3 The Face

"I knew you were here."

Anoi was startled by the coldness of the voice, but she brushed it off. Next, a wave of happiness overcame her and immense relief at seeing a figure of another human being, who didn't intent to harm her, was very liberating. Her dark thoughts started to dissipate.

People say that it is in a misfortune where we find our truest friends. Now, no matter the rumors, no matter how she previously thought about Link, nothing could stop her from being grateful and wanting to repay his kindness. He searched for her.

Maybe she didn't know him very well, maybe before they weren't that intimate. But this very second, he was the dearest person in her eyes.

"Lint." By using the wall as a support, she lifted herself up as fast as she could. "Lint! You came!"

The isolation made her desperate. Just a moment ago she was absent-mindedly dragging herself though the room, thinking that this is a burrow of the Death itself, and that the chance of her finding an exit was so slim…

She stepped forward to touch him, in need to check if he was indeed real.

But the somewhat unperturbed and cold figure passed by her, ignoring her shocked and sorry state.

And then he suddenly said, causing her mind to go blank, "I finally found you."

Anoi swiftly turned her head and, at last, she saw who, or maybe what, Lint was talking to. And she understood that perhaps, he wasn't looking for her after all.

As the door were opened, the light was shed in the room. Anoi could clearly see the walls, the emptiness of the room. There was almost nothing. Only small pools of dark liquid, here and there, were reflecting the light. And in one of those pools, right in the center, there was a gory heap of something.

She shuddered as the unpleasant feeling of touching that suspiciously warm lump resurfaced in her mind.

The thought alone of what it could be was already terrifying.

For an unknown reason, seeing that the man was getting closer and closer to it, she felt very restless. She could help, but whine, "Lint?"

At that very same moment, there was a low moan coming from the heap.

Her steps faltered. Her guesses were right, that was a person.

Well, at this point, it could hardly resemble one. His, or her, clothes were soaked in blood and were closely sticking to the figure, revealing the abnormal way in which the arms and legs bend themselves. They were not only broken, but probably dislocated too.

"Hey, call the police. And the ambulance!" Anoi anxiously shouted, "My phone run out of battery."

And, as if in a response to her complaints, the well-known melody broke the chain of her thoughts.

Anoi felt very scared.

She was petrified. The reason was because her melody, her one-of-a-kind melody, was coming from her back pocket, and not from her palm, where she currently held her phone. And the phone she was clutching was still turned off.

Shocked, she reached to her pocket and, and then she felt panic covering her mind: the ringing device she pulled out was way too familiar.

And now, she was standing with two identical phones in each of her hands.

What's more, the number that was calling belonged to the person standing in front of her.

The call was from Lint.

"Hey," the female's voice trembled with both fear and shock, not knowing if she should pick up, "What's going o.."

Yet, all her questions died out once she glanced at Lint who was looking down at the lump.

Forget it, no matter the two phones, first they have to get out of here. And they better hurry if they want that body to keep its soul in it.

Another lament escaped the lips of the pitiful person that was lying on the ground and then it moved, lifting up its face for the world to see.

Anoi stumbled on the freezing ground.

That face.

Badly disfigured, covered in bruises, with eyes hidden by blood and ripped skin, with messy hair that was half torn-out…

That face…

It was hers.