Tragedy ✔️

Chapter 8

READER DISCRETION ADVISED:

This chapter contains graphic elements  that may be disturbing for some audiences.

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I can't lose him now. How is it possible that I turned around for an instant and he disappeared? My first task and I'm already failing, great. I can already hear Ms. Pudge ranting on about all the bad things I did.

"You fool," she would say, "What idiot tries to kill his victim another way other than his assigned job."

Well, now I know that, after I almost died of an artificial heart attack. If plump Pudge would have told me that earlier, I wouldn't be running down the halls of this madhouse school, having to pass through so many bodies.

When the living do pass through me, or me through them, I can feel a surge of energy sizzle though my system, radiating a feeling of... life. It's like when it's really hot out and a light breeze passes by, refreshing you for just a second, before you return to the fiery inferno.

Whipping my head around, I scan for the person who stood at my feet in the bathroom. I search for short, amber hair, light pale skin, medium stature, and brown eyes. So many people walk these hallways, running as the tardy bell rings.

Why run? You're all late anyway.

Minutes later, there is no one left in the hallways, except for those who don't feel like going to Speech class. I start walking at a slow pace, getting antsy on how I will find Liam now. I step out the front door. I feel a gust of wind blow my hair, but just like I can't feel the heat of the sun, I also can't feel the cool of the wind. I walk toward a bench in the front of the school, where a young girl is sitting, reading a book peacefully. I sit next to her, making sure I leave her enough personal space.

As if she could see me.

Just as my rear meets the wooden seat, the girl looks up from her book. She shivers slightly and goosebumps become visible on her thin arms. She looks around, with a confused, fearful, expression on her face. For an instant, I think she can see me, because she is literally staring right at me. But then her gaze moves past me, she gives a shrug, and goes back to reading her book.

When I see that she goes back to her book, I let out a huge breath of air. I didn't realize I had been holding it. Wiping off my sticky hands on my pants, I see someone getting in a vehicle. It's none other than Liam Thompson himself. It's now or never.

I stand up and walk over to his forest green Jeep. I try to pull the door handle to the Jeep, but my hand fades right into the metal. Without thinking, I propel my body forward and pass through the metal frame. I am now sitting in the passenger seat of his car. And just in time because he ignites the engine and we are out of West Ridge High School.

My hands start getting clammy as I begin to wonder how I will pull this off. How will I cause a car accident? Looking around at my surroundings, I observe that we are entering a back side country road, with little cars passing by in the opposite lane. As I begin to scheme how I can make him divert to the other lane, I am startled by the sudden burst of the radio.

Just then, Liam's phone starts ringing. He looks down for just a second to see who it is, but quickly turns his attention back to the road when he sees that it is an unknown number. At that moment, a light bulb fuses on in my mind.

That's it.

I wave my hand at his phone, and instantly, his phone starts flooding with text message notifications. Message after message, text tone after text tone, they keep pouring in non-stop. Liam notices this and shuts down his annoying, loud music.

"What the hell?" he says.

I can see he is tempted to pick his phone up, I can see him looking down, but instantly looking back up to the road.

C'mon Liam. What if it were an emergency?

"What if it's an emergency?" he whispers to himself, eyes glued to the road.

Could it be a coincidence that he just said what I was thinking or...

What if it's your grandmother that needs help? I think, testing my theory.

"What if Grandma needs help," he whispers, again.

So I can be the living's conscious, too? Ms. Pudge really needs to explain all of the things I can do when I get back.

I keep sending a thunderstorm of messages, that you can no longer hear the text tone. It is just a single monotone sound ringing without stop. I can see Liam's teeth clench as he tries to resist it. Beads of sweat form on his forehead, and his finger taps rapidly on the steering wheel.

Just pick up your stupid phone!

"I am!" he shouts, startling me.

He heard me? Confused, I look up and see him take one hand off the wheel, pick up his phone, and unlock his screen with 4,000 new messages. He opens the contact and he reads the first text.

Unknown Number

SMS: You're dead

I can see terror flood his face, and this is where I take control. I gracefully point my finger at the steering wheel and it sharply turns left, making the tires screech like a choking parrot. Liam looks up, only to see that he is on the other side of the yellow line, an eighteen-wheeler honking at him, heading straight to bulls-eye.

Liam screams with shock as he sharply turns right, making the car skid left, the car no longer parallel to the road. Instead, the eighteen-wheeler is perpendicular to us. Tears running down his eyes, Liam lets go of the wheel and shuts his eyes. I lift my hand, making him snap his neck to the left, and opening his eyes so he can see what is going to end his existence.

In slow motion, the eighteen-wheeler barrels head on into the Jeep. Metal screeches and windows shatter. Some of the shards fly into Liam's eye, causing his irises to bloom red splotches. The momentum sends Liam flying back, snapping his neck with a loud cracking sound. A rare sound of metal on bone is created. His back is punctured by more glass, and his spine is twisted and starts ripping through his flesh. Yellow ooze shoots out along with the rest of his spinal cord. Out of that same hole, his intestines pour out and so does his kidneys. His arm is ripped off by the wheel of the truck, flattening it like a tortilla, and then crushes all the bones in it into fine dust. His skull cracks open as the wheels run over it, and his brain gushes out. His legs are bent at 360 degrees as they snap off.

All of this happens in five seconds. The truck then tipped over the Jeep, making it roll over onto the side of the road. The gasoline from the truck leaks all over the road and starts a fire. The pile of limbs that used to be Liam are burning, and will soon be ashes. Fire meets gasoline, the Jeep explodes rising to the heavens only to crash down into smoldering pieces.

I see this all unfold from above, as I am floating in the air. I feel a heaviness lift from me as I realize I completed one of my two tasks, but that heaviness comes back again, as an image comes back to my mind.

There is a train, screams, fire. There is a bus, screams, fire.

I shiver at this... thought. Not knowing where this thought came from, I let it go. I don't know why those images make me feel sympathy for Liam, but I can't let my emotions get in the way. I came here to do a job, and just that. I can never be alive again. It is the harsh reality I must face.