Go Away (#TheWattys2015)

Chapter 13

Racing to Tasha's house I burst in through the front door where her mom stood in the kitchen. "Daija are you alright?," she asked with a worried look on her face. I tried to catch my breath."Fine, thanks. Is Tasha home?"
"Yes she's in her room. Is everything alright?" I smiled at her.
"Everything's fine."
I raced up the stairs and rushed into Tasha's room. She was laying down on her bed listening to music. Taken by surprise, she jumped up and shrieked.
"Geez Daija, what's all the hurry about?" I began to pace back and forth in her room and recapped everything that happened in school. I find it funny how when I receive a death threat it suddenly makes it easier to piece things together. "It said I got close last time when I had stabbed it in the eye which probably means its mostly weak in its eyes. But when I had stabbed it the eye had healed. So if I find a way to stop the healing, I could possibly get rid of that thing for good."
"Well that was kind of easy to figure out." Tasha said.
"But when I see it I'm going to shove a machete through both of its eyes for threatening me. By the way, might I say that thing has terrible taste because red floors for the school bathrooms would be awful. It would remind girls to much about what they have to go through each month." I shook my head.
"Of course after receiving a death threat you would worry about red floors." Her eyes went wide.
"Of course I'm worried about the floors! I'm gonna have to look down at that every time I'm taking a-"
"ok Tasha I get it.," I said cutting her off. She ignored me and continued. "That would especially suck when I'm actually on my period."
"Tasha!" She put her hands up.
"I'm just saying."
We both burst out laughing.Tasha thought for a second. "Hey, maybe if we blind it, do you think we could kill it easier?"
"Yeah, but it does this weird thing where whenever you get close it freezes you on the spot."
Tasha sat there in thought, suddenly jumping up and snapping her fingers. "I got it!," she exclaimed.
"Flares."

