Clinging to Friendship

Chapter 16

I heard a door sliding and creaking open up ahead. Poppy and Layne must have finally made it to the cafeteria. My lungs were burning, my thighs were shaking, and there was a sharp pain in my stomach whenever I breathed but even through it all I kept running even with Ji-Yeong kept pleading for me to put him down, I think he could tell that I was hurting. The cafeteria was coming up, so much closer now, and I pushed myself to sprint as fast as I could to get there.

The footsteps were louder and practically right behind me, almost on top of us. I could see Layne and Poppy waiting for us at the door. They were screaming at me to put Ji-Yeong down, to hurry up and get inside. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I would never leave him behind.

We had almost reached the cafeteria when the monster screamed, and it felt like something had practically cut me in half, stopping me in my tracks. I collapsed to the ground, trapping Ji-Yeong underneath me. I gently touched my side, yelping out in pain when I pressed down on the area. I could feel Ji-Yeong slapping my arm trying to get me to focus on the situation at hand.

“Hey! Kian, we have to go now! Kian come on!” He struggled out from underneath me and I could see blood-drenched all over his shirt. He grabbed my hand and attempted to pull me up to my feet. I hissed as I pushed myself up to standing, but as I did, I felt where I’d been hit, blood seeps down my side. My only thought at this moment was that I needed to stop the bleeding, or I’d die. I clenched my teeth and pressed down hard on my side, attempting to stop my bleeding but at most all it did was elicit a scream.

“Kian… Please, come on…” My other arm was wrapped around Ji-Yeong’s shoulder and he was dragging me along. While I was being dragged, I thought I could hear someone cackling. It was eerie sounding like that thing was just watching us struggle along, waiting till we got close to the cafeteria before it finally decided to sweep in and kill us.

Each step had me panting and groaning. My vision was starting to go blurry, things fading in and out… If I kept Ji-Yeong with me, we would both die, and I couldn’t let that happen. I took a deep breath and used whatever strength I had to push him ahead and away from me toward the cafeteria. He stumbled ahead, probably surprised by what I had done.

“Go… I’ll… I’ll find somewhere else…” I turned and limped for the hallway closest to me and started to hobble down the hall. I looked over my shoulder at Ji-Yeong and smiled at him before pushing myself to continue walking.

“Wait! Kian no! Don’t!” Ji-Yeong yelled desperately but thankfully he was too close to the cafeteria and I could see, from the corner of my eye, Layne and Poppy drag him, fighting, along inside. Despite my slow moving the creature had decided to ignore me and stepped toward the cafeteria. As I found a classroom that had thankfully been left open, I could hear it start up its knocking ritual again. I slammed it closed and collapsed against the door, reaching up I locked it before I fainted.

~

“No! We have to go and get him,” I yelled, thrashing against Layne and Poppy. They were holding me against my will and I couldn’t free myself from their grasp. The two of them together were much stronger than me and wouldn’t release me until the knocking had gone away.

“Don’t you f*****g get it? Kian’s dead! He’s never coming back!” Poppy screamed, tears streaming down her pretty face. Whatever makeup she had put on was a runny mass, making her kind of look like a raccoon. It gave me just a little joy in such a depressing moment. I felt kind of heartless for finding joy in her pain, but she was the one who thought of coming here. “There’s no way that thing would leave him alive…” She sobbed, releasing me and at that moment I stopped struggling against Layne and sagged to the ground. She was right, he was gone… Kian left me… I sniffed and bit my lip hard, trying to keep from crying, drawing a little blood in the process.

“God damn… Poppy… Why did we come here? Why? Why? Why?” Layne asked his voice shaky as he repeated his question over and over again. Probably trying to hold back tears, just like me. Poppy shook her head and walked to the kitchen.

“It was a dumb f*****g idea… I’m so sorry. I should never have suggested this. It was a mistake,” She murmured, stopping outside the kitchen door. Her voice was growing hoarse. I covered my face with my hands, trying to hide the tears that were running silently down my face. A long, loud screeching sound occurred, I assumed it was from our blocking the cafeteria doors. I heard soft footsteps approach me, so I looked up to see who it was. There in front of me was Layne. He sat down in front of me, and even with his tear covered face, he smiled comfortingly. He placed a hand on my shoulder and began speaking.

“Don’t worry… We’ll get out of here, Poppy’s in the kitchen, right now, looking for salt and iron.” He said, comforting me. Or at least tried to, it didn’t in the least make me feel any better. In fact, it made me feel worse.

I shook off his hand and glared at him, “You know who won’t be getting out of here? Kian. The only reason he died is because of the two of you. You only thought of yourself and left us behind! I’d rather die here with him, then be with people who left us to die,” I stopped speaking, stood up and stormed away to the far side of the cafeteria, as far away as I could be from the two of them.

I looked down at my shirt, it was covered in Kian’s blood. There was so much blood… so much… There was no way he was still alive. Tears stung at my eyes as I thought of how much pain he must have been in.

“Hey there Ji-Yeong, it’ll be ok. You don’t need to worry about me.” I heard his voice in my head. His deep voice speaking to me sweetly. I almost smiled, I missed his voice already. I missed him already. His hand in mine, his lips on mine, the little spot that only the two of us knew about. Even if some of those things had just happened it made me miss him more.

“So, you’ve had a crush on me since we met?” I heard him chuckle, it was such a wonderful sound. Husky and low. No matter how many times I heard his laugh, it always sounded like the first time.

Though his words were true. I’ve liked Kian from the day I met him, and now he was dead. I couldn’t hold it in anymore and I started sobbing. I clutched my sides, doubled over on myself. My sobs were loud and ugly and even though I wanted to stop, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t, I needed to cry. Suddenly arms wrapped around me and held me tightly. Soft shushing filled my ears and I was being rocked back and forth like I was a baby. Despite, this feeling oddly infantilizing it was very comforting.

It may have taken awhile but slowly my tears subsided and I was now only breathing hard.

“Hey, Ji-Yeong…” Poppy cooed to me, “We’ve gotcha. We’re here for you.”

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” I heaved, trying to control my breathing. It was hard to do, but I was getting there. “I already miss him.”

“I miss him too…” Layne whispered. “But we have to get out of here… before that thing can get to us.”

“We can’t do anything about him. You heard what Skye said, he’ll disappear or something.” Poppy murmured.

“No,” I stated, my breathing had finally settled, normally, and I felt like I could talk without crying. “We’re going to get him, so his family has something to bury. You don’t know what it’s like to have a family member go missing and never being able to find them again.” I demanded, keeping my voice firm, unwavering. The two siblings shared a look, probably wondering if I knew that pain myself, but when they finally looked back at me I could tell I had their support.

“You’re right.” Poppy stated.

“Let’s get ready.”