoke.

“They took her…” he whimpered.

“Who?” Oskar asked with a tilt of his head.

“My best friend,” Timothy answered.

“Who is your best friend?”

“A-Ash...”

“What?”

Timothy choked up and buried his face into Oskar again, bawling his eyes out. Oskar hugged him again, trying to calm him as best as he could. Oskar never really had to comfort someone; it was always someone else comforting him. The only people that had ever had to do so was Justin, Blake, Jackie, his mother and his father…

Oskar shivered, remembering the days before his father had left, his mother was still kind to him, and he was still kind to her… Then suddenly, he didn’t have a family anymore. His father was killed in war, and after the news reached him and his mother, she was never the same. It all spiraled down from there. She found herself a new boyfriend, who despised Oskar, and was a terrible influence on her. He could still see his scars from the shards of her empty bottles of alcohol. All he could do was run away and hide behind music and a smile. Slowly but surely, he began to forget. He didn't dwell on it on a daily basis, and his mind was focused on making it through the day. He had Gene to comfort him, and nothing ever seemed to bother him as he stayed alone, and people would come to him out of pure curiosity as to what he was doing. That's how he made friends, simply waiting...

Even after all that, here he knelt, holding someone who probably just lost the person closest to him, just like he did many years ago. Chances are, he was going to suffer the same fate as… his father…

Before he even realized it was happening, tears were escaping his eyes. He pulled Timothy closer and sobbed, mourning for a death long ago. He didn't care about war anymore. He didn't care if he wasn't good enough to fight. He didn't care about what the general wanted. He just wanted to go home. He wanted everyone to be happy and safe. They had no good reason to take them from their homes…

“Oskar? Timmy? What happened??”

The crying immediately stopped as the two boys looked up to see Chelsea, peering around the corner at them with concern.

“I heard you guys crying…” she explained as she approached them. “I'm assuming you were sent to find us survivors, so since I know where the others are, don't worry about them for now… I mean... worry about the one that was taken just now…”

Chelsea stared at the hole in the wall and sighed.

“Let's get you and the others back to safety,” she said as she reached out to help them up.

Timothy took her hand and pulled himself up as Oskar stood on his own. Timothy looked back at Oskar sympathetically, as if he was trying to tell him something… Oskar didn't have time to ponder it, however. As the others started to group up to leave the cafeteria, he held a button down on his watch and spoke quietly.

“This is Guardian Greason. We've located the survivors and are on our way to escort them to safety. Soldiers Ryan, Lynn and Peter are dead. Another soldier is missing, as Guardian… uh… Guardian Timothy witnessed, but the identity is… well, he knows. The culprit is unknown. Greason out.”