Inescapable Game of Tag

Prologue

Sophie

This was just a bad dream.

Just a horrible bad dream.

That's it, right? That's what all of this was. I probably dozed off at one point, and I've been resting since then. When did I sleep? When that kid I played tag with so long ago chloroformed me. No, that was apart of the dream. When I was resting in the grassy field. No. I'm still with my boyfriend in the car, on the way to go to our football game. That's right. That's right.

Right?

It's a dream, a dream, I kept thinking this to myself as my hands tore through Blake's jacket, trying to find that blood gushing wound of his. My hands found it instantly, and I bit back my shivering gasp. He had to have put a lot of momentum into that one stab he delivered upon himself, because everything was already going away. He wasn't answering me.

But he was still breathing.

Barely, but it was something.

With his blood flooding over my hands, I found the ends of my lips curling into a smile.

A nightmare.

The sound of a shrill, vibrating ring woke me up. A noise I hadn't heard in a long while, one that alerted me to having to explain not making my curfew to my siblings, one that confirmed dates with my boyfriend. One that I wrestled Blake to the ground trying to get ahold of last month.

A cell phone.

Taking a sharp intake of breath, my eyes narrowed and snapped over to where it was held. Quickly, all while shivering erratically, I continued to tear through his clothes before finding the source. I was close to getting the phone over a month ago, very soon after this nightmare started, but I was defeated. There was no struggle now.

I didn't even look at the contact when the device was in my shaking hands, my vision was in a blur of my tears, anyway. I answered quickly, and before any sound can exit my mouth, the person on the other line acted first.

"Blake?" The husky voice of a man, which came out crackled thanks to the cell's damage of excessive moisture.

I froze, my face falling.

"Where are you? You promised you'd be home by nine, and it's almost eleven. Come on. You promised. And I... I'm starting to get worried, you know!"

Eyes itching, my bottom lip began to quiver.

"... Blake?"

Blake. My eyes swept over to the boy. He was unable to answer, breathing faint, and glassed over eyes fluttering, blood pooling from his wound.

Dying.

"... Are you okay-?"

I hung up on the man - Blake's Father, I initially thought - and went through to desperately dial for an ambulance. I couldn't do it fast, my hands were shaking so bad and my vision was blurry. I felt that I'd drop the phone right then and there.

Finally, I got it, and a woman's voice broke through, just as crackled. "911, what is your emergency?" For the past month, I've heard Blake's voice, over and over, saying mostly the same things. That voice that used to be so cold and robotic, like this woman's, then turned to a coddling mush. And then I heard Leon. And then that man just now. And now this lady.

Christ, how much was eaten out of me?

I was already beginning to speak when my teared eyes went over Blake again. The sight messed up my words - my thoughts. "I need - I need an a-ambulance!"

"Where?"

"He-" Oh God, where? I bit my lip, shaking my head over and over. The woman asked again, and I felt a harder punch in my chest. "E-Ember Elementary, at o-our-"

"Ember Elementary?" Just send it, dammit! "There's no-"

"We-We're at the abandoned ca-campus! Behind the-! At our-!" Snap out. Snap out! SNAP OUT! I leaned closer to Blake, grabbing tightly at his soaked jacket, more tears flooding from my eyes. "We're at the b-back of the ca-campus! And the fence near our - the tree!" Another look at Blake struck me hard. "Pl-Please just send h-help, please!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sending one right now. What is the problem, who's hurt?"

"My-" I was choking, I could barely speak. "He st-stabbed himself, and th-there's blood everywhere a-and... Oh my G-God, please, pl-please..."

"Okay, the ambulance is on its way now. Tell me, who's hurt? What's his name? What's going on with him right now?"

What's with all the questions!? I don't want to talk, I just want to curl up and die, dammit! Just let me, let me, let me... "He's - He's not listening to m-me. He's not a-awake, and he's barely breathing and - oh my G-God."

"Keep him there until the paramedics arrive." And how the hell do I keep him with us!? I was still hyperventilating and shaking when she shot out another question. One that made my heart skip a beat. "Is anyone else hurt?"

I looked back at the school.

"Hello?"

My bottom lip quivered, and I began to shake my head, "They're..." I choked out with a shudder, "It's too late. They're already dead."

"Who's dead?" She kept asking this question over and over, taunting me, and I just sank deeper into the mud of the ground.

It doesn't take long for me to hear the sirens blaring nearer and nearer.

The phone fell into my lap, as I used both my hands to grab onto Blake's shoulders. His face streaked with the excessive rain that still poured, and those tears that poured from his now shut eyes. My jaw clenched, as I moved closer with a shudder, my forehead against hos chest, shirt completely soaked through with the rain, mud, and blood.

"What's your name?"

My eyes shoot back open, and I move back, looking down at the phone. Gulping, I pick it back up, one hand still on Blake's shoulder. My eyes were wide, but they no longer looked anywhere. They were back into the shroud they've been in all month, until I saw those bodies. In a blurry view, I can barely see Blake. The tree. The swirling lights.

"Sophie Clark."

"What?"

"My name is Sophie Clark."