Chapter 20: Return! 2
"The other three just stood there, looking at him with total calmness, as if nothing happened, as if his death was the most natural thing ever." Pablo, shivering worse than ever, continued recounting his first few moments in hell.
"The girl who first talked snickered. She just laughed at the death of another man, and the other two... followed suit; they laughed crazily together, and only after a couple minutes of them laughing did they stop. The only guy remaining wiped his tears and said, 'Ah, that was funny.' Funny? How was that funny? How can you laugh at the death of another man?" Pablo screamed as high as he could, the group could say nothing as Yu, who got Pablo to say all this, closed his eyes in regret. He regretted ever asking this man to tell them why he was there.
"You know what was crazier? Haha, Hahaha. That crazy woman said, 'what an idiot, running to his death.' and then they went out of the door. They knew! They knew he was going to die and they let him. She didn't even think back for a second or hesitate as she got out; she was sure that they wouldn't die." Pablo laughed at how crazy everything was. He didn't even know how to react anymore.
"At that point I- I couldn't take it anymore; I got out of my hiding and ran screaming as high as I could as I slammed the door shut and locked it from the inside. I could hear those crazy guys who got out say, 'What's that? Is there another one inside? Too bad.' and they walked off... From then on, I stayed in my place, crying, screaming, hitting the ground, getting tired, sleeping, and trying out my trait on different objects." and Pablo stopped talking; he was still looking at the ground with wide red eyes and nose, veins visible on his forehead, and shivers yet to calm down.
The group remained silent after, with nobody saying a single word. Yu wanted to apologize for ever asking Pablo, yet the words just couldn't seep out of his mouth, so he shut up and gazed at the sky, lost.
Once again, the reality of where they were hit them, and regret of what they had done in their past that ended up with them being thrown her, swallowed, and for a long time, they remained still in their places.
When Zen felt that they were well rested, he got up, and the group, seeing him, spoke no words as they followed suit.
The remainder of the journey back was completely silent. Sometimes words of warning were spoken by Zen, but other than him, nobody else so much as made a noise.
When the group reached the room, the gloomy atmosphere that surrounded them left the others no leeway to be happy or ask them what was going on.
Zen looked at the group he left behind, looking healthy with no problems and then back at Pablo.
"Pablo, we need your help making those two rocks bigger; that should be enough to open the door." He asked.
"Wow, doesn't that guy look like Yu? Oh, nevermind, Yu's more handsome." The one to comment was Melissa, once again checking the new guy to see if he was worth flirting with, and not reading the mood.
Nobody so much as replied to her. Alex looked at Sabrina, Lisa, and Dali, who were on their own little spot, then quickly scanned the area to find Changus sitting alone, Alexander still on his corner, seizing them up, and Melissa sitting close to Speed.
'Nothing changed, huh? It seems like they didn't even speak to one another.' He thought as he remembered the little conflict Sabrina and Melissa had.
Melissa, seeing as she was ignored, glared at Zen for a good few seconds and looked back at Speed.
"Those bastards." She cursed, her previous beauty was nowhere to be seen as her ugly expression concealed it.
Zen and Pablo moved towards the rock and all it took for Pablo was one touch of each rock for the door to open all the way up, making the group think that all their effort was in vein when he did it so easily.
"We're moving." Zen called to the group. Alexander, Changus, and Speed immediately got up; however, Sabrina didn't, and Lisa and Dali followed her example.
"You guys aren't going to rest?" She asked, and the only reason she didn't stand up was because she was worried about the search team that had just returned.
"No, we rested along the way." Zen shook his head.
"Alright." Hearing Zen's reply, Sabrina had nothing to worry about anymore. She got up, dusted her lab coat, and walked closer to Zen.
After Sabrina, everybody got up, and got closer to Zen.
After a few seconds of waiting for the group to gather up, Zen looked right in front of him at the well lit corridors of the maze and thought to himself that it might be another long trip forward.
And as he feared, the path forward was indeed long. Throughout the way, they managed to find many chests that they opened and looted what they found inside. Aside from Zen and the other 4, nobody else managed to get a weapon. After hearing Pablo's story, the way the group looked at everybody else would never be the same.
After a few hours of walking, the group finally found another gate in front of them. This one, however, was demonic beyond belief.
"We have to rest." Zen said. The feeling he got from this door was, by far, the worst he had ever felt.
The group could feel it too, and they did not refuse Zen's idea as they all randomly sat down.
As randomly as they did, Speed, Changus, Alexander, and Melissa were still closest to the gate, taking their distance from Sabrina and the others .
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