Freedom
After Apostolos checked Ayako’s pulse, and Silas checked Mashiro’s, almost instantaneously they both raised their heads to the group. They both slowly shook their head no.
“I’m sorry Mafuyu…” muttered Silas with a stifled breath.
Apostolos sighed, taking his hat off to cover his chest. “She’s gone too…”
It was official. Mashiro and Ayako, the star crossed lovers… They fell in love the same place they died. It is a cruel, twisted fate.
“N-No…” Mafuyu whimpered, “N-N-NO!” She yelled with tears flowing down her face. She buried her head onto her late brother’s chest. “Nii-san…” She cried into him, her voice muffled by his jacket.
Amidst the sorrow, Ollie dragged his way to Mafuyu’s side and leaned next to her. “Hey… I know it is rough… But we need to go. The Oni won’t be down for much longer if Mashiro didn’t finish it…”
Mafuyu glanced at Ollie, her eyes red and puffy. “I-I…” She seemed conflicted. She didn’t want to leave them… But she knew what must be done. “Nii-san… Nii-san would want us to leave… I can’t let their sacrifices go to waste…!” She yelled out, determination lingering in her voice.
It brought everyone else to a small smile, as she soon got to her feet. She watched as Rasmus scooped up the freshly-dead corpses, before looking towards the others. “I know the way out of here… Follow me.” She uttered, as she quickly turned on her feet and ran through the forest.
The others followed her, running through branches, brushes, jumping over logs, and dashing through meadows.
And then… They saw it.
They saw the light.
The group had made it through the forest, and through the entrance they all had came from.
They saw a line of police officers, police tape, an ambulance, paramedics, EMTs, and citizens watching from behind the lines.
One of the EMTs on the scene saw the group and their eyes widened. They barked out, “Over here! We found them!”
A group of medical assistance got gurnees out for Rasumus who was slowly losing consciousness, and Ollie as well who was still bleeding large amounts of blood through his hand. One of the officers ran to the group and asked what happened, which Sayuri said she would take care of. Silas was off making sure Ollie was alright and Apostolos made sure that Mafuyu was holding up alright.
Eri watched as the bodies of two teenagers were loaded into an ambulance, already well aware it was beyond anyone's capacity to save them.
It was chaos.
But it was done.
All the pain…
All the suffering…
All the despair…
It was done.
They were finally free.