Back to Human

Chapter Fourteen

She sat on the bench, in the park by the cafe. Exactly the same as the last time I saw her. Sunglasses on, black fitted jeans, white turtle neck and all. I sat trembling in fear. Though her sunglasses covered her eyes I felt her gaze resting on me. We sat in silence for an immeasurable time. I had no way to tell if we sat there for hours or minutes. Finally she spoke.

"You messed with my business." She said quietly. Her voice was like a silk covered knife, a thinly veiled threat even though she had not directly threatened me yet. "You didn't do ask I told you. When you ran away, I had to find someone to pay for your insubordination." She said casually. She flicked her fingers and gestured beside me. I looked down.

Blood stained his ginger fur red. Cooper looked me in the eyes, a look of unmistakable betrayal on his face.

"You left us...." he wheezed out. Blood bubbled from the gash on his throat. No. This can't be happening.

"Cooper! Don't leave me!" I screamed. I put pressure on his neck, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Ash..." I looked to the side. Grace's neck was twisted at a weird angle. Her eyes were glossy as she stared at me.

"You left us behind..." she gasped out.

"No, no. Stay with me." I yelled. Both of their bodies shuddered as they let out death rattles. They lay still.

"No, nonono." I cried. Even in death they stared at me with hurt and betrayal behind their lifeless eyes. I cried in agony. The only people who truly knew what I had gone through were dead.

"How could you do this?" I cried. I looked up into Eleanor's cold face.

"Did you know he waited for you?" She asked me instead. I looked down at Cooper as she continued. "He waited even after I told him you were likely dead." She told me. I cried as the guilt ate at me like a cancer. "You left them alone in the lions den while you went off to have tea with your new witch friend. Did you ever think about them?" She asked angrily. "Did you ever think about them sleeping in the cold and the dark while you sat comfortable on your bed?" She screamed.

"No, I was getting help." I told her. I looked up again at her face to find her closer than she was before.

"Your help came too little, too late." Eleanor said quietly. I followed her gaze and looked behind me.

They were all in a pile. Their bodies were all pale and lifeless. Ethel. Max. Ryan. Ben. Lee. Lauren. Mrs. Suffrage. Charlie. They all lay there with their eyes open, staring lifelessly at the grey sky as their blood stained the soil below them.

"No!" I screamed. This couldn't be happening. The people I already considered friends, who were doing every thing to help me, a STRANGER. And Charlie, lying there. Charlie, who had saved me from myself and was helping me get back my body. She had opened her home to me naively and I had gotten her killed. I would never hear her beautiful laughter again. It felt like a punch in the gut.

I looked behind me at Eleanor. This time she had a knife in her hands. Blood was dripping from the blade in a never ending stream as Eleanor played with the knife. Blood started to drip from Eleanor's mouth and from under her sunglasses.

"Now you get to meet the same fate as them." Eleanor said. I tried to back away but I was frozen in place. Eleanor grabbed the scruff of my neck and poised the knife to slash my throat.

I woke up with a gasp. I jumped up and looked around.

"Hey, are you okay?" Charlie asked with a cup of coffee in hand. I looked at the clock. It was five in the morning.

"Yeah, I had a nightmare. What are you doing up so early?" I asked. I shook myself awake and tried to push the unsettling images from my dream out of my mind.