His eyes weren’t lying. The warm sensation that covered his hand was real.

There was no mistake. The dark-red liquid that slides down from his palm was blood.

But it wasn’t his.

His hand wasn’t injured. There was no pain coming from it.

But a painful moan could be heard.

Lifting his sight, he faced the girl, with her eyes shut and tight lips as her face shuddered as if she was trying not to show her weakness.

(…What?)

Something happened and Chris didn’t know what it was. He just stared at Midna in shock.

She then slowly half-opened one her eyes and breath out the air that was being held until now. Looking at the boy, she asked:

-Are…you alright?

With a gentle voice, she said to him but there was no response. He heard right, but he just couldn’t form words to answer her.

And then, something felt on his face.

-Please…please tell me you are alright…please…

Looking at the girl, he escaped from his trance. In his front, tears were falling from Midna’s eyes and dropping on his face.

-Y-Yes! Yes! I’m fine! I’m fine!

Finally, after seeing the girl’s reaction, he managed to spill out those words in panic.

Hearing his response, the girl smiled.

-I’m glad…

That natural honest smile easily formed despite the pain that she must be feeling, made him speechless.

But that didn’t last long. She quickly narrowed her eyes and closed her mouth, looking at the sides in search of something.

And while she was doing that, he just kept staring at her face in a daze.

-Can you get up?

In a serious tone, she asked him. Startled, Chris coughed to look away from her.

-Y-Yeah.

-Good.

Getting up from him, Midna turned to one end of the hallway. Even from below, he could see her eyes fixed, waiting for something to occur.

-Be ready. It will come back.

Following her lead, Chris also stands up and then faced the same direction as her, but his sight moved to another place: the girl’s back.

She was a little ahead of him, so he could see the long, narrow scar running from the middle of her back to the shoulder bone, cutting her clothes on the way.

The blood must have been sliding down from there, given by the tracks going toward the lower parts of her body, but now it seems to have stopped.

Now it was clear to him the situation they were in. A dread feeling filled his chest while his mind was in confusion as to why it had happened.

There were so many things he wanted to ask the girl right now, but she was too focused for him to call her.

There was nothing in the hallway, just the same usual corridor he knew. Still, Midna wasn’t letting her guard down even for a second. She didn’t move at all, completely frozen in one place as her eyes were fixed ahead.

Silence filled the corridor, alongside the heavy tension that pressured everyone to not to move. The only thing that was brave enough to pass there was the wind blowing through the windows.

Then, surprised, Midna quickly turned around, causing Chris to move away from her was shocked by her inexplicable reaction.

But there was nothing there either. She clucked her tongue in annoyance. Her head was turning from one side to another, seeming confused about where to look.

Chris saw as her expression changed, appearing concerned. She faced him, looking into his eyes, and grabbed his hand.

-Let’s go. Now!

She ran off down the stairs, pulling the boy with her. As if his body was following her words, he also quickened his pace. Only when they reached the second floor Chris managed to talk to her.

-Midna, what is going on?!

-I was too careless!

Without stopping even for a moment, they talked while the girl frenetically looked to the sides.

-I never thought it would be like this!

-What do you mean?

Crossing a corner, she found the next staircase to the first floor. Hasting her steps, she went towards it and looked back for a second to face the boy.

-There is more than one of them here!

Having answering him, the girl looked to her front again, leaving Chris frightened by her words.

(If…If one of them can do that her, then-!)

But there was no time to think. The girl stopped her legs, causing the boy to bump on her back. Without him understanding anything, she dragged him to an open classroom nearby.

-Breath deep. Now.

She whispered into his ear while keeping his body close to her in a tight hug. He couldn’t ask why but followed her instructions nonetheless. Listening to his breath, she said:

-Hold it now.

With her hand, she covered his mouth and pinched his nose, not allowing Chris to exhale by mistake. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Midna serious expression as she cautious placed her back on the wall and waited.

