The Dare

Chapter 13

"Holy shit!" Grayson yells and the room erupts in action. Avery's knees give out as I struggle to hold her up with my weakening limbs. Teagan and Hazel enter the room in a sprint, looking for the source of the gunshot. When they see the bodies on the ground Teagan grabs a hold of Hazel and shields her fiercely.

"What the hell?" Teagan demands and I can see the fear all over her face, her instincts like mine are too fleet. We all want to, it's on everyone's mechanisms. The tears streaming down my face make it hard for me to see everything around me, I rapidly blink to clear my vision with no prevail.

"We are so unbelievably screwed." Salem whimpers, I can hear the stress and sorrow in her tone. I pretend I don't hear it, I'm finally realizing this isn't only my fault. A beast of rage grows inside of me, gnawing at my tongue and mind.

"Yeah, no shit Salem!" I snap, turning on her with a fit of intense anger that I've never felt for her before. "We all are so unbelievably screwed and it's your fault!" My words spit out of me in a way I've never let them before, it encourages my burning. "Look around you! We are here because you couldn't help but be a bitch for five minutes and now we are so un-fuckin-believably screw!" By the end my voice is shrill, my throat itches with my frustration. Salem's looking at me with disbelief, her mouth wide with shock at my outburst.

"Sage, calm down," Grayson says to me from the other side of the lobby, from the other side of the dead bodies. My body trembles with my annoyance and my fear of the unknown. Finally, I tear my gaze away from my sister, it's time to start doing something about our situation. No more panicking, time to start handling it.

"We need to get out of here. For real, if that door won't work then we should try a..a...I don't know! A window! We need to go!" I'm still freaking out, just now it's not towards sister. Every bit of my being wants out, now. Now more than ever, I want all of us to get out of here as safely as we can.

"Okay, okay, okay," Grayson says, his hands extended in a calming motion as he walks around the police bodies towards me. His eyes skim over the bodies, his brow furrowing when he sees them, but then looking back to me and smiling. Avery stands on her own, her wheezing becoming slow as she calms herself. I run my hands over my face and then through my hair, trying to calm myself.

"Don't talk to me like that." I snap, angry that he is trying to silence my fears. He nods at me, his curls bouncing with each head dip.

"Sorry, my bad. I know you're stressed Sage, we all are. I hear what you're saying, we need to get out of here. So let's all go as a group and find a window that's big enough for people to crawl through. Okay?" He's being reasonable, I hate that I'm having a meltdown and he's being calm. My lungs feel like they're being squeezed, there's not enough air entering my body and it makes me feel faint. I want to cry, my eyes and throat burn for it. Still, I won't cry, no more tears for me.

"Then let's go, please. Now..." I begin to walk towards the hall Teagan and Hazel stand in, Grayson next to me. Salem follows behind us and Conner makes his way to her side, I'm ready to get out of here.

"Wait..hang on.." Hazel says her voice soft and sounding musical; nothing like how she had sounded when she was possessed. Her eyes are big with confusion, she's peeking around Teagan's hair at the five of us walking towards us.

"No, no hanging on. Lets, go." Salem snaps and tries to push on but Teagan gives her a glare that's, well, as bad as a glare would be from Salem.

"What's wrong, hon?" Teagan coos to Hazel, brushing strands of hair away from her face.

"Where's Mason?" She asks, and it feels like the whole world crumbles around me. Shit, I forgot. Hazel has no memory of what happened, she has no idea that she killed her cousin. I look at Grayson, who looks as afraid and heartbroken as I feel.