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Chapter Twenty} Ł♡vę

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Scarlet is just a color
Love is just a word
Tears are just water
Trust is completely absurd
Scarlet is only red
Love ties my heart in a knot
Tears are only water
Except for when they're not

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     "Get out."

      I barely even look at the girl in front of me. I don't want to. And even if I did, she's absolutely covered in blood, which makes me want to vomit anyways.

     "I'm alright, thanks for asking." Blaze says, spitting red onto the floor.

     I roll my eyes, balling the back of James' T-shirt into my fist. "I'm not letting James clean that up for you."

     Blaze ignores me and begins to hobble over to the wall, trying her best to keep her weight off her left leg. I don't know what happened to it; I don't want to ask.

     James sniffs, wiping his eyes with the hem of his shirt. "We thought you were dead." He says, his voice flat and quivering.

     Blaze collapses against the wall, blood smearing from top to bottom as she slides down it. "Yeah, well I'm not." She doesn't seem too enthusiastic about that.

     "How are you still conscious? It looks like you lost a shit ton of blood." He goes on, rambling like he hasn't seen her in years. I can tell he's losing it. His eyes are red like he's been smoking something dumb, and his under eyes are so puffy you'd think he'd been awake all last night. If that's how he looks to me, I can't even imagine how I must look- covered in sweat and tears, my face flushed a brilliant shade of red. If Blaze moves a millimeter I think I might punch her right in the nose.

     Blaze looks down at her blood-soaked clothes, cringing at the mess. She spits again, scarlet-tinted saliva dripping from her lip to the skin on her arms that are crossed over her chest. "Some of it's not mine." She says, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, which only makes it worse. "About half of it is Marlee's."

     I just barely catch my jaw from dropping. If I look shocked, I lose. Don't ask me why. "You- you killed Black?" I stammer.

     "Yeah," she nods, "she took a shot to the shoulder with the AR, which I thought would be enough to let me escape. I made a run for it, but she caught me at the doorway."

     James cocks his head at the her leg. "Did she shoot you?"

     "Nah, but I think I broke it." She cringes, pulling up her pant leg carefully. "Mind if I take my shirt off? It's like sitting in a wet bathing suit."

     Pretty sure it's not the same thing.

     James nods, and I don't say anything. I don't want her to take her shirt off. I don't want her to be covered in blood, and I don't want her to be here at all. Anger pumps through my veins like heroin, my heart racing and my mind whirling like a tornado. I want her out. I need her out.

     Don't cry.

     "You need to leave." I say, my voice breaking. I can't stand the sight of her sitting there, soaked in blood and looking like she belongs in a slaughterhouse. I can't stand the fact that there are streaks on Blaze's face where her tears cleared a path that I can see her little orange freckles through. I can't stand that she just walked in here like this. I needed like, one minute to pretend I'm not stuck in a horror movie, and she ruined it. Just like she ruins everything.