Prolog

*Those who hate BLOOD should stop now.

   Lucien Blackburn in England, 1998

 

The smell of blood is heavy in the air. By now I’m probably lying in a pool of it in the bed of Derk’s truck from my bullet wound. I deserve it though; I deserve to die for what I did; to burn in hell for all eternity. For the blood on my hands is not my own, but a girl’s who had done nothing wrong. Lord all I ask is for it to last. Let me die slow and painful. Let her face haunt me forever.

“Kev, hurry up before he bleeds to death all over the place.” Derk turned his attention to me. He grinned. “You’re pathetic,” he said, kicking me in the middle of my back. Pain shooting through my spine, as if it were being pinched. Good, I’m off to a start.

I take another blow to the back, then another, then another. How could I have done that? To anyone? How could I have beaten her!! Torture her like that!! -Tears began to run down my face- God let her be okay. Please let her go home to her family. Let the police find my body; let them know I was responsible. Then something Derk mumbled to Kevin made me change my focus of hate and disgust to him.

“Should have seen .......she begged and...,” Kevin and him laughed at whatever he had said. But I didn’t care. He had said enough. He said something only I would know because I did it, didn’t I? Her blood is on my hands so I must have. Did he see me? Why didn’t he stop me if he did? I try to think back, but I can’t get anything. Nothing before running into Derk in a parking lot. Why was I running?

My train of thought is lost when the truck stops and the tail gate is opened. I felt something grab my ankles and pull. My head hit the ground hard, and then the rest of my body followed. The air rushed out of my lungs. The cold air was making it harder to breathe.

“Throw him over there.” I saw his arm point in the direction behind me.

“Why can’t we just let him go? It’s obvious he believes what you told him. He’ll say it was him. I say let him take the blame, “said Kevin.

“Because sooner or later he’ll remember, then he’ll tell, then I kill you. Any other stupid questions you wanna ask?” Derk gave him a look that said “You better just shut up.”

Kevin grabbed my ankles, flipped me to my back, and started pulling. What felt like twigs and rocks poked at my back. Ripping and tearing at the bullet wound and making new scratch marks everywhere. Then Kevin stopped pulling and looked around scared.

“Did you hear that?”

“Did I hear what?” said Derk

“That wired sound, like a high pitch coo.” Kevin continued to look around, flipping his head from side to side.

“Will you just shut up!” yelled Derk.

Derk should have listened to Kevin because the sound came again. And all three of use heard it. My heart began to race. There’s nothing on earth that could make that sound and be human. The other two knew it too. So Kevin ran to the truck and Derk did as well.

Everything after that everything was a blur of unconscious and contentious and my vision along with it. I had lost too much blood to stay awake. I heard screams of terror or pain.  I couldn’t tell which. I heard unfamiliar voices and saw shadows. I figured they would come for me next, whoever they were.

A cold hand touched the right side of my face. I jerked a way and try to sit up put.  I got pushed back down.

“Be still a minute.”

The voice was female. Gentle and calm. It calmed me somehow. Like I knew her. The hand returned to my face, taking off the gag they had put there to keep me quiet. I was flipped to my side an again. It is only now I feel pain again. Shooting through every vein, every muscle. Like liquid fire. I felt the ropes around my hands and feet loosen then disappear through the pain. I was then put back on my back. A cold hand went to my temple and paused there for a moment. The shadows I saw became figures, and then people.  

“I bet you can see better now,” Said a girl, removing her hand. Her bright turquoise eyes looking right into mine. “We’re going to try to heal you now, but you must remain still, even though the pain is horrid.”

“But I don’t deserve to live, not after what I did”.

She laughed, “You don’t remember what you did.”            

Now that I thought about it, she was right. I just assumed. I have got to stop doing that. “How do you know that?”

“I’ll tell you once you’re better, now shut up so we can save your life.”

“We?” By now I was totally lost so I just went with it.

“Yes ‘we’, me and my friend, Gabriel. Now will you please stop talking or am I going to have to hit you with something?” She smiled slightly. “So full of questions aren’t we...Don’t answer that.”

She turned her head away from me, whispering something to what’s his face whose name I can’t remember. Her hair was straight and a dark brown, down to the middle of her back. Then she turned around to face me again.

“Do you want to live? This one you can answer.” 

“I told you I don’t deserve” She cut me off.

 “You didn’t harm that girl”

“What? Then why do I have blood on my hands?”

She sighed, “You tried to help her. Now, do you want to live or not?”

Now I was even more confused than before. So I just laid there dumbstruck trying to wrap my mind around all of this.

“Look.  I need a yes or no from you now! You can think it over later.”

I nodded my head yes without thinking and she turned away again. I heard the mumble of a man’s voice then she looked at me again. Her hand went to my head. It was cold at first, like ice, and then her hand became warm. As if she had the sun in her hand.  Almost as if she was burning my skin...          

           “I’m putting you to sleep now. I’ll explain everything later, when You awake.”

           Everything went started to blur again, everything but her. My eyelids went heavy, threatening to close. But before they did, I saw her bend her head to my neck. Then my vision was gone. Sleep was calling to me, but before I went to a land of peace, more pain shot through me. Rushing through my veins, every cell soaking it in. I tried to move but my body didn’t comply. In fact, it stiffened. As hard as board. Then sleep came and I gave in without a fight. Hoping it was all a dream. That maybe it was one of God’s cruel or unusual jokes to change the way you live your life.

              

       

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Rylan Batten]

heyy interesting story... really intriguing conflict with who appears to be the main character of this chapter.... .try using a normal font though. It doesn't really go with the contemporary setting, and even if it did, all of your character should come through your words. You have a couple of sentences that are...well, they're incomplete sentences, grammatically. Other than that, good start, keep it up

[bamm]

interesting.
but the font hurts my brain Dx

[ChristianM]

I really enjoyed this.
I'm curious to know what transpired to put him in this situation.
I'll be reading on.
Great writing.
A few typos here and there but they can be fixed easily.

[nostal]

Interesting.

[B.R.Bloor]

Very interesting, makes me want to read more.