He couldn’t hear anything besides his loud heartbeat but she seemed to follow something through the walls with her eyes. Little by little, they moved until they stopped at the wall in front of the girl.

Relieved, she sighed and uncovered Chris, who immediately started to breathe. Letting him be, Midna went stealthy to the open door and stuck her head out.

-Say…are you going to explain what is going on or…

As he was breathing, Chris said that to her. Be it seeing or hearing, he couldn’t do either of them to notice whatever-were-after-them was, leaving the girl as the only one possible to clear his doubts.

-…I would love to do that.

With a refreshed look like she got what she wanted to, Midna went to Chris and gently placed her hands on his shoulders.

-But first, we need to get out of here, ok?

-But-

-Don’t worry, all you need to do is follow my lead and nothing will happen.

Without waiting for Chris to end his phrase, the girl went ahead and got out of the classroom. A couple of seconds passed before her arm was extended through the door and signalized for the boy to come.

A bit concerned, he gave his first step forward.

[][][][][]

They gradually walked down the stairs, not making many noises on their way. Since she said that to him, Chris was doing his best to copy her moments since they got out of that classroom but his movements were stiff. Still, he managed it somehow.

When he glanced at his legs, he saw them trembling a little. His whole body was the same but he was trying to hold on those sensations and continued to follow her.

But even if he tried to, the thoughts on his head couldn’t stop flowing. His mind was too perturbed that even one piece of information would put a bit of ease on it, if not making it all his worries disappear.

He didn’t have time to sort them either. There was too much to think of that he was being distracted while trying to replicate the girl’s movements.

If only he had time to stop, even for a minute, he was feeling that would help, but he also didn’t want to stay still even for a second.

All he could do was follow her until all of this was over.

And that might be nearer than he expected. Without him realizing, they finally reach the first floor of the school. Looking at one of his sides, there it was:

The school entrance was right there, just a couple of steps away.

That sight made him smile from happiness but he couldn’t let his emotions take over. They were too close for him to mess up.

Just a bit more and it was all over. All he had to do was to wait for the girl to move and it would be the end of this horrible day.

But for some reason…

She didn’t move anymore.

She just stood there, with all of her body shaking. Her hands formed a fist and she was clutching them so hard that a bit of her blood was falling down to the ground.

She didn’t say anything either to calm him down. Chris couldn’t understand what happened to her, so he asked with the lowest voice he could make:

-Midna…are you alrig-

-I’m sorry…

Her voice was frail and weak like it would break at any moment. His worries grew more.

-What are you-

It was then that he heard it.

It was a weird sound.

He didn’t know what it was or what it was alike.

But it came from his left, so he turned his head.

-I’m sorry…

But there was nothing there.

And then, he heard it again, from his right.

-I’m sorry…

Again, nothing there, but he almost saw something.

It came again, from his left.

This time, he could barely see it, but it already went inside a hallway for him to sight it.

Without waiting for the sound, he turned to his right and finally could see…something.

-I’m sorry…

It was fast, too fast for him to know what it was, but he saw it: from one corridor to another, he couldn’t see its form, but a shadow entered his sight before entering in the hallway.

And then the sound came.

And he saw the same thing when he turned left.

The black blur was there for a moment before disappearing. Was it the same? Were they different? He couldn’t of anything. He just watched in terror as those shadows moved from far away.

As he heard the girl’s words, he understood what they were in.

-I lead us…right into their trap…

The first floor was the biggest in the school. They were right in the middle of the central hallway, between the first and second lines of corridors that stretched towards the left and right of the building. And from those corridors, the shadows were going in and out.

In other words, the two of them were being encircled by them.

-Midna, let’s go back!

It was the only thing his panicked mind could come up with. If they needed to, they could just jump off the window and escape.

-No use. The others are coming too.

But her words extinguish any hope he had.

He didn’t know what to do anymore.

Were there any more options they could try?

Running now would be bad.

Those things would catch up.

