You Found Me

Chapter 20

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I am in my house. I climb out of bed and look around. It is silent, as per usual. How did I get back here? The last thing I remember was that awful zombie movie. Creak!

I spin around, expecting one of the boys, my mother, Marie, anybody but Mark. I struggle to breathe.

"Mark. Mark is that you? Is it really you?" My throat clogs up as tears stream down my face. His handsome face is bloodied and bruised.

"You did this." His words come out hollow and raspy. Dead. My legs are glued to the floor.

"I-I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Sobs rack my body, my vision blurring.

"I could've had a life Sang. You ruined that. You killed me." I fall to my knees, dry-heaving.

"Sangy?" Stella's sweet voice floats to me. My head snaps up. "St-St-Stella?" Stella pads over to me, wearing that purple night gown she always used to wear, her hair grown all the way down to her ankles. I glance around for Mark but he is nowhere to be seen.

"Sangy I had a really bad dream." I scoop Stella up in my arms and clung to her like a koala. "Shh. It will be okay." I run my fingers through her hair, an action that always gave her comfort.

She draws in a deep breath. "I had a dream that I died." I freeze. "My sister killed me." When she looked up at me, her eyes were black. "Oh wait, that wasn't a dream. You did kill me. Why didn't you die? You're just a waste of space. I never even had my first kiss. I never got the chance to live. It should've been you!"

Her teeth changed into fangs and she leaps at me.

I shoot up, ripping off the covers, gasping for air. I soon feel a pair of arms wrap around me. I breathe in moss and berries. "Shhh It's okay Princess." I curl into Victor and cry.

After a while, I gain control and pull away. "I'm sorry Victor. Your shirts all wet."I point out the splotched of damp fabric. Victor chuckles, "Of course you would be worried about that. Sang, it's just a bit of water." "And snot." I chime in. Victor smiles softly, "It isn't a problem." He seems hesitant but decides to broach the subject anyways. "Do you want to talk about it?" I shake my head profusely. "I find it helps." He sucks in a breath before continuing.

"A while ago, I had a cousin who went missing. It was really tragic. We were supposed to meet up the day he disappeared. He said he needed to talk to me. That it was urgent." He pauses. "I had nightmares all the time. I used to blame myself. I kept on putting off when we would meet because I was preoccupied. I kept on thinking, if only I went a day earlier. If only I had tried harder."

My heart starts breaking. "It took me some time to realize there wasn't much I could do. I tried searching for him but he was nowhere to be found."

"Victor I'm so sorry that happened to you." He gives me a sad smile, "Yeah, me too." He turns and stares directly in my eyes,

"Sang, whatever you blame yourself for, whatever is eating you up inside, it always helps to talk. I'll be here if you need a listening ear." I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into a tight hug, ignoring the pains of my injuries.

"Thank you Victor."

"Anytime Princess."

I look around the room to see it is only us two. "Where is everyone. Why am I here? We were just watching the zombie movie-"

"You mean we watched the zombie movie last night." Eyebrows raised, I walk over to the window and pull open the shade. There is a crest of yellow and red above the trees, but the sky above is still dark.

"We ended up crashing here last night. You were dead asleep so Nate brought you up here to rest. I heard you and came up to see if you were okay." I nod, discombobulated. I slept over my friend's house? There were so many things in that sentence that would make my mother's cap pop off. Speaking of my mother...

"I'm sorry Victor, but I really need to go home. Now." I rush around, gathering my socks and slipping on my shoes. "Thank Nathan and the others for me. I don't want to wake him up." Victor nods, "Do you need anything?" I shake my head, "I'm fine. See you on Monday Victor!" I give him a quick hug and a quick peck on the check and jog out of the house. I want Victor to know I appreciated this.

I go around back, climb the window, and then get to my room. I decide to take a shower in case their smell got on me. I look down and see that I am wearing a red hoodie. Smiling, I take it off and hide it in the bottom of my book bag. I'll give it back to Nathan on Monday.

Nathan hears a door close, and reluctantly leaves the warmth of his covers. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he groggily trudges to the end of the hallway. Spotting Victor he calls out, "What's up?" Victor turns around, cheeks pink. "Sang had to leave early." Nathan frowns, looking out the window. He can see the retreating form of Sang Sorenson. Victor can hear the others begin to stir.

"Pancakes?"

"Hell yes."

"With chocolate chips?"

"Don't you dare!"