We were outside in the freezing winter wind. I was so distraught from everything that had transpired so far after finding Sam, I could barely think. I needed to calm down fully before tackling this rescue mission. It was important that my abilities were sharp and had a clear mind to work with, otherwise, we'd end up running around in circles. That would not help us at all.
I abruptly stopped, "Mike," I whined his name, dropping to my knees, holding my head. It hurt, with a pounding sensation. I couldn't find the others at all with my head like this.
"What?" I could tell he was not in the mood but when he turned to look at me, his demeanor immediately changed, "shit, I'm sorry, Vee, what's wrong?" He asked me but I couldn't answer, "are you okay?"
I merely shook my head in reply.
That made him start to panic, "Vee, I can't help you if you don't tell me what the fuck is wrong?" Mike said quite urgently.
I merely dropped my body down to lay on the cold snow, "my brain hurts, I can't find the others if my brain hurts," I explained.
"And laying on the cold snow is helping?" He asked curiously.
"For now, yes," I said beginning my breathing exercises, in through my nose and out through my mouth. I did this several times, and it seemed to help in the slightest so I shifted back up to my hip, holding myself up by the palm of my hand, "okay." I held my eyes closed the entire time and kept them closed, just for the calming effect.
Mike watched me, unsure of what was happening but if it would help find Jess, then he was willing to go on a little faith. He sat down in the snow beside me, watching me intently, hoping I was okay.
Soon, I opened my eyes with a flutter, I had pushed everything that had happened so far to the back of my mind and focused on finding Jess, Matt, and Emily. Mike perked when he saw me open my eyes, hoping I was better now.
I slowly nodded my head, "okay, I think I can safely start looking for the others."
"That's great, Vee," Mike smiled, relieved that I was okay, it seemed.
"Can we do something first?" I asked, immediately cringing at my choice of words.
He eyed me with confusion, "and what exactly is this something?"
I realized I had worded my request a bit presumptuously and that it needed more explanation, "sorry 'bout that, to explain, I need to show you what I have been trying to tell you since I first found you," I told him.
He shook his head at me, "I don't understand, you're talkin' in freaky paranormal girl language."
I grinned, quite amused, "do you trust me?" I asked, my demeanor quickly changing to a more somber one.
He eyed me a moment, "uhm," he was skeptical, and I knew he needed a moment to think.
I gave him this moment as I shifted to my knees, indicating for him to stay put.
After that moment, he nodded, "okay," he said, "I trust you."
I nodded once, "just, just don't freak out, okay?" I told him, leaving him even more confused as I lifted my arms to place my fingers upon his temple, closing my eyes and flooding his mind with the memories I had inside my mind.
Mike's eyes closed at the rush of sudden memories rushing into this mind. He groaned at the initial process and it made me cringe apologetically but it had to be done. I showed him what I saw, the creature that pulled Jess out of the window and then the brief moment of her dropping to the ground in the mines.
Suddenly, my abilities jerked me away from him. I landed on my back on the snow and he was jerked back also, we both groaned at the pang of pain we felt in our skulls. I sat up, rubbing my temple as Mike sat up with a hand on his head; we looked at each other.
"Woah," he exclaimed in surprise.
"Ugh," I groaned again.
"That was pretty cool," he said enthusiastically.
"Yeah?" I looked over at him, he had the biggest grin on his face I had yet to see.
"Yeah!" He was so enthusiastic right now, he could barely contain himself, "I mean, it was epic, like I've never felt anything like it before!"
I smiled, I was glad he enjoyed it, "I'm glad you liked it," I said chuckling, realizing that sounded like we had had sex when in reality we didn't but he laughed with me so he seemed to get my chuckle and didn't care, "okay, so who should we go after first?" I asked.
But right then shit hit the fan, and my plans were totally flushed down the toilet.
Again.
The man with the flamethrower from that night appeared with Chris in tow. During this whole time, Chris had left Josh alone and ended up with that man. I stood up, Mike followed. I rushed to catch up to Chris and the man. I called out to Chris as we caught up to them, "what the hell, Chris?"
Mike was confused, "I thought you were watching Josh?"
"I-I was but I heard someone screaming," Chris replied, "I-I had to check on Ashley, and-and Sam," he had forgotten that he had a walkie-talkie with him.
I relaxed but only in the slightest, "shit," I muttered as the four of us walked back up to the shed Josh was left inside.
When we reached the building and a horrible sight laid before us. I could barely contain my surprised worry, my hand shot up to my mouth, and strangely enough, Mike's arm wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. This was new but I couldn't focus on that now. The stool was broken, and Josh was nowhere to be seen, blood everywhere. I tried to hold back tears at the thought of him in pain with his fragile mind.
"What the hell happened?" Mike demanded.
Chris moved to the left of us, "he's gone, we're too late," he called back to us.
"Shhh! Quiet!" The stranger shouted at us, something had his attention.
We all silenced ourselves at his warning.
"We gotta go, we gotta get outta here, now!" The stranger snarled.
"Wait just a minute!" I started in on him but Mike pulled me back, shushing me.
"Vanessa is right, we gotta find Josh! I mean, he could still be out there somewhere," Chris said exactly what I was thinking.
"Yeah!" I managed to get Mike to let me comment.
There was a short silence that washed over us....