At The Edge Of Oblivion

- Four Horsemen -

September 10th, 2014

She never called. I was up all night thinking about it. To make it worse he wasn't on the bus the next morning either. I kept waiting for her to show up. The first hour or so of school I was looking for her. I was fully prepared to go to my knees and ask for her to forgive me. I hated that I had let her down. I was walking down the jock hallway when I overheard a conversation that made my blood boil. There was Caden...talking to all of his followers. He was bragging about this drunk girl that was all over him the night before. He said that he had invited her upstairs and that she had happily obliged. He went on and on about everything she did to him. He stopped when he saw me.
"You should've been there man, it was killer," Caden spoke with a taunt in his voice. A slow smile crept across his face. I calmly asked where she was today. He walked towards me and put his hand on my shoulder and whispered something in my ear. I felt blood run down my hand as my fingernails dug into the skin of my palms. I stood frozen as he walked away. How could she have done that... with him? No matter what I did, all I could think about was her with him. The longer I thought about it the angrier I became. I hated being angry. I hated that she made me feel like this. I wanted to hate her, but I was more mad at myself for letting this happen. I was waiting to be picked up when she called the first time. I watched my phone ring. I stared at her smiling face. My screen when black and the phone fell silent. A message popped up.
"Meet me at Oblivion tonight...please. We need to talk." I hit the power button then slipped it back into my pocket. A few minutes later I felt the phone buzz again. I didn't even look at it, I just got up and started walking. I wandered for a spell. I needed to let my brain detox. I don't have all the facts yet, he could be lying. Around 4pm I found myself at home. The sky darkened with each passing second. A storm loomed in the distance, but it was getting closer. I heard the buzz of my phone from out in the living room. I rose from the couch and walked to the doorway of my room. If she calls back again I'll pick up. I'm not ready yet. I needed to be calm in order to deal with this. Something was already wrong and I didn't want to make it worse by getting angry. Just then Mother called for dinner. I left my phone in my room and pushed everything to the back of my mind.
Something felt off. It's kind of like when you can feel something stare at you. The hairs on my neck were raised. I knew in my bones that something was happening. I didn't know what. It hit me all of a sudden. I don't know how I knew. I still to this day have no idea where it came from. I was home alone sitting on the couch after dinner. My folks were gone for the night and my sister was at a sleepover. I was alone, sitting in the living room and my blood ran cold all of a sudden. I silenced the TV and got to my feet. I heard a single buzz and then it went quiet. Allison. I heard the first cracks of thunder as I made my way to my room. I picked up the phone and saw a voicemail. I hit the button and raised the phone to my ear.
" Shawn...I...I did something bad. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. It won't stop..." She sounded weak. There was a pain in her voice. My heart sank. Dread filled every inch of my body. The phone slipped out of my hand, I turned and was well out of the front door before it hit the ground. I moved on instinct, my mind was absent. Sweat streamed down my head as my legs moved faster than they ever have before. My body was on fire, but it didn't matter, my mind was elsewhere. I only snapped back to reality when my bare feet shifted from asphalt to grass. Lightning cracked across the sky and rain began to fall. It was like a dam had broken open as a river fell from the sky. Darkness surrounded me so that I could hardly see. This was no matter however, as I knew the way by heart. I forced myself through a bush, gashing my face and tumbling down into a valley out on the other side. If I wasn't so preoccupied with the whole situation, I would have heard the crack my ankle made as I tumbled down into the pit. Though... I didn't hear it, much less feel it. Not until much later. Or perhaps I simply didn't care. I had bigger problems at the moment. Most presently was how the hell was I going to get out of this pit. The rain had turned all the dirt into mud. With every step I took, I slid back down. I cried out in frustration and got onto my hands and crawled my way to the top. Time was running out, I needed to move. I barely cleared the stupid old fence that separated my neighborhood with the rest of the woods. I always thought of it as the last vestige of civilization before the wild. A few minutes later I broke out into a clearing. I was screaming her name. A thick fog had enveloped the field. The commotion caused all manor of wildlife to move out of the area. I stopped for a moment to get my bearings. The fog was obscuring most of my vision and for a brief second I was lost. My eyes shot back and forth until they settled on the tree and I sprinted off towards it. I was getting closer. A hundred yards off I noticed a figure at the base of the tree. Fifty yards off and I was slowing down. At thirty yards I stopped dead in my tracks. I knew what had happened. The rain had cleared and the moon shone bright. The fog was shifting and getting lower to the ground. I could see light reflecting off of what I later came to find out as a bloody razor blade on the ground. I felt sick. I slowly moved forwards. Eventually stopping again a few feet from the trunk of the tree. My legs were screaming out in pain and I collapsed to my knees. The world slowed down. It felt like when you're sitting at the top of a roller coaster. You know that you are about to drop and your heart sinks. For a few moments I could hear my heartbeat in my ears then it