Asher Banning still mourns his mother after three years. When his friend, Caden, decides to get their group of friends together for Christmas as a way to help Asher not feel lonely for the holidays, things quickly turn upside down.
MATURE: for expl...
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Overhead, past the tips of the trees and through the branches, smoke rose. A thick, grey cloud swirled overhead, ascending into the sky.
The branches grazed against my arms as we ran. Twigs beneath our feet cracked and snapped. A rustle of leaves from under the snow blew around from both the wind and our constant movement.
The longer I clenched my fists, the longer I couldn't feel the cold. Despite having a warm outfit on, the icy breeze nipped at my face, and the heat from my body left me. But for some reason, I wasn't cold. My muscles numbed every fiber within my body.
When we finally approached the house, an entire car was gone. Bits and pieces were flung across the area like an experiment gone wrong. Windows from the house shattered across the yard.
Piper held onto Abigale with her life, pulling her close to her chest as if not wanting any danger to come to her. When I came close to the destruction, Piper looked up at me, her face drained of color. "I, I don't know what happened. We just got here!"
Abigale bent her body forward, placing her hands on her knees to hold herself up as she cried, spit falling from her mouth like rain drops.
Freyja and Caden had slowed their pace as they now stood behind me. I inched my way toward the other side of what used to be the truck, where a patch of fire now burned near metal slabs.
Charred flesh, shredded skin, and a pile of organs stood at my feet. The legs and arms were still intact, but the blackish, reddish flesh wrapped around the body like a latex glove. The body had a bald head and the face wasn't there. A massive hole took place in the middle of the skull.
Tori.
My eyes widened and watered, and all I could think about was how beautiful she used to look. My throat tightened. I could barely breathe. How could this have happened? Another one of my friends, gone.
There was some debris in her body, but I could've mistaken it from the bones puncturing her skin with sharpened edges. When the stench of a charcoal-like smell and a sulfurous odor rose into my nostrils, bile made its way into my throat. I swallowed it back down, the appalling taste lingering on my tongue.
I looked up ahead, seeing Nick on the ground about twenty feet away from the action. I ran up to him, helping him sit up slowly. Something must have sliced through his forehead as blood gushed out from it and cascaded down his face. His cheek had another slash, but smaller, and a sharp metal piece was stuck in his shoulder.
"How the hell aren't you dead?" I asked, the air in my lungs almost gone from the shock.
"I don't know. Lucky, I guess?"
"Lucky?" This time it was Freyja, marching her way toward us. "Tori's fuckin' dead!"
"Wait . . ." he said in disbelief. He crawled up to her body, careful to not touch the fire, and sobbed. "I had no clue. What the fuck!" He cradled her head in his arms, rocking back and forth. "Why the fuck!" He screamed it to the sky this time, his head whipping itself backward, his face looking up at the grey clouds from above. "I had no idea. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." His voice became quieter, too low to be audible.