I stared at her for a moment wondering if she had gone completely insane. "Flares?," I asked raising an eyebrow. "Why flares?" Tasha rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious. "They're bright enough to throw it off guard and possibly blind it for a moment. Also their warm so we won't freeze on the spot. And if we throw a few and keep some with us, we could avoid getting killed, blind it, and run closer while its still blinded and make our move." I nodded at the idea, thinking about what she had said until I realized something.
"Wait we? What do you mean by we?" There was no possible way I was letting Tasha come with me. My sister was already in the hospital and I wouldn't have my best friend in there too. "I thought-"she started.
" Tasha you're not coming." A look of hurt flashed onto her face.
"What do you mean?"
"There's no 'WE', you're not going. I'm not having my best friend in the hospital along with my sister. You're not going and that's final." Her eyes showed a hint of anger. She took a deep breath.
"Daija, I'm just tryna help."
A pang of guilt hit my chest as I saw the anger and frustration in my friends' eyes. "Tasha I'm sorry but I'm not risking it." She stayed quiet for a while keeping her eyes on anything in the room besides me. "Can I at least come for the trial run?" I stared at her. "What trial run?" She sighed, clearly trying to keep calm. "You know, try it first before starting the actual plan. Like hide in a tree and throw the flare at it." I thought about it.
"That's still pretty dangerous. I don't know-"
"Daija please."
Her eyes were pleading. "All I want to do is help. That's all I've been wanting to do. Help out and try to find the safest way you can do this. I don't want to lose you just as much as you don't want to lose me. If you're going to go, I'm going too. No doubt about it. It's not up for debate. You go down, I'm going down with you."
Something like joy,shock, and relief washed over me hearing her say something like that. But it was still so difficult to say ok.
"Look,Tasha if you get hurt-"
"Why do you keep on saying that?" She made no effort to try and hide her frustration. "I can take care of myself. If something happens, oh well. But we'll have each others backs right?" I nodded. "Ok, then there's nothing to worry about." She sighed and started to put her headphones back on. Before she could I tackled her down and squeezed her in a tight hug. "Thanks Tasha."
"Yeah no problem." I was relieved to see all of the frustration in her eyes had dimmed down replaced with a smile. We stayed like that for a moment until a girls scream split through the sky. Tasha and I slapped our hands onto our ears as the screams continued. Grabbing Tasha's hand I sprinted down the stairs into the kitchen. Tasha's mom stood there covering her ears. Without thinking I grabbed a knife and made my way towards the door. "Daija what are you doing!?" Tasha's mom yelled over the noise. "Just grab a knife! Lets go see what's going on." Tasha didn't hesitate but her mom stood there staring at us in disbelief. "Are you two insane? You don't know what's out there!" Tasha grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. "Don't worry mom!" She yelled back. As we opened the door, I could hear her rummaging in the kitchen for her own knife. Slowly opening the door, I raised my knife to my chest and scanned the backyard. Tasha gripped my hand tight and her excitement was obvious. Suddenly the screaming stopped. We peaked outside and looked towards the forest in the distance scanning it for movement. A thick layer of fog was drifting around towards the front of the trees making it harder to see much of anything.The air was filled with and eerie silence and everything seemed to be put on pause. The clouds were dark overhead and they cast a shadow over everything. Out of nowhere the screaming started again, this time it sounded closer and even more terrifying. Then we saw her. A girl wearing a dirty ripped up dress burst through the fog. She ran bear foot and mud stained her once white dress matching the color of her light brown hair that was in a tangled mess with a few leaves stuck in it. The worst part of all were her injuries.About five, deep, bloody scratches ran down her stomach, her arms had purple bruises and cuts along them, and one long cut spread across her left cheek down towards her neck with streaks of blood pouring down her face. Her bare legs had small cuts that looked as though she had ran through a thorn bush. My eyes widened in shock as I recognized the white mist curling off her wounds. The demon had got her. She ran right at me and took both of my arms squeezing them so tight, it felt like she was cutting off my circulation. Her hands were cold. Unusually colds. Her whole body trembled and her light blue eyes were wild with fear and pain. "Help me!," she pleaded. "Please, he's coming! You have to help me!"
"Alright, your ok, everything's gonna be ok." I said trying to calm her down. Tasha stepped forward. "Who's coming?" The girls crazed eyes flicked towards her. "I-I don't know." Tasha stared at her in confusion. I sighed. "It Tasha. That monster who wants to paint the floors red." Tasha's eyes were full of fear but she tried to hide it. The girls eyes flicked back towards me. "You know him? Or... it?" I was about to nod when Tasha tapped my shoulder and pointed towards the trees. "Guys, we got company." I looked towards where she was pointing. A shadow appeared in the fog. The demon stepped out of it, teeth bared and claws out. It looked pissed. I guess I would have been too, if there was a dagger hanging out of the side of my neck with my blood squirting out and dripping down my neck leaving a dark pool of dried up blood on my shirt. Tasha froze and stood there, eyes wide in disbelief. "Th-that's what we're up against?" I nodded. The demon opened its giant mouth and roared. It started to walk towards us, then it started jogging, then running at full speed
"Run!!" The girl screamed.
She didn't have to tell me twice. I sprinted towards Tasha's house. The girl busted through the front door and collapsed inside shocking Tasha's frightened mom who held a machete high above her head. I turned back and saw Tasha standing there frozen. "Tasha!" She remained frozen. "Tasha run!!" Still frozen. "I c-can't m-move." I understood exactly how she felt. The demon was closing in now getting closer and closer by the second. I bolted towards her and dragged her frozen body to the house. The girl came out and helped, lifting Tasha's feet. The demon drew closer now just a few feet away. "Come on hurry!" she shouted. "I'm trying!" I shouted back. We slipped through the doorway just as the demon lunged forward and reached its claws out towards Tasha's frozen body. I yanked her out of the way just in time so that the demon missed and scraped her shoe. I dragged Tasha into the living room and the girl frantically locked the door and closed the windows. Outside the demon bellowed one last time sounding like an injured dinosaur, then everything went quiet. I sighed relieved to have made it. "That was close,"the girl said kneeling next me. Tasha's mom gathered some blankets and helped us move Tasha's trembling body near the fireplace. "What happened out there?" When none of us answered she just said: "Do you girls need a moment?" I nodded. "Yes please."
"Ok, I'll go get a first aid kit." She turned and walked off. I wrapped one arm around Tasha. "See why I didn't want you to come?" I whispered. She nodded. "I'm s-still going. I meant what I said." I gently rubbed her arm. "I know you did." She put her head on my shoulder and slowly began falling asleep. I turned to face the girl who now sat next to me staring into the fire. She had a far away expression on her face as though she was deep in thought. She looked around my age and seemed pretty harmless. Aside from the fact that she managed to stab the demon in the neck with a dagger. "So," I said. "What's your name?" She didn't say anything for a moment. Then she shook her head as though snapping out of a trance. "Huh?" "What's your name?"
"Oh, it's Crystal. Yours?"
"Daija."
"Nice."
"Thanks."

