Dark Paradise

Chapter 13: Clubs of the West~

Chapter 13: Clubs of the West~

We stopped in the dead of night and set up camp. Finn and Lydia crouched down next to a bush and almost instantly fell asleep. Leah took watch, and Celeste fell asleep against a tree. I winced.

I had to remember that Celeste was not Selene, as confusing as that may sound in my head.

Celeste is not Selene. I told myself. Celeste is not Selene, Celeste is not Selene, Celeste is not Selene. No matter how many times I told myself that, I couldn't come to terms to agree with myself. I fell asleep mumbling those words.

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"Chasity. Hey, Chasity, wake up." a voice said, rousing me awake. "Come on sleepyhead, don't you want some food?" I groaned and rubbed my eyes, slamming my face into my thick pillow. My pillow? I swung my eyes open and sat up straight. Surely enough, I was in my room. Staring Selene straight in the eye. A tear rolled down my cheek.

"Whoa, hey." she said as I wrapped my arms around her. "What's with the waterworks? Come on, lovely. You're strong, why're you crying?"

I looked her in the eyes and laughed. "I'm home. How long was I out for?"

"Home?" she said, looking around. "Yeah, you're home. You blacked out during school yesterday, in the nurse's office. Your mom came and took us back to your place. I've been staying here ever since."

I stared at her in shock. Was Blackpool even real?

"You're home." she said again. her voice sounded distant. I looked over at her and realized just how dark it was, and that Selene was gone, as if she was never sitting next to me. I instinctively got up, out of bed, and walked over to my door. Lightning struck throughout the corridor, as if it shot right next to my study.

"You're home." Selene's voice said again, resonationg off the walls and down the halls. I opnened the door and stared down the hall. "You're home." I turned and ran into my study, where the room was empty. Stepping into the room, I scoured all of the furniture in hopes of finding something.

The door slammed behind me, and I cussed at myself under my breath. Thunder and lightning shook the room, and I spun. All of my family and friends were standing around me, their throats slit.

"Why?" Selene asked me, blood dripping out of her mouth. I felt something wet hit my foot. I looked down and saw a single drop of blood, then another. My eyes scaled that side of my body until they held firm on a knife covered in blood. "Why would you do that to us?"

A tear escaped my cheek as I turned and saw all my friends from Blackpool standing around me. Celeste pushed her way to the front. All of their throats were slit as well. "You did this to us, Chasity." she said, looking at us sadly. "Why? What did we do to you?"

Everyone closed in on me and I screamed out in terror.

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"Chasity, wake the hell up!"

My eyes flipped open as I sucked in a breath. I sat up and began coughing up blood. "Shit." I heard Celeste say behind me. She crawled over and rubbed my back as I continuted to hack up blood and bile. "Chase, what happened?"

I shook my head and stood up, spitting out another spot of blood. "It's nothing. Let's get moving."

I walked through the snow in silence, arriving in Clubs an hour later. I ran into the town, trying to clear my head of the nightmare that, for whatever reason, made me cough up a fair amount of blood.