Samiyah hikes up the skirt of her abaya and climbs through the hole, then turns back to offer me her hand. It's much easier for me — smaller, quicker, and grateful for the freedom of pants over flowing fabric.
We've just finished looking at memories, and my mind still hums with fragments — faces, voices, flashes of color I can't unsee.
Samiyah brought a couple notebooks and pencils so she could record our findings. She's smart like that. She also wrote down absolutely every single detail from every single memory we saw, and made me do it too. My wrist is sore.
Oksana's waiting for us out in the tunnels, exactly as she was when we left her. I ask how long she was waiting. She shrugs. Time is difficult here. She starts leading us back home.
"Did you find the answers you needed?" They ask. My sister nods and squeezes my hand. I'm not sure if it's for my comfort or hers. Probably both.
"How long's it been? Since I was there? Do you know?" I almost detect a hint of hopefulness in their tone.
Samiyah's eyebrows furrow as she thinks. "Maybe... Two years? I think?'
"How's– How are they?" Oksana's voice catches, her eyes flicking upward toward the surface. Samiyah's breath hitches. I press the stress bean in between our hands. She squeezes and takes a deep breath.
Then she tells her. She tells her everything. She tells her about the tingles, the flaking, the dissolving. It feels like forever ago now. She tells her about what we discovered, what got us into this whole situation in the first place. Why the things that happened, happened. What's been going on this whole time.
When she's finished, Oksana is silent, contemplative. She closes her eyes, taking a breath. She lets it out slowly. When she opens her eyes again, her icy blue eyes feel... melted down. Less like ice, more like water.
"That makes... a lot of sense," she says finally. "Actually, I, um... Those tingles and flaking you described? I kind of felt that before. Like, I felt it, and then later on you came."
"Oh... Oh, oh... Oh," Samiyah nods slowly. "Ok, um, that– makes sense, now that I think about it..."
The rest of our journey is primarily in silence. I don't blame any of us– my sister and I just finished snooping through someone's memories, and Oksana's just learned all the details.
Before I know it, we've reached the hole we originally came from. The hole we must climb through to reach home again.
Samiyah squeezes my hand and turns back to Oksana. "Thank you. For everything."
Oksana nods. "Glad I could help. It gets boring down here. I hope you fix things."
I offer one last wave, one last look before she turns and leaves to wander the endless maze of empty infinity.
My sister kneels, weaving her fingers together to create a step. "Come on, I'll give you a boost."
I step on her hands and shift my weight to that foot. With a grunt, she hoists me up and before I know it, my upper half is in the hole. I squirm, bringing my arms up above me, grappling for something to pull me up. My fingers brush something rough, something familiar– roots. The roots of the tree, of course! I remember!
I grab the scratchy roots and haul myself up with Samiyah's help. The forest air hits me— cool, sharp, real— and I gasp it in like it might vanish. Next, my arms– gripping the ground and roots as I pull myself up through the hole completely.
Holy shit, I did it. But, wait– no time to celebrate yet. I have to help Samiyah. Laying on my stomach, I hook my feet under one of the roots as an anchor and lower my top half and extend my arms into the hole. Samiyah's hands find mine, and she grips my forearms like a lifeline. Somehow, I manage to pull her up enough for her to do the rest on her own. Gasping for breath, clothes smeared with dirt, we slump against the trunk, hearts pounding against the bark.
Oh my God. Oh my FUCKING God. We did it. We actually did it. We left. We made it. We're fine. We're home.
Home. God, I didn't know how much I missed it. Now that we're back, we'll figure out how to fix it. Everything can go back to normal. It has to.
Right?
hey chat wsg
this chapter was shorter than what I'd say is ideal, maybe like 745 words
was it good I hope so
YOU WILL BE FINDING OUT WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED IN THE NEXT CHAP RAHHHHH
finally you'll get to know why tf this is all happening
as for the chapter itself, I wanted to like
I wanted there to be a noticeable tone shift like more emotionally strained or exhausted until the end
I hope I did that and that u could tell
busted my butt to get this out early cuz I knew I could
next one should be very yummy I mean I hope
and longer, longer too I think
I made cookies today do u want one
🍪
they weren't chocolate chip but whatever
I shall leave now and return next weekend
I hope u liked this chap and look forward to the next
THE END IS NEAR- WHO SAID THAT WHOOOOOOOOOOO
ok bye tysm ily have a good day or night lovelies <333
-JJZ