The Dare

Chapter 11

Everything hurts, my head throbs, and there's a high-pitched ringing sound coming from somewhere. The noise makes the throbbing worse and I bring my hands to my ears to make it stop. What happened? My thoughts are foggy, I force my eyes open and the ringing gets worse.

I'm staring up at the dark ceiling of the hallway, I feel something jabbing into my back making it hard to breathe. How did I get down here? Then I remember, that thing. The dark shadow that lurked behind Grayson. Grayson. His face flashes in my mind and I sit up as fast as I can, whirling my torso around and scanning the darkness for him.

"Grayson?" I call out, my voice sounds strained like something is caught in my throat. A cough wracks through my chest, making me hyper-aware of the consistent pain in my whole torso. My eyes are drawn to Grayson's red hair a little way down the hall, he's sprawled on the ground as I had been. Only, he isn't alert. "Grayson!" I try to stand but my weak knees defy me and I drop back to the floor, so I resort to crawling to him as fast as my body will allow me.

Despite being at his side in moments it still doesn't feel fast enough, my heart straining with the thought of losing his company. He's pale, paler than usual, making his light brown freckles look more prominent. I put my hands on his cheeks, shaking his head gently in case he is concussed.

"Grayson? Wake up, hey hey wake up. Please, you need to open your eyes." I'm begging, shaking him to wake him, peering into his face dreading the inevitable. It is going to happen, it always does. I get close to someone and then they get taken from me, just as my mother had.

I'd found myself getting close to him, and Avery, especially. He needs to wake up, I had promised myself he wouldn't get hurt. My eyes sting with tears, I try to push them back but some fall down my cheeks and then to his shirt.

"Grayson!" I yell, my voice echoing down the hallway. My heart stops, his brows pull-down in a grimace and his eyelids squeeze themselves tightly shut. "Grayson?" This time I whisper, and his eyes open at me slightly.

"Careful now, Sage." His voice sounds horse, just as mine had been when I'd first come to. "If you keep acting like that, I might have to think you like me." He smiles at me a bit, and I think if I wasn't so happy he was awake then I'd probably punch him. My heart lifts, he's not dead.

"You're an ass, Grayson," I tell him, but I'm smiling back at him; with no notion to hide it. He sits up and looks around, looking for what had attacked us probably. When he looks at me his face fills with worry, I flinch expecting the vicious shadow to be back.

"You're bleeding." He states, and almost as if him pointing it out made it real, my abdomen seizes with pain and I grasp it. There's a jagged piece of wood protruding from just under my ribs, my shirt stains a dark brown with rapid drying blood. It looks to be a part of a chair leg like I landed on it when I was attacked.

"Oh.." I say rather dumbly, in pain and shocked I hadn't noticed it before. "Should I, ya know, pull it out?" When I ask Grayson just nods, his face still pulled with worry. I touch the wood lightly with my fingers and pain strikes through my whole body, making me cry out. He plants his hands on my shoulders to keep me from going to the ground, I'm sure that if we both weren't kneeling I would have collapsed with the pain.

"Don't touch it, I'll handle this ok?" I just nod, it's all I can manage with the pain. My fear over Grayson's well-being had doused it, but now that he is more than OK I am in agony. "I'm gonna go find something to help you, like a first aid kit-" He pushes himself up but panic flies through me causing me to reach up fast, gripping his sweater tightly in my fist.

"Please, don't go," I beg, fear of being alone in the dark making my eyes water. He pulls away slightly and I squeeze tighter in response.

"Sage-" Grayson starts, anxiety edging his tone.

"Please don't leave me alone, please. I'm scared." I've never said those words out loud before, and once I do it's like the darkness that hovers over me at all times cowers away and for a moment I'm free to my thoughts. "If you're not with me I can't protect us and I don't want you getting hurt. Stay here, please. I'll be ok, I promise." He looks like he still wants to go, despite my hopeless begging.

Fine, I'll pull it out. Anything besides being alone, and risking our lives. I let go of his sweater fast and put both hands on the wood before I can change my mind. It's a fact that if I hesitate, or think it through, I will talk myself out of it. I can't do that, not if I want to protect us both. So I squeeze my eyes shut, inhale, and pull it out as fast as I can.

"No!" He drops and goes to grab my hands but him too fast, so he only fumbles with the wooden leg I held. The pain was almost blinding, I'm unable to even cry out from shock. Blood surges from the hole in my abdomen, and I realize I probably need a first aid kit. Funny, how that works. "Sage you shouldn't have done that!" He yells and I just nod, he rapidly pulls off his sweater and helps me lay down slowly on my back. It's painful, and I inhale sharply through my gritted teeth. "Dumb, dumb. This, dumb." He keeps telling me, using his sweater to apply pressure to my torso.

"Am I bleeding?" I ask, knowing how dumb I sound. Why wouldn't I be bleeding, there's a hole in my abdomen. Obviously, I'm bleeding a lot because my vision grows fuzzy around the edges. "You should probably stop that bleeding," I say laughing, shocking myself that sarcasm can still happen given how much pain I'm in and how afraid I am. I am afraid, I said it earlier and now it's ringing in my head. I'm dying, bleeding out despite the pressure Grayson applies.

Tears drip out the corners of my eyes, I look up at Grayson who's cheeks also look damp. We are kids, children, trapped in this place and we are all dying and now it's my turn. Reap what you sow, I suppose. I killed my mother, Mason, and some jock.

"You're going to be fine, Sage." He tells me, but fear masks everything he does. It's on his face, in his voice, and it trembles in his hands. I reach up and put a hand on his cheek as I had earlier when I had presumed him dead. It shocks me that I so easily touch him, after so long of denying myself physical contact.

"Do you think I'll go to hell, Grayson?" He shakes his head like he's trying to not hear me. Waves of unconsciousness come over me and I'm suffocating in my closeness to death. Oddly, I'm bleeding so much, I never knew I had this much blood. "I did this to myself, literally. So it's like, suicide. So I'll go to hell right?" Finally, he acknowledges me, and his eyes meet mine. They're sad, and it kills me to know I did this to him. I bombarded my way into his life and ruined it one action at a time.

"I don't think you're dying Sage, the wound isn't too deep. I don't think any organs are bleeding I just think you're...tired because of blood loss." Even as he says it, I can't bring myself to believe it. Still, I hope he is right.

"I hope maybe I can go to heaven. I miss my mom, and I'm sure she's there." I pause, trying to keep myself awake but it's getting harder. "I killed my mom Grayson, and now you're all dying because of me." He closes his eyes and turns his head into my palm, kissing it gently.

"You haven't done anything wrong, Sage. I am going to take care of you, you don't have to be the strong one right now Sage. Let me, help you. I got you." Am I facing death? I don't know, I know I'm facing a dark unconsciousness. Still, his words warm me. Make me feel safer than I've felt in a long time.

"I'm tired, Grayson," I say, my speech slurred from blood loss.

"Then rest, I'll be here for you." His eyes are the last thing I see before the darkness that loomed takes over, his voice the last thing I hear. And I'm okay with that.