The Glory of Gore

FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR

SHE HAD TWO CHOICES: JUMP OR DIE. Or, another very possible idea, jump and die or just die. She was certain that she was going to die no matter what she chose, but she knew she had a brief moment to weigh both of her options. She could either jump into the unknown, a sliver of a chance that she'd make it out alive, and face whatever would come from that. Or, she could fight demons past. She could face all the people that she was running from, all of the people that haunted her dreams. The faces she was far too familiar with, and wanted nothing more than to hide from. A hoard - more like a stampede - of people that she loathed. Despised, even. 

Now, these people had never done anything particularly horrid to her. In fact, a majority of them had never even talked to her. That ignorance toward her wasn't even where her utter hatred blossomed, but it was the cherry on top to her hatred. 

She glanced over her shoulder, gazing at their hands. They were finely stocked up on weaponry. They were their own personal arsenals. Armed with blades that glistened under the moonlight, machetes strapped on their backs, and switchblades concealed under their sleeves. Maybe if it was the barrel of a gun she was faced with, she wouldn't be as terrified. It was different though, with the array of blades. She could see them glint, she was able to imagine all the ways they'd be able to torture. She shuddered, practically feeling the edge of a knife dig into her temple, and slowly run along the tender flesh of her face. She could nearly feel the blood drip down her face like rain drops, as if she were caught in a hurricane. There was a new sense of fear that came about when she spotted the blades.

On top of that, it didn't help that the people with said weapons had the faces of people she despised. The faces of her classmates - or as she liked to call them, her competition. These were the same people who were in all of her AP classes, all of the same people who strived for excellence, and all of the same people who were applying to the colleges she desperately wanted admittance to.

These were the people she had to beat, the people who brought out her insecurities the most. High school wasn't a place where she tried to be popular. She couldn't give two shits about where she stood socially, what she cared about was being the best academically. She strived to be better than everyone around her, and so far, she was. She was valedictorian of her damn class, and she was so terrified of slipping from that position. Everything she did was to be on top. She wanted perfection, and perfection was what she had.

Right now though, she realized that her competitive nature would be what got her killed. In fact, she wasn't entirely sure how she found herself in this situation. Her memory was rather fuzzy. Actually, she didn't remember anything from the past twenty four hours. She didn't even understand how anything she did would be able to escalate to something like this.

Realizing that the first option may have been the most painful one, she gazed beneath her. She was at the edge of a cliff, and she had absolutely no idea how she had gotten here. All she knew was that it was almost as if she was standing at the top of the world, the wind screaming from all around her, blowing her blonde - nearly golden - hair all around her.

The only thing was that when she gazed out, there weren't grassy hills at the bottom of the cliff. Not a sea of shimmering water, or a rocky coastline beneath her. It wasn't anything natural. It was a pool of molten gold, shinning brighter than a star. She had to shield her eyes, the brightness blinding her. There was no seeing through it or knowing if there was a bottom. Hell, she had no idea if it would kill her just to the touch. It was unnatural, and could very possibly be lethal. The light within it seemed to pulse, almost as if it had a heartbeat. Like it was a living thing, but it was haunting at the same time. The sight of it sent a series of shivers down her spine, chilling her to the bone.