The Dare

Chapter 9

When I say things came to a full stop, I mean it. The whole world around me stops turning. Hazel stops laughing hysterically in front of me, the shocked looks on people's faces pause, and I'm left with the shock of my truth.

I can't tell which is a scarier feeling, Hazel being taken over by something or the fact that she spilled the beans to the people I came to think of as my friends. I wasn't ready to tell people yet, I wasn't even ready to talk to Salem about it yet. Not even ready to talk to me about it yet. This new town was supposed to be my fresh start, but the grief and death followed me here.

With an inhale the room jolts back to life, my eyes come into focus again and I see several sets of worried eyes on me. They shouldn't be on me, we shouldn't be concerned about me. We should be worried about Hazel. With my thoughts, she starts clapping, and I meet her dark eyes. She's grinning wide at me so I can see all of her bloody teeth.

"You know we're all hungry in here," Hazel says plainly. "We're all hungry for something, for us..those trapped in this place, we want revenge. Easy as that." Nobody moves or says anything. I'm afraid to even breathe in fear of what could happen, and it seems as though everybody has the same mindset as I do. "For sweet little Hazel, oh she's hungry to be heard. She just wants you to listen. For blondie over there, she's hungry for her sister to suffer for killing their mommy." Salem drops her eyes, and I grab her hand, trying to ground myself and give myself comfort.

"Leave my cousin's body, now," Mason says boldly, his voice loud and echoing in the room. It breaks her ranting, she stops and turns to him suddenly.

"You. You're hungry for... The little fairy girl." Hazel laughs, but it sounds more like a shrieking sound. It's ear piercing and it causes me to flinch, but I notice Avery shivering and angling her body behind Mason. Her bringing up Avery drives Mason over the edge and he jumps forward, grabbing Hazel by the arms and shaking her.

"Leave Hazel alone!" Mason yelled, his voice silencing everything. His eyes are wide, wide with fear and anger. They water with his tears. Hazel responds by coughing blood into his face, making Mason drop her and frantically wipe his face. She keels over coughing, wobbling over to a nearby knocked-over desk, and leaning against it. Hard coughs wrack her body and make her whole body shake, Mason steps forward to help stabilize her.

I hear a groan, Teagan waking up. She cradles her head, but once her eyes find Hazel it's as though she no longer feels concern for her pain.

"Hazel? Honey? Are you ok?" Teagan says as loudly as her body will allow her, I notice her pale and shaking; tears streaming profusely down her cheeks.

"Hazel?" Mason murmurs, putting a hand on her back when the coughing ceases. The coughing is replaced with quiet sobbing, Hazel is back. Mason slowly draws her body up and pushes the hair away from her face, which is wet with blood and tears. "Ssshhh shhh it's ok Hazel." Mason consoles her, the tears from both of their eyes flowing fast.

Then she erupts in noise, a deep primal scream emerging her mouth. Her body jolts, her small body putting force behind her arm; which pummels upwards sharply. I can't see what happens, except the spray of blood on Hazel's face.

Mason doesn't talk, only makes gasping noises as he stumbles backward. Grasping his throat, he falls back onto his knees and pulls something from his throat; dropping it to the floor. Beside him Hazel falls in a heap, her body crumbling to the floor like a doll where she lays still and quiet.

My eyes won't stray from Hazel, I'm afraid she will get up and attack one of us again. I allow them to shift. The others run to Mason, Avery is screaming and Grayson is grabbing the sweater Teagan extends to him to use it for pressure. Part of me knows that no matter how much is applied that the amount of blood lost is already too much, whatever had been in control of Hazel had attacked Mason and he was bleeding profusely.

Salem is beside me dialing 911, but I know that won't be any help either. It wasn't helpful when Mason called, what would be different now? Avery and Grayson frantically help Mason, Avery crying and holding his cheeks begging him to stay, and Grayson applying deep pressure to the throat.

Teagan rushes to Hazel, picking up her head and cradling her in her arms. She rocks her and gently wipes the blood off of her face. Teagan looks up to me and her eyes are red from tears, they are begging; begging for some of this to make sense. Avery looks to me too, her eyes pleading with me. I breathe in deeply to surface myself from the drowning water and walk on trembling legs towards Avery and Mason. Getting down on the floor was rough, my legs struggling to move the way I was making them.

"He's bleeding a lot, Sage. Make him stop bleeding." She's begging me, but I'm at a loss. Grayson is already applying pressure to the wound, and it's not like we have ice on hand to help induce blood clots. Grayson looks over at me and I can read it on his face. Acceptance. I nod and I look back at Avery who's eyes still beg me to make the wrong go away.

"Avery, she hit the jugular. The-the..the glass piece hit his jugular and we have nothing in there to help him. Grayson is doing the best he can but-" I stop because I can see the pain on her face. It crumbles, and with that, I feel it too. A lump forms in my throat and I look at Mason, whose rapidly blinking eyes stare up into the dark ceiling.

His skin is pale from blood loss, and his face is damp from sweat and tears. I'm still looking at him when his eyes flicker to mine, he swallows hard and a small smile flickers on his face.

"You're gonna have to take care of her now." He manages to gasp out at me, the talking causes a surge of blood so Grayson shushes him. Avery leans over him and puts her forehead on his. I can hear her whispering but I can't make out the words, I hear murmurs of 'this is bullshit'. Which it is, this whole thing is total shit and I don't know how to make it stop.

"We're gonna be ok," Grayson says, loudly enough for everyone to hear. I don't know if he's saying it to make us feel better, or himself. Either way, it doesn't resolve the pressure in my chest and the burning in my throat. From the ground, I hear Mason take a shaky inhale and then a faint exhale. Then silence, only the sound of Teagan whispering to Hazel encouraging her to open her eyes.

"Oh, god." Avery wails and the sobbing commences. Grayson lets go of Teagans blood-soaked sweater, and rolls back onto his bottom, and drops his head to his knees. "Mason, no, no. Not Mason." She cries and I place my hand on her shaky shoulder, her eyes meet mine, and my heart breaks.

"Avery, I'm so sorry," I say, squeezing her shoulder trying to comfort her. "I don't know how to make this better for you. I'm going to get us out of here I promise. I'm going to find a way out of here I swear it." Tears roll freely from her eyes, my own eyes beg for relief. I won't let them, I need to be the strong one for us here. This is my fault, and I will fix it.

"You promised nothing would hurt me, Sage! This, this hurts so so badly." She lets out a cry and leans into me, I encase her in my arms and break my barriers of comfort for her. If it was never my intent to hurt people why does it follow me?

Why did this follow me to this new town when I left my bad habits back at our old home? I look down to Mason who stares blankly at the ceiling, just as the football player had earlier in the cafeteria. Avery's sobbing echoes in my head and I squeeze her tighter to comfort us both.

"We need to get out of here," I mumble and Grayson lifts his head to meet my eyes, they're red and still damp. "We need to find a way out of here before...something else happens." He lets out a heavy breath that sounds close to a laugh, but not quite.

"Yeah," he pauses and shakes his head. "No kidding."