The Dare

As I walked through the school yard I heard my friends yell for me. I sighed as I turned around to look at them. There were four of them. Matteo,Theodore, Kieran and Wilhelm.
"Hey! Royce, where are you going? Thought we were supposed to hang out after school today?" Matteo asked. Matteo was the oldest out of all of us. He was supposed to have graduated last year but had been held back because of bad grades. He didn't seem to care that much though. Matteo had short curly brown hair that fell into his face. He usually wore glasses but today I guess he had decided not to. I don't know why. He can't see that far without them.
"I have to babysit Juliette and Martha now apparently." I sighed as I looked at my friends. Matteo and Kieran rolled their eyes at my response. You could tell they were brothers by how much they act alike. Kieran had long curly brown hair but his was more tame than his brother's hair. He was the youngest out of us with him being a freshman and the rest of us being seniors in high school. Kieran didn't need glasses unlike his brother. I could tell Matteo couldn't see me in front of him as he was squinting at me and Theodore was holding his arm to keep him in place.
"Well,we could all just hang out at Royce's house instead. So Royce can watch his siblings and hang out with us." Theodore suggested. He was always the smart one of the group. He had short blonde hair that fell just above his eyes. I looked at Matteo and he looked in thought for a second.
"Well I guess that could work. But I thought we wanted to go to that new restaurant,"Matteo said. I thought for a moment. My older brother Landon wouldn't be at work for much longer. My childhood best friend Wilhelm looked at me. He had long dirty blonde hair. He had a few scars on his face from work. He worked with his dad fixing train tracks. I came with them once. I was covered in oil from head to toe. Never doing that again.
"Well,won't Landon be home from work soon,"Wilhelm said. I nodded at Wilhelm. Matteo smiled at the agreement. Kieran sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Well that settles it then. We go to Royce's house to babysit Juliette and Martha until Landon gets home and then we set sail on our adventure." Matteo said. Theodore and Wilhelm rolled their eyes at Matteo's pirate jokes. I continued to walk home as my friends followed. When we got to my house I unlocked the door and my eldest sister Gina was in the living room. She looked up at us and quickly got ready. She didn't say anything as she put her jacket and shoes on and rushed out the door for work.  I picked up my baby sister who was currently asleep on the ground. My little sister Juliette was probably in her room since she wasn't in the living room. I gave Martha to Wilhelm and he took her to her crib. The other three boys looked confused on how Wilhelm knows where her room is. I gave my friends an awkward smile.
"He stays the night a lot." I said as I gave an awkward chuckle. Juliette walked out of her room and went to the kitchen. She didn't seem to even take notice of us. Wilhelm walked back out to us. Juliette walked back to her room with a cup of tea. I sighed.
"She's probably going to stay in her room to study or she is going to be on call with her friends. So we shouldn't have to worry about her too much." I said as I shrugged. It wasn't long before Landon was home. He nodded at the hall. I gave him a nod and he sighed.  My friends looked at me in confusion once more. I just shrugged and got up from the couch. Wilhelm followed since I was basically laying on him which we did a lot. Our friends followed and we put on our shoes and coats. Landon didn't ask where we were going since he saw I was going to be with Wilhelm. My family trusted Wilhelm with their lives. They knew that if something bad happened to me that Wilhelm would help me. I walked out the house and looked at Kieran since he was the one who knew where he was going. He rolled his eyes and started to walk towards the restaurant wherever it was. We had been walking for awhile and we had all started to get tired.
"Kieran,do you even know where we are?" Matteo asked his little brother. Kieran turned abruptly, almost hitting me as he turned around.  I stumbled backwards into Wilhelm almost causing me to fall but Wilhelm had caught me before I did.
"Thanks,Wille." I smiled. He nodded.
"No problem,Verlier." Wilhelm said. I rolled my eyes at his nickname. We looked back at the two brothers who were now fighting. Theodore was holding Matteo back from hitting his little brother. Wilhelm grabbed Kieran and held him back. I rolled my eyes as I watched it all unfold. The fight didn't last long as Kieran got tired quickly. Wilhelm let him go and opened his phone to see if he could find out where we were. I walked over to him and looked over his shoulder.
