How long have I been laying here?

I was laid down upon his back, upon a bed of sunflowers. The fall feels like I've been embedded into the ground.

The only thing I can see is the white, and silver staircase going up and up. I can’t even see the top.

“Augh-”

I can’t move my body. How am I alive? I was sure that thing killed me… and that drop, how far did I fall?

“R-Rob…Bie”

No matter how much I try, I can't move my body… I can’t… I can’t even move my neck. Every attempt only caused more pain to soar through my body. Did I break some bones? No it has to be more than just some.

The more I tried to speak the more intense the pain in my face and mouth got, causing me to spit up some blood. I hated it’s iron taste in my mouth. And that doesn't even account for how the rest of my body feels…

It was cold, the silence started to make me paranoid. How long until those things find me again? I can’t stay here, I have to get to the others.

“...eugh-AHHHHHHH,” I tried to call out for help but was only met with pained grunts and more blood coming from my mouth.

I don’t know what to do. Wait… what about the others?! Are they alive?! What happened to Robbie, and Louis?! We were surrounded… and what about Elijah, and Ryan?! What happened to them?! Just where could they have gone… or… did they get surrounded as well?

They could be in a worse state than me right now… They…

My mind burned with imaginative images of their deaths. One by one, I could see all of them Dying in their own fast, and gruesome way. A death they didn’t even have a chance to comprehend.

My heart started to ache, as my eyes began to cry out for them.

They can’t be… no…

Me being on death's doorstep doesn’t make it any better for the imagination. We all came to a place we know nothing about… and are dying in ways we can’t understand…

Is this the end? I don’t wanna die… I really don’t…

Why today…It's not fair…

First grandma… now me, and my friends…

What kind of rotten luck do I have…? Why do I have to die in such a way…?

I just wanted to finish out the school year with my friends by my side, and my grandmother alive. I said numerous times that if I could change places with her I would… but what does dying now do for me?

It does nothing… I get nothing.

I’ve lost so much in just one day. I just wanna go home… I just wanna be in my room not worrying about anything else in the world.

…

What would grandma do…? What would she do…?

My grandma… she said… When I'm scared, pray. How could I pray? Would that really save me?

I started to think about my grandma, and all the times she would have me pray with her. She always felt stronger afterwards.

Maybe…. I’ll become strong too. If I pray… God will save me.

I plead with you, it is not my time to go yet…

Through the pain, and through my bloodied tongue, …I began praying.

“S-so… do not… f-fear… f-for I-I… am wi- …with you… do… not be…. D-dismayed… f-for… I-I am… y-your God! I-I w-will… s-strengthen you… and… h-help y-you…” I began to cough up more blood. “I w-will… uphold you… with my… righteous hand…!”

Amen.

******

Enter Elijah Wilson

“BRING IT ON YA BASTARDS!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, facing the three security guards in front of me and Ryan.

“They need to get here fast, what is taking them so long?!” Ryan shouted, trying to look for them in the crowd, “Do you think they got caught as well?!”

“...,” They aren’t moving, why aren’t they moving?! Is it a trick?! Whatever it is, I see it as a blessing for giving me more time to think, but having a closer look at them… those things could definitely kill us easily. …Is that the only analogy I can come up with for right now?!

For fucks sake.

“Screw it! Follow me!” I barked at Ryan while I began to run away from the guards, barging my way through the crowd, he followed me not wanting to be left behind.

I’m not dying here. No chance in hell. I get cheated on, now I'm dealing with horrors beyond my comprehension. Who the fuck did the karma hit for christ sake.

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Me and Ryan shoved our way through the crowd not even bothering to look behind us. We know they’re there, chasing us. If these students were hostile, we’d be screwed. We started to shout, calling out to see if any of the other’s could hear us.

C'mon Zion and Robbie have to be around here somewhere! Did something happen?! Should I have carried Louis?! No… I Can't think this way. They probably ran into some of those guards as well, but that’s equally worse! And that announcement…!

I just gotta hope that they’re alive and trying to escape just like we are. They are, I know they are! C'mon Elijah! Don’t let this stop you! I’m. Going. To. Fucking. Live.

