The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

7

The headlights approached me in a slow motion. The car started swerving, trying to avoid me. But to no avail, that attempt wasn't going to succeed. I hear my name being called, screamed, cried.. echoing right through me. All I can do is close my eyes- I knew in this last seconds I wasn't going to be able to do anything.

One moment I was about to die and get hit by a drunk driver.

The next, a body slams into me, the skin of my back scraping against pavement.

Next, a familiar voice says my name. I must have hit my head hard.

"Clary?" A raspy, high pitch tone reverberated through my ears. My eyes wander to find a familiar figure. A familiar voice. A familiar stature. Most of all, a familiar embrace. I slowly look up, and see pale hands on my waist. Curly black hair falls onto my face. Big, brown eyes sparkle as they look at me in shock.

"E- Eddie?!" I choke. There was no way.. "I hit my head too hard. Shit. I know I did." I put my hand up to my head, and look at my hand to see red. "You're not real, you're not here. You're dead and you've been dead- I'm tired of having these damn visions-"

"Clary! It's me." Pale, cold hands grab my face. I am forced to look into the eyes that I've been longing for for what seemed like forever now. I was looking at the boy who sacrificed himself to save me. The boy in the field. The boy that nerded out over Dungeons and Dragons. I was looking at no one other than Eddie Munson himself. A smile starts to grow into his face, as if relieved. There were people yelling in horror, asking if I was okay.

He lifts the both of us up, with little to no effort.

"There's- there's no way- you were dead." I start to feel tears creep into my eyes, my throat closing in on the sides. "If this is some sort of Halloween prank I'm going to strangle the life out of you!" I push on his chest and yell.

He puts his hands up in surrender, shakes his head, and smiles, putting his chin on top of my head and kissing it. "I'll update you when we get somewhere with some quiet, Sparky." That's how I knew it had to be him. I couldn't believe what I was seeing before me. He was gone. His body was eaten down to the bone. There was no way he came back from the dead. My boyfriend? A zombie? All I could feel and hear at the moment was my heart beat in my ears, sirens, and people yelling my name.

I smash my body into him, my head digging into his bony chest. My arms strangle his sides, and he meets me with the same pressure. He smelled of his regular scent of tobacco, weed, and cheap cologne. The scent I've been yearning for for months. The scent I've been salvaging on every piece of fabric I could get my hands on. I let out a loud sob, and he holds me tighter rubbing the back of my newly chopped hair.

I slowly look up at what was supposedly Eddie, my tears clouding my vision. His finger lifts, wiping away a running tear and puts his other hand on my lower back.

We walk back to the group. The streets cleared out after the action dissolved, the streets now only occupied with theatre lighting and outdated street lights. My brain was telling me so many things but I wasn't sure which card to choose from a deck of them.

"Eddie!" Lucas, Dustin, and Mike run up, their arms out. They smash into Eddie, flinging back laughing. I remove myself away from them and look up at the others who have their jaw dropped.

"Are you okay?!" Robin runs up to me and pats me down. "I don't see any blood pooling out yet."

"I'm fine.. I'm just.." I look to Eddie. "How is this possible?" I put my hands on top of my head and start to hyperventilate. I wanted to control my breathing but I couldn't. "Am I going crazy?"

"No, you're not. We see it too." Steve says.

"Just.. how?!" Max asks.

"I don't know. And I don't think I want to know.." I look over to them.