When they awoke, they awoke to darkness and confusion. Their beds were cold and stiff, as if they had just been thrown atop them and left there. Aerith picked her head up off the pillow-less, flat bed. She tried to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but there was literally no source of light. She wanted to put her feet on the ground below her bed, but she was afraid of what else was in the room. She was in an unfamiliar foreign place, with no idea how she got there. Aerith's breathing became fast and unsteady as the anxiety of the situation rushed over her. She had a sudden need for comfort…for someone else to be beside her.
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" Aerith's shrill voice echoed in the silent darkness.
"Where are we?" A dark raspy voice returned Aerith's call.
A bright sunlight burst through the mosaic cross that was suddenly illuminated by color. The light showered atop Lulu's face, who shielded it away with her hand.
"No matter how dark the night gets, morning always comes…" She let out a short laugh at the memory from which she last delivered this line. "Looks like we are in a trial of our own now…"
The colored light illuminated the entire room now. There were four beds. The foot of each of the square beds was facing each other, making a cross shape. Vincent sat atop his bed with one leg erect and one bent, with his elbow resting on his knee. He was thinking. On the final bed laid Cloud, who was still asleep.
Vincent's voice finally broke the silence. "I wonder why we are here."
"Or better yet, how we got here." Lulu responded.
Aerith's focused switched quickly between the two before she finally decided that she needed Cloud by her side. She threw her legs off the bed and walked over to his sleeping body. She gently placed her hand on his side and shook him awake.
"Cloud. Cloud…look where we are…"Aerith began to question him in his sleeping stupor. "Do you remember anything? Who brought us here? Anything at all?"
Cloud took a few beats to take in his surroundings. Then he sat up in his bed. He looked at the other people in the room and then stared into Aerith's eyes. His brows furrowed and he slowly shook his head no as he turned his face to stare at the ground. Aerith looked at Vincent for guidance on what to do next.
Vincent read her gaze and said, "I guess we better start making our way to the ground floor. It looks like we are in an attic from what I can see…so let's just make our way out of the building."
Aerith nodded her head in agreement as the other two placed their feet on the ground. The four of them made their way to the ladder staircase making a sharp exit down to the floor below them.
"Wait!" Lulu sharply exclaimed. She made her way to an end table in the corner of the room. A flashlight sat on its surface facing down. "This might come in handy."
They reached the floor below the attic. Aerith ran over to the next door she saw and jiggled the handle.
"It's stuck!" Aerith's panic came out in her voice again.
"Calm down, Aerith. There are plenty of other doors on the hall." Cloud said with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"Look." Vincent pointed to the other end of the hall. Red light glowed from an exit sign. They all made their way over to the open door, but when they entered they found themselves lost in darkness again. Lulu pressed the flashlight on and revealed that she was on the final step overlooking a deep pit.
"I don't understand!" Aerith shrieked. "How did we end up here, if there IS no way up here?"
"I'm not sure." Lulu said calmly. "But there must be some way down."
Vincent made his way back into the hallway from which they had come. He grasped the nearest door handle, and it slid open under his fingers. "This door is open."
The four of them made their way inside the room. It was a classroom tightly packed with tiny desks that all carried vast amounts of dust on them.
"We are in a school?" Lulu asked to no one.
A sharp static began to echo throughout the tiny classroom. Cloud rushed over to open the lid of the desk that he thought he was coming from. He flung the lid open to reveal it was empty. Lid after lid, he searched for the sound. Finally, he found the tiny orange radio that was bursting the static and switched it off. The second the noise stopped, a new sound entered the room. It was a voice…almost child-like.
"Aerrrrithhhh." It sang from behind the teacher's desk. Vincent and Lulu cut sharp glances at Aerith. Her eyes were filled with fear and glued onto the giant desk that sat on the other side of the room.
"Go towards it." Vincent demanded. Aerith cut a fearful look at him hoping he would gain understanding of how scared she was. Instead, she found herself walking forward.
The voice sang her name again, and she hesitated to progress. Aerith swallowed the dry air into her lungs and held it there in anticipation. She slowly closed her eyes and released the still air and took a few more steps forward. The voice sang her name a third time.
Aerith reached the desk. There was nothing there. She turned and looked behind it, and still nothing. She got on her knees to look underneath the desk. Still, there was nothing but dust that covered the ground.
"Guys. There's nothing here." She said quizzically. Just as she spoke those words, a hand reached out and gripped her leg. The grime covered nails were cutting into Aerith's skin as she struggled against it. She took her free leg and kicked the dead hand off her. It took one last deepening scratch down as she struggled to find her feet underneath her. She took off to the group which was already making their way out of the classroom. Aerith slammed into Lulu, who was in the back of the group and a domino effect caused them to continue falling into the door across the hall.
They fell onto a dingy, moldy tile floor. Cloud's hand got stuck onto some substance on the floor. They quickly picked themselves up, and Lulu cut the flashlight on a second time. They were in a bathroom, and from the number of stalls and lack of urinals, it appeared to be a women's bathroom.
Aerith's blood dripped onto the floor. She had forgotten about her scratch for a second and she looked down and examined her leg. There was no way to treat the wound, but maybe there was some toilet paper in the bathroom she could dab at the cut with. She poked at the wound with her index finger and flinched at the soreness.
"Lulu…I'm going to try to find some toilet paper in here, will you keep the light shined on me while I look?" Aerith asked Lulu kindly.
"Of course."
The light coated Aerith's face. She felt comforted enough by the light that she could explore. Fumbling in the dark after her incident was not something she wanted to do. Aerith pushed on the first stall door and it was jammed shut. Aerith sighed. She didn't understand why every door she seemed to be trying didn't want to open. She continued to the next stall. That one was also jammed. The third stall door wasn't going to budge open either. Aerith was getting further and further from the group, and the light was getting more and more faint. She placed her hand on the last stall, and it gave way under her push.
"Finally!" Relieve escaped from her voice, but as the door swung fully open a scream escaped from her throat.
Lulu's light only caught the blur of barbwire that was escaping from the final stall. There were deadly black strands rushing out and surrounding Aerith and she was sucked back into the stall. The door slammed shut behind her. Cloud rushed over to the door screaming her name, and slipped on the fresh, smeared pool of blood that lead into the stall. He threw his body weight into the door in a struggle to force it open, but there was no luck. Nothing was going to open that door again.
Cloud looked at the two others watching him in total frustration. "What are you doing? HELP ME OPEN THIS DOOR!" He yelled at them. Lulu was frozen in fear holding the flashlight, her hands slightly trembling, shaking the only light source in the room. Vincent ran to Cloud's side and tried to force the door open. After a few futile attempts, Vincent gave up. Cloud kept banging his body against the door, over and over, never giving up.
Vincent finally grabbed Clouds shoulders and turned Cloud to him. "Give it up, Cloud. She's gone. There is nothing we can do." Cloud shook in sorrow and anger as he let out animalistic mourning cries. He slammed his fists on the door, and slid to his knees. His body was covered in Aerith's blood. His body was covered with the blood of the woman he loved…and he would never see her again.