Red

Chapter Thirty One

Chandler POV:

I pick up her phone as soon as she leaves the house. Who the hell is JD? Why has he been texting Veronica? I feel bad snooping, but she's worrying me. I scroll up through the texts. It's her telling him to leave her alone, and him telling her that he's in love with her and threatening her. Pieces are starting to fall into place. Kurt and Ram's suicide pact. Of course it wasn't a suicide pact. They weren't in love. That's why Veronica seemed so anxious at the funeral. It wasn't a suicide. It was a murder.

I know I can't let Veronica face this creep on her own. I get out of bed, pulling on a bathrobe so as to cover up some before going outside. Taking the phone with me, I go to the window, wanting to check on the situation before proceeding. Holy shit. He has a gun. This fucking asshole has a gun.

Veronica is standing in front of him. She says something to him, and then I see her start to cry as he raises the gun. I hurry down the stairs as fast as I can, flinging open the door once I get to the bottom.

"Veronica-!"

BANG.

Veronica turns to look at me, and her face goes completely white. My initial thought is that she's been shot, but then I hear her scream my name. There's no blood on her. I look down at the robe, which is usually red anyway. It's far more red right now, however. Blood seeps through the fabric, and I cover the wound with my hands before dropping to the ground.

It hurts.

Everything hurts.

***

Veronica POV:

"Heather, no!" I scream, but even as I do, I watch her realize what's happened. She puts her hands over the place where the bullet had entered her stomach, and then she collapses. I run over to her. I kneel down beside her. Her blood is covering her hands. My phone is in her hand. She saw the texts. She came out here to protect me. Oh, God.

I turn to look at JD again, and he looks on with complete regret. Then, his shaky hand reaches the gun up. At first, I think he's going to try to shoot her again. I practically throw myself on top of her, careful not to hurt her further but not wanting him to shoot at her. I turn my head to look at him again, and he does something that shocks me. He turns the gun towards himself, sticking the barrel into his mouth. There's another loud shot.

BANG.

I look away, trying not to throw up. I sit up again, looking down at Chandler. I hear someone scream, and I see that there's a neighbor who's finally realized what's just happened. I can hear sirens. Someone already called 9-1-1. I go to the contacts on my phone, shaky hands trying to find someone to call who can drive me to the hospital. I give up when I see Chandler's eyes shift up to look at me.

I look down at her, lifting her head into my lap. She's struggling to breathe, and she looks more shocked than anything. I feel the tears rushing down my cheeks now, and I realize that she's trying to speak.

"I-I love y-you," she manages. "I-I... I'm sorry."

"Heather, don't," I choke out, stroking her hair. I feel the blood starting to soak into the pajama shorts I had worn to bed. "It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

"T-tell MacKenzie th-that... that I'm sorry," she tells me, and I notice that there are tears on her face. This only makes me start to cry harder. "T-Tell her that I l-love her."

"Y-you're going to be okay," I tell her again through my tears. I try to ignore the tears that run down my face. Her eyes close, and I take her hand, squeezing it. "No, stay awake. Please, you have to stay awake. You have to open your eyes, okay? Please!" I'm practically screaming now.

The ambulance pulls into the driveway, and someone pulls her away from me. The tears just keep streaming down my cheeks. She's on a stretcher, and all I see is red. I don't want to look back at JD. I don't want to, but I do. All I see is the paramedics covering him with a white sheet. He's dead.

I feel myself shut down. I don't want to have to see them put a sheet on Chandler, too. My body goes numb, and I can hear someone talking to me. They sound far away. Someone gives me an address. They tell me the name of the hospital. They ask if I can hear them. I can hear you, I can hear you, leave me the hell alone and  just fix her.

Someone is telling me to get up, to move. Duke. How is she here? Who called Duke? I must have called her on accident. She's one of the first people in my contacts. I called her on accident.

She's asking me what happened, taking my hands and helping me up. I'm covered in blood. She's leading me to her Jeep then, and she helps me in. All I can do is stare down at my bloody clothes and tell her the address in a complete monotone.

"They said St. Johns," I tell Duke, and I barely hear myself say it.

With that, she's out of the driveway and down the road, headed to the hospital where they're currently trying to save Chandler's life.

***

Chandler POV:

Where the hell am I?

What the hell is happening?

I must be asleep. I must be dreaming. I feel a dull pain in my stomach, and I look around me. I'm in what looks to be an empty, long hallway with rooms lining it. What the hell? How did I get here?

That's when I see Veronica. She's smiling at me from the end of the hallway, a bright light shining behind her. She beckons me with her hand. Confused, I take a step forward, but then I hear a voice behind me.

"Oh, she's not real," the voice says. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Seriously. The whole 'going towards the light' thing is usually fatal."

I turn quickly, trying to find the source of the voice. Kurt Kelly stands behind me, football jersey on. There's a bullet hole in his head. Holy shit. I try to ignore it. I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming.

"Why the fuck would I trust you?" I snap.

"Do you want to die? Really?" he questions, raising an eyebrow. "Or would you rather see the real Veronica?"

"How would you know where she is?" I ask him. "You're dead. Dead people don't know shit."

"Do you want to see her or not, Heather?" he asks, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall of the hallway.

I consider this for a moment. I'm dreaming. What's the worst that could happen? "Fine," I concede. "Where is she?"

"First door on your left, Princess," he tells me.

I give him a suspicious look, but he simply gestures towards the door. I take a step forward, looking back at him once more before turning towards the door again and walking through. I walk in, and I immediately see a girl in a hospital bed. My initial thought is that it's Veronica. I rush forward, trying to figure out what's wrong with her. As I get to the side of the bed, however, I realize that the girl is not, in fact, Veronica.

It's me.

It's me, and there's a bloody fucking bandage wrapped around my midsection.

I look down.

Blood is seeping through my robe.

***

A/N:

Ahhh! Okay, I probably won't be able to update again tonight, but I wanted to get this one out. The basic idea behind Chandler's POV now is that she's deciphering what happened and what she's hearing through dreams, so she's right about dreaming. This happens all the time with patients in trauma situations. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Leave a vote if you liked it and comment, should you feel so inclined!

Thanks for reading!

-LittleMissBlitz