Running Hopeful (NewtxReader)

Chapter 5: In Memory

I froze, too numb to move until Curly grabbed Floofy's other arm and started pulling him up. I snapped out of it and together we dragged Floofy out of the pit. The three of us immediately looked over the edge again, trying to figure out a way down.

Blondie groaned loudly, moving gingerly to roll over onto his side. The drop had been a good eight feet at least. He was lucky to be alive.

"Don't move alright?" Curly called down to him. "We'll get you out of there hold on." Floofy was already on his feet, looking for the nearest growth of vines.

Blondie looked dazed as he moved to a half sitting position.

"You okay?" I called down to him. "Blondie?"

"Longlocks! Come help us with this!" Curly and Floofy were tugging on a particularly sturdy vine.

Below in the pit, Blondie said a word to himself.

"What?" I called down, still unsure of his well being. For some reason I was terrified. He had to be okay. He had to be.

"George!" He shouted. "George!" The two boys stopped and came to look over into the pit. "I remember something! My name!"

"George?" I tried the word out on my tongue. Blondie was better.

"George!" Curly shouted smiling. Floofy was grinning from ear to ear. "Hold on George, we'll have you out in a jiffy!"

Together the three of us pulled loose the vine and lowered it to pull George out of the pit. He came up looking elated, though he was bleeding pretty bad from the gash in his head. He smacked us all on the shoulders, laughing.

"You alright?" Floofy asked, still grinning.

"Never better. Come on, let's go find our missing friend." He started off and we all hurried to catch up.

"So do you remember anything else?" I call up to him.

"Not yet! But maybe I will." He sounded more hopeful than he had since we first stepped out of the box. He glanced back at me, eyes shining and grinning excitedly. My heart fluttered alarmingly in my chest.

My pace slowed for a moment as the other three passed me. What was that? That feeling I had just from his smile...

We turned a corner and Curly started searching through his pockets frantically.

"Wait! Everyone wait a second!" We slow down at the sound of his warning.

"What's wrong?" Blondie... George asked.

"The map." I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as he spoke. "I must have dropped it back in the pit."

Everyone stared at him, hoping this was some kind of poor joke.

He looked back at us, helplessly. We immediately started back.

"Its alright, we just need to head back to the pit. We haven't gone that far." He came to a halt at a crossroad.

Floofy looked nervous. "Anyone remember which way we came?" George leaned against the side of the wall looking off balance.

"Hey, you good?" I asked.

"Fine." Came his short reply. I didn't believe that for one second. I came up behind him, pulling his head back to look at the gash from the rock.

It was still bleeding. "We need to bandage this. Quickly." Curly was already tearing off a section of his pant leg to wrap the wound.

I wasn't sure what to properly do, but I knew the bleeding had to stop. George tried to push me away, mumbling over and over that he was fine but Floofy and I forced him to sit as Curly tied off the bandage.