The World I Knew Isn't The Same Anymore

Chapter 27 Love or Be Loved

None of the Shoreline students can catch a break. It's the fourth day of utter chaos. Chase has everyone over, including Ryder and all his classmates. And when they hear a loud THUD and knocking sound from his bathroom they all share a look of suspense.

"Are you keeping a girl locked up in there?" Justin teases as he takes a swig of Vodka. He's gotten so used to the taste his face makes no movements and it's like drinking water. 

"Shut up," Chase responds and grabs a small knife from his bed stand. He nearly kicks the door down to his bathroom and prepares to lunge forward with his blade.

But he stops dead in his tracks when he sees a soaking wet and bleeding Bree. He drops the knife and hears it clatter against the floor. She looks right up at him with her mouth parted and eyes wide. She's looking back and forth from the mirror to her surroundings as if she has no idea how she got here. If it weren't for diving into water her tears would have stained her cheeks.

She realizes that she's dragged blood across his counter and is now puddling at his floor, and it's worse that she's dripping water everywhere. "I'm sorry," she pants.

Chase stands there for a second in pure disbelief, but when he realizes that blood is coming out of her he immediately calls for Izabel. And like an angel of grace Izabel appears in the doorframe and then drops to her knees at the sight of Bree bleeding out.

"What the hell happened?" She nearly shrieks. Both hers and Chase's voice have caused the rest of their classmates and Ryder to peep through the door.

Bree shakes her head repeatedly still trying to make sense of the past half hour. Izabel places her hands over Bree's wound that is now being covered in dark red and black sticky ichor. Bree shuts her eyes as the golden sparkling light begins to illuminate - she was only in that dark place for less than 30 minutes but being in the light so soon is giving her a migraine.

The pain she felt is slowly disappearing and she can feel her skin stitching itself back together. Even the small cuts from the night before have faded. Once the golden shimmering light disappears she opens her eyes once again and fights the urge to lay down on the ground.

Both Izabel and Chase stare at her before offering her a hand to help her up. And she takes them and feels weightless as their strength carries her to her feet. As she stares at all her classmates faces, she nearly crumbles to her knees in both embarrassment and confusion.

"You were keeping a girl locked in there," Justin laughs, and no matter what moment they find themselves Bree realizes he's always laughing.

"No one was locked up, Justin!" Chase snaps back now pinching the bridge of his nose. For the past hour or so they've all been huddled up in his room trying to figure out what the hell to do about the prophecy.

When Izabel's and Chase's support goes away Bree can't help but slide down the wall to crouch down. Despite Izabel's healing magic she still feels weak and her body aches. All the sleep she's just caught up on feels nonexistent now, as if she was hit by a bus over and over again.

Cade is seated on the floor next to her and he can't help but peer right at her face. "You look exhausted," he says and then pokes at her shoulder. "You alright?"

"No!" This time it's Bree's turn to snap. All heads turn in her direction as she smacks her forehead into her palms. Her long brunette hair falls over her face and she can still smell ash on it and it's dirty making it fall in strings almost. "I'm tired and confused and... and," her voice trails off as she fights the urge to sob.