"I can't find out where we are."Wilhelm said as he put away his phone. I groaned and Kieran stared at me. I looked at Wilhelm who noticed Kieran was staring at me.
"Well,why don't we go through the forest. Maybe we can find some shelter." Matteo suggested. We all looked at Theodore and he didn't seem to have another idea so he just sighed and nodded.
We headed into the forest using our phones as flashlights. It wasn't long before we were out of the forest and we found a cliff. We decided to take a break and sit near the cliff.
"I think I know where we are now." Wilhelm said. I said as I looked around. It was the cliff that was by Wilhelm's dads work. The other three looked at Wilhelm in confusion.
"My dad works near here." He explained to the other three. Matteo sat quietly for a while.
"Why don't we play a game of truth or dare." Matteo said. We all looked at him. It wasn't the worst idea he's had all day. We all nodded at the idea and he smiled.  A few rounds later and it was my turn to ask someone  truth or dare. I picked Wilhelm and he had picked dare. I looked in thought for a while when I heard a voice behind me.
"Dare him to jump off of the cliff." The voice said. I thought for a second. Wilhelm stared at me for a little while. I always lost my train of thought when Wilhelm stared at me like that.
"I dare you to jump off the cliff into the lake." I suddenly said after I regained my thoughts. He looked over the cliff and nodded. I wasn't actually expecting him to agree to the dare. He took off his shoes and jacket and threw them on the ground beside me. I looked at him and he smiled at me. He counted down and jumped off the cliff.After a few minutes  I got up and looked over the cliff. When I didn't see him when I looked down I felt fear in my body.
"Wilhelm!?" I yelled. I had no response. I looked at the others who were staring at me.
"I'm going to go find him." I said as I started to tread down the cliff. I continued to yell for him as I walked down. The others followed me. I could hear that Theodore was on the phone with 911. I found his phone laying on the ground. I knew he had to be near. I continued to search the area when I suddenly found him. He was laying on the ground. His head was bleeding badly and he had multiple wounds on his body. I wrapped my hoodie around his head so he didn't bleed too much more. It was a while before the paramedics arrived. My hoodie at that point was soaked in Wilhelm's blood. The paramedics wrapped up his head and some of his wounds. They asked me if I wanted to ride in the ambulance with him. I said I did. When we made it to the hospital they had rushed Wilhelm inside. I followed inside and waited in the waiting room. After a little while the others walked inside followed by the police. My friends sat beside me in the waiting room. We sat there for a while. We got questioned by the police every once in a while but not  very much. They could tell that we were very upset about the whole situation.
"My mom's going to kill me."Theodore anxiously said. We all stared at him.
"Dude,you've been gone for over 14 hours. Your face is definitely on a missing poster by now." Matteo said. Theodore looked like he was going to say something to retort but he didn't. He knew it was true. His mom was very overprotective of him. It's a miracle she even let's him go to school at this point.  It was a while until we heard any news about Wilhelm's condition. Theodore and I were still awake. Matteo and Kieran had fallen asleep piled against each other. Theodore wasn't saying anything,he just sat beside me reading. A nurse came out a little bit later. Theodore and I had both looked up at the nurse. She didn't say anything for a few seconds which worried me.
"Royce OsBorn?"She asked and I got up and walked towards her.
"Yes,that's me." I said as I walked closer to her.
"Mr.Ackerman has requested to see you." She said as I gave a slight smile. That meant he was okay. He had to be okay. She started to walk off and I followed her. She led me to Wilhelm's room. She stopped outside his hospital room and gestured for me to go inside. Once I walked inside I saw Wilhelm laying on his hospital bed. He had tubes and wires attached to him. He had bandages wrapped around his head. He looked up at me and smiled that stupid smile that always melted my heart. I sat in a chair beside his bed.He made a motion that he wanted to hold my hand. I sighed and lifted my hand beside his and he held my hand. I smiled and looked at him.
"I'm so sorry,Wille." I said. He squeezed my hand tight. He shook his head and looked up at me. He coughed slightly before he could say anything.
