far too young to die ✰ m.w.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Eleven continued to cry out as something moved around inside of her leg. At first, the others seemed lost, unsure of what to do to help her.

"What is that?" Erica asked in a disgusted tone, watching Eleven's wound.

"There's something in there," Mike said.

"Jesus Christ," Dustin muttered.

"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan instructed them before taking off at a run across the food court.

"Hey, El, it's gonna be okay," Emily said, trying her best to remain calm as she held the sides of Eleven's face so that the girl would look at her. "I know it hurts, but you've gotta stay awake, okay? Jonathan's gonna help, and it's gonna be over soon. Stay with us." Emily looked up at the others. "Let's get her sitting."

Steve, Mike, and Dustin helped Emily pick up Eleven and put her in a sitting position, leaning against Emily.

"You know, it's not actually that bad. There was a..." Robin spoke up. "The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and like the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane."

"Robin," Steve said as everyone else looked up at the older girl in confusion and horror.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."

"I'm sorry."

It was then that Jonathan returned, still running, with a knife, a wooden spoon, and a pair of plastic gloves. Emily felt a shiver run down her spine as she thought about how he was going to use those.

"Okay. All right, El?" Jonathan spoke. "This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

"Okay," Eleven replied through sobs.

"Need you to stay real still," he said, pulling on the plastic gloves. "Here, you're gonna wanna bite down on this, okay?" He handed the wooden spoon to Emily who put it sideways in Eleven's mouth so that she was biting down on it.

"Jesus Christ," Dustin muttered again.

Jonathan picked up the knife and readied it above Eleven's wound, which was still moving. He looked up at everyone else, who had fearful and reluctant expressions on their faces.

"Do it," Mike and Emily said to Jonathan.

"Okay," Jonathan said in a low voice.

He cut into Eleven's wound, creating an incision. Emily looked away, screwing her eyes shut and trying not to focus on Eleven's muffled screams of pain. She heard the knife clatter to the floor but kept her eyes shut, not wanting to see what was happening. A few seconds later, she heard Eleven scream even louder at the same time her friends around her groaned in shock and disgust.

"Jonathan!" Nancy yelled out.

"Stop talking!" Jonathan told her, and then exclaimed, "Goddamn it!"

"No! Stop it!" Eleven screamed, shaking her head and letting the spoon drop from her mouth. "Stop! Stop!" She began to pick herself up, and Emily felt safe enough to open her eyes and look to see what was happening. "I can do it."