The End

17. Fire

Phil's hospital room ^^

Phil's POV: (before he blacks out)

I run as fast as I can, but I know it's not fast enough. I can feel myself become really lightheaded. My vision becomes more blurry than it it already is with black spot at the edges. All I hear is my heavy breathing and the loud noise my bare feet make against the rock trail. It hurts and I'm tired, but I keep running. I need to get help. I trip a few times, but I keep pushing myself up and forward. After a while I start to see the trees clear up and turn into my backyard.

Just a bit more, Phil. You can do this.

I am so close to my house, I can practacly taste it. That's when I hear loud foot steps that I mistaked for my own.

"Phil!" I hear Dan yell.

I feel relief run through me when I think that it is just Dan running behind me. I couldn't have been more wrong. I turn around and instantly regret it.

Standing less than one foot away from me is Hunter. He is so close that I can see his face clearly. More than a second couldn't have passed when I see his arm move forward and feel the pain erupt in my stomach. I don't have to look to know he stabbed me. At the same time I hear a loud noise. I can't think clearly; I don't know what it was or where it came from. I look past Hunter's wide, almost lifeless, eyes and to the person behind him, Dan. He is so close, but yet so far. I don't have to see his face clearly to know his expression is the same as mine: a mixture of surprise and pain.

I stumble backwards in shock. I gasp as the floor suddenly disappears from beneath my feet. I feel myself falling and my back slam into the cold water. I manage to get a small breath of air before I am engulfed by the water.

It takes me a couple of seconds to realize I have fallen into the pool. With the little strength I have left, I start trying to swim back up to the surface. The water burns my eyes and makes my horrible vision even worse.

'Just give up,' says the voice in my head. It surprises me, but I ignore it along with the pain in my stomach.

I notice a dark figure swimming toward me from above.

Hunter!

I panic and start to swim away from him. I keep flailing and trying to swim as fast as I can, but Hunter still manages to be faster. I push myself one last time with all the force I have left. I end up hitting the back of my head, hard, on the bottom of the pool. The impact causes me to release the breath I was holding. Water soon replaces the oxygen in my lungs. I feel it force its way into my mouth and burn my throat. Everything burns and it feels like my lungs are on fire.

'Give up,' says the voice again.

And that's what I do; I give up.

I close my eyes and let the darkness win.

I love you, Dan. I'm sorry.

***

Dan's POV:

It starts slow. Its a small, little ache at first. Then the pain grows more and more. Just when I think it is becoming too unbearable, it goes away completely. Suddenly, it comes back full force, knocking the air out of me. It feels like my soul is being ripped out of my body, like every cell within me is dying, like my heart is being ripped apart, like all my bones are being broken, like I am on fire.

I scream in agony. My eyes open quickly only to be shut again because of the blinding white light. I hear beeping noises and people around me. I move around to try and turn the fire off from my body, but I feel something holding me down. I open my eyes and once they ajust I see that I am being held down by unknown people. There is no fire. Some of them are strapping me down with who knows what. A nurse gives me a shot, but I don't feel anything happen. I squeeze my eyes shut and scream again, but they don't release me.