We sat in silence for a while staring at the fire popping and crackling with its orange and gold flames spreading across the logs. "So what were you doing in the woods?" She looked down at the floor and played with the torn edge of her dress.

"I was exploring the area. Just moved here and all, and the woods looked pretty cool. But when I got further in I started feeling cold which was unusual because its supposed to be so warm out. It just got colder and colder until I was shivering and standing there completely frozen." She paused for a moment and I fought the urge to tell her to continue. "So then that thing stepped out from behind a tree and dragged one of its nails across my face. That's when my reflexes kicked in and I pulled out my dagger. It scratched me a few times before I managed to get my dagger in its neck. So when I did I made a run for it and fell into a thorn bush on the way." I nodded my head. "So when I said it was coming, how'd you know what I was talking about?"
"Let's just say I met it too. Except when I stabbed it, it was in the eye. With a pencil." Her eyes widened. "Whoa, you kicked its butt with just a pencil?" I smiled.
"Guess so. Which makes me wonder, why were you caring a dagger around?" She smiled.
"A girls gotta be prepared. Boys can't keep their hands off this," she said sweeping her hand along the side of her body. I laughed and she giggled. Tasha stirred next to me. Crystal nodded towards her. "Who's your friend?"
"Her names Tasha. She's new to the whole demon in the woods thing."
"I see," she answered nodding her head.

Tasha snorted and woke up. "Whoa," she patted her body. "I'm alive?" I shook my head. "Yeah Tasha your alive."
"Yay!" She scanned her body for any scratches and her eyes turned huge. "Is that a scratch on my Jordan's?" I looked down and saw what she was talking about. Crystal and I both stared at the shoe. Tasha slipped it off and held it up like a fragile trophy. "Not the J's!" She buried her face in her hands and moaned. "Why lord. Whyyyy. Why my precious J's. My sweet sweet Oreo 5s. You could've picked any other shoe," she added looking up at the ceiling.
Crystal sat there staring at Tasha in disbelief. "You nearly got killed and you are worried about some shoes?" Tasha abruptly looked up and stared at her. "These ain't JUST SHOES, honey. They're Jordan's." Crystal giggled and I burst out laughing. We were all having fun until Crystals body started to tremble uncontrollably. "W-what's happening?" Her eyes widened in fear. She began writhing on the floor, her body rocked back and forth and she let out a scream. Tasha's mom ran in. "What's going on-" she gasped at the sight of Crystals trembling body. "What-"
"Call 9-1-1!" I shouted. Tasha and I watched in horror as Crystal scrunched her face up in pain and tears ran down her cheeks. She let out scream after scream, each one louder and more pained than the last. Tasha's mom ran to get the phone. Suddenly Crystal hunched over a threw up purple liquid all over the floor. I rested my hand on her back trying to comfort her. I felt as though I would throw up myself. I looked over at Tasha who sat there with her hand over her mouth. The purple was the same color of the demons eyes. The poison had gone in too deep. She was going to end up like Bella. Pale, lifeless, and dying.