Chapter 13: Elia Part (3) Wake Up Or Die.

"What do you mean by our home? ! "Joey looked at Ryou altered asking anxiously and hesitantly. he doesn't want to hear what he may say.

Ryou seemed to be in another world, his eyes didn't seem to notice Joey himself as if he was in his dreamy world, he can see no one, he did not even blink, his smile on his face looked like a mannequin, there was no movement. This caused Joey to worry, "Ryou!" He called out grabbing his hand.

Ryou blinked several times as if he was just woken up from some kind of shock or hypnosis! : "What. What's the matter?"

"I want to understand what you meant by our home. Who is Elia who everyone has been talking about since we arrived?"

"No one has seen her, but it looks like she's the boss here and she's kind !" Ryou smiled again.

"What are they .... Are they even humans? They are 99%, not human we are in the underworld! A chance to meet a human is assured but to meet an entire village of humans is nearly impossible!  And if they are humans then why have they been here for a long time? How can we trust someone from the underworld? After all, we have seen! remember; the Nuckelavee which we met and barely escaped after I made a damn contact with a damn witch, who engraved this damn scar on my body and only god know what would she come for to take in exchange, so now you are telling me they are kind  ?"

Joey clenched his teeth in anger, and his tone started to get higher while maintaining his voice as low as possible so that no one could hear him. but he just couldn't as he ended his sentence with a shout and anger was clear in his tone.

"Underworld? ..." Ryou looked around and looked back at Joey, the latter was amazed at how Ryou is calm as if he said nothing.

"The test ... don't we deserve a chance to rest a little?" He said then smiled and patted Joey's shoulder. Who looked at him with amazement and was unable to utter a word, he only opened his mouth and looked at him in disbelief.

"Come on. Take a bath and dress fastly we will be waiting for you. Okay!" He said and left closing the door behind him, its as if Joey didn't say anything, Leaving Joey in amazement. He did not blink and remained absent-minded in his same position, could it be possible that Ryou was also so minding absent that he heard nothing of what he has said? Joey thought.

Joey took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly until he calmed down, then looked back at Zain who was still asleep, then took the clean clothes and entered the bathroom as told.

He took off his clothes and opened the hot water tap, and after minutes when the tub was full, he entered the bathtub and let the warm water embrace his body and calm his mind and muscles. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the back, and for a while, he felt that he was slowly sinking and his eyelids getting heavier with each second, perhaps from exhaustion but before he recognise it, his whole face was under water now.

It was as if he was trapped under a wall of water, Joey felt like he couldn't get up, as if he had been trapped by invisible hands pinning him down and trying to strangle him, his eyes were the only thing working now, his heart was beating against his chest like a drum and his chest was in pain. As his fear took over his body, suddenly the reflection of a woman with pale complexion appeared as if she was a dead person! She sat next to the tub and looked at him while he saw her from under the water, unable to move a muscle while he opened his mouth to scream and bubbles came out as he was loosing the remaining oxygen in his lungs. All he heard from that woman was.

"Run..." Joey felt that he couldn't take it any longer as his eyes started to close and he felt that, the water was entering his lungs, but suddenly he felt this feeling of fixation being removed and he was able to raise his head and move again, as he got up from the sink, panting and coughing the water which he swallowed.

"Don't drink it!" Joey heard her voice again screaming, and quivering, he looked around the bathroom panicking! He collected the remaining strength in his body and put both of his hands against the sides of the bathtub to help himself up. wiping the water from his face with his hand, panting, and pushing his hair backward with his fingers, turning his head right and left searching for the source of the voice!

" Who are you!" he asked loudly in panic

"Don't drink it! Please, Don't drink it!" The voice was heard again.

This time it seems that the sound is coming from behind the door.

He got up quickly from the sink, dried himself quickly, put on his clothes, put his hand on the door handle, and waited for a few moments, "but he did not hear another sound, he hesitated as his heart hammered in his chest. He gave up and opened the door quickly!

But he didn't find anyone, except for Zain's calm and steady breathing.

"Am I starting to go insane ?!" His face was red. He feels a bit of pain, but it is better somehow.

Joey came out wearing the clothes the lady gave him which were jeans and a long white crochet shirt. As soon as he got out of the room. Everyone looked at him as if they didn't expect him to come at all. They were sitting at a simple dining table in the middle of a garden. The thing he noticed in them was happiness. Overdoes happiness. They were all smiling. This made him even more suspicious, he smiled coldly and approached them then sat in the middle next to Ryou.

"You slept for a long time, but Elia said you'd be fine!" Said an old man sitting with them at the table looking tolerant and cheerful.

