Haunteds

Chapter 19

Hypovolemic shock. 

It's what happens when the body experienced a sudden loss of massive amounts of blood. Organs couldn't get enough oxygen to function properly that eventually, they stopped working altogether, resulting in death. That's what Major Coleman told us when he broke down the news we were all expecting.

Eris didn't make it.

When Major Coleman and his men arrived last night, they took Eris away on a stretcher, her arms covered in bandage and all. They even give her a shot of something. He went with Eris and instructed his men to take us back to the dorm. They can't really take us anywhere looking all bloody and half-dead.

"You want some more?" Darius asked.

"Yeah, thanks," I forked a couple of hotdogs on Darius' tray and add them to my plate of bacon, pancakes, and eggs. It was nine in the morning. We were having breakfast in the dining area, sharing the long, rectangular table made of three square ones pushed together. Darius, Scarlet, and Caprice were in charge of cooking again.

Now that the sun's up, we just saw the full extent of damage the Shade had caused last night to the dorm. All the windows were shattered. Major Coleman had the electricity shut off. It was a hazard, along with the broken lights. At the corner of the room was the heap of pieces of sharp glass that sparkles when sunlight touches it. It's a good thing the bodies had already been collected so we were spared from seeing any more grotesque spectacle before breakfast. But there were still dark stains on the carpet on the second floor. Same clean-up as with Kent's death.

But all is not grim for us. We told Major Coleman what happened. He was especially excited when we told him how the Shade never came back after we burned its body. I noted that it was important to burn all of it, hands, feet, everything, based on what everyone said. I reasoned that it's why the Shade never came back. There was nothing left of it. Nothing to grow back again.

I argued it couldn't have been in lined with Shade rule 1, the Shade disappears after each kill(s). Previous records suggest that number of kills vary from night to night, because Eris was still alive when the Shade disappeared. Of course, this is just wild speculation on my part, something I can never hope to prove but the rest agreed with my assessment. And with that, he left us in the safety of the dorm once again and stepped outside, saying that he had some phone calls to make.

After what just happened last night, anyone would imagine that for a group of traumatized kids, having a feast would be the last thing on their minds. But no, we were in high spirits. Plates of food and soda bottles littered our table. We were celebrating the fact that we just killed the Shade last night, a feat never been done before in the entirety of the whole Shade history.

It was Leo's idea. He gave a speech about how we should focus on the fact that the Shade can be killed and do our best to keep each other alive, saying that by doing so, Eris' death would not be in vain.

"It's what she would have wanted," he said.

And so we did. No one wants to talk about what happened to Eris, anyway. Whenever her name was brought up, we just changed the subject.

Even though Leo said that, it was clear the death of his best friend affected him deeply. He wasn't he's usual self. He wasn't flirting with or bragging to the girls. Even if Indigo or Harmony initiated a conversation, he would just smile politely, maybe give a one-word reply and continue rolling his sausage with a fork. In fact, he barely joined in on any conversation. Or even eat anything. He just kept playing with his food.

A pang of guilt stabbed my heart. I tried convincing myself that I wasn't to blame. That it was one hundred percent Eris' decision. But then again, she won't have to make that decision if it weren't for me.