“STOP RUNNING- STOP!” Ryan screams at the top of his lungs.

What? I looked up. The sight that caught my eye was a horror. A being unimaginable in the real world. I-I can’t describe it… wait is that… you guys? You guys are here! I see them! They’re really here! They're trying to get me, and Ryan to come over to them. Are we safe?! I think we are. Thank you thank you thank you.

I started to walk further and further towards them, there’s a bright light flashing from them but I pay it no mind. “My friends, you're here.” Tears started to feel my eyes from joy. “C'mon Ryan, we don’t have a moment to lose-”

“ELIJAH NO!” A voice rang out, piercing my eyes.

Suddenly my vision shifted. What? I could see Ryan pushing me away, I fell back onto the ground. Why does he have that look on his face, he looks terrified. Ryan stared at me before his eyes started to glow and he started to walk forward.

“W-what… why is he doing that?!” Turning to see where he’s walking to, my eyes catch sight of the being I laid eyes on before. It looked… beautiful.

Her bright porcelain skin. Those big, cute, blue eyes. Her beautiful long blonde hair.

She has curves that compliments her slender frame, and those bright blue and pink scales that shone across her tail fin as she sang made her look ever the more elegant.

“S-she’s a mermaid! I… I can’t believe it. It's real! …how?” I murmured in disbelief, but my attention started to turn to Ryan once more, once I saw him getting closer and closer to her.

The color of his eyes reflected the blue field of light blaring from the mermaid's eyes.

It doesn’t look like of his own will.

“Wait! …What are you doing to him?!”

She didn’t even bat an eye at me. So focused, so in tune with her singing. It’s beautiful… her voice. She’s lovely, everything about her, it makes my heart quiver before her.

She’s perfect. A doll. A woman deserving of the highest applause.

My mouth hung wide, as drool leaked from it like a dog.

I’m getting hot…

I wonder… was she calling for me…?

Her singing from before. It was for me, not another…

She wants me to come to her. Her singing is beckoning me, begging me to come to her.

She’s mine.

The singing that Ryan is hearing… His ears don’t deserve such soothing. It was not to be heard by the likes of him.

He’s… trying to steal her from me… that’s why he pushed me out of the way…

That bastard… He means to take my dove!

I won’t let him. I’d rather kill myself, then let the likes of him take her away from me.

You messed up…

I’m gonna bash your skull in…!

“Homewrecker.”

In a fit of rage, I broke into a sprint, dashing at a violent pace towards him.

“I’ll use your trick against you, petty asshole!”

Blocking out the world around me, I didn't care if more guards showed up. If they come, I'll take Eliza and we’ll run away together! Ryan can go fuck himself for all I care.

After closing the distance, just about three meters away, I jumped forward.

“BACK THE HELL OFF!”

Reaching him, I wrapped my arms around his body, tackling him to the ground.

“I won’t let you take her from me! Stay away from Eliza!”

He looked me in the eyes, fuming with a rage of his own, he began screaming at me.

“What are you going on about?! Your lousy ex isn’t here! These are my dreams right before my eyes! I won’t let you stop me!”

He began thrashing his body, trying to fight me off of his back. My weight was too much for him and he continued to struggle.

The rage in his eyes grew more intense every second I continued to lay on top of him. His mouth began foaming as he screamed out, cursing my existence.

“EUGH screw you! You won’t stop me! You won’t fucking stop me! This is my freedom!”

“How delusional. You see my woman as an escape. Dumb.” I gripped the back of his hair and lifted his head closer to mine, “You're not shit! Hardly worth a box of rocks, you stupid motherfu-...”

I froze in horror at the unruly sight before me.

What was I doing?

I stared down at Ryan, while I held the back of his head by its hairs. Looking into his eyes, they shone a dark, shadowy blue color. The veins on his neck were bulging, bigger than they would normally be.

“Ry…an…”

He’s fuming, he sounds like he’s speaking in tongues. He’s fighting desperately to get free from my grasp. He’s not as skinny as I thought he was.

