Tonight The World Dies

Chapter 23: Brian

I ran, and kept running, until I was out of the hospital and outside in the cool, night air. But, the running had caused my head to pound relentlessly against my skull and make the nausea sensation intensify. As soon as I got outside, I rested against one of the pillars that stood either side of the sliding doors on the pavement, breathing heavily as I tried to fight against the urge to vomit.

But, it was pointless, and I ended up feeding tonight's churned up dinner to the shrubbery beside the pillar.

It was less than pleasant.

"Brian?" I heard Matt's voice call. He sounded a little out of breath from where he'd obviously ran after me.

I didn't reply to him at first as I was too busy riding through my tide of sickness, but the pause had been long enough for Matt to close the gap between us, and I felt his hand touch my shoulder and I immediately shrugged him away.

"I'm fine." I said stubbornly, turning around and leaning against the pillar, spitting out any leftover nastiness from my mouth. "What the fuck did she mean?" I asked, looking up at Matt. He crooked his head in confusion. "What did she mean when she said I should remember? What is it that I'm forgetting?" I asked, possibly a little too harshly, but I had to know.

Matt let out a sigh. "You really want to know, now?" He questioned, giving me a look that pushed me into wanting to know even more about what I had forgotten.

"Yes." I said, adamantly.

Matt pulled in a sharp breath and turned to look up at the night's sky as he thought about his words. But, eventually he spoke, "Johnny spilled the beans about the fact that Avery and I had...kissed." Matt said frankly.

"You...what?" I blurted, staring at my best friend in shock.

"It was an-"

But, before Matt could finish his sentence, a sudden wave of rage settled in as an image popped into my head of Matt and Avery, together, and I lifted my arm up and punched him square in the nose. Matt stumbled back a few steps, his hand coming up to cradle his face.

"Okay...I deserved that." Matt said, shaking his head a little to clear away the pain.

"Damn straight." I agreed, glaring at him. "And don't give me that shit that it was an accident because unless you tripped and your lips magically connected, then it was no fucking accident, and you consciously decided to kiss my girlfriend. That is, if you kissed her...and if not then, well, guess I don't know my girlfriend as well as I thought." I ranted. "Or, should I say, didn't, because who knows if she'll come back out of that theatre alive." I added grimly, but surprisingly my voice came out level. I guess I was expecting the worse: saved me getting my hopes up.

"She will." Matt answered, sniffling. I looked over to him, seeing a trickle of blood run out of his nose. I let out a sigh and reached into my trouser pocket, remembering that I had a spare tissue in there, before handing it to Matt. Even if he had betrayed me, I couldn't leave him there bleeding all over the place. "Thanks." Matt said, taking the tissue from my hand before dabbing it against his nose. "Just so you know, I did kiss her first...but, she kissed me back." He added, briefly glancing over in my direction before he turned his attention back to the bloodied tissue in his hand.

"You know what," I began, gently sliding down the pillar as all the energy within me dispersed to areas unknown, "I don't want to know - not now." I finished my sentence with a groan before I buried my head behind my arms that were folded across my knees.

"Maybe we should get you back inside." Matt suggested. I looked up to see him looking at me worriedly.

"I'm fine, Matt." I said, my voice flat. Matt raised a sceptical eyebrow at me, clearly not believing me. I held his gaze, challenging him to argue with me; he said nothing.