Going Viral (A Virals Story)

Chapter 5- HI

The Bunker was too quiet. Even with Shelton sat opposite me, it was too damn quiet. I threw the ball back and my bespectacled friend caught it with ease, bouncing it off the wall behind my head. We'd been doing this for over an hour.

"Oh man, i can't believe this..." Shelton breathed at last, tugging super speed on his earlobe. We both simultaneously glanced to the corner of the room, where remnants of Ben's blood were still lodged into the grains. I shuddered, remembering that if i hadn't decided to follow Ben when he went out that night he would've succeeded in taking his own life. Hell knows he cut deep enough, i'd never seen so much blood. Now Ben was in hospital, and would probably be referred to at least three shrinks, and Cole was still AWOL. I'd overheard my parents saying that the police thought she was already dead. I tried not to think like that. "I mean, depression? Why didn't he tell us he had depression?" I shrugged half heartedly, retrieving the ball from under the table and throwing it back.

"It's a complex thing, dude, my uncle had it. He probably didn't want us to worry about him,"

"But he nearly killed himself, Hi. And Cole isn't here to stop him doing that any more."

"Then we have to take her place. They're our friends, she would've wanted us to help him!" I threw the ball back and Shelton fumbled for it, it bounced off his shoulder and rolled towards the entrance. We sat in silence for a few minutes, then his head dropped.

"... Do you really think she's dead?" He asked, catching me off guard. A lump caught in my throat. My gaze unwillingly drifted to the bench in the corner of the room where our two other friends used to sit, where they'd shared blushing kisses whenever they thought we weren't looking. I closed my eyes.

"I don't know. I mean, Cole is the toughest bitch i know, she'll fight tooth and nail to the end. But there's been no ransom video, no note, nothing. If someone kidnapped her for money something like that would've turned up by now. Plus you heard what the police said, she had a severe head wound by falling face first onto a rock, if that wasn't treated immediately it would become fatal." I stood up, crossing the room and putting a hand on my friends shoulder. He looked up at me, brown eyes swimming with tears behind his glasses. "One thing i do know, is that she wouldn't have wanted us to give upon living. I don't want to give up on her, you know i don't, but she's gone and there's nothing we can do about that. So what we have to do now is look after Ben, because i am not going to lose him too." Shelton nodded, standing up and putting a fist out.

"For Cole and Ben?" He asked, voice shaking. I nodded and touched my own fist to his.

"For Cole and Ben."