Prologue
Find me…
"They said they last saw him here."
I'm right here…
"Are you sure?"
Find me…
"Yes!"
Why can't you see me?…
"I can't sense his chakra…"
Find me!
Two loud, frantic voices echoed into the small room before they were absorbed into the rotting wooden walls. Not long after, the sound of rushing feet thudding thudding thudding against old floorboards. It wasn't longer than a moment later when the owners of the voices burst into the small room breathless and sweaty, eyes darting around madly.
The figures wasted no time in inspecting the contents of the room, knocking on the wooden wall panels, moving books and tables in search of secret compartments and hidden rooms. Slivers of hope and anxiety swam like mad fish inside my gut.
"He's not here!" The brunette man said moments later, panting.
"He is, he has to be," replied the blond. I could hear the dwindling confidence in his voice and I knew what it meant.
Eyes wide, body still, I couldn't move. The gag fastened tightly around my mouth prevented me from making a sound, a whimper. I felt my one-chance-only window of opportunity closing - this was it. Panicked, I struggled against the chakra strings that bound my body, pushing and thrashing but to no avail, I still couldn't move an inch.
I wanted to yell out, that I was here, not to leave, I'm here - but the only indicator of my existence was my own reflection in the small mirror on the opposite wall. My stomach turned to stone with the sudden notion that I was the only one who could see it. This isn't happening.
The two men stared hopelessly at each other, furrowing their brows, pinching the bridge of their noses. White-hot alarm rose in my chest, building and building, burning, catching in my throat when I realised that they were starting to give up, unable to see what they came for.
They were going to leave.
I began thrashing violently, desperate to make a noise, any noise, for something to alert them that I was here. I couldn't be left here, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to be seen. I sustained my desperate movements and relief trickled to the base of my stomach, briefly, when my chair made the smallest of creaks. Please have heard it. Please see me.
Don't leave me here to rot.
Hearing the noise the blonde man turned around from his spot immediately and stared directly at me - No, through me. He still couldn't see me, just a termite-infested wall and an empty wooden chair. My breath caught in my throat.
Bright blue eyes lingered on the spot for a moment, face confused, before he turned back and was heard dismissing it as sounds from the creepy old house.
No, wait.
The partners momentarily halted their search and spoke to one another of their plan of action, equally frustrated with what appeared to be a failed lead.
"He's not here. We've got to look elsewhere."
"But they said - "
"I know," interrupted the man with the spiky ponytail. "But we don't know how long ago that could'a been. We've got to follow other leads, he could be anywhere."
The shorter, blond male looked perturbed, a deep frown forming on his young face. But he only hesitated for a moment, nodding to his partner for what appeared to be the best plan of action. The irony of the whole situation nearly swallowed me whole.
No…
Ice gripped my insides when I realised that they were leaving.
No, no, no….
I began pushing and heaving against the binds around me again, throwing all of my remaining strength into the one effort of needing to be noticed. They had to know I was here; they couldn't leave me in this abandoned old house where no one would ever come for me, where no one would find me. But they didn't stop – they just turned back around and began walking back the way they came.
They were going to leave and they weren't going to come back.
The sunny haired ninja slowed and paused for a moment, turning around once more, eyes roving the dank room in a final inspection. Just to be sure that it was hope rather than instinct.
He rested his eyes on the out-of-place mirror on the wall, narrowing them as they caught sight of a shadow of something and I stilled, hoping. He shook his head and looked again, frowning.
"What is it?" Asked the other at the door.
He pursed his lips. "Nothing…just thought I saw something," he answered distantly, shaking his head again. "…Must've been my imagination."
No, wait...
He turned and left and as he approached the door I knew I couldn't stop him. No creak or squeak was convincing evidence. My whole body became rigid with knowing this and my blood ran cold, any shred of hope extinguished.
Wait, stop, I'm here...
They disappeared into the rooms' entrance and with a groan of the shaky wooden door they were gone.
They left.
The sounds of their quietening footsteps were the only indication that they had ever been here and soon all I could hear was my own rapid heartbeat.
Come back…
Minutes passed. They didn't come back.
I don't know how much longer I sat there shaking, not a single thought running through my mind, too afraid of the consequences to even contemplate them. My heart thudded loudly in my ears and I felt the chill of the room wrap itself around me, the smell of decay suffocating me.
I was here alone. I was going to die here. I was going to die here and no one would even know - And there is not a single thing I could do about it.
In trying to accept this a cold sensation washed over my body, filling my lungs, my veins, my heart, my mind. I raised my trembling head and stared at the image of an emaciated boy with matted, unwashed hair, sickly pale skin and wide, desolated eyes.
The bitter reality settled in some time after as I continued to stare at the mirror and shiver, the stench of mould thickening. No one was coming for me, I wasn't going to make it out of here – and I only had my traitorous reflection as my company.
A voice in the back of my mind laughed.