Sanity: The Saw Chronicles [C]

Chapter 49 | Smell of Death

After stripping myself of makeup and throwing on a sweat and jeans, I headed down to the medical wing. The others understood why I was so adamant that Kuza wasn't left alone. Not all of them have experienced this demon but that doesn't matter. We're a family. We stay by each other's sides and we believe each other. Even if one of us is spinning insane stories about demonic beings, we still give one another the benefit of the doubt.

When I reached Kuza's room, I saw he was asleep. Angelo was sat in the large window with his legs crossed. He had his notebook over his knee and pen in hand. His crystal eyes met mine as I stopped in the doorway.

"Where's Chris?" I asked.

"His phone died, so he went back to his room to get a charger." He replied.

"Oh, okay. I'm going to stay here for the rest of the night if you'd like to go get some sleep." I said.

"I'll wait for Chris to get back here. I think we'll go get some food before we turn in."

I took a seat in my normal chair. Kuza looked so peaceful. They pulled his breathing tube out this afternoon since he was breathing on his own just fine. That's good progress. I mean, he's not going to be jumping out of bed any minute to go eat someone, but he's also not dying anymore. He's stabilized. Hopefully he'll be talking again soon. And when he does start to talk, I hope what comes out of his mouth is that he remembers me.

"What're you drawing?" I asked, just trying to talk about a happy subject for once.

Angelo tilted his notebook towards me. It was a rose with a spiderweb on the stem. "I like to draw spiderwebs because they remind me of Chris for some reason."

"Maybe it's because he has them tattooed all over him." I replied.

He got a small grin as he pushed his hair behind his ear. "Maybe. Or maybe it's because they're a lot alike. They're so beautiful and complicated and just... Amazing, but people are afraid to go near them."

"Especially women." I muttered, earning a laugh from him. Angelo had a beautiful laugh. One of those ones that makes you want to smile without even thinking about it. "How's he doing after... everything?" I asked.

"Surprisingly well. He never told me exactly what his dream was about. I think he was scared to say it out out. I have a pretty good feeling about what it was about though..." He glanced down, mumbling, "I know his biggest fear in life."

I was about to ask, but we heard a sudden scream from down the hall. Angelo's head snapped up. He disregarded everything in his hands and rushed out the door. I began to follow but remembered I couldn't leave Kuza alone. It was Chris' scream. I've only heard him scream like that once before. That night at the cabin, when we got caught, and they shot him with a dart... Hearing him scream like that again made that memory come back. It was scarily vivid.

Chris was on the ground in the hall outside. His back was against the wall. I could just barely see him and Angelo from the doorway of the hospital room. Chris was in a lot of pain though. I could easily hear him screaming. Not all of it made sense. Of what did scared me though.

"Shh, Baby, Baby." Angelo frantically tried to get him to calm down, "It's okay. I'm here. Baby, it's okay. Just breathe. Shhh, shhh."

He shook his head repetitively with tears rushing down his face, "I saw it... It..." Chris turned his head to the side, closing his eyes tightly. The words he said next were so quiet. Yet, I somehow heard them from here. He whispered, "Ange... I smell death."

Angelo glanced up at me across the hall. He didn't even know what to say. What exactly do you say to that? He didn't know that I've heard those words before, out of Kuza's mouth. When he was full of cuts and we had to bring him to Ryan's lab for medical attention, he told me that. A few seconds later a dead body was wheeled past us. He knew when someone had died.