Dead souls - corey scherer

10

ʎzɐɹɔ

———

-1 week later -

- brandi -

i fell asleep on the couch again. my head was leaned against the arm rest and my legs curled against my body. corey said he'd stay with me until i fell asleep and i could still feel his thighs where my feet pressed against them. he's been really protective and sweet these last few days. he's taken me to the hospital everyday to visit elliot and he even asked elton to come down and help in advance when elliot comes home.

- dream -

my fingers danced around the table top that was coated in wax. a red reflection ran across the whole room and my eyes couldn't focus on anything else but the scratch marks. a hand placed on my shoulder and i slowly turned to face the culprit. corey stood there with a beautiful smile on his face. his fingers wrapped around my neck and began to choke me. i struggled to get away but i was losing strength, and finally i collapsed to the floor. my vision wasn't impacted and it didn't really feel like i died. i just laid there as corey fell beside me and stared into my eyes.

- real life -

i awoke like i would any regular morning, but once my dream came to mind i began to panic. corey shot up from his spot and stared at me with confusion. "you good?" bobbing my head, i swallowed my saliva harshly. "what happened" how was i suppose to answer that question? just tell him that in my dream he killed me?

"i uh- i had a nightmare." i confess and stare directly into his brown eyes.
    we sat around for about an hour just talking about how colby and their group of friends are looking for a place to stay over night in. he admitted that they've been caught a couple times and i thought it was literally so cool how they hid away and got away with it most of the time. "you should come with us tomorrow. i'm sure colby would like to see you." i laughed and shook my head to his suggestion.

"i don't know. i'm not very sneaky and get nervous under high pressure situations." though doing that sounded quite fun, i knew i would mess everything up. don't you guys like investigate ghosts or something?" corey nodded and furrowed his brows.

"yeah. usually elton brings up haunted places for us to go to, so we never really know what's gonna happen next. however, aaron and i are planning to go to some hotel soon. we just don't know which one yet." i could listen to him talk all day. he was so calm and his voice was just so amusing to hear.

"so colby told me you're usually a big joker." he shook his head with a toothy grin. his hands rubbed against the stubble that grew on his chin.

"well i guess it all depends on the person and how comfortable i feel about them. but i think that for some reason colby and them just spark that side of me. because with you, i feel like i can be chill and shit. it's cool i guess." he paused and stared at me with a smile. "we should get dinner tonight again. like after we go see elliot."

"yeah. i'd like that." i had no clue whether this was a date or just a friends thing. we never really worked that thing out anyway. "uh-"

"we can come back home so we can get ready i guess. it's nothing fancy but i know you like to make yourself pretty. which you already are without the makeup and shit, but," he shrugged and looked down to the floor. was he flirting or just being nice?

"lol, okay corey scherer. thank you."

"did you just say lol? like.." he chuckled and pointed at me with his head tilted to the side. i nodded and pointed back to him to create the spiderman meme. "lol, okay brandi..."

"hawksin." i replied.

"brandi hawksin."

- 3 hours later -

- brandi -

i stood over elliot and rubbed his head. his body was cold as ice but he hinted that he felt just fine. "so you don't remember anything that your mom taught you?" corey asked. he was sitting beside me and watched elliot's behavior. my eyes trailed over the straps that covered elliot's body as my eyes wandered the many things my mom taught me.

"i do. but i don't think she ever taught me anything that could help someone. or...?" i stopped to think about it and yet nothing came to mind. until now. there was one she taught me straight after elliot was being used. it was one that i was never able to use successfully. corey wouldn't be able to be in the room simply because i didn't want him to see me in that state of mind. "i um- i'm gonna need to prepare for it though. today isn't... it's not a good time." corey grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers together.

"i'll be here no matter what, brandi. maybe you being a witch is frighting, but i guess i'm here for it." he chuckled and stared deeply into my eyes with trust. elliot moved his hand as much as he could and tried to seperare corey and me. his expression was filled with anger and disgust. maybe it was elliot. i told him about how upset i was when corey treated me so poorly, so maybe a part of him was still there.

"i love you elliot." i whisper to him and kissed my fingers so i could press them against his forehead. we were all we had. well i had corey now. so i guess i had a couple people.

"did you want to get going for dinner?" i nodded and we left the hospital to return back to our house. "so elton said he's coming over tomorrow just to hang out, so i was thinking we could introduce him to elliot and get things worked out. maybe we could go like hang out somewhere. do something fun. i don't know." he stuttered every once in a while when he didn't know what to say and i found it cute. i think it's safe to say that i liked being around him more than anyone else.

"so elton was the guy with the camera, right?" corey nods his head and keeps his eyes on the road. "ah. okay. we should go to the trampoline park and try to stay the night." i joked and poked his arm. corey just shook his head with a grin. "or maybe we should like go to one of those local bars and hear a local band." corey raised one brow and pursed his lips. "i've always wondered what it would be like. i've never even been to a bar before."

"really? i imagine you to be a clubber." he shrugged and pulled into our driveway. "i don't know."

"i mean, you're not wrong. in high school i never missed a party. i was always there no matter what. but that doesn't mean i've been to bars. i've gotten drunk too many times i could count, but once i got out of high school i really didn't have any interest in drinking or doing that shit again. it was fun in the moment." remembering those times but a smirk on my face. i was definitely a party animal and people loved me. i couldn't imagine my high school years being any different. i wish i knew corey then. "what high school did you go to?"

"my mom homeschooled me and my siblings. and i didn't even live here." he closed the door behind him once we got back home.
    once i entered the house my scream filled the air  and i grabbed a hold of corey. what the fuck!?