𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

chapter twenty - memories

"Good luck!"

Claire's platform rose until it was out of sight, leaving Lucas and Sophia down in the abyss. Beneath their feat, the tiles switched from one aggravatingly neon colour to the next.

"How do we get to Claire's house?" Lucas cried out to Sophia.

"I don't know!"

A shrill screech could be heard from above. Lucas and Sophia looked up to see what used to be Pine and Will diving for them. For the sake of saving themselves, Lucas and Sophia leapt from the only platforms in the whole void. Miraculously enough, Lucas landed on a brand new square tile right after launching himself from the last one. Behind him, the platform he was just standing on disappeared.

"Wait... Do we just have to move forward?"

Sophia brushed herself off. "Well, there's only one way to find out."

"Sophia, wait!"

She gave Lucas a smile. It was unlike any of the smirks he had grown accustomed to during his time with Sophia. Instead, it was one of resignation. "Win for me if I mess up, okay?" 

"Sophia!" Lucas dashed to the edge of his tile and reached out to her. He was crestfallen to see that his arm could only go so far. He could only watch as Sophia put one foot forward...

Nothing caught it.

At the last moment, she grabbed onto her platform and she struggled to keep her grip on the paper-thin tile. Still, she exclaimed, "It's good, I'm good!" 

Lucas let out a sigh of relief. He backed up as far as he could on his square and began to run. But just before he could leap off the platform, she was swooped away by one of Claire's winged beasts.

"Sophia!"

She opened up her mouth. Lucas never got to hear what she had to say. The beast ripped her head from off her neck — the move was done as quickly and as cleanly as a well-versed butcher separating the different parts of a pig. Lucas winced and looked away, desperate to keep down a sickening feeling rising up in his throat. When he looked back up, the beast was already soaring off with what was left of Sophia.

Lucas wiped off drops of blood from his cheek with a trembling had. He had to win. For Sophia's sake. For Jalen. For, Pine, Will, James, Aidan, Enoch-

"Oh, shoot."

The platform beneath his feet began to flicker. Panicked, Lucas jumped forward. Right before his eyes, a brand new platform came into view. Lucas whooped in glee a moment too soon.

Three sharp daggers dug into Lucas' shoulder before his feet landed on the tile. He let out a piercing scream and shot his hand up to the pain. He felt something rugged clinging to him like a jagged piece of shrapnel. The thing that had gotten its hold on him made a strangled, gurgling sound.

"S... ave m- e..."

"Aidan?"

Below Lucas, Claire's home came closer until it was no longer the size of a pea in his eyes. It finally looked to be the size of a small cottage now. If Lucas didn't rip Aidan off himself now, he would pass the house and likely lose the game. 

Shoulders aren't that important, right?

A streak of blood resembling a slim string appeared in the air as Lucas plummeted towards the house. His shins got scratched on the yellow roof's edge, and his arm scraped against the rough texture of the walls. Lucas reached out to grab onto the vines growing on the stone and desperately clung to it to prevent himself from falling into the void.