Joey smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, thank you for taking care of me and my friends. I want to meet her to thank her for saving us personally!"

Silence prevailed. After what Joey has said, the man was confused and rattled:

"Yes of course! She will meet you soon! Right by the way! Tonight we will have a wonderful celebration and you are all invited to attend!" The man said with great joy as he clapped his hands together by the end of the sentence.

Everyone seemed to be happy until Joey interrupted them. "We would like to really! but unfortunately, we have to leave as soon as our friend wakes up. We must look for a way out. We will appreciate it if you could help us and tell us if there is a gate or something like that around to get out of here ?"

The smile disappeared from the man's face and the faces of all who were present, it was as if Joey opened the biography of a dear dead person among his family!

"We need a little rest, Joey, don't be like that!" Alicia said and looked annoyed.

He looked at them a little, and they all reacted the same، it even seemed as if he is the one at wrong.

As he looked at each of them، observing their every move, Alicia, who was laughing heartily as she beats the glasses with Aran, Who reciprocated the carefree smile he had never had, and Ryou, who was eating and chatting with some of the villagers sitting around him, as if he was talking to his high school friends whom he hadn't seen in years, their ecstatic faces, they looked kinda high! Which made Joey realize there's no way to talk. Just say whatever they want to hear. until he could understand what was going on.

"Well ... it's okay to stay for a few days until Zain wakes up and gets better, then we'll leave right after"

Joey watched as his friends started to get more comfortable. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off their shoulders، and became at ease. And not only them but what made this more strange is the happiness and relief of the villagers, whose faces lit up at the mere knowledge of their stay.

why all this happiness? Why does his friends act weirdly? They are still in the Underworld even if the place was good it's still the Underworld!

They are still lost and far from their families. what the hell is happening!?

After they had lunch Joey went with Ryou and the rest sightseeing in the village with an old man named Don, Joey was neither happy, nor comfortable unlike them. who were extremely excited as if they were visiting the Red sea!

Alicia liked the horses she saw along the way so much, and one of the horse riders there, offered her to race and have fun together and she agreed, which wasn't very welcomed by Joey.

Joey held her wrist, "you trust them Alicia?!  be careful at least until Zain wakes up!"

"Are you always nervous and annoying Joey?"  Alicia pulled off her hand, pushed Joey and smiled at the man, and took his hand which he offered to help her to jump on the horse, she looked happy. Since the few days Joey spent with her, he never saw her smile, so what about laughing!?

Joey looked at Aran and found that maybe they both have the same viewpoint. He is not naive, not easy to be deceived. Joey approached him, and put his hand on his shoulder:

"Do you agree with what is  happening Aran?"

Aran focused his eyes on Alicia, smiling, "What do you mean by do I agree?" Then he looked at him, "Is something happening so that I would agree to it or not?"

" What?" Joey was shocked and turned away from him, and when he looked back at Alicia, his pupils shrunk and his face got pale, as he saw that the man who was riding the horse beside her a moment ago, was now a strange-looking, faceless creature, with white eyes, laughing outwardly, his frightening white teeth were shining like blades! As he rode on a horse that looks like a dark black animal with a red eye. as evil as him!

Joey noticed that Alicia rides on a horse that is the same shape as the one the other man or creature rides! But it seems that she does not see him, she was in another world, laughing and smiling as if everything is normal, the worst is that she was running towards the end of a cliff that was not there before, it seemed that it was all planed! they are getting rid of them by directing them towards suicide?

Surrounded by darkness from all sides, down the cliff had some kind of black flames which looked as its waiting for her to fall and eat her alive!

Joey froze slightly then shouted "Alicia !!" No one looked at him.

They even kept encouraging her, Joey pulled Aran's shoulder violently:

"Don't you see her !!!! We gotta save her"

" From what ?" Aran smiled and looked back at her.

"Ryou !!!" Ryou looked at him, "What?" He laughed and looked at her again, clapping his hands and calling her name in encouragement. As if they were seeing something while he was seeing something else. they both are watching different movies here! they were living a dream while Joey wanted to get out of this horror movie.

Joey found that there was no point in talking with them, he cursed loudly, then ran towards the stable. He took a horse that appears to be some kind of a dark creature as well, he gathered the reins in his hands and swang his leg above the back of the horse pulling the reins strongly forcing it to run forward, and it was strange, that this demonic horse actually obeyed Joey and he easily directed it toward Alicia and began to increase the horse's speed and yell in the same time for  Alicia to wake up and see what is going on, but there was no response as if she did not hear him, it seems. She is in another world with a smile on her face.

" You can run....but you can not hide...."

End of Chapter 13.

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