Irina gagged. As the putrid smell hit her nose, she keeled over and tried to keep whatever was in her stomach down. A thin line of sweat dripped down her forehead, onto her nose and down to the ground below. Closing her eyes tightly, Irina swallowed the lump in her throat and struggled to force her hands to stop trembling. Gathering all her strength, Irina looked up at what the smell was coming from. 

The girls head was angled down, her brown hair was matted and tousled to cover her face. Her skin was pale, Irina could almost make out a dark vein that ran down the length of her arm. [i] I have to help her [/i] she thought to herself, and managed to take a few steps towards the girl. It took a few seconds for her brain to understand what she was seeing. It was as if everything was blurry, and slowly coming into focus. The blood, the guts, everything came into view and this time Irina couldn’t hold back. After a moment of horror, Irina fell to her knees and retched across the floor. Her throat burned, her stomach was empty so bile was all that came up. For minutes, Irina stared at the ground, gagging and spitting as her body convulsed from the shock of it all. 

Eventually Irina managed to steel herself. On shaky legs she stood and walked back over to her box. Irina grabbed the water bottle and drank a few sips, forcing the cool liquid down her throat. She put the water back into her box, dropped in the cassette tape she found earlier and shoved the entire box under the bed. 

Grabbing the mattock once more, Irina tried to make her way out of the room again. She approached the door, not looking down at the girl before her, and looked from side to side. Irina couldn’t see very far down the dark hallway. She trusted her gut and quickly decided to go left. As she tried to step around the body, Irina’s foot got caught on the girl’s leg. She let out a yelp and kicked herself free. Irina gagged again, but turned towards the hall and didn’t look back. She couldn’t bear that again.