#30

You lands in a dark cell. You feels water splash into Your wounds; it's filthy water, and it makes the gashes sting, though its coolness soothes Your burns. Your nose is full of the stench of burning hair, and You can't see out of one eye, though You knows it's still there.

There's a tiny light in the room, but not enough to see much of anything. You feels around in the dark, scared for a second (though You was already scared already, to speak honestly) that there might be something out there, but there's nothing. Not even a bed. Just a cold stone wall, for You to lean and infect Your wounds against.

You hears nothing for a few seconds, the sound of screaming echoing in Your ears. Eventually that fades, and there's silence. But then the silence ends too, with the sound of crying.

You opens Your eyes, which had been pinched shut from the pain; You can sort of see out of the other one now, You notes. The crying seems close, though not in the cell. It actually seems to be coming from behind Your head, but it can't be penetrating this stone wall. You feels around, and eventually comes across a tiny slit in the wall. You calls into it.

“Hello?”

The crying pauses.

“Is there someone there?”

Your heart skips for a second. The voice is faint, but it sounds so familiar. You can't hold Yourself back, and You shouts out, “Susie?!”

There's a gasp.

“You?”

You blinks and suddenly the nature of Your tears changes. You can't believe it at all, but You can't even guess at a trick now.

You cry out to the heavens and the person in the other cell presses against the slit, and the two of you start sobbing.

“Oh, You...I-I can't believe it.” Her voice is choked off. “They told me that I'd never leave this cell, and that this was all by itself, that I'd never hear a voice again until I told them where it was...the Item. And I-I never I'd hear from...from...” And You just smiles as you both laugh hysterically.

For a second, the tiny fuelbulb overhead seems a little brighter.

“I don't have the Item, Susie,” You says.

“You doesn't? Did they take it?”

“No, no. I lost it when they captured me. It could be anywhere.”

She begins whispering, then. “I should've told You to destroy it, in my note, but I thought it would help You. It wasn't until he took us to Zorro City that I realized they wanted it; that me telling You where it was was what they wanted. They searched the forest, but they must not have seen the cave...look, You, the only reason they'd put us together would be if they were listening, and thought You'd tell me where it was. But since You doesn't know where it is, we might be safe.”

“Susie, I need some answers to some questions. I don't know what that thing does, o-or, or...really anything, at this point.” But then You remembers the most important thing. “Where are my parents? And did they torture you? Any of you?”

“They dragged Your mom off, and I didn't see where they took her. I don't know where Your dad is, either. They did torture me, probably tortured both of us. But Your mom didn't know anything, so they might have spared her...”

You breathes a sigh of relief, and You takes a second to revel in the loss of tension.

“Listen, You. We may not be trapped here for long. Anti-Imperial minded folks are out there, and there's been a big push lately...”

Suddenly, You hears a grind of metal, and Susie cries out. Loud boot steps can be heard scraping across stone, and she begins screaming.

“Susie...!”

The screams are loud and shrill, and You considers covering Your ears, but instead You scrambles along the stone, looking desperately for any sort of fault in the wall. Every inch of You feels helpless because there's nothing. There's nothing, nothing but flat stone and the sounds of a struggle. She begins sobbing, and suddenly she is gone. The metal scraping appears again, and there's only one sound left.

The cries for help from a friend are the worst sounds in the world, and sometimes one is left only to cry by themselves, to try to forget having heard that sound in the first place.