The Lost Souls

Decision

Everyone was sitting in a circle. They were safe,but also a little hurt.

"We are soo dumb!" sid muttered.

" I know.... I know...... How could this happen? How could we forget her?" Ria moaned.

"Hey! Not 'we'. I am the first one to remember her." Sumedh grumbled.

Evan raised his in air and said, "Btw, we just woke up...a little bit of time is needed for the brain to function.
So don't blame me."

"Are we going to discuss on such stupid thing instead of searching her?" Sapna questioned.

Ria started crying again. Half hour was passed and she was continuously crying. Everyone tried to calm her but it was all in vain.
Covering wounds with torn clothes, cleaning themselves, thinking and keeping quiet were the only things they did.
Finally, Ethan got up and asked,
"Guys..... Lets go. Why are we still sitting here?"

"Yeah you're right. Lets get out of this place. No one's coming to help us. No one knows that where we are. Help's not coming." Krish spat.

"How do you know that Krish?? We are out here from night, our parents must be worried sick!" said Akshay.

"Yea.....the police might be searching for us by now." Sapna added.

"POLICE??" Evan squeaked.
"Wh-why...why...police?"

"Well....the Avengers are quite busy these days, so police is the only option I guess!" Sumedh snapped.

Evan rolled his eyes and said " I wanna go back."

"Me too" Shanaya spoke.
"Everyone wants to go back, but first we will search Vedha." Sumedh declared.

He got up and walked towards the river. Ethan and Sid followed him back.

"Where is that damn boat?" Sumedh asked squinting his eyes.
"You think it must be in one piece after falling?" Sid asked.
"We don't need a boat anyways." Ethan said.
"But how we will find Vedha?" Sumedh asked.

"Why do you need a boat for that?" Shanaya quizzed.
"She must be on the banks of this river somewhere, if we had a boat.......it would've been easy." Sumedh scoffed.

"Hm....if she's smart enough then she must be waiting near the banks." Sid pondered.

"If.....she's......smart!" Ria mumbled.

Sapna and Sumedh glared at her.

"I mean....what if she's awake and somewhere in the jungle?" Ria asked.

"This is stupid.... Just lets start searching for her. We're just wasting our time." Akshay groaned.

"But..but are you guys...sure we could find her?" Krish muttered.

"We have to." Akshay said to him.

"Let's start from this side." Sid ordered while pointing towards his right.

"Why there?" Evan asked him.

"Idk....the river proceeds in that direction only and idk this side seems right, so first this way." Sid commanded.

"Wait! " Krish shouted. "We don't even know if she's alive or not, how could we just go search for her in such awful place?"

"Shut up you moron!" Sumedh yelled.
"Chill Sumedh, he's just talking crap coz he's scared." Akshay calmed him.

"No. I'm not scared.... I'm just being practical. Think about it guys, we survived and we are here but Vedha's out there somewhere and we have no idea if she's alive or dead! Krish yelled.

"That's it. I'm going." Ria said as she got up from her place and started walking towards the jungle.

"Stop. You can't go in there alone." Sid held her arm.

"Then what should I do? Huh?" Ria asked. "Just sit here like a scared baby and hope that someone's gonna help us out of here while my friend's all alone.....
I am not going out of this place without Vedha! And I don't care if you guys are with me or not." Ria added.

"I'm coming with you, I can't leave you alone." Sid told her.

"Me too." Sumedh and Akshay yelled from their back.

Fear could be easily seen on Krish and Shanaya's face. They were not ready to go with them nor they said anything.

Atlast Krish spoke "Someone has to stay here."

"Why?" Sid asked him.

"He's scared, let him stay here if he wants to. We can't force him." Sumedh said before Krish could say anything.

"Ok, you can join us if you want to..." Sid suggested. But he knew that there was no way Krish would stay all alone.
But Krish sat on the ground and glared at everyone.
"I won't leave him." Shanaya said and sat with him.
Slowly Ananya also sat with her.

Sapna looked at them and then at Ria, she scoffed and walked towards Ria saying she will join her too.

Ethan said nothing but stood next to Sumedh.
"I guess I have no choice." Evan shrugged and joined Ethan.

It was decided that Akshay, Ethan, Evan, Ria, Sapna, Sid and Sumedh will search for their missing friend, while Krish, Ananya and Shanaya wanted to stay there.

"I really hope she's safe." Sumedh prayed while tying his shoe laces.

"I am not sure about that." Ria said softly.

"Why?" Sapna asked her.

"She can't......"

"She can't what Ria?" Sid asked her.

Tears started flowing from her eyes again, which made everyone more worried.

"What is it Ria? Akshay asked her.

"Please don't say anything scary." Sapna said while holding her hand.

"Come on Ria...tell us what is it." Sid pleaded.

"RIA!" Sumedh yelled at her.

"SHE CAN'T SWIM!" Ria shouted.

"What?!" Everyone gasped together.

"And you're telling this now? Great!
Good timing of revealing the important secrets Vedha!" Sumedh mocked.

"Vedha?" Evan quizzed.

"Uh.... I mean... Ve.... No.... Umm.... Ria." Sumedh stammered.

Krish scoffed and said
"Still think she's alive, huh?
That stupid girl can't even swim and here we are... risking our lives for her! We...."

Before he could complete his sentence Sumedh slapped him.
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Dear readers,
Sorry for this late update but my phone was not with me for a few days...it was kinda confiscated 😅
I'll try my best to update chapters fast.

Btw.... The chapter's here, again with a cliffhanger..... Hope you liked it😘