Hello

The sound of shaky hysterical breaths soon faded away, the soft moans dying down to nothing. He, Albert, was simply too exhausted for them. His companion and sweetheart, Eva, was just as exhausted. Her movement had quieted down long before him, and she was sleeping soundly. Her head rested on the thigh of his outstretched leg, and his palm rested on her head. He leaned his head back on the rock wall, closing his eyes and sighing deeply. He’d lost track of how long he’d been sitting on that slightly damp ground with his back against the coldness of the rock. He would do anything to get the two of them out of here, especially Eva, but all he can do now is wait.

The sound of steady drips somewhere within the dark supplied him with something to listen to other than the echo of his breaths. He breathed sparingly anyway, because the air was heavy and had a slightly rancid smell to it. He could barely make out the blonde locks under his hand. He was going to say something to the sleeping girl, but then refrained. He’d much rather she stayed unconscious than suffer any more in this situation, he shouldn’t disturb her peace.

He let his mind drift off, tracing his memories backwards. The situation which led to them being there, the last fight he’d had with Eva, the many warm times they’ve been through together. The montage of memories suddenly slowed to a more real speed, as he replayed the day they met over and over.

He was awoken from his thoughts with a faint noise, tensing suddenly at the foreign sound, and pushing his head off the wall. He froze suddenly, looking down with concern at his mate, but no, his movement hadn’t woken her. He gently caressed her head in an attempt to comfort himself more than her, nervously glaring towards the far end of the place. The sound grew closer, but no less soft. Soon he realized it was the light footsteps to a frail looking girl. She approached cautiously as he tried his best to wipe the glare off his face.

“Who are you?” he asked, trying to sound calm, but the tenseness hadn’t left him.

The girl didn’t seem fazed, crouching down next to him. She had pale skin, long dark hair that surpassed her rear, and piercing green eyes. “Hello.” Her calm voice spoke, glancing down at the sleeping girl then back at Albert. “Don’t worry, I mean you no harm. I’m a prisoner here just like you.”

Albert breathed deeply, calming his raging nerves. He slowly leaned back against the wall, letting his muscles relax. He ignored the girl next to him, closing his eyes and just as he did, the memories came flooding back. He dipped the toe of his weary consciousness in, testing the water with every intention of immersing himself in completely. However, just as he started losing himself in them, the girl’s voice rang again, yanking him out roughly.

“What are you thinking about?”

He opened his eyes slowly, turning his head slightly and half glared at her. He then shook his head meaninglessly, sighing heavily. “I’m remembering.” His voice sounded gruffer than even he was used to, must be the effect of the exhaustion.

The girl leaned forward slightly. Her face remained expressionless, however interest shone from the depths of her wide eyes. “Tell me about them.” It wasn’t a question or suggestion, her voice was confidently commanding.

Albert moistened his lips, his tongue felt heavy, and his mouth dry. But he really didn’t like silence, he would talk to just about anyone right then. His eyelids were starting to feel extremely heavy, and there was an unusual lightness in the area behind his eye sockets. He pushed all that aside, letting his memories flood back in full force. He started talking, he must’ve, because the girl was still staring at him with interest, hanging on his every word. It all felt so dream like, his consciousness was now trapped in those memories and wouldn’t come out till the end.

He drifted away. Back, way back. To the day he met her.

Albert had always hated rainy days, there was something dark and sad about them that didn’t sit well with him.

That day was rainy and grey; he lifted the collar of his coat and hurried his steps, taking a shortcut through an old abandoned schoolhouse yard. That’s where he saw her, her pale skin drenched and her hair in her face and dripping with water. The unkept yard was surrounded by thick bushes that separated the whole place and seemed to transport it to its own dimension.

She was sitting on the edge of yard furniture, starring off into the distance absently, her lips pursed.

Albert shook his head, waking himself from his thoughts, he was about to walk away but found himself instead approaching her hesitantly. “Miss? Excuse me. M-miss?” he called out to her, but received no motion in response until he repeated his call several times.

Her movements were fluid and slow as she turned to him, staring wide eyed at him, as if judging him for his intrusion on her absentmindedness.

The dark piercing gaze caught the young man off guard, his mind going blank forgetting what his reason for disturbing her was. He was about to turn away and keep walking, when he found words spluttering out of his mouth unprompted, “Are you alright?”

She blinked several times, her gaze unwavering. Every movement of hers seemed to take ages. “Why wouldn’t I be?” she answered, her tone ambiguous.

“Right.” Albert muttered to himself, lowering his face in case his blush started to show, “I’ll be off then.”

He said that, but kept standing there. Both unmoving. She hadn’t answered his question, he realized, and found himself in urgent desire to aid her; but what could he say? It was only when a distant clap of thunder struck that he realized they’d been still just staring at each other. “I’ll be off now.” He repeated absently, his legs feeling like they were made of jelly as he tottered off.

It wasn’t the last time they met, it couldn’t have been or else they wouldn’t now be in the situation that they were.

How does heaven turn into hell? In one word: doubt.

