My friend, Demise

Chapter 29

Demise was in the hospital for a week and I wasn't allowed to see him very often since he was hardly ever awake. Once I finally did see him, something seemed different. His bruises had faded and he seemed a little confused. "Are you okay?" I helped him to my father's car, sitting in the back seat with him while he stared at my mouth.

"I'm okay." His voice sounded unsure.

"You don't look like it."

"I want to go home." He clutched tightly to his pants, which were splattered with dried blood from when he kept coughing up blood in the hospital.

"That's where we're going."

By the time I got him home and in bed, it was pretty dark outside. I sat by his bed, staring at the yellow bruises fading on his skin. He's gotten pale since we met.

I traced my fingers across his cheek, drawing my brows close. Why does he keep getting into trouble when it's so much easier to stay out of the way?

"Thank you." Jasmine's voice appeared next to me. She rested her hand on her brothers head, a fading bruise similar to his own on her cheek. "I never could take care of him the right way, so it's nice see you looking after him so well."

"Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing a very good job."

"Because of these?" She pointed to the bandages wrapped tightly around his abdomen.

"He's always getting hurt in one way or another. I'm scared to leave him alone."

She smiled and pat my head. "He'll be okay no matter what happens. He's tougher than the rest of us...even Dad."

"Where is your dad?" My tone fell sharp, which made her sigh.

"So you know about the accident, huh?"

"Those bruises weren't caused by an accident."

Her hand slipped from my head. "I'm heading out...don't wait up, alright?"

She left me alone to stare at him longer. I pushed the hair out of his eyes, the only sound around me being his clock ticking back and forth. And something else I couldn't pinpoint.

I stood up and looked down. What is that?

The sound came from beneath the floorboards, what sounded like faint screaming hidden with muffled music.

I glanced back at Demise. "Don't go anywhere."

I headed out of his room and through the house, trying to get closer to the sound beneath me. Once in the hallway, the screaming became incessantly louder, the music no longer muffled as it cut off.

"Stop! Get off of me!"

It's a woman. I got down on my knees and held my ear to the floor. The room below me sounded small, but that was the least of my worries once I heard the screaming stop abruptly. The woman gagged for a moment before her voice fell completely silent.

"What are you doing?" I flinched so hard that I hit my head against the floor, sitting up and turning back to see Demise. He rubbed his eyes and frowned. "Did you drop something?"

"Uh yeah!"

"What is it?" He got down on the floor next to me. "I'll help you look."

"My earring."

He slowly turned to stare at me. "...you don't wear earrings. I do."

I laughed nervously, standing up and pulling him with me. "Do you have a basement?"

"Yeah."

"Can I see it?"

"What for? It's the middle of the night, come sleep." He headed for his room but I grabbed his wrist.

"I'm serious. Can I see it? I heard something down there."

"It was probably a raccoon, like you. Go make friends with it."

"This isn't funny, alright?! I'm scared!" My voice broke from my throat a bit louder than intended.

He softened his expression. "Hey, it's fine. I'll check it out, so just relax."

"No! You're going to tell me where the basement is and go back to sleep. I will check it out since you don't know how to do anything but get yourself hurt!"

His shoulders sunk, eyes widening before he took a step back from me and relaxed a bit. "The entrance is outside. It's behind the house, you can't miss it."

"I didn't mean to yell."

"Be careful." He checked to make sure his gun was with me before heading down the hall. "I'll go to bed now."

I felt bad, but I was more worried about the noises I heard than his feelings at the time so I went behind the house. Sure enough, the entrance to the basement was sitting right up against the back of the house, locked shut with chains and a heavily bolted lock.

I contemplated how to open it for a good ten minutes before pulling out my gun and aiming it at the lock. This always works in movies.

I pulled the trigger, sending ringing to my ears as the lock snapped. Oh. It worked.

Quickly unwrapping the chains, I climbed down into the basement. Before I could even think about looking at the room, I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve. God, it smells terrible.

"Hello?" I coughed out my words, moving further into the concrete room. It seemed pretty normal, boxes and tools set up like some kind of shed.

I entered a wooden door that seemed to be right in line with the horrible smell. Once inside, my head hit a man's chest.

"What are you down here for?"

I quickly took a step back. "I was looking for you."

"For what?"

Now that I'm in front of him, I can't even say it. My arms tightened against my sides. "I... don't remember."

He placed a bloody hand on my shoulder, smearing red down my sleeve. "Then leave."

"I heard a woman. Is she okay?"

He held up his other hand, which was holding tightly to a knife covered in blood. "What do you think?"

I stared at the knife with wide eyes, my legs frozen in place. "I have to go."

"Then go." We stared at each to her for a minute, which made him smile and grab ahold of my hair. "If you're not leaving, then I have to make sure you won't tell anyone about this."

"I won't- I was just worried about your son! He's alone!"

"Bullshit. Open your mouth."

"What? No!"

He shoved me to my knees and pried my mouth open, grabbing ahold of my tongue and holding the edge of the knife against it. I could taste the blood that covered the blade. "Would you rather lose your ability to speak, hear, or see?"

Tears filled my eyes, my body frozen in place. How could I answer that? Did my answer even matter?

"I'll choose for you then." He pulled the knife form my mouth and moved it toward my eye.

"Hear!" I quickly choked out, earning the knife shoved into my ear. I expecting him to stop at that, but he pulled it out and did the same to my other ear, making all sound completely drain from the room.

His lips were moving but I didn't hear a thing, feeling blood trail down my jawline. "C-can I go now...?"

He nodded, making me stumble to my feet and out of the basement. My knees hit the grass, hands covering my ears to try and stop the blood pouring out of them.

"Demise!" I couldn't hear my voice, but I yelled his name so loud that my throat began to burn.