"Not your fault,Verlier." He spoke quietly. He gently played with the ring that was on my hand. I just let him play with the ring. The ring was a present from him anyway. Wilhelm was always anxious when he was in a hospital. I think it had something to do with his older sister dying in the hospital when he was pretty young. I never thought to bring it up though, I knew it was a sore subject for him. I just watched him anxiously play with my ring. He looked so peaceful as he played with my ring.  He was always so sweet to me no matter what. I felt so bad that I'm the one who put him in this state. I think he noticed me staring at him because he was staring right back at me. I looked away from him embarrassed that I had been caught. I could hear him let out a chuckle and mumble something. I looked at him confused. He just looked at me acting like he didn't say anything. For a while we just sat there while he was  playing with my ring. I guess I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know is  I was back in the waiting room with Theodore. I looked over at Theodore who was reading. I tapped his shoulder and looked over at me. I tried speaking but before I could get a word out Theodore spoke.
"Surgery. They sent him into surgery. He was bleeding internally so they took him to the surgery room and had me come pick you up and take you out here." I nodded and Theodore's explanation. He put his arm around my shoulder to assure me that Willhelm would be okay. I laid my head on Theodore's shoulder and he allowed me to. He gently played with my hair knowing it would relax my anxiety a bit. It was a while before the surgeon came out to find us. He looked around, possibly looking for Wilhelm's parents. I got up from my seat.
"His parents aren't here. They refuse to see him. We're all he's got that's going to see him" I said. The surgeon sighed and looked at me. From the look in his eyes I knew it was going to be bad news. Theodore saw me talking to the surgeon and woke up Matteo and Kieran.
"I am so sorry to say this but Mr.Ackerman didn't make it." The surgeon said. I looked wide eyed at the surgeon and had fallen on my knees to the floor. Theodore rushed over to me and pulled me into a hug. I cried into Theodore's shoulder and I could tell he was crying as well. Kieran and Matteo were just standing there doing nothing. The surgeon left us there in the waiting room. I couldn't believe Wilhelm was actually dead. My childhood best friend is gone forever. Theodore and I just stayed in eachothers arms for a while. We never noticed that Kieran and Matteo left.  Weeks later and I was getting ready for Wilhelm's funeral. My sister Gina was helping me look at least somewhat presentable or in her case make me look like I haven't been crying for over 2 weeks straight over my best friend's death. She gently brushed my hair for me because I really couldn't care about my looks at this moment. She drove me to the funeral as well. Once we got there I looked around for Theodore. I eventually found him. He looked just as bad as I did. We sat near each other the whole funeral. I looked around the funeral and noticed Wilhelm's parents weren't even here. They didn't even have the heart to come to their own son's funeral. I also noticed Matteo and Kieran didn't come to the funeral. I tapped on Theodores shoulder and asked where Matteo and Kieran were. He just shrugged his shoulders. We continued throughout the funeral without saying anything to each other. After the funeral ended Gina took me home and Theodore went with his mom. I didn't say anything to Gina on our way home. I was investigated by the police on Wilhelm's death. I was never proven guilty for his death but it still hurt. I always wondered why none of the others except for Theodore and I were questioned. I did never learn the truth to why Matteo and Kieran were never questioned. Theodore thinks it was them who ratted us out to the cops because even at the hospital they weren't asked any questions. I don't want to believe Theodore but he just may be right. Who am I kidding? Theodore is always right so he has to be right about Matteo and Kieran. But why? They were Wilhelm's friends just as much as Theodore and I's.   I visited Wilhelm's grave every few weeks after.Theodore came with me a few times. He would sit there and read to Wilhelm and I. Sometimes he would leave him little poems. He was always the more sentimental one between the two of us but I admired him for it.  I would leave him Forget-Me-Nots and just sit beside his grave and act like I was talking to him. Until one day I had just stopped going to the graveyard completely. I kept on hearing that voice in my head. The one that told me to give Wilhelm that stupid dare. The voice kept on blaming me for his death. I knew Wilhelm's death was my fault but why did this voice keep pushing it. It continued on for months until one morning when I woke up the voice had just stopped. I went to school and the voice never said anything. I never learned why until that night I learned the truth about what had happened that day by the cliff and why this voice was taunting me.