The Apocalypse is now (AH/Ryan Haywood fanfic) *DISCONTINUED*

Real or Not Real?

My fingers curled around his shoulders as I shook his limp body frantically, screaming his name at the top of my lungs. I was finally cracking. Shattering into a million different pieces that would never be put back together, forever separated into tiny pieces of an impossible puzzle never to be completed. I could feel Burnie's strong arms wrap around my waist and gently tug me in an attempt to lead me away which gradually turned into a violent yank after my constant acts of denial. His voice echoed in my ear, his words coming out louder than my cries for forgiveness.
"LAUREN. LAUREN PLEASE!" His voice yelled. I continued to flail about in his grip frantically.
"LAUREN IT'S NOT HIM. IT'S NOT RYAN. PLEASE PLEASE STOP!" I looked up to his seriously concerned face through tear stricken eyes. Confusion spread across my face and inched its way through my body like a plague. I furrowed my eyebrows and pushed him away.
"What are you talking about?!" I squeaked, my voice cracked in the middle of some words.
"It's...it's him..." My words trailed off as I looked behind me to where his body was only to be greeted with a stranger. Not Ryan. Just a mystery man who I'd murdered in cold blood. My mouth dropped open in absolute confusion and I stumbled backwards. Burnie gripped my shoulders as I collapsed to the floor and stared at the sky.
"I'm broken...oh my god...I can't do this anymore..." I whispered to myself. I could vaguely hear Burnie and Ashley exchanging words and felt Burnie pat my shoulder twice before his footsteps began to fade.
"I can't do this. I can't do it. I don't want to. Let me go." I whispered not just to myself but to those who lingered in the sky above me. I closed my hand around the handle of a handgun and checked the bullets in the mag. One left. Perfect. I cocked it and heard faint shrieking from the car to my right. I placed the bullets way out to my temple and balled up my other fist to the point where blood escaped my skin. The metal of the gun sent cooling sensations all throughout my pores, almost comforting me. My finger slowly began to pull back on the trigger and just as the bullet escaped, my wrist was smacked upwards and the gun was ripped from my fingertips. A blood curdling scream came from my left, the direction that the gun was facing. My hands instinctively attempted return what was rightfully mine from the one who took it from me. I yelled and screamed and tackled Burnie to the ground. He pushed me off of him, checking the mag once before returning the gun to me. But as I grabbed the end of the gun that wasn't in his hands, he tugged on the gun slightly and enclosed me in a warm and comforting hug. And I cried. I cried and cried until I was too weak to stand alone.

Burnie held me in his arms gently, taking care of me before placing me in the back seats of the truck. As he placed me down he took my hand and smoothly caressed the back of it with his thumb. Something was wrong though. His hand went rigid along with the rest of his body as his eyes began to well up with tears. I followed his distraught gaze to a blacked out Ashley with blood pouring from her right shoulder. Her face was pale with traces of crimson fingerprints dotted across her face, neck and splattered throughout her hair.
"Oh god." Burnie breathed out. My body instantly leaped forwards to the front seat where she was slumped over. Her breathing occasionally got caught in her throat as blood dribbled from the bullet wound. I applied pressure to the wound with one hand and wildly search the areas closest to me for some kind of thick and long fabric that could substitute for a bandage at this moment of chaos. A shouted at Burnie who was still staring at the both of us, his mouth open wide and tears streaming down his face. He looked into my eyes with such pain and suffering that I almost began to cry myself. I've never seen my brother in such agony before.
"Burnie I need you right now. She will die unless you help us." His eyes looked down and back up again before he nodded.
"Now I need you to look in the back of the truck and tell me everything that you see."
He did as I said, lifting the trunk of the car and reporting all the objects that came into view.
"Guns, guns, a paper clip, more guns..." He sighed "more guns, stupid fucking guns! Lauren there's nothing in here that'll help I don't know what to do!" I heard him say through gritted teeth.
"Stop panicking. Please just stop panicking and breath. She's going to be ok. Just look under the back seats and see if anything slid under there." My heart was pounding out of my chest. That was a complete lie. If she didn't get the correct amount of pressure or medication or even get the bullet removed within the next half hour then there was no way that she was going to survive. He took a deep breath before marching to the back door, making it fly open.
"THERES A FIRST AID KIT!" He yelled, followed by a thud and sounds of distress. He came up with the kit and was rubbing the back of his head slowly. I took the kit from him and placed it on the back seat. I then yanked his arm over to Ashley's shoulder where he instinctively applied pressure. I opened the kit and began my work.

*SKIPPING THE PROCEDURE COS I DONT KNOW WHAT ID DO FOR THAT TO BE HONEST LIKE WUT*

We drove and drove, the cooling breeze twirling around our faces and through our hair. Ashley occasionally let out groans of pain and would open her eyes sometimes but she'd lost a lot of blood so we made sure that she got plenty of rest. That whole ride I couldn't stop thinking about the conclusion if come to. That scream that sounded as I fired the gun and released the bullet that should've gone through my head ended up being the one to potentially kill my sister in law. It was all my fault and there was nothing I could now do to change that. We were about to pull into the Walmart when I saw a familiar figure sat on a rock, one leg outstretched, elbow resting on the bent leg and their hand holding their head up. I patted Burnie's shoulder before slowly strolling over to them with a wide grin on my face. My stroll turned into a jog and eventually a run and I went to sit on the rock beside him.
"What do you want Griffon?" His voice was raw and sarcastic like he'd been disturbed by Griffon a lot in my disappearance. I interlocked my hand with his and scooted a little closer to him.
"Who said it was Griffon?" I said with a smirk on my fast. I felt his hand tense up and he looked at my with complete awe.
"I looked for you," he breathed "I looked for you everywhere." He let out a slight laugh of disbelief. I wanted to see his face, his eyes and those lips that never failed to comfort me but the sun was being lost to the moon.
"I know. I know and I'm so so sorry." I wrapped my arms around him before pulling him into the last hints of sunlight. But what I saw was not his smooth skin and untouched lips. No. His face was battered and bruised, his lip sliced in the corner and traces of blood marked his neck.
"Baby..." I whispered, going to touch his cheek before he flinched away.
"It's nothing. It's fine." He hugged me tightly. "Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not ok then it's not the end." He kissed my lips passionately before returning to the hug.

He was right. This was not the end.