She pounded on the wall again. The ground under her feet kept trembling, but she kept her ground. Every time her fist hit the invisible barrier, the ground would shake even more violently. But only shake. Nothing else would happen. Come on! She thought as the ground stopped moving. Stealing a glance behind her, she saw that the crowd had grown.

After she'd been hitting the wall for some time, she'd noticed a person standing behind her. A boy, and he looked... Like he was from a black and white film; His skin was pale and his hair was dark. He looked so small and frail.

Neither of them said anything, but the boy stayed, watching her try to break down the wall. She felt pity for him, but soon another person to show up - a girl - who looked pretty much the same; Black hair, white skin, and fragile. Just older.

Do I look like that too? She had wondered as she looked at them, I mean, my hair's already black, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch...

Slowly, the crowd of people had formed; People who were hoping she'd found a way out. Nobody left out of boredom or hopelessness, but they just kept coming and watching.

With a sigh, she hit the wall again. Her arm was tired and her hand hurt. She had no idea how long she'd been trying to break this wall. Why am I even trying? I don't even know if I want to leave, so why would they? But still, tried to break the barrier.

Suddenly, she heard mumbling behind her. She turned to face the crowd of people and saw them whispering to themselves, like a religious group chanting some string of inaudible words. "....What?" She asked quietly, stirring the unnatural silence.

Her voice surprised the group, as if they didn't expect her to be able to talk. They immediately stopped, letting the silence drown everyone with the dark. Slowly, the boy that had showed up first stepped forward. He hesitated before talking, "...Why... why a-are you trying...?"

She gave a small smile, "You want to leave, don't you?"

The boy smiled for only a moment before it fell, "W-Where will we go?"

"Wherever you like."

Hope filled his eyes as the girl from before stepped beside him. "Do you know where we are?" the girl asked.

She opened her mouth to reply before realizing that she didn't; she had no idea where they all were. Slowly, she shook her head, "I just know how I got here. Not where 'here' is."

The hope in the two kids eyes faded. More muttering spread throughout the group and she hurried to find something to tell them. "Guys, listen!" She pleaded, "Just because I don't know quite where we are doesn't mean I can't get us out!"

The chatter stopped. "How?" The boy asked, glancing behind her to the wall she'd been hitting.

She nodded, "I think this wall - barrier, whatever you want to call it - is what's separating this place from everywhere else." Turning to face the invisible barrier, she frowned, "If only I could break it..."

The two kids looked at each other before hurrying towards her. "Do you want help?" They asked eagerly, their enthusiasm making her almost laugh.

"That would be appreciated." She told them, trying to keep herself from laughing.

The two of them rushed towards the invisible wall until they felt it and started investigating it as best they could. She was surprised when the rest of the group followed them, walking or running towards them and joining in trying to destroy it. Staring in shock at them for a moment, she followed them and continued to try to break it. Wow... They all want to leave that much...

They stood there for a while, trying to break the wall, until the moment came when her fist hit the wall and thin white cracks formed seemingly in the air. The sound of the crack stopped all movement, and everyone looked her way. The two kids suddenly burst into laughter and ran towards her, trying the break the wall where it had cracked. She just stood there, frozen in both shock and fear. What if this just kills us all? Or it leads nowhere? What'll happen to all these hopeful people?

She didn't have time to second guess herself as the two kids caused more cracks to appear. Pulling one of the cracked pieces out of the wall, a cool draft blew her hair out of her face. A small bit of light leaked into the black from the hole, but was easily snuffed out by the black. Light.... It felt both old and new, like she remembered a time of living in it, but it was so long ago that she couldn't remember anything about it. But it wasn't that long ago... Was it?

Carefully she grabbed another shard out from the invisible barrier. More of the cool air broke through, along with the light. "Woah..." The boy marveled, trying to wrap his hand around the light like he wanted to hold it. Has he never seen light before? Or had it just been that long...

"Keep hitting it." She told them, "I think this is how we'll get out."
The kids grinned and pulled the pieces away, like when young children unwrap a present. Soon, the hole was big enough for two people to walk through side by side, with enough light to push back some of the dark.

"Is that how we'll leave?" The girl asked, trying like the boy to grab and hold onto the light. "Just...walking out?"

"Yep." She said, taking a small step forward, "I think so." If we're trapped in darkness, it makes sense for the exit to be light... She turned to face the rest of the group, "Who wants to leave first?"

Many people hesitated, but the children raised their hands and jumped up and down. "Us! Us please!" They begged.

"Where are you're parents?" She asked them slowly.

The girl shrugged while the boy explained, "We don't know. They were never here."

She frowned, "Well, maybe I should leave with you then..." She looked out to the rest of the group. Nobody was moving forward, but a few of them were nodding their approval. "Alright." She said, looking back at the kids and smiling at their eager faces, "Let's go. Everyone else can leave whenever they'd like." She added as she called over her shoulder.

The two kids squealed in excitement and pulled her forward. She started to follow them before gasping. The feeling of being suffocated was back, worse than before. She froze, and saw the kids look back at her concerned. What.... But he's gone... She gave the kids the most reassuring smile she could manage and forced herself to keep walking, it's just from being in light again. That's all...

She let the kids pull her forward, and the feeling grew worse. Suddenly, the boy's hand slid out of hers, and she jerked her head towards where he'd been standing. He was standing a ways away with the girl, who she realized wasn't by her side anymore. They smiled at her and waved, before running away into the light.

She smiled back before collapsing onto the ground which seemingly didn't exist, like the wall. Looking behind her, she realized she couldn't see the darkness she'd been in for so long. A small part of her missed it, but she was mostly worried why the suffocating dwelling hadn't faded. The kids had seemed fine, and it only for worse the further she went. I was hit... She thought, his shadows hit me and I was brought there... Maybe the shadows where what were suffocating me before, so they're affecting me again...

Her vision started to blur. Yeah, this can't be good... Sighing, she stayed still, letting the light fade into black, but not nearly as thick as where she'd been. Let's just hope this darkness isn't as permanent...

Hey guys! Sorry, I was going to try to publish this yesterday, but I ran out of time. I'll try to update again, but I have a lot of story ideas going through my head and I need to write a bit out for them before I forget them. So, if I don't, I'm sorry, and I'll try to update at some point during the week, if I can.

Also, in case this got confusing, I tried to only use she/her when talking about Tempest. The girl that showed up was called 'the girl' for this entire chapter, so she/her means Tempest doing/saying/whatever the context is.

Anyways, hope you liked the chapter, and I'll see y'all later!Bye!