Foam started to fly on me as he shook his head, trying to free it. He managed to break free from my grasp, doing so, he slammed the back of his head into my face, causing blood to spurt out as I fell off on top of him.

“Loser. Dreams don’t exist for shitheads like you!”

As he began to run away, he kicked the side of my face, causing me to roll over in pain. Gripping my face from the pain, I could see him run back to the bright field of blue light through the gaps in my fingers.

“Ryan… wait…”

Liza… Help me…

Wait… why did I think it was her…? That mermaid…

Something’s off.

She looks so much like her… but she’s not her.

And we broke up. Done.

So why…

She was controlling me. The reason me and Ryan fought, and the way she looks so much like her…

She has to be putting us in some kind trance!

“It has to be that light! When I was facing away from it, it must’ve broken the spell she had over me!”

Without wasting another second, I got up and started to hurry towards him.

I’m afraid of what might happen if he reaches her!

“Ryan, snap out of it! I don’t know what she’s doing but you have to stop going near her! She’s dangerous!”

He’s not stopping! I need to do something fast!

Maybe if I push him out of the flowing ray coming from her eyes like he did me… then maybe he’ll start to think clearer again. But I have to make sure I don’t fall for her trance or whatever it is again. If me and him start brawling again, it’ll be the end of both of us.

The sound of her voice began to increase in tune, almost deafening the ears. The sound of her voice made it hard to breathe, my heart shuddered before her presence.

It’s her singing… I need to be careful!

“Here I go!” I sped up pace, running full speed ahead towards him once again. Once I got close enough, I lunged my body at him, tackling him out of the glowing ray coming from her eyes, “Snap out of it!” I yelled, giving him a hard smack on his face, hoping it would be enough to break her trance.

“Ughhhhh,” He let out a large gasp of air, “...Y-you… did it…”

“What is that thing trying to do?!”

“It’s trying to eat us. Look at it now, that’s no damn mermaid.”

He was right, turning around, what I saw was not the captivating being from before. Her eyes were dark, devoid of any life. Her skin was wrinkly and torn. Her teeth were as sharp as those nails on her fingers. Her hair stood up floating as if she were still underwater. The noises that came from her were not a song, but a cry of wrath.

“It's a siren.”

“Is there a difference?!”

“Does it matter now?!” He pushed his cracked glasses upwards, fixing them. “Help me up, please!”

“C'mon! We got to go!” I said helping him up to his feet, but before I could the Siren rushed me, and tackled me to the ground in the same manner I did to Ryan.

“Watch out!”

“AUGH- AHHHHH”

I screamed in agony as its sharp teeth came seeking into my shoulder. As it mounted on top of me, it began clawing at the sides of my stomach.

“AUGH- RYAN PLEASE! GET IT OFF OF ME! GET IT OFF!” I screamed at Ryan. It tried to bite down on my neck but I managed to pull my hands up in time holding her back by the neck, but she’s not letting up, she’s determined to bite me. She’s trying to kill me!

“I’m trying! I-It won’t budge!” he screamed, trying to pull her off of me.

“She’s too strong! …RYAN PLEASE!” I could hold its head back but it’s still clawing at my sides, I can see Ryan trying to pull her from her by the hair now, but to no avail. She won’t budge.

No! I don’t wanna die, I don’t want to!

“Elijah I’m sorry! I’m trying my best! I-I c-can’t! She won’t budge!”

I can’t hold her back for much longer… she’s gonna maul me to death. “R-Ryan I-I can’t… hold her… back…. anymore!”

My arms gave out, the grip I had on her neck faltered. Not losing a moment, she bit down hard on my neck. I can see my blood spurting out violently. Her teeth piercing through my neck, the pain was of nothing I've ever experienced before. It’s agonizing. She’s tearing through my platysma like it’s nothing. It feels like my head is gonna be chewed off of my body!

“NO- NO- NO! ELIJAH! Just hold on… a little more!”

He’s pounding on the back of her head viciously, but it’s not even stirring a reaction out of her. He’s trying… but it’s not enough.

There’s nothing we can do….

I’m…

I'm done for.