All Which Remains

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Arron

It's the body of a student, my "best friend". I see him hanging from the school flag pole.

The pole is straight through his neck.

Why?

Why?

Why?

How did this happen?

As more and more students start to notice the body hanging, the noise of protest begins to die down. I didn't even know Him all that well, and yet, I feel like crying. I try to convince myself that this is something that everyone feels while looking at the body of someone that you know— knew. He referred to himself as my best friend and he knew who I was.

I didn't even get to know his name.

I start to walk home after seeing his body. The image keeps on flashing in my mind.

Over, and over again.

The blood dripped out of his neck.

The pool that had started at the base of the pole.

The whites of his eyes.

How had he felt the moment before he died?

Who killed him?

So many thoughts.

I feel like throwing up.

I bend over in a back alley and heave up all of the feelings that I've had from the moment that I woke up. Maybe if I hadn't gone to school today, or maybe if I was Arron, I could have saved Him. If I hadn't been here, maybe no one would have killed Him. It's all pure speculation, but I have a gut feeling that someone killed him for a reason. Ramelan might be next. I wipe my mouth and lean up against a wall.

I curl into a ball and start to cry. Is it all my fault? It can't be. There's no way that I'm right. The chances that I could be right are one in a million. Still, that one percent could mean Ramelan's death, and I can't risk that.

I can't risk someone else's life.

That night I Dreamt again. Except, it began with Ramelan and I sitting in his bed playing video games. It feels like we're actual friends.

Again.

I can see him laughing.

I feel the warmth of his body heat against my side.

We're playing on a Game Boy. I want to believe that this isn't a dream, but it has a dream-like quality to it. The colors are just a little too bright, and the sounds are just a little bit muffled.

I look around us and notice that we're in an attic. There's a window right beside the bed. It has visible dust particles that can be seen in the sunlight. I feel a tug on my shirt, I turn sideways to see that Ramelan's face is way too close to my own.

He leans in and the world turns dark.

The sunlight from the window turns to moonlight in the span of a second. In the moonlight, I see that Ramelan has ink spilling out of his mouth again.

I start to panic.

I push him off of me and fall sideways off of the bed.

I land with a thud.

Last time, I could run. There was open space. But now I'm stuck in an attic with Ramelan.

I walk to a corner of the attic, but I don't turn my back to Ramelan.

Not once.

I put my hand out like I'm training a dog. The entire time, Ramelan doesn't move. His black, inky eyes bore into mine. Trying to hold me in place.

Ramelan starts to inch towards me, taking in his chances of killing me. Next to me, I see a nail sticking out of the floorboard. If he's anything like the real Ramelan, he should care about me. Even a little bit. I just need to stun him. I stick my foot out and step down on the nail.

I bite my tongue.

Damnit. It hurts like hell.

Ramelan's eyes widen, he looks at me, his face marred with confusion. I rip my foot off of the nail and stride towards him. He steps back, surprised.

I reach out to him and grab his hand.

He looks down at our entwined hands and then up into my eyes. His hand reaches out and he touches my cheek.

I lean into his hand.

With my other hand, I take my shoe off of my injured foot and press my fingers against the wound. All the while, our eyes stay on each other.

With blood on my fingers, I streak it along Ramelan's face.

He flinches backwards, hitting the bedpost and the world dissolves around us.

I open my eyes. I'm laying in the bed that they let me borrow. I didn't think that my idea would work. I thought that if I tried to calm him down, he'd eat my face. I'm glad that he didn't. I smiled up at the ceiling. Giggles start to escape my mouth as the shock from what almost happened starts to overwhelm me. Ramelan walks into our bedroom, his toothbrush in his mouth. He raises an eyebrow at me but doesn't mention it.

"Gwoob warming," Ramelan says, as he searches through his closet.

"Morning," I say in return, yawning and stretching my arms.

Then, I realize that I haven't seen Ramelan in three days.

"Hey!" I yell at him.

"Hmm?"

"Where have you been? I've been worried about you. You can't just disappear for three days."

"What I do and where I go is none of your business." He says as he gathers his clothes and leaves the room.

Damn him. I make a fist and punch a pillow. What gives him the right to act all high and mighty? I was only worried about him. He said that he'd show me how to convince my grandma so I need to get in his good graces. Ugh, I sigh and get ready for the day.

As I walk down the hallway, everything is being upheaved. The household is scrambling to pick up items and put them away. Curious, I ask them what they're doing. Neither of them responds, they just continue to gather things and stash them somewhere in their house. I hurry to the kitchen and see Ramelan eating rice. His face is twisted into an amused grin. I join him at the dinner table.

"Hey," I say, "what are your parents doing?"

"My girlfriend is coming over, my parents are trying to suck up to her."

"How are they sucking up to her by cleaning up their house?"

"They're cleaning up so that they look like they always have a nice, orderly house. Then, they can ask for money and things like that. If I had to guess, I'd say that my mother is mostly behind all of this. Dad seems pretty content with what we have, but nothing's ever enough for women is it?"

His face warps into something that I can't decipher. He turns away from me and continues to eat. What has happened to him?