Fighting would be bad.

Those things would catch up.

Escaping would be bad.

Those things would catch up.

Of all the things he could come up with, the scenario was the same.

Those things would catch up.

The girl would probably survive.

And he…

He would…

…

…

…

…

-…There is no other choice, huh...

Chris wasn’t sure but he thought he heard Midna voice just now. She grabbed his hand and dragged him to somewhere. His body wasn’t resisting and let her do as she pleased.

And then-

-Wake up!

His face got splashed with cold water. Awakened from the shock, Chris looked to the sides and found himself sitting on the ground, inside one of the school’s bathrooms. At his front, stood the girl with her hands wet.

-See? You are much better now.

He wasn’t sure of what happened, but at least he understood she did it for him to escape whatever he was feeling.

However, before he could say anything, the girl headed to the door.

-W-Wait!

Quickly, he got up and grabbed her hand. She turned around to face him.

-What is it?

-…

What did he want to say? There were no words that he could think of.

He searched the room, looking for anything that would help him. Suddenly, he saw something and pointed towards it.

-There!

It was a window high in the wall. It was a bit tall for them, but it was large enough for a person to pass if they reached it.

-We can escape from there!

Without waiting for her reply, Chris grabbed the trash can, throwing all the junk outside, and placed it upside-down near the window. Stepping on the plastic base, he wasn’t sure if it would hold them, but it was worth a try.

With this, escaping was possible. He faced her with a smile but what he saw gave him a bad feeling.

-…Chris, thank you for worrying, but…

She had a faint smile on her face, without moving from the place Chris stopped her.

-This is something I have to do.

Then, she went towards the door and said:

-Just don’t get out of here, ok?

With her hand on the door, Midna faced him one last time before going out of the bathroom. All he could do was stare at the girl as her back went further away. The last thing Chris saw was the scythe appearing on her hands before the door closed.

(This is madness! Why did you go there!!)

For whatever reason, they managed to get into the bathroom without those things getting on their way. His plan to escape from the bathroom wasn’t the most elegant but cared about it. They would at least be safer outside.

There was still time. He went towards the door. She wanting or not, he would drag her back and have her go with him. This was one unnecessary risk that they didn’t need to take.

However-

The moment Chris got closer to the door he heard loud sounds and noises coming from the other side, stopping his advances. He stood there, listening to them as they grew louder and louder in his head.

Metal was scratching against the surface, something being slammed with great force, others being cutting and the heavy steps of someone walking on the floor.

Sometimes they were close to where he was, other times it was so far he could barely hear them, but no voice could be heard from them.

He was trying to figure out what those sounds were, but he didn’t have a doubt about the reason they were happening. That continued for a time Chris didn’t notice, just hoping it was all alright.

And then, they stopped.

He couldn’t hear it anymore. There were no more sounds to listen to.

He placed his ear on the door, but even that didn’t reveal anything to hear. From one moment to the other, what was happening there just…stopped.

With caution, he slowly pushed the door away, peeking a bit from the small opening. There was nothing unusual that he could see.

He opened more, enough that his head could pop out the bathroom and saw more about the hallway.

The way to the school’s entrance was clear and didn’t appear to have anything stopping them from going there. He waited for a little, trying to catch the sight of any shadow, but his eyes didn’t see any of them there.

(She did it!)

He was doubtful at first, but the results were real. She fought them off and won. There was nothing else to worry about. He stepped outside the bathroom, happy it was all over.

-Midna, where are you?

Shouting, Chris tried to look for the one who made it all possible, but she didn’t seem to be in the entrance. His emotions took over but they were just too strong for him to hold them.

He turned around looking to where she could have gone.

And his search came to end sooner than he expected.

-Midna, where ar…e…y…o…u…

She was there, on the other side of the hallway. There was no mistake it was her there. His eyes aren’t lying to him, it was really…

…Her body…

...On the ground…

…Surrounded by blood.