The House

Chapter 19: Emmand

Moth was in his room. He was sitting on his bed and with a simple movement he could look at Cindy and me, but he didn't. Daylight was beaming through the windows, making it extremely bright and hard for me to look at him.

"Gerard," said Cindy. "We're here."

Moth remained silent.

Cindy was going to say something else when I stopped her. I took a deep breath and walked towards Moth. I sat down on the floor right in front of him and looked up. He was still ignoring me, but he had to look at me, eventually.

"I know why you're like this," I said. "And I'm going to tell you everything."

To this, Moth finally looked at me. The way his big, brown eyes were staring at me showed how much he wanted to hear that. There was relief in them.

"I'll leave you alone," said Cindy while walking out the room and closing the door.

"No," I said. "You should stay."

Cindy froze in place for a second, then she stepped inside and closed the door. I motioned her to sit next to Month and after she did, I continued.

"You know what happened during the time we were locked up at school, right?" I ask. Cindy nods. "Has anyone told you what happened on our last day there?"

"No," Said Cindy. Moth shakes his head.

I sigh. "There was a virus that turned people into cannibals. On our last day everyone found out I had it and they turned their backs on me."

"Wait," said Cindy. "You have it?"

I nod. "At first it looked like I was immune to it, but now I know I just needed to be injected with a stronger dose..." I notice the worried look on Cindy's face. Moth is just listening carefully. "I'm fine now. For some reason I got cured, but that's not what matters.

"Before everyone heard about this, Valerye said I wrote the note that I found on day one. That note said that someone was going to die the next day, when everything started, and that's when Vernonne died. She was the first... No one believed Valerye until they heard about the virus."

"And what happened?" Asked Cindy.

"They thought I'm behind all of this, that I'm responsible for everything..." I say.

"That's crazy!" Cindy said.

I looked at her. The next part was the painful one. "They hated me. They hated me so much that they took turns to..." I closed my eyes and sighed. I opened them when I felt someone grab my hand. It was Moth. I looked straight into his eyes. "They tried to kill me that day."

Cindy gasped. I looked away. Moth squeezed my hand.

I continued. "They stabbed me, shot me, and punched me several times. I don't know if they knew that what they were doing would kill me, but they didn't stop either.

"I lost consciousness and when I woke up I was alive. My body still hurt but for some reason I could move. I was outside the school and I went back in looking for people but no one was there and I passed out again on my way to the hospital... and I wouldn't wake up."