Waterline

Grieving Cruelty

Blood. The image of blood is what scarred Mae's mind. All she could see was blood. Blood covered the bodies of Logan and Allen. It looked too disfigured to tell what their faces are. The comfort of Conor's heartbeat is what kept Mae from screaming her head off. Her breathing has become rapid, she didn't know what to do. It was hard for her to move with all of Conor's weight on her.

Mae turned to the two bodies and called, "Allen? Logan?" She hoped that the wounds aren't fatal and that they didn't lose that much blood. They were too far for Mae to reach them. She hoped for any movement from them. Any sign that will tell her that they are alive. She couldn't relax, she did all she could to try and help. Through all of that, Mae couldn't cry. Her mind was too tough and won't allow her to be weakened.

"Mae...?" She heard a tired voice call for her. Mae knew who the voice belonged to. She looked down and saw Conor staring at her. "Help," she whimpered. She looked back at the two bodies. Conor followed her gave and was met with god bloody scene. "Logan! Allen!" Conor didn't hesitate to get up and run towards them. His instinct was to grab one and pull him away.

Conor grabbed onto Allen's leg and pulled it away from Logan. He had to adjust Allen's body until he looked comfortable. Not much could be done for them. Mae and Conor have no medical experience. Both were scared young adults. Conor looked at Mae, noticing that she was terrified. He took off his shirt and handed it to her. "You can clean the blood, I'll check their pulse," Conor instructed.

The shirt was still damp as she used it to clean Allen's face. She couldn't do anything about the clothes but the hair was covered in blood. Mae kept on rubbing pieces of his hair to clean it from the blood. Conor was investing Logan, he flipped him around and checked every part of his body. He then started to look around, his gaze focused on the wall of rocks. Conor kept staring until his eyes widened. His expression then turned sad as he looked down.

"Logan's dead,"

Penelope opened her eyes and quickly looked around her. She saw Berwald, Eddie, and Nelson standing on the rocks of the ritual. "What just happened?" Penelope looked at the boat and saw Darrel and Ashley waiting for them. Penelope was able to decipher the voice to be Darrel's. "Brixon grabbed the trident and everything turned black," Eddie told them. "We saw that the stone statues were breaking then all of a sudden you were all standing in its place," Darrel told them. The four were listening to the story as they climbed on the boat.

Now they had to wait for Brixon to return. It shouldn't take too long for him to make it back. "Where's Brixon?" Callie emerges from the water and questioned them. "He's on his way back," Ashley told her.
"I found Mae, Conor, Allen, and Logan," she told them.
"That's good, how are they?" Nelson asked.
"I wouldn't say good," Callie admitted. The group looked at each other, fearing for the worse.
"What happened?" Eddie asked her.
"One of them didn't make it," Callie spoke. She looked emotionless from the scene she had to witness. No one asked her about who died. Instead, they wanted to wait for Brixon to show up so they could hear it together. "Fawn is breaking the news to the others on the deck," Callie informed them.

"When we got there, Mae was already terrified. Then we asked what happened," Fawn explained the story. She couldn't stop herself from crying but the group didn't mind it, since she was in pain. "I didn't know Logan until today but he was a good person. It's sad to see him leave, I don't know how Brixon could handle this," Fawn rambled, it made her feel better to let everything out. She had a hard time holding back her emotions, most of the time it would hurt for her to do so.

"Do you know how he died?" Pj asked the siren. Fawn looked up at him and nod, "Conor made a guess on what happened. He noticed that some of the rocks were smeared with blood so he checked his back and saw massive scratches on them. But then he explained that Logan could've violently hit his head on the rocks," Fawn explained to them. Libby had a hand covering her mouth and she was shaking rapidly. "I'll go get them," Pj stood up from the dock.

"No, please don't leave," Libby grabbed his pants to stop him. She was afraid of what would happen next, and couldn't allow anyone to have the same fate. "I want them to stop the portal first," Libby said to him. All assumptions brought up that the giant waves were because of the portal. It was best to not go to the beach with it affecting the water. "I'll stay, but I'm afraid for Conor, Mae, and Allen," Pj sat down on the dock beside her. "I can't lose more of my friends," Libby said.
"Don't risk it, those three will find a way," Toby said.

Toby was silenced by the story. Looking back at all the times that he hung out with Logan. He didn't know him that well except that he once dated Ashley. Those times where he saw Logan, he was always hyperactive and ready to make a happy day. He had a good heart. Sometimes the good people just had to leave.

It is learned that people grieve in certain ways. Some people go into a state of shock and even faint from it. Most are immediately saddened by the fact someone they know is gone. Others are petrified and can't even show emotion from what has happened. But then there is a final one. One that could lead a person to do the unthinkable. That way of grieving was anger or someone who wants revenge on who they believe is to bland for. This is going to be demonstrated soon.