If Irina could describe what a heart stopping feeling was, it would be the instant she read the letter. Or part of it anyways. The scribbles were almost illegible, and English being her second language both made it very hard for her to read quickly. She had only gotten to the “Don’t trust the wind part” before the letter was pulled away from her. Her mouth ran dry, and for whatever reason her tongue became very uncomfortable in her mouth. Her palms were clammy and suddenly Irina got that tight feeling in the back of her throat, the one you get right before throwing up. Irina let out a hard, shaky breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She leaned her head back and rubbed her arms up and down, they were covered in goosebumps. In a moment, she felt Gray grab her hand and begin to pull her away. Away from the smell, away from the girl, away from the only room that she knew. Irina held onto the box tightly, not wanting to drop any of her precious items. They were all she had.
As Gray gathered her things, Irina sat down on the concrete bed. She was still in a state of shock, her eyes were wide, looking at the ground, but not truly seeing anything. With one hand, she nervously played with her hair, not really hearing a word of what the other girl was telling her. A phone screen flashed before her eyes and snapped Irina back into attention. In a second she realized the girl was about to cry. Irina was not good at dealing with crying. She quickly rubbed the girl’s shoulders and let out a small smile, “I’m sure we’ll find it soon alright? Can I just see that note please?” Her thickly accented voice was strong, despite her shaking hands, and she hoped it was somewhat comforting.
Taking the note into her hands, Irina tried to understand the writing. “It… It’s.. It’s in.. Dammit I can’t read this shit… It’s inside.. of me. It’s inside of me!” Irina managed to read the remaining sentence of the letter out loud. She thought about the dead girl, and about the text that Gray got. It specifically told her to hold her breath, right? They had to have missed something. It’s inside of me… It’s inside of me… Suddenly, Irina grew very pale. She glanced up at Gray once more, “I’m pretty sure that body is still the sad girl. Because it talks about her… her smell. But.. the letter says ‘It’s inside of me’… Do you think.. Do you think that the key could be somewhere inside of her? That’s the only place we never checked. I don’t know.. I could be wrong.” Irina desperately wanted an excuse to keep her from going near that body again.