Cosmic Confluence

Chapter 16: cornered

As the voices of my friends increased in panic, everything around me caved in and I started to cry out of fear.

I was gonna die tonight.

This was the worst possible outcome and I didn't know how to handle it.

Dear God, I was gonna fucking die tonight

"W-we gotta run." It was the only thing I could manage to say.

"Mary that's the same thing that I saw that night!" Jaymie sputtered as we ran up the street.

"I know, we gotta get away from here, now."

"You know?! What the fuck is going on?! What is that thing?"

"I really just cannot explain anything right now."

"Jesus-- fuck, c'mon hurry up Kenzie!" Jaymie grasped Kenzie by her hand and pulled her along.

Kenzie kept on repeating, "what he fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck wh-"

I didn't know why I decided to run. I guess I thought it would make it so I lived a few minutes longer. Because this was it. I was gonna die tonight. Nothing was stopping that. I'd have to forget about everything I had dreamed of doing, everything I wanted, and everything I loved. The places to see, the things to do, the people I knew, the people I loved, the things I've been through, the wisdom I had, the body of mine, the mind of mine. All put to a stop tonight.

I could barely grasp it. I felt like this was never supposed to happen, but I needed to accept it, it was my fate. And this was always how it was supposed to end from the very start and everything led up to this. This one moment of running down the street with The Man with Long Teeth closer than God. My true death.

Or was I being an idiot?

I mean, who says it has to end this way? I thought for a moment as I continued to run, the terrified voices of my friends behind me. I remembered where we were and where we were going if we kept in this direction. Just up ahead is...

Hastily, I swerved in to a hidden path through the bushes, yanking in Jaymie along with Kenzie. We all waited in silence, hiding among the pine trees. Our fearful breathing, a twig cracking beneath Kenzie's foot, and a crow cawing in this dreadful night was all we heard as we stood still. Was that all it took to reach safety? It sure didn't feel like that, but then again The Man with Long Teeth wasn't anywhere I could see him. I had a bad feeling, that was all.

"Mary..." Jaymie uttered, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"

"I--I can't even explain it myself, because, there's just a lot of things I don't know yet. Nobody in the whole damn world could answer that."

"What kind of answer is that?" said Kenzie, almost like she was testing me. That's what it felt like anyways. Both girls were exerting a lot of pressure on me just with their eyes.

"It's complicated, you see--there's--there's a--"

"liar?"

With one word, Jaymie made my whole body freeze. By my expression she could tell she was right. It was like a game of battleship.

"Did you think I was stupid? Gullible? I knew what I saw that night. I knew there was something off about you from the second you didn't believe me. You think you're such a good liar don't you? Well you're not. And you wanna know what else you are? Selfish. I see right through you, I know why you lied. You didn't want to help or deal with how I'd react. I'm right aren't I? See? Not stupid."

"Jaymie, I already know that, you don't gotta tell me twice. I'm a bastard who read you wrong. Go ahead, punch me in the face."

"I'm not gonna punch your sweaty face, you still need to tell us what the fuck that was."

"If you wanna know the truth, I really don't know much more than you two do. My theories are all over the place and none of them make sense to me. He's been on my ass for months, ever since I moved to Pennrith. He followed me back here. Sorry for dragging you into this nightmare, I actually really mean that. I don't expect any of you to forgive me either. I fucked up."

The air felt heavy, my eyes began to swell.

"Please don't play the pity card, you set my room on fire," Kenzie said.

Her words stung me as did a sudden headache.

"Oh fuck," I mumbled, rubbing my head.

"Why had you done that?" I remembered she hadn't actually seen The Man with Long Teeth until tonight, as before there was only the illusion she was talking to the ghost of her dead boyfriend.

"Kenzie that wasn't your boyfriend you were talking to. What you saw tonight was in your room."

"Huh?" Her eyes looked terrified.

"I'm serious, there's no reason to lie an--oh fuck, ow." The headache was beginning to feel like a migraine and the air felt thicker. I had a bad feeling.

"What?" Asked Jaymie, just as confused as Kenzie.

"Are you okay?" Kenzie said right after Jaymie.

"My head hurts so much, dear God." The pain increased with every breath I took to the point where I felt like I felt like throwing up. I was starting to freak out. I had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. The air felt even thicker.

And I was right to have a bad feeling.

Because it happened.

Like a pin inside my head.

Like lightning hitting my face.

Like all the world's pain came to me at once.

I screamed in agony, as I collapsed to the dirt.

He got me.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

I writhed, squeezing my head and clawing at my skin.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

I began to scratch my neck.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

I was being killed.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

My neck began to bleed as I continued to tear it apart.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.

The pain wouldn't stop.