The Lost Souls

Shocked & Scared

Before he could complete his sentence Sumedh slapped him.
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It was unbelievable. Krish deserved it, but no one expected it would come from Sumedh.
Anger poured from his eyes as he grabbed Krish's collar. Sid tried his best to control him, but Sumedh was not listening.
Atlast everyone freed Krish and Sumedh was cooled off a little.

"This is not the time to fight guys. Please stop." Sapna pleaded.

"Yeah....especially with this....." Ria left her sentence incomplete in disgust.

"I don't care if you come with us or not, but I don't want you to speak rubbish about Vedha......you get that?" Sumedh roared.
"If you say something like this again..... I swear I'll......" he continued.

"What will you do Sumedh?" Krish said in a challenging tone.
"Why are you getting furious?  She's not your girlfriend, right?" he asked.

"What?! She's my friend! I am willing to risk my life for her means we are a couple??? And FYI, its called friendship." Sumedh shouted.

"I think we should leave him here." Sid suggested.

"Yes, I don't want to carry this pile of shit with us." Sumedh said pointing towards Krish.

"Go on.....go find her!" Krish yelled.

"But why are you soo sure that she must be dead?" Akshay asked him.

Krish glanced at everyone's face and said,
"I know Vedha from a long time, we are friends from kindergarten. But one day, during a picnic, Vedha fell in a pool from height. She was almost dead but luckily she was saved, and from that day Vedha is scared of water and pledged not to learn swimming . Means she used to get scared of rivers, lakes and waterfalls in school days, but I don't know if she is still facing that problem." Krish frowned.

"Aahh...That's why she was not ready to sit in the boat!" Evan exclaimed.

"And I promised her that everything will be just fine.." Sumedh mumbled.

"But we're not sure if she's dead, right?" Ria asked.
"What if she's alive and searching for us?"

"You're right." Sid affirmed.
"Lets go....fast.."

"Wait...." Ananya stopped them.
"Take these, maybe it can help you" she said while handing them two bags drenched in water.

"Its mine!" Sapna exclaimed and took one of those bags in her hands.

"And that's my bag... I guess." Akshay said and took the other bag.
"Yup, its mine." he said confidently.

"Take care man. Be safe." Ethan bid good bye to Krish who was standing there with crossed arms.

"He could've told us that sooner...but noo....that guy is completely out of his mind!" Sumedh said as he stopmed his feet.

"Enough Sumedh........don't waste your energy." Sid calmed him.

"We will go straight from here, means we will be near the river too, which might help us......maybe..." Ria said unsured.

"We have no idea what we are doing right?" Evan asked his brother.

"Nope!" Ethan sighed.

"Nice...what a great way to die.." Evan scoffed.

He was right. No one was sure what would happen. If Vedha was even alive or dead. If this plan will succeed or not.

                                     ********

Vedha opened her eyes. Dark clouds in sky and tall trees around her. She somehow managed to get up.
"Oh my god! This is not real. Its not real. I'm dreaming. Yes, I'm dreaming." Vedha said in a worried tone.

"OUCH!" she winced in pain as she tried to move her right leg.

"Its not a dream." she mumbled.

Again after few minutes she tried to move her lower body, but her legs were numb. Her right foot pained a lot, so she decided to check if its hurt very badly.
She removed her right sneaker very slowly and carefully, and it showed her a swollen ankle. It was all green and blue and pained like hell for Vedha. She traced her fingers all over her feet to see if there's any wounds but it was only swollen. She put her sneaker back on . Her jeans on the left leg was torn from knee and a big cut on the calf was covered in mud.
Blood was mixed with mud which created an awful sight around her .

"RIA....SUMEDH....SID.....GUYS....WHERE ARE YOU?" Vedha shouted as loud as possible.

She looked around her. No one. No one was around her, she was all alone over there.
Vedha called out for help in all directions but she got no response, which raised her heartbeats more and more.

She sat on the log of wood and removed all the dirt from her wounds. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she controlled her sobs. She was getting more and more anxious with every passing minute.

Then something struck her mind. She started looking at the ground. She was scanning the ground.
"Footprints! There should be footprints nearby if anyone was here." she muttered..

But there were no footprints or any other types of prints. She realized that she's completely alone and started crying. She was scared, frightened, confused,angry, lost and all emotions got mixed up.

Atlast she stopped crying. It was of no use, it only made her feel more weak.
"What should I do? What?" she thought.
Her sixth sense told her that everyone from the boat must be alive. She felt that they are alive, maybe searching for her.

She tore a piece from her shirt and tied around her left leg. She walked a little further and found something very valuable. Something that was very important for her.
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Her bag.

A faint smile appeared on her face when she found it. She grabbed it quickly and hugged it. After opening it she first searched for her mobile. But the mobile was fully wet just like the bag. Vedha frowned and put the phone back in.

Vedha got up and decided she is going back. "I will go towards the waterfall, it will be a lot easier that way. Maybe I will find Sumedh and other guys over there.
Sumedh?? Ugh Vedha....first get out of here....then think about other things." Vedha said to herself.

"VEDHAA!!"
"HELP!!"
Vedha heard shouts coming from the dense forest. Another scream came from there. She was not able to recognize the voice but she still decided to go. She started limping towards the jungle. As she got more and more closer the screams got louder and familiar. Within few seconds she recognized the voices.
"RIA!! SUMEDH!! SID!!" she screamed.

She started looking everywhere but no one was there. She called out their names again but still, no one came there.

"Maybe I'm hallucinating. " Vedha thought as she held her head in her hands.
She felt something warm on her right hand,  something liqiud was present on her wrist.
She touched it with her fingers and they were turned red; it was blood!

Again another drop fell from up. Vedha got confused how could blood drop from up?
She looked up and was shocked.
She started crying, and fell on her knees.
She was not able to believe what she just saw.

3 dead bodies were hanging from the branches, with blood flowing from their heads and eyes wide open.

Those were the dead bodies of Sumedh, Sid and Ria!