The Outskirts (ITZY Shin Ryujin)

15

"Even if he was here, he's long gone now," the police officer spat out, throwing the sympathy he once had for him out the door.

"Please don't give up trying," Max uttered. "I swear he has to still be around here. He would never just run off. Something bad happened to him. He-"

"What was he doing so close to the Outskirts anyway?" The second police officer questioned, not in the slightest bit impressed by any of this. "If anything, he had a death wish."

"He is just curious."

"Well, he learnt the saying curiousity killed the cat the hard way, now didn't he?"

"Max," Luke's mother wiped her tears before choking the rest of her sentence out. "I doubt my boy would have been here. He never showed any signs of liking the Outskirts nor did he ever own all those books you claimed he had. I don't know what you are trying to gain from betraying my dear son from this but, please, don't do this."

Max scoffed.

"You think I'm trying to throw him under the bus? Ma'am, I say this in all honesty. Maybe you don't know your 'dear son' as good as you think. Luke was passionate about ancient Ferne. Trust me, I gave him my fair share of warnings, probably even more but did that ever stop him? No. I can't believe none of you, and I mean none of you, are willing to go on this case of a missing schoolboy. Only sixteen years old! For goodness' sake, have mercy, would you. Are you telling me you guys never did anything against the law when you were teenagers? Not even drinking or smoking underage? Nothing?"

"Mister Summers," the first police officer addressed Max. "Do not misquote me here, I am not authorising anything you listed, however, this isn't like any of those cases. This is more serious. If ever we do find your friend, we have to present him before the court where he will surely be given a death sentence. So, in fact, dropping this case will save him... If he even is still alive that is." The police officer turned to beckon the other and then Luke's parents. "Let's all take a deep breath and leave all this behind us. If you so wish, we can refer you two to a local orphanage where you can adopt some beautiful children. And let this be known as a warning to everyone of the dangers of curiosity."

"So that's it?" Max furrowed his eyebrows as he approached the old Animal Brain Industry. "You are honestly just going to give up?"

"Max, step away from there," Luke's dad warned, turning the officers' attentions to Max who was only a few metres away from the yellowish-green mist of the Outskirts.

"Why should I?" He questioned turning back to them. "All I'm doing is trying to save my best friend."

"If you don't step away from that building in five seconds, I will alert the Head Officials," the second officer warned.

Max stared him straight in the eyes before taking a step closer to the Outskirts.

"Five," the officer counted down. "Four."

The teen, however, simply climbed up a rock which was now a mere metre away from the mist.

"Three... Two... If I say one, Mister Summers, you will be given a death sentence for attempt to enter the Outskirts... One. That's it."

The first officer contacted who Max presumed were the Head Officials, while the second approached him.

The realisation of what he had just done dawning on him, Max panicked and took a step back, only to fall of the rock. His head entered the mist while the rest of his body remained in the towns.

He screamed at the feeling of the skin on his face burning but it was barely audible. His throat felt tight and he was sure some invisible creature was strangling him.

One of the police officers managed to pull him out but his face was still  incredibly burnt that he was barely recognisable. Although he was panting for air, none of it seemed to enter his lungs. He was so sure he was going to die then and there. Just as he was about to pass out, he noticed the police officers and Luke's parents back away in horror as they stared into the mist. Before he could look for himself, a hand cuffed his arm and dragged him back into the Outskirts.

The last thing he saw before passing out was a blurry face of something he just knew was not human. It was too bruised, too scared, and most importantly, too aquatic.