Best Enemies

Hanna

As we edge closer to Shays' motionless body and with every step my body grows colder. She's dead, the girl who hid in Rubi's shadow, who never lived her own life is lying on the ground before us with a rivers of liquid flowing out of her head.

I taste salty liquid in my mouth but I don't brush away the streams of tears. I trace my finger down the bridge of her nose and gently comb her hair with my fingers. I never understood what death really meant until I saw it. It has a presence, a density. It silently absorbs all of the emotions that float around it, sadness, frustration, regret. It sits inside of you like a heavy steel ball that continues to sink down and down to the pit of your stomach.

 Death is pale, death is quiet and death is real.

Through tear flooded eyes I glance up into the ominous cold room. The woman has fled, she has what she needs. The shadows that lurk and crawl in the corners and edges of the dimly lit room mock our sorrow. I can't take this anymore, we need to get out. I stride towards the small cramped doorway and the others follow silently, all but...
"Rubi," I say as soft as I can,
"We have to go, we will tell the police they will bring her out." I know that there is little that I can do to comfort her but when our eyes meet I pulse a wave of strong energy towards her and encourage her to stand up. She shuffles over to the rest of us and hunches her shoulders against the wall.
"I always put her down, I never let her shine. She was just another person to me. I never really listened to her. I wasn't her friend, I was just..." Rubi breaks down in tears and crouches to the floor. I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her as much as I can.
"Rubi, you were her best friend and she would never let anything happen to you. She did this because she loved you." 

The silence is only broken by a faint howl of police sirens and masculine voices coming down the corridor.

"Is anybody down there?!" The voice shouts. We all tumble out of the dimly lit room to the waiting officer.
"Anybody else...?" He asks quizzical staring at us all. We all exchange glances and Peter steps forward.
"There is someone else...but..." He drags the officer down the hallway and shows him Shays' mangled body which is now painted with blood and the other young child that was shot who has gone a deathly yellowish white as if all the blood had been drained out of him. 

"This way children, you are safe now." A young lady with reddish hair guides us out of the building and to an awaiting ambulance. 

Nutmeg is taken to the hospital for the slashes on her wrists and Felix accompanies her. I sit impatiently on the steel table inside one of the vans, I am being treated for the smoke inhalation and a broken ankle that must have been from when I jumped from the hospital building. Rubi sits in a police car and is being thrust calming apple and cinnamon tea and dry wheat crackers which she just holds weakly. Her face is white, her hands are white, she is shaking in the cool breeze but I am sure that isn't the only reason. Her eyes are fixed on a spot in front of her as if she can see something we can't. The constables are trying to communicate with her and ask her about how Shay died but all that Rubi can say is,

 "Alcor."

"What happened to all the children? You did see them didn't you?" I ask without thinking. The lady that is wrapping my ankle smiles and softly says,
"Yes, they didn't get very far. They were about half a kilometre down the road from here. An ambulance picked the worst ones up, but I think some of them are still around. They were messed up pretty badly, who knows what happened to them." She trails off and preoccupies herself with studying a particularly large gash on my thigh.
"Yeah...Who knows...?" 

I look around trying to spot some of the children that stayed behind. I see them clinging to the edges of the compound staring up and the sun, inhaling the grass and consuming the fresh country air. Some are crying, some are hugging one another and others are just standing unaccompanied. Out of the corner of my peripheral vision, I see a dark figure flash past and all I am able to make out is the end of a black plait bouncing along behind them. 

The pain medication starts to kick in and my body falls into a yellow hum and eventually, I feel myself laying down as the vehicle starts to move.
Away from the stone building, away from my nightmares. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HEY GUYS, 

It is so nice to be writing again!!
Sorry I haven't updated in so long. 

I know I have said this before but I think Best Enemies is drawing to a close...

Tell me what you think of this chapter and don't forget to VOTE.

Lots and lots of love,

MOZ XX