How to Save a Life

Chapter 4

I burst from the doors, a wild animal, intent on escape. The heavy clouds have opened, sending a hail of watery bullets from heaven above. The wind whips against my face, stinging my skin. My tears mingle with the rain. Great. Now I've done it.

I've killed my best friend. I'm no girl.

I'm a monster.

I want to sit down a courner and just cry, cry my heart out, drown in my tears. I want to fall into the ground, let myself descend into hell, because that's where I belong. I don't deserve to live while Hunter lies dead, his book still clasped between his cold, stiff fingers, unfinished.

What was the last words he said to me?

You sick girl.

He's right. Oh, he's right.

The cold sinks into my bones, soaking through my thin uniform (an uncomfortable blouse and short grey skirt), water beading on my skin. But, with memories of Hunter still haunting me, it feels more like blood than clear, drinkable liquid.

Though, for a vampire like me, I guess blood is considered edible. In the myths, anyway. In real life, not literally. But it's damn close.

I run down the stairs, my polished black shoes slipping in puddles and sliding against the slippery surface of the ground. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I slip, falling face-first into mud. Mud splashes across my clothes, streaking my face with dark, dirty war paint. I groan and stand, and run, run, run.

I leave the school behind, but keep running. I don't stop, skidding, splashing, slipping, sliding, running. I must run, I must run, I must go.

I keep running, for I don't know how long, I just know I need to keep running. But then I slip and fall, and I can't go any further, and I lie, defeated.

Then I realise that the rain has stopped. But, no, it hasn't, there's that tinny sound, the sound of rain pattering against a metal roof. I glance up. Am I dreaming? Am I home?

No, I'm not. I'm lying in the carport of a house.

Is anyone home?

Well, I hope they don't run over me, I think wryly, glancing up at the thin, forest green car parked in the driveway. I collapse back down, suddenly too exausted to stand. The whole episode has completely drained me.

I let my head splash back into the puddle, eyelids drooping.

Drowning.