The Cards that Keep Turning

Chapter 10 ~ Hurry

Third Person - Max Hughes (Hughes) P.O.V

Twenty minutes passed... then thirty minutes... then forty. Time was just a ticking bomb for them, for Moe and Nate.

Hughes hadn't moved from his friends deathbeds, still gently holding the black ash. Moe and Nate were slowly wasting away and they chose to ignore it, they chose to ignore their friends suffering. He felt guilty, he felt responsible for their deaths because he hadn't done anything to help them. Instead of being in the usual hurry he was always in, he stayed in the spot in which the boys passed, with light sobs escaping his lips with a few tears trickling down his face. Who would've thought the boy could cry more then what he already did, you would've thought that he'd have enough tears left in his body to cry. But he did.

All the rushing around from the night before to now had been forgotten by the broken boy. He wasn't in a rush as he once was, he didn't want to leave the happiness of the two boys that were laying on the ground as ashes, he knew he wasn't happy without the full group, so he stayed. With his stained, red face, from the tears, he had looked towards the ground. He rubbed the ashes between his fingers, just thinking of... everything, everything that had happened the past few days.

"Hughes!"

He thought it would end, and yet...

"Moe!"

It hadn't, it wasn't over...

"Nate!"

Not even close...

The yelling could be heard, but it was ignored. He didn't want to talk or confront the others about what happened or where their friends had disappeared off to. But it had to happen eventually... didn't it?

"Hughes? Didn't you hear me yelling your name? Where are the boys?" Miles questioned, slowly approaching the distressed boy. Of course it had to be Miles, it was always Miles.

Without a reply, Hughes had slowly brought his shaky hands up into view for Miles to see, not knowing what his reaction would be like, or if he were going to believe him or not.

"What's that?!" Miles asked, his voice rising ever so slightly, "Hughes, that's not funny... what is that?!"

"I'm... I'm just answering your... your question," Hughes said while choking back the tears, "The boys... they are here, this."

He motioned his hands once last time, trying to convince the angered male in front of him. Although that hadn't seemed to work as well as he thought it would. Instead of being comforted by him, he was gripped by the collar of his shirt and was pulled up from the ground, his back soon meeting the splinter wall behind him.

"HUGHES! Stop playing with me and tell me where they are! Where are they?!" He bellowed, shaking the already upset boy.

Hughes couldn't take it, he just couldn't take it. Tears had once again poured down his cheeks trickling onto the fist of Miles, there wasn't much to do anyways. If Miles had chose not to believe him, then that was that, he couldn't think of other ways to convince him.

"I... I don't want to believe my words either... but it's the truth...I swear," cried Hughes, "They just fell into a pile of ash in front of my eyes."

The strong grip that was on the boys collar had loosened, only to be tightened in a higher place, around his neck.

"YOU WATCHED THEM DIE?!"

"N-no... w-we did... we d-didn't do a-anything."

Miles quickly realised his grip from the boys throat, letting him fall to the ground.

"I tried...*gasp*... sending them back...*gasp*... but they didn't listen."

The sound of what appeared to be bones cracking had echoed throughout the woods, scaring birds and other animals away.

"That was for letting them die, and this," snapped Miles as he punched the boys face, "Is for not coming back to us and telling us straight away."

With a disappointed look on his face, Miles had turned to walk away from Hughes, who was bleeding out of his chest and lip, to complete piecing together the last of the clues. But he stopped after a few paces... only to be greeted by two faces that held even more sadness and disappointment then he had, Reedie and Tay.

"We... we finished piecing the uh... the clues together," Reedie calmly said as a stray tear fell from his eye.

"Good!" Hughes cut in, "Let's get back to the camp sight then."

Hughes had managed to pick himself up off the ground, slightly stumbling. Walking past Reedie and Tay, he had glared at Miles apologetically, he knew it wasn't entirely his fault, but he still felt sorry. He hadn't made it far though before he was stopped by the shaky voice of Tay...

"We heard what happened, what happened to them," Tay cried into Reedie's shoulder, "And we are sorry that we hadn't paid much attention to them."

"We won't speak of the incident, you hear me?!" barked Miles, "We will hold a proper funeral for the two as soon as we get back, yeah?"

Miles had only received three nods as a reply, obviously the tension and sadness had gotten thicker and taken over.

"Please don't blame Hughes for this, please don't, it was all of our faults," begged Tay as he covered his mouth with his hands.

Miles had only looked at Tay, not knowing what say. He hadn't wanted to get angry or turn to violence, but he was upset and couldn't hold onto it for much longer. Miles had turned to face the boy fully, walking towards him with his arms wide open. But it was only rejected with a harsh shove.

"Please Don't!!" At this point the tears were unstoppable, unbeatable. All Tay wanted was the comfort of his home, the comfort of all of his friends, not violence or deaths.

Miles didn't said anything and instead turned and walked back to the campsite, leaving the three in tears.

"Tay," Hughes sighed out, "It's... it's ok, yeah? Nothing more will... will happen, I promise."

Tay's tears hadn't stopped flowing, as he gripped the shirt of his elder friend and dragged him over to Hughes who was leaning against a tree, his eyes beginning to shut. Reedie and Tay had gently hugged the boy, not wanting to push the fresh injuries further. After separating, they gripped one of his arms each and walked back to the site, walking as slow as a grandfather snail.

They were close, but far.

Strong, but weak.

Smart, yet incompetent.

Close... yet separated.

In conclusion, they needed to Hurry.