It Beats For You

Night of Blood

Raven’s POV

I met Andy Biersack…why wouldn’t James let me ask him about Rain?

James and I sat in the old warehouse silently.

“Look, Raven, I’m sorry, but it’s not like you don’t have tomorrow to find her.” James said.

“I know. I don’t blame you. I saw him, too…I’m glad you got us out of there, or he would have taken me back to her.” I told him.

“Hey, how about I make up for it by taking you out to see some more of Los Angeles? I could take you to the park where my parents took me when I was little.”

“Yeah, sure.”

We stood up and James gave me a brotherly hug. He had become my best and only friend.

The walk to the park was fairly short.

We relaxed in the grass of the park, near the children’s playset, and James told me stories about what it used to be like with his parents.

“Mom and dad used to take me to all these really cool events…but then at the opera a couple years ago, when I was your age, there was this guy who cornered us after the show…he forced my mom to give him her purse…he raped her…made my dad watch…then he shot my dad in the head…made mom and I watch…I hated it. I was crying, but he just kept kicking me, telling me to shut up. Then he shot my mom…I think that was the worst day of my life. I’ll see my mom and dad again, someday, though. They’ll tell me I did what was right.”

“I hate that, James, you know that.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Raven…it’s just…I need to talk about it sometimes. Maybe if you told me what happened with-”

“No.”

“Okay. Well, I’m here to listen if you decide to.” He said.

We began to hear footsteps.

James sat up and looked around. “Raven…Raven, let’s go.”

“Why? Who is it?” I squinted to try and see who it was.

“Just come on!” He said, pulling me up.

We began running to the cement trail. The footsteps followed us, running after us.

James tripped and I turned around to help him up.

“Dude, Raven, just get your ass out of here! Run, man!” He urged.

I shook my head, adrenaline racing through every inch of my body.

“Come on, dude! Get up!”

The man chasing us got closer.

“Get the fuck out of here!” James yelled.

“No. I’m not leaving you here.”

The guy pulled James up by his hair.

“Son of a bitch!” James screamed. “What’s your problem, motherfucker?”

The man didn’t say anything. I watched him pull out a knife.

“James!” I yelled, watching him stab James repeatedly.

“You’re like the brother I never had, Raven…now run. Get. Out. Of. Here.” The life left his eyes…watching him die was one of the worst feelings I’d ever had.

The man advanced forward, grabbing me around the neck.

“Let me go!” I gasped, kicking at him. I felt a sharp pain in the side of my stomach, but kept kicking and punching at him. His grip loosened enough for me to squirm out and run.

I ran, and I didn’t look back.

I somehow ended back up at the warehouse, where I slumped against the wall.

I hugged my knees to my chest, but it hurt too bad. I lifted up my shirt, looking at my stomach.

There was a deep knife wound in my side, bleeding profusely.

But I was alive…without James. I hadn’t known him very long but he was like a brother.

I remember sitting there, thinking that I should have tried harder to help him, but falling asleep thinking that I needed to clean my wound at some point or it would probably get infected.

It was the bright light from the sun that woke me up the next morning. I stood up and stretched, which was excruciating.

Today was the day I was going to find Rain again. After all these years, I’d finally get to see her again.

I only had a limited amount of time to get to the place where the contest she was entered in was being held, so I started walking. Nobody gave me a second glance, which was good. That meant Devine wasn’t here; he hadn’t caught up to me yet.

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R&R P.S. Happy birthday to the Rev! I wish he was still with us...