ARCANE

015.5

June hits the ground and her scream rips apart her throat. It echoes over the hills of Hamilton, sending shockwaves to its very centre. Next to her, Wesley covers his ears with his hands. His knees buckle under the pressure that builds in his head.

June lands on her knees then rolls on to her side. Her head hits the ground as well and the world shakes. There are two of Wesley, then three, then none. She can't feel her legs, and then suddenly she can, and guttural grunts release from her throat.

Even though he can barely feel his knees and Cara told him not to flip June over last time she hit her head, Wesley rolls June over. He tries to pull her into a sitting position, but then he sees bone sprouting from her leg. Bile spews out of his mouth, and he only has a second to look away before he throws up on the ground.

"Wes," June exhales, lifting her arm up and behind her head. The gesture proves difficult since she can barely keep her eyes open. At least she hasn't gone unconscious yet. Sure, she knows basic first-aid, but this is a bit much for her. Whooshing out a heavy breath of air that empties her lungs, June resets her shoulder. Again, she cries in pain. "Wes, you need to drive me."

The boy can barely hear her over the pumping of blood in his own ears. "What is happening?"

"I need-" June is cut off again as she screams. The skin is reforming around her bones. While her hands shake, she takes the bone and pushes it back inside her skin. The jagged tibia (or is it her fibula), cuts her skin open again. Okay, so she can definitely feel pain. At least she has decided that much. "Wesley. Wake up."

"What is happening?" He shakes his head back and forth, rapidly combing his hands through his hair. "I don't understand."

"You trust me, right?" June hates to use those words, but she can feel herself fading in and out of consciousness.

Wesley looks at her. He doesn't dare take his eyes away from her face. A bright streak of blood is smeared from her temple to her chin. Her eyes are wet as they plead with him.

He nods. "Yes. I'll drive you."

~~~

"Did you feel that?" Eden asks, stepping in closer to Cara. His heart is pounding, and for once, it isn't because of her. Instinctively, he takes her hand and swivels around, looking in the darkness for whatever evil is coming for them. There is no one in the dark, but he thought there was no one That Night, and Thea is dead because of him. He's sure that if she were alive, she would be okay with him protecting Cara.

Cara has her mouth open slightly, shaking her head back and forth. There is nothing near her that could harm her the way that, that thing had. Whatever doubt she had in her mind is finally gone. This is concurrently a nightmare and not a nightmare, and Cara wants nothing more than her brother to shake her awake and to hold her tightly as she cries. "Something very, very bad has happened."

~~~

In the dog park, Hope feels it too. She steps away from the bench, spinning around her as if she expects to see a trail of blood from a gun wound. That's what it feels like anyway. It is the surprise of a gunshot wound and the sound of a scream from an onlooker. The churning of her stomach, the warm hug, has turned into desperate clinging. She is the Captain of a ship, and someone is trying to drown her to save themselves.

~~~

Neither of the two in the police station speaks. Although there is an unspeakable evil that inhabits their bodies, the speakable evil is listening. Instead, their steps turn from syncopated to simultaneous. Lee casts the other girl a look, and they both know that something terrible is just around the corner.

~~~

"Holy fucking shit," Erik clutches his stomach.

Jamie's eyes widen, moving over to help Erik. He too feels it, but what does it matter what he feels? "Do you think that was Thea's ghost?"

If his body didn't seem like it was eating itself from the inside out, Erik would find some funny retort. Instead, he shakes his head back and forth, letting Jamie lead him to the couch.

"I'll text everyone to meet here," Jamie offers because he needs to be helpful. Something good must come of this, right?

~~~~~

Oh, welcome to the horror of this all. I am so excited to be on this journey with you. This is a big ass yikes. And I oop. Well, we will see how this goes.

Also, I'd appreciate if everyone could comment inline the person who their character likes the most and the person they hate the most. I am both trying to get a gauge on how many people are reading and I wanted to follow up because we were only on first impressions before. If you don't comment, I'll assume you having been reading/getting notifications for this.

Thanks! I'll see you soon.