Tethered

Chapter Twenty-one

1

"You're not going to like this, Philip", Ariana said as soon as she stormed into Philip's room. Dale walked in behind her, his eyes red-rimmed.

"What happened?" Sarah asked.

"He saw those damned hallucinations again", Ariana hissed. "In the police station. Went completely insane. Fuck!"

"This shit's killing me", Dale said, sitting on the floor and dropping his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry", Sarah said.

"What did you find?" Philip asked.

"At the station", she said. "Dale and I were called in to speak with detective Dent. He's been investigating the mysterious deaths and suicides..."

"Nicki Charity, Vivian Lana and Ken Leadwood all died two months after the so-called trauma started", Dale said, cutting Ariana off. "In the same way, bleeding from their mouths, noses, ears and eyes."

"They started by bleeding from their noses and ears according to detective Dent's research. Just like me."

"And me", Dale said.

"Me, too", Sarah said.

Philip sighed. "It doesn't...wait a minute", he said. "Two months you say?"

"Yes", Ariana nodded.

"Sarah, its one month", he said. "Dale and you?"

"One month and a week", Dale said.

"One month and two weeks", Ariana said.

"I've only one five days left", Philip murmured but Sarah heard him.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, her insides twisting.

2

"We're all in the same circle", Ariana said, holding her mouth. "We're all going to die like Ken and the rest."

Dale pulled his knees up to his chest, tears filling his eyes. He looked miserable, helpless and hopeless.

"But why is this happening?" Ariana yelled. "What did we do to deserve this? Who the heck is doing this?"

"I can't die like that", Dale sobbed. "I can't die like that. I'd rather kill myself."

"Don't say that", Sarah said quickly, kneeling next to him. She never knew she could be the one saying that. She'd fancied suicide for a while now. She gazed at Philip but he quickly faced away from her. It was surprising to Sarah that Philip showed no sign of fear. He was strange.

At this point, it was really hard to think straight. Tears ran down Dale's cheeks and he abruptly stood up.

"I'm leaving", he said. "This is too much."

"Where you going?" Sarah asked.

"Home", he said and walked to the door.

"Just wait", Sarah grabbed his arm and Dale yanked his hand away.

"For what?" He yelled furiously. "For what huh? We can't do shit. We can't do nothing. We're kids, and we're stuck and we can't do anything about it!"

"It seemed whoever did this picked smart kids", Philip said softly, ignoring Dale's yelling. "What if whoever did this wants us to find out something or remember something?"

"What do you mean?"

"What did you do?" Philip asked Dale.

"What do you mean by that?" Dale asked.