BLOODLESS

Chapter Eight

Deathly Silence

For the rest of the day I didn't say a single word.

The only way I communicated was by shaking or nodding my head and pointing out places to go.

Sure, Edward's death hit me like a freight train, but that felt like a reality check. As if it was reminding me, "Stay humble. Don't get too cocky.."

Yes, I wasn't that close with Edward in the first place, but you can't justify death. Death is always going to be bad, and I think his death was what taught me that. I was just a naive teenager, not knowing how a real loss felt. It kind of prepared me in way, because after realising how dangerous the world really is, I knew that deep down, there was going to be a lot more pain than just his death.

Even after Matilda's death, it seemed like it was far from over. And boy, was I right.

I noticed that when Edward died he was hopeful and happy, because he believed that he really could turn things around. Not just for him, but for all of us. We were starving and alone, and he thought that we could have at least one happy night before we lose someone.

However, when Matilda died she had a worried look on her face, even if she sounded so calm and laid back. You could see the terror on her face when she saw the blades that were under the river. The second we reached the river, way before she slipped and fell, you could see her eyes scan across the pure horror that was directly in front of her. Matilda knew that it was a death trap, but she wanted to at least make her last moments blissful. Nothing beats the satisfaction of finding ice-cold, clear water after going for what was basically a week without it. I'm surprised we even lived for a week without water.

The two were absolute opposites, yet they were somehow best friends.

By the time I had stopped bringing back bad memories, we had walked all the way up a steep, rocky hill.

The sun was hiding behind the trees, but warm strokes of yellow and orange were shining through, into the pink sky. Twinkling stars shone through the faded clouds, and the sky was slowly turning from pink to purple.

"The sunset is beautiful, isn't it?" I asked.

Logan looked at me, surprised I was talking. "Yeah, it is," he answered, while looking at how breathtakingly the colours blended into swirls and patterns.

Her blood danced about and began to form beautiful shapes and and patterns in the water.

"Are you okay? After... you know."

I shook my head.

We sat down, and I began digging into the red dirt, making a pile of dirt beside a small hole in the ground. The dirt mound looked like a surprisingly... fluffy pile of dirt. If that even makes sense.

Blood was streaming out of his eyes like tears, and his mouth was foaming with red bubbles.

"You know that book that we read with Mr. Gitson in Grade 3? The one that said 'if you keep on living in the past, you'll never be able to find the light that guides you towards a bright future.'"

I nodded, so he continued. "Yeah, well, if we're gonna get through this mess and actually unite monsters and humans, we need to look towards the future. We'll explain their deaths to their families and hold a proper funeral, okay? For now, we need to focus on not dying!" Logan gave me his first genuine smile in ages. It was somewhat reassuring.

I flashed a sad smile. "Thanks, Logan. You always have something to say. Speaking of 'our future and staying alive,' I think we should probably start a fire to keep warm for the night."

Logan stood up and looked around. There were no trees on the hill, and we just got out of the woods. Actually, it was even better than getting out of the woods. We were overlooking the woods, which meant we could see where we were going next.

So there was nothing we could use to start a fire, except for rocks.

"Argh, it would be so much easier with magic, but we don't know the type of magic that can do that kind of stuff!" Shouted Logan, annoyed.

It was useless trying to make a fire, that was obvious. Without Matilda's flint and steel, we were absolutely hopeless. Yet we didn't give up. We wasted an hour splitting up and looking for anything we could sleep in that would be warmer and safer than being out in the open.

The sky was slowly fading to a deep blue as I began to stumble back to our original spot at the top of the hill. My eyes fluttered shut as I yawned and walked even faster.

The next step I took never made it onto the ground. Instead, my stomach lurched as I plummeted down a four metre gap and onto a cold, hard surface. The noise of me "landing" bounced off the walls and eventually faded into the sounds of crickets hiding in nearby bushes and birds chirping somewhere in the sky. Then everything stopped. The sounds were cut off, and my vision turned to black.

I was drifting in and out of consciousness for what seemed like years, but in reality it was only a few minutes.

The sound of quick footsteps swam around in my ears, until they stopped somewhere near me.

I didn't care at that point. I kept my eyes shut and listened to the soft splashes of rain outside. I assumed I had fallen into a cave of some sort, and the person beside me was a worried Logan.

I turned onto my left side and opened my eyes. Sure enough, there was Logan, his back facing away from me. He was sitting up and throwing rocks at one of the cave walls.

Logan turned to face me, hearing movement, so I swiftly shut my eyes and drifted into a peaceful slumber.