Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Joel was lock inside the bathroom of a clothes store. He had run there just after saw that impossible figure in the sky. He lean against the cold wall, panting, while his mind was full of dark thoughts: memories of his life, mistakes, regrets, guilty. Everything come back at same time, like an unstoppable torrent. No matter how much he try to stop it, he can’t.

—What’s happen… what’s happen… what’s happen? —he repeat between his teeth, holding his head with both hands.

It was like that presence in the sky was about to make him crazy. The air feel heavy, his skin was bristling. Suddenly, without realize, his eyes start to cry.

—No… I’m not sad… I don’t feel nothing… why…? —he murmured, trembling. Maybe he don’t feel nothing consciously, but there was something deeper, something hidden inside him, that was crying without stop, like if his own soul was cracking.

The panic was eating him. Every second in that bathroom make him closer to madness. His breathing was a broken pant, his nails scratching the wall, and the certainty that he will lose his mind become unbearable. Until…

Something break into his mind. A voice.

It was not human, but not cold either; it sound serious, firm, but also with a strange kind of affection. From the deepest of his head, it scream to him:

—Stand up, idiot! You have to go back home with your family!

Joel shivered. Never in his life had listen that voice, and still, it feel real, warm. And as strange as it was, it full him with strength. 

He slapped himself, take a deep breath, and with one kick he open the bathroom door and go outside.

—Heeeyyyyy! —he scream with all the air in his lungs, looking up the sky—. I don’t know what you are, but I don’t fear you! You hear me? I DON’T FEAR YOU!

His eyes, red because of tears, now was shining with a wild determination. The terror that had control him before was no longer his owner. The fear of his past… neither. For the first time, Joel was standing against the impossible, trembling but firm, ready to face whatever come.

But what come after… never, never had cross Joel’s mind.

Suddenly, everything turn black. An absolute darkness, without shape, without sound. It didn’t last more than few seconds, but enough to feel the vertigo of an endless abyss. Then, a brutal hit shake him, like if his body was throw against the floor of the entire world. The impact make him unconscious immediately. 

. . . 

Maybe hours pass. Joel wake up with a diffuse pain all over his body. The ground under him was hard, rough and dusty. A heavy gloom surround him, only break by the weak light of a cellphone shining the place.

A cave.

In front of him he could see several people: a man around fifty, a woman about thirty, two teenagers not even seventeen… and an old lady, sitting on a rock, crying without stop.

—W-who are you? Where… where am I? —Joel ask, voice broken, looking to the older man.

—Calm down, boy. We all are same confused —the man answer, walking a little closer—. Tell me… do you know anything about what happen?

—N-no… —Joel stutter, searching in his pockets like if some answer could be there—. I only know that time stop… and then that woman appear in the sky. That’s all I remember.

—It’s the same we saw… —the man sigh, frustrated, letting his body fall to the ground—. We don’t have any idea. I only know that… I need go back to my daughter…

The air in the cave was suffocating. All of them look scared, trapped in the same despair. Joel understand that there he would not find answers. Still, he couldn’t ignore the old woman crying, nobody near to comfort her.

—Ma’am… please, calm down. We need to stay strong —Joel say careful, walking slowly to her.

The old woman repeat again and again, between sobs, that they was in hell, that God had punish them. For a moment, Joel feel maybe she was right. But he shake his head, hold on to calm, and with simple words he make her crying stop little by little.

—Now you are more calm, right? —he ask, putting one hand over the old woman’s shoulder.

—Yes, young boy… thanks —she answer with trembling voice. Then she pull out an old wallet and show a photograph—. You don’t see my husband, right? We argue during a walk… he go to the park and I was in a store. You didn’t saw him anywhere?

Joel look at the face of the old man in the photo. He swallow hard.
—Me… I’m sorry, I didn’t see him. —He refuse to lie. Then he add, with firmness—. When we return, I will help you to find him. Okay?

The woman look at him in silence, sad, and then fix again her eyes on the photograph. Joel say nothing more; he just move away and let his body fall over a near rock. He turn on his cellphone. No signal. No messages. Nothing.

Some minutes pass in silence, until it was the teenagers who break it. They introduce themselves: José, fourteen years old, and Liam, sixteen. That make the others also share their names: the old lady, now more calm, was Berta; the man, Marco; and the woman, Sofía. Joel introduce himself too.

After that, nobody say anything for a while, until José suddenly stand up and turn on the flashlight of his phone.

—I can’t take this anymore. We must find a way out, —he say, fixing his backpack with determination.

Liam follow him, pushing up his glasses like a real nerd.

—He’s right. If we stay here, we will die of hunger. There’s a wind current… that means there must be an exit, —he add, with a tone almost didactic.

Joel and Marco look at each other, doubting. They knew the boys was right, but they wasn’t sure if the old lady and Sofía would accept. The answer come sooner than expected.

—I think the same, —say Sofía, standing up with some clumsiness. She was wearing party clothes, not good at all for this place. She leave her high heels at the side and adjust her purse—. Besides… I’m freezing.

Joel doubt only one moment, then he stand up too. Marco imitate him, and finally Berta, with effort, get on her feet with the help of the others. The group was decided: they need to get out of there. Nobody know each other, but in that instant the only thing they could do was trust one in another. 

They start walking through the twisted tunnels of the cave, following the weak current of air. The path become more hard with every step. Sometimes they had to carry the old lady to move faster.

It look like the exit was close, until José stumble with something.

—Ouch! —he shout, rubbing his foot.

When they light with the phones, they discover what was on the floor: a rusty sword.

—Wow! We found a real sword! —say José, surprised.

Liam bend down and look the weapon with fascination.

—It looks… like a roman sword. But it’s too well conserved to be here.

Marco take it without doubt.

—I will carry it. If some wild animal try to attack us, at least we can defend ourselves… even if I don’t think it works much, it’s pretty damaged.

Nobody opposed. Marco was the strongest of the group and, after all, he didn’t look like a bad guy. Even if Joel and Sofía exchange a look of distrust, they decide to keep going.

And then, they saw it.

Just a few meters away, the exit open in front of them. The teenagers run excited, while the adults and Berta move more carefully. When they go out, they stay speechless.

In front of them extend an immense forest. Trees so high they almost touch the sky, a cold breeze raising goosebumps in their skin, and a pure air, so different from the city they knew.

Nobody know where they was, or how they arrive there. But everybody understand the same thing in silence: this place was not Earth.

The proof? Very simple.

Far away, a colossal mountain rise up, literally cut in two.