Before the eyeliner pen could meet the mirror to finish off the question mark, I grabbed my white, blood stained blouse and bolted out of the bathroom door. I stood in the landing, there was no light so no one could see me, and I put my shirt back on and waited. Finally, the bathroom door opened but of course, no one walked out. To indicate whoever was in the toilet has finished, the light flickered on and then off a few times. I walked back in for the second time and took a long, hot shower. My skin felt so much cleaner when the last remaining specks of blood on my skin was scrubbed and drained down the plug hole. Lay gave me a pair of light blue jogging bottoms and a grey hoodie. It seemed too small to be his.

After switching the light off, I treaded down the hallway to walk downstairs when all the bedroom doors opened simultaneously. It gave me such a fright that I let out a shriek and collapsed onto the floor. Lay’s head peeked out from one of the doors and walked out to help me get up as I also used the banister for support.

“What happened?” he asked, worried glued to his voice.

“All the door suddenly opened at the same time!” I replied back with a shaky voice.

“Oh, really guys, it’s not a great time to scare her right now!” Lay said to the air and looked at the doors which were open.

My head turned backs and forth to see who he was talking to but I was quite sure there was no one here. I was stood slightly behind Lay but he just turned around and led me into his room when he didn’t see me give him a bewildered and inquiring look.

“Eat up!” he said and sat down on the bed beside a desk, “You must be really hungry.”

I looked at the bowl of noodles in front of me and my stomach just rumbled to the response. I instantly tucked in and slurped the noodles into my mouth and drank the soup.

“That was quick!” Lay commented when I placed the bowl down from my mouth.

“That was delicious, thanks so much!”

“That’s alright; you should get some rest now,” he took the empty bowl and walked towards the door, “Goodnight.”

“Thank you!” I said and sat on the comfy bed, lifting the covers over my feet.

Would I be able to fall asleep with what has happened today? Tiredness took over me and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up with a dry throat and heard the sound of doors shutting. This time, I wasn’t going to move to find out what is happening, it has happened before and I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

“Raine?” someone knocked and whispered, “It’s me, Lay, are you awake?”

Knowing that it was only Lay, I got up and opened the door. The florescent clock on the bedside table said it was two o’clock at night.

“What’s wrong?” I asked and rubbed my eyes whilst leaning against the door.

“We have to get out; they’ve found out that we are hiding here!” Lay whispered and pulled my hand and dragged me out of the room.

“What?” I grunted, “Is there one day where I can just get some peace and quiet without having to run away from people I don’t even know?”

“Soon, I promise!” Lay said and ran downstairs towards the back garden.

Two pairs of white trainers were waiting for us at the door and Lay told me to put it on, instead of going outside, he pressed a button on the oven. He pushed it in then turned it and slowly, the wall spun around. There was a secret pathway. We slipped in between the gap and started jogging down; Lay led the way and held a torch in front of him. The walls on both side were very narrow and just enough space to fit my shoulders through, but as we got further down, it widened. We both slowed down into a speedy walk, he flashed the torch around and I caught glimpses of bodies lying against the walls. The smell of foul rotten stench came to my senses. They have not yet decayed properly so the flesh was still red and raw, drowning in a large puddle of their own blood. Somehow, maggot and wasps has gotten in here and was have a feast on the corpses. I gagged at the sight and walked ahead. Without looking down, I tripped over someone’s foot, “Aaa!”

Lay turned back and directed the light over my foot. I have managed to step on a dead person’s foot and detached the foot from the ankle itself.

“I’m so sorry!” I apologised to the dead person.

“He’s dead, let’s go.”

We kept walking until we have reached an opening. It was a cave, arched over the opening and small rivers were flowing between the arches.

“Which path do we take?” I asked.

“We have to wait for the boat.” he said.

"A boat?"

Soon, a little boat came, a man was rowing it and he was wearing a big jumper with his sleeves rolled up over his elbows. He shifted the boat towards the side and Lay held out his hand to help me step in. He stepped over afterwards and the boat started moving down one of the arches.

“Excuse me, it’s that arch,” Lay said to the sailor and pointed to the opening in the arch besides the one we were travelling down.  

The man ignored him and continued rowing. Something isn’t quite right here. Lay scooted over closer to me and placed a hand on top of mine.

“Who are you?” Lay questioned the man. 

The man continued to ignore us. Then all of a sudden, he threw the oar into the water and reached into his jumper and pulled out a gun.

Bang!

Lay leaned over me and was shot in the chest.

“Lay!” I shouted, letting him lean on my legs and I grabbed his hand and looked at the bullet through his chest, “Lay, don’t die!”

“Raine,” he whispered, he spurted out a mouthful of blood.

I wiped it away with my sleeves and looked at him, tears dripping, “Lay, you need to survive, you still need to explain what is happening, you still need to help me get back home and you still have your mansion to go back to!”

“I’m so sorry, I would like to explain everything but I don’t think I can now.”

“Yes, you can!” I shouted, “Don’t you remember our quest?”

“Quest?”

“Yes, haven’t you been looking for me for years?” I reminded him, tears falling faster and I mumbled as I tried to speak through my sobs, “We still need to help the eleven spirits.”

“You can do it without me.”

“I can’t Lay, I can’t!” getting desperate as his eyes started closing, I held him closer to me and continued speaking, “That book said we have to do it together, we have to save the world!”

“Save the world?”

“Yes, save the world, Lay,” I blinked and a tear dropped onto his cheek and rolled down, “We need to save the world Lay.”

But he was gone.

“Lay!” I shouted, shaking him, “Wake up, we need to go, don’t leave me!”

I cried out loud. Is life really that short and ended so easily?

“Well, you’re alone now, pretty girl,” the man finally said, his gun pointing straight at my head.

“You killed Lay!” I shouted and placed the body down before standing up.

The boat swayed from side to side but I got nearer to him.

“Don’t move!” he warned, pointing the gun at my forehead.

“You killed him!”

I pushed him over the boat and I fell into the river with him. I heard the firing of the gun but I didn’t think I was hit. His large hand pushed my head under the water and I choked as the water rushed into my mouth and up my nose then into my lungs. I kicked him underwater and his hand let got. I pulled his long hair and it has turned into an underwater catfight. I gripped onto his hair and kicked him but his arms s around my waist and I gasped when something shot through the gap in between my ribs. I let go of his hair and looked down at the water, it was slowly turning red.

I was shot.

Well, I guess it’s over then.

This time, I am not going to wake up to find out that it was all a dream because the feeling was real and I have landed at the bottom of the river. I opened my eyes and looked up. The water was very dark but I could make out an outline of a boat, the one which Lay was in, both of us meeting oblivion on the same night.