CHAPTER 4: SQUARE, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE AND X

4-1

I woke up and my body still aches all over; my arm still aches due to the dislocation, my legs still numb due to the long hike and body still soar due to me carrying Sheila and then James.I sat upright and stretched my entire aching body. I looked at my side and saw Kristen sleeping soundly on the carpet, her still face is just too pale, makes you wonder whether she is anemic or something.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at me as I just awkwardly grinned at her.

"Hmm… ?!Da-Da-Daryl. You're awake. Are you alright? Are you still hurt? You could have awoken me…" Kristen woke up and immediately asked about my well-being, her movements are hectic like she is embarrassed or something. Well she did just wake up so it's understandable,

"I'm alright…" I replied.

I looked at James who is sleeping with painful grimaces. I remembered Gregory's words last night.

"How are Venus and Claire?" I asked,

"They are still stuck in the basement. We would have to wait until the basement door shows up again." She replied,

"Arghh... Who is stuck in the basement door?" James moaned in pain,

"James!" We both shouted as we helped James sit upright,

"You idiot! You were too heavy, luckily I was strong enough to lift you or I don't know what I will do." I exclaimed,

"Sorry about that. I'm alright though. The wound still hurts." He replied,

"We really need to get the hell out of this place and let a professional look at that wound. We barely gave you a mediocre treatment for it." Kristen muttered,

"Yeah… Who was stuck in the basement?" He asked,

"Venus and Claire... Let me fill you both up on what happened yesterday." She said as she explained in details the things that happened last night.

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"Those were the things that I heard from Gregory. I'm not too sure though." She ended her story,

"Water ponds huh? That explains why I heard dew drop from that door…" I said,

"Troy must still be mad. Let's just let him cool down for a while. He'll come back." James said,

"With the way things are. That's the only thing we could do." She muttered,

"It's weird though. I expected that all the basements would be the same?" James said,

"Me too. We should have not underestimated everything. It's best if we will think of every possible scenario… But that would be hard; anything is possible at this point." I sighed

There was silence between the three of us. As Kristen is oozing off a heavy atmosphere, me and James just couldn't break out of it.

She snapped back "Huhh… I know both of you are idiots but how the hell did you two got hurt so badly?"

"Ask Sheila, she was the clumsy one." James said with confidence,

"Yeah… Sheila tripped on the stairs and brought us with her. It was dangerous because we were still holding onto our spears. Luckily for me, I threw mine just to catch Sheila but I didn't have the strength to stop her from falling." I expound,

"Make sense." She said,

"Where is she?" James asked,

"At the estate… She felt so guilty last night that she collapsed because she thought you two were also trapped in the basement." She answered,

"Hmm… But we got out. Just what do you think is the reason why Claire and Venus are still trapped?" James asked,

"That's what we'd like to find out ourselves." She sighed

"Sigh. Let's go back to the estate first. Here. Let me help you get up." I said as I helped James stand up.

There was so many things to talk about and so many things to ask about and it would be best to fill everyone else in in one setting than to repeat ourselves all over again which is why I did not add any further. I'm not much of a talker so I would rather not waste time repeating myself.

As we walk near the estate, Johnny saw us and also helped James. We entered the doors as Johnny shouted in the open

"Everyone! James and Daryl are here!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks and greeted the both of us. Most of which has concerned faces. Sheila saw as and hurriedly, while limping, ran towards us and hugged both of us.

"Ouch! Shei! My wound!"

"Aw. Aw. Aw. My body still aches, Shei."

When she heard both of us complained, she backed a step or two and sobbed. Her guilt filled face is showing as streak of tears fell down from both her eyelids.

"I… I… I thought I lost the both of you. I thought you were also trapped in the basement." She sobbed,

"Well we are here so you better cheer up now." I said

"Yup, Shei. Don't blame yourself too much." James added,

"Sob. O-okay…" She smiled at least easing the guilt that she is feeling even for a little bit.