Insane?

Chapter 37:

*SOPHIA'S POV:

The sound of a gunshot kept ringing through my ears. It's all I could hear—one after another after another. A shooting range might be comparable, although a place like that doesn't normally come with emotional destruction. I can still feel his sweaty skin slipping underneath my fingertips. The shallow breaths drying his parted lips felt like fire. Blood the color of crimson stained his t-shirt as it slowly oozed from the open wound I caused. The sound of gunshots was replaced by the sound his painful cries. Low but loud, they were an attempt to mask the unbearable burning in his right shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," I cried, "I'm so sorry, Shawn."

The necklace I took from him indented itself into my palm as I held it firmly. When his hand fell and head bobbed, I panicked. Stay with me, I screamed, you have to stay awake. You can't leave me, Shawn.

His eyes sparkled solemnly. He spoke softly, holding my cheek.

"I'm not going anywhere, Sophia." he smiled, his cheek melting through my fingers. The boy's skin began to drip downwards as it blistered the flesh of my hands. He was disintegrating second by second, pooling onto the floor into a massive heap of nothing. Blood scorched the floorboards and as I disregarded the elevated temperature, I screamed as I began to re-sculpt my boyfriend.

"No, no, no, fuck! Shawn, come on!" I screamed as the muscle was falling off my hands, leaving only a skeletal structure. "You can't leave me, I love you!"

"Sophia,"

"Fuck!" I screamed as the heat ruined my arms. "Shawn!"

"Sophia,"

"Come back to me,"

"Sophia!"

"No!" I cried out again, feeling someone's arms grip mine. My eyes opened again, but I wasn't straddling a melting boy. I was met with a concerned Morgan, holding me firmly as we both sat on the couch.

"Hey, hey, Soph, you're safe. It's okay, I'm here." she cooed, looking directly into my blurred eyes. "Breathe, you need to breathe."

"I- I tried to save him but—but he—but he started–" I stuttered, observing my hands to find them unharmed. "Where?"

"Sophia, slow down, I can't understand you. Breathe,"

"Where's Shawn?"

Morgan nodded and softly smiled, rubbing my arms. "Shawn's fine, honey. He's perfectly okay, it wasn't anything dire. Your gramma fixed him right up at the house."

"He's alive?"

"Yes, yes, he's alive. He texted me about a half hour ago telling me how everything was going."

"I- I thought I killed him." I choked, another sob escaping from my throat. "I thought he was gone."

Morgan pulled me into a hug as I cried hysterically. The picture kept playing over and over again in my head like a movie montage. The aiming, the gunshot, the vision of him clutching his shoulder, the slip of consciousness. Everything was replaying and I couldn't get it to stop. Every time I closed my eyes I saw nothing but potential death.

"It wasn't you, Sophia. You were not the one who aimed, you were not the one who pulled the trigger, do you understand? It wasn't your fault." she said reassuringly. "He's your muscle man, remember? He's gonna rest while you rest."

"I'm weak," I spat, "Noken got into my head because of it. I couldn't defend myself for the thousandth time this summer and of course Shawn had to swoop in and risk his life once again to save me."