ghost stories • 5sos

luke // fifteen.

Dying is supposed to be peaceful.

No one deserves a death in which they suffer in agonizing pain.

It's supposed to be quick. Simple.

But for me, what was only seconds, felt like minutes.

And what hurt me the most was knowing that Caitlin was feeling exactly what I was. I didn't want to think about her being in this amount of pain.

So when I watched the light drain from her eyes, I felt relief. I was happy even. She wasn't hurting anymore.

I ran a shaky hand through her blonde hair, kissing her forehead.

"I love you, s-so much," I mumbled before the darkness consumed me as well.

I wasn't hurting anymore.

***

I was gasping for air. Caitlin was straddling my waist as I lay beneath her. 

What? What was going on? 

My body didn't hurt anymore, the scratches having closed up. I sighed in relief. But, I was so fucking confused.

I had just died.

Caitlin had just died.

I watched the love of my life die.

How was this possible?

"Luke, get up, we have to get out of here. Now," she panicked.

"Y-you were dead, Caitlin I w-watched you di-"

"Do I look dead to you now? Luke we have to go! Before he comes back."

"Before who comes back? What are you talking about?"

She swallowed hard, looking away into the dark woods as she said his name.

"E-Ethan.."

"Carver? Caitlin, he's dead. He died over 40 years ago."

"Luke, he was standing above me when I woke up. I swear to God, it was him. I-it was him."

She was panicking, and in shock. I just wanted Caitlin to calm down, so I quickly nodded. She quickly jumped off of me and I stood up. I took her hand, and we ran.

We ran, and ran, and ran back in the direction of which we came.

I could've sworn I heard someone whispering around us, and for a second, I thought I saw someone standing by a tree off to the side. I stopped running, causing Caitlin to jerk to a halt.

"What are you doing?! Come on, we have to go!"

I was breathing hard and I shook my head, the figure disappearing as quickly as I saw it. She pulled on my hand and we ran again, faster this time.

Moments later, we broke onto the main road just as our six friends did. We all collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. Everyone huddled close to their lover, some of us crying, some of us showing no emotion what so ever.

All of us together again. 

But something was off. 

That was too easy.

I looked around at my friends.

Calum and Mack were soaking wet.

Ashton and Cameron were covered in dirt and they looked absolutely exhausted.

Michael and Kenz were also soaked, but there was blood all over their clothes and bruises forming on their faces. Michael's arm was twisted weirdly and Kenz was limping.

We all looked at each other, no one saying a word. But without words, I knew we all agreed on the same thing.

Something bad happened to us. Something that should never happen to anyone. We were tortured, beaten, and thrown around like rag dolls. And by what, we had no idea.

But, we all survived.

And we all had to find help.

So with a nod, I stood, reaching out a hand to pull Caitlin up. Everyone else stood as well and we all started walking on the side of the road, having no idea where we were headed. We just wanted to get as far from Lake Willow as possible.

I'm not sure how long we had been walking when the sun started to rise and a gas station came into view. I sighed in relief. Still, no one had said a word. We were all traumatized.

We walked with a purpose now, picking up our pace. There was a car parked in front of one of the gas pumps and a tall man stood beside it. We all stood in front of him, but he must not have heard us approach as he didn't look up.

"P-please help us," Kenz mumbled, her voice cracking.

He was completely ignoring us, not even glancing up.

Ashton cleared his throat,"We're hurt and we need help."

Still no response. I was getting pissed off at this point. After what we had just been through, this pushed me over the line. How dare he ignore us? Not even glance up at us?

I walked up to the man and leaned in his face,"are you deaf?! What is your problem?! Can't you see that we're hurt and need someone to help us?!"

Nothing.

"L-Luke, just stop..."

"No! This guy is a complete dick! He won't eve-"

"Luke shut up!" Caitlin screamed,"don't you get it!? He can't hear us! He's not going to hear us!"

"What are you talking about?" Michael asked, sighing a little.

Mack's bottom lip trembled as she spoke,"W-We didn't make it out of the woods, did we?"

"There's no way we made it out..." Caitlin mumbled, looking at me,"You had been dead for ten minutes before I got you to open your eyes."

I swallowed hard, not being able to respond. At that moment, three police cruisers sped past, going in the direction of Lake Willow, a few ambulances and a fire truck following close behind.

Cameron let out a sob, burying her face into Ashton's neck.

I let go of Caitlin's gaze, looking above her. My jaw dropped when my eyes met a pair of black ones.

Standing a few feet behind Caitlin was a teenage boy. He was smirking, and his face was unmistakable. He was the same boy I saw at the lake. Ethan Carver. I clenched my jaw as well as my fists, rage boiling up inside of me. He killed us. He ruined our lives, he took them. And oh, was he proud. It was obvious.

"Do you believe now?"