Broken World

Chapter 5

       "Shh, please don't. I just came to apologize. I really am sorry for doing that to you, and in all honesty I deserved what I got. I hope we can be friends," he say looking a bit hopeful.

       "I can try to be your friend as long as you swear never to do that again," I say still a bit wary.

       "I won't ever do it again, and if I do you can literally kill me however you want, deal?" he asks.

       "Deal. I'll have to let Max know so he doesn't kill you," I say looking past him to see where Max is. When I don't see him I begin to panic. All of a sudden Max falls with a thud, and Max straddles him while strangling him.

       "Max get off him! We agreed to try to be friends! Get off him!" I scream.

       "No! I warned him!" he yells.

       "Get off him!" I scream grabbing Max and yanking backwards with all my might. He comes off, and Brandon rolls to his knees sucking in air with all his might and wheezing like an old man with breathing problems. I start patting his back and holding him up like a mother would.

       "What the hell are you doing?" Max exclaims obviously pissed.

       "It's called helping a friend," I say and with that repeat the conversation Brandon and I had.

       "Oh, um, well now I feel like a douchebag. Anyway, what I came back to say is we are in a store parking lot and can go use the bathroom anytime we wish. I mean, you know, after we let the bus driver know we're getting off," Max says.

       "Okay, well, I'm going. Friends feel free to join me if you wish," I say starting to turn, but a hand on my calf stops me, and I look down.

       "Can you help me inside?" Brandon wheezes.

       "Yeah. Take my hand," I say offering my hand. He takes it, and I wrap my hand around his waist to support him. We walk to the door, and Max lets the driver know we are taking a bathroom break. As we head inside I see hail on the ground, and I'm stunned by how strange the weather's acting.

       "Guys anyone else notice the hail?" I ask. They all nod, and we pick up our pace. Once inside the building is eerily quiet, and to be honest it's really creepy. We make it to the bathroom and go to our separate bathrooms. I do my business then head back out to wait for the others. I feel as if someone's watching me and look around. I see nothing, so I go back to waiting. All of a sudden I feel something cool against my neck and realizing it's a knife I scream. Everyone comes running. The boys seem to have forgotten to re-zip their pants, but honestly I don't care I just want to be freed from this thing. They all freeze, and I see the same mask of horror on all of their faces. That's when I jerk my head backwards and then directly downwards just barely missing the knife. When I turn I see a bloodied, ripped open face and turn to sprint for the exit. I hear my friends begin running behind me. We all sprint for our lives, but the thing cuts us off, and we are forced to run to run around the store. When we finally ditch it we run back for the exit, and as soon as we see the bus we begin screaming for the bus driver to open the door. He does, and as soon as we are on he closes them quickly, and the thing slams into it. The bus driver starts driving as all four of us double over panting. We make our way shakily to the back, and when we get there we collapse into the seats. I can feel my pulse in every part of my body, and my legs begin cramping. We are all groaning either from lack of oxygen, pain, or fear. I begin feeling tears, but I force them away. I've cried enough today to make a freaking river. I literally feel as if I've given up. I wish I could just go home even though I love being with Max. I want to scream in frustration at how horrible today's been. The others are looking at me weird, and I stare back. They look away, and I laugh.

       "What are you laughing at?" Brandon asks.

       "The craziness of today. I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming," I say still laughing. They look at me like I'm crazy.

       "First you aren't dreaming. Second you're kind of scaring me," Max says.

       "I'm scaring myself. Hey looky there! There's a bird!" I exclaim.

       "She's losing her mind again. Don't worry it's normal. I should know I've seen it all the time," Zoe says.

       "This is totally normal! Hey, anybody else see the fluffy unicorn?" I exclaim feeling like I'm suffocating from laughing.

       "Lovely, she's hallucinating! Is this like normal when she's scared?" Brandon asks.

       "No, it's just normal in general. Honestly you should see her hyped up on sugar or when she's tired. It's hilarious," Zoe says.

       "I think I'm catching the laughter!" Brandon says bursting out laughing.

       "Me too! It's a contagious disease that spreads through the air!" Zoe says bursting out laughing.

       "Y'all are crazy," Max says, but soon he's engulfed in the laughter as well. When I see we are turning off onto the road heading for camp I let out a loud 'Woo!' and get looks like I'm mental.

       "I'm mental, and I'm proud!" I scream, sending my little group back into laughter, and soon everyone is laughing with us because of my insanity.

       "I honestly think you are the only one who could make people laugh in this kind of situation," Max says.

       "I probably am to be honest. I mean my insanity really helps out, and people find me hilarious when I lose my mind," I say starting to calm back down. I honestly think I need help.

       "I'm surprised you didn't start the turkey call," Zoe says, sending me back over the edge. Everyone's face is either red or purple or blue from lack of oxygen, and that only causes us to laugh harder. When we pull up to the building where they'll let us out everyone let's out cheers and screams, excited that the long bus ride of hell is over.