Come Back Witch

David stared at Dr. Cloves' shocked face. He felt like he had given them a wrong answer.

And his suspicion was proven right just the next moment as Dr. Cloves slowly lowered his body, getting into a fighting stance.

David, watching the change in his pose, slightly raised his arms in a defensive position. He didn't want to fight; there must have been a misunderstanding happening.

But before either of them could act, Amilie's screaming voice echoed through the cave and off its stone walls, followed by the sound of bones snapping back together.

Moving his head towards the screaming voice, he completely missed that the professor had already made his move, only watching with the corner of his eye as his fist moved closer with unnatural speed.

But it never reached him; instead, the doctor stopped on his own, just a bit away from his face.

Snapping back towards the doctor, David's gaze was as confused as the doctor's was debating about something. Until Cloves finally lowered his arm in shame.

''I must apologize once more, you must know that mimics often talk a lot of nonsense. It's the clearest way to identify one.'' Cloves voice was filled with genuine sorrow as he raised his arm, pointing towards Amilie at the back of the cave.

''Instead of fighting me, you cared about the rest of the people, a mimic being caught would just continue in the fight, already having given up its mask.'' David understood his reasoning but still couldn't simply accept it.

Instead, he just let out a sigh, lowering his guard. "Let's just all escape from here alive." He finally answered, still hearing the muffled screams behind him.

The day had already been hard enough and he wasn't going to make it even harder. Slowly moving away from Dr. Cloves, he spared the kids a gaze. Ami was still lying on the ground, her one leg held into the air by Finley, who stood at her feet.

The female in her 30s, who was probably a teacher too, sat at Ami's leg, seemingly rubbing some unrecognizable fluid onto it. The giant young student who had searched him seemed to have finished his search on his fellow classmates and now leaned against one of the walls.

David wasn't sure if he should walk over to them; he wasn't part of their group, nor did he know them very well. But staying here alone sounded even worse, so only after a few more moments he stepped besides them.

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''You need any help?'' His old and grumpy voice spoke as they finally seemed to notice him standing next to them.

"It's just a broken leg," the female teacher answered, her voice sounding sweet, but there was an undertone of something bitter, which he couldn't grasp.

David just nodded, agreeing. He wasn't a doctor, so he didn't know how bad it was, but her sentence confused him a bit: how was it JUST a broken leg? Something like that should be treated much more seriously, but he wasn't going to question it directly.

The following silence was awkward; he felt like he was being forced to say something, but he didn't know what to talk about. Until something he had nearly forgotten hit him like a stone: Where was Vinces? Was he fine?''

Breaking the silence, his worried voice finally spoke up. ''Have you met a young guy called Vinces? He's roughly as tall as your professor over there, with decently long blond hair, unable to be missed.''

But their silence spoke much more than any words, each of their gazes seemed to avoid him until Dr. Cloves behind him finally chimed in.

"We have been searching for him too; he should've arrived here long ago. '' His voice had remained calm, but there was something below it, maybe a tone of sadness.

''Long time ago? I saw him just this morning until we split up...'' Before he could even finish his sentence, Ami jumped up from the ground, seemingly not caring about her wound as she tried to grab David, but nearly stumbling, having to rely on Finley to catch her.

David rubbed the back of his neck. He'd seen enough strange things today that another outburst barely surprised him anymore.

''Where did he go? How could you leave him behind?'' Ami's voice was filled with desperation.

David just shook his head in answer. "He actually left me behind, he tried to climb the hill but never returned. After that I met some kind of mimic, and that's how you found me, I would assume."

Ami sat down onto the ground, seemingly about to cry. ''So we lost another one. How could this even happen?'' Tears were running down her face, but Dr. Clove spoke out of nowhere, his voice commanding.

"What do you mean, another one? Have you found somebody on your search today?''

Ami instantly shut up, her tears disappearing and even Finley seemed to avoid the professor's gaze. David didn't know what was going on, but he could feel the tension in the air.

Finley finally spoke after a long while, his voice shaking. ''We found Lers... or what remained of him.''

The cave floor began to tremble, small rocks skittering down from the walls; the professor seemed to be stuck in place, only shaking slightly. But David could feel his overwhelming aura, trying to remain calm.

''Are you sure it was him?'' The professor's voice was trying not to shake, but it still did. ''Maybe it was just a dying mimic.'' He still seemed to have a small bit of hope remaining.

David didn't know what was happening or who Lers was, but he seemed to be a classmate of the rest. Ami, meanwhile, only shook her head, destroying any hope remaining.

''We waited for long enough for it to turn into a puppet... It was truly him.'' Her voice was filled with sadness but also fear, which David didn't understand.

The until now standing tall and powerful professor simply fell to the ground, his head in his hands. Nobody dared to move or even knew what to say.

After a few seconds the female teacher slowly moved towards Cloves side, trying to comfort him, but to no avail.

David had never felt farther away from the group than he did now, watching Cloves crumpled on the ground and the others standing there in silence, all of them carrying something he hadn't been part of.

Vinces and this Lers guy were dead... He couldn't believe it. He hadn't known Vinces long, but he didn't seem to be the one to give up ever.

Trying to restore a bit of the mood, David just spoke out what was in his head.

''Vinces told me he saw some kind of ghost woman, long platinum hair, school uniform, at the hill, that's why he went up." Barely having spoken his words, all eyes turned towards him, even the ones of Cloves.

''He went towards the witch?'' Nearly all of them spoke as if they were in a hurry. David simply nodded as an answer, not sure what they were talking about.

But Ami's pained voice stopped his thoughts.

''If he's with her, he might still be alive. She doesn't let people die on her watch so easily, not if she can help it. We should find him before her power runs finally dry.''