They’d often met on rainy days, but only ever in that school yard. Albert had long since realized he’d fallen for the girl, whose name he’d learned to be Eva. In the beginning it was bliss, the talks that used to last for several minutes would sometimes last for hours. Sometimes till the rain would be long gone and the sun would be shining. Eva looked brilliant in the sun.

But somehow, somewhere in his heart something rose. It was like it was forever there lurking to make him unhappy. It would question Eva’s behavior. Why do they always have to meet there? Why can’t they be a bigger part of each other’s lives; what was she hiding?

He used to immediately shush the voice, but over time those little questions became his own. The little spark of doubt caught fire in his consciousness and it became all that he could think of. Eva, when faced with these questions became annoyed, or even angry, she didn’t want to hear any of it. And despite his best attempts, Albert was scared he’d lose it all.

Lying to one’s self is an effective method of coping, for a while. Albert convinced himself he didn’t care about such matters, he convinced himself that he trusted Eva. But all it took was a little push and his whole façade crumbled to pieces.

Coming into the school yard, Albert felt happy, he felt blessed, he thought that that feeling would last; he was wrong.  

There was another guy there, one he didn’t recognize. Eva was sitting on one of the equipment as usual, he stood in front of her. They were talking and laughing. Such a casual thing had never seemed so haunting before.

It was too much, it was unbearable. Albert found his body trembling terribly, his breathing quickening, and heat rising up the back of his neck. He waited. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, but he stuck around and watched. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, but they way she smiled; it was the same smile he saw directed at him so many times; the one that never failed to make his heart melt, and make him feel so loved.

He waited till the guy left, then confronted her. She was surprised to see him, to say the least, far less than pleased about it, too. But he didn’t care. All he could feel at that moment was deep hurt, which translated itself into anger; too much anger. He said hurtful things, wrong things, he knew that, but he couldn’t care less.

Maybe if he hadn’t, maybe if he’d held back, what followed wouldn’t have happened. But it did nonetheless.

She stormed off, yelling obstinacies at him, and towards the boarded up building. He followed after, partly concerned, but mostly not finished with what he was saying. His worry gave way to his anger as he followed her down a flight of stairs.

He should’ve realized what a mistake that was, he should’ve been alarmed, but he wasn’t.

It wasn’t until he heard the ominous rumble and felt the bits of cement hit his head that he realized something was wrong. But it was too late. The exit back to the ground floor was blocked, heavens knows what happened to structure above. The ceiling didn’t cave in, but there were no exits, no signals on either of their cells either.

It’d been a few days, probably, Albert estimated. But he still clearly recalled the look of terror on Eva’s face. The school was desolate, closed, and nearly never saw any visitors besides themselves. It would be ages before anyone noticed a caved in basement there, if ever.

Albert sighed, a sad smile creeping onto his chapped lips as his mind broke away from the images lingering there. “It was her brother, you know that?” he said in a cracked voice, glancing at the girl next to him.

He still wasn’t sure if he’d actually said anything he’d been thinking about, and in turn if that statement made any sense to her. But that made little difference to him, “He’d just come back from abroad, they hadn’t seen each other in years.” He murmured, feeling his tongue to be incredibly dry and heavy.

The silence lasted a few long minutes in which he smoothed out Eva’s hair weakly some more. He looked over once more and found the girl still staring at him with wide green eyes that were eerily familiar.  He had a thought, but it quickly eluded him, most his thoughts did, actually. With some diminishing degree of concern he realized his consciousness was leaving him.  He was tired; maybe a nap was just what he needed after all. When he woke the nightmare would be over and he’d be back in the sun laughing and smiling with Eva. The thought made him smile.

The next thing he knew there were jumbled voicing ringing in his ears and a burning sensation in his arm. He wearily tried to open his eyes, something which took more effort than it normally should. White light blinded his eyes, and he couldn’t make sense from the words being uttered by the hoard of shadows around him. With some difficulty the glaze cleared and he could see that he was surrounded by medical personnel. The swaying sensation wasn’t solely coming from his spinning head, but he was in fact being carried out on a gurney.

With a start he remembered Eva. Immediately he tried to call her name, ask about her, say something. But his tongue felt like a piece of wood that was stuck in his throat and suffocating him, he could only manage a few gurgled sounds. His body refused to match the rapidity his brain was regaining its clarity. He couldn’t move fast enough, but his eyes quickly searched his blurry surroundings for his love.

He saw her, and everything seemed to slow to a stop. She was still sleeping soundly, but why.. Why was her face being covered? That would be uncomfortable and might wake her, they were disturbing her. She’d get hot and her breathing stuffy.

Albert tried to articulate his concerns, but no one was listening. His eyes found the weird girl standing among the chaos, completely overlooked. His eyes held all the questions stuck in his throat, and in response she only shook her head.

He knew what she meant, he must’ve. Tears were welling in his eyes as sound suddenly burst out in all its clarity. As the words he was hearing slowly registered in his tired mind, he could see the girl staying behind in the basement mouthing “Good bye” as the gurney was whisked away.

“Yes that’s right, one male and one female. No the female didn’t make it, she’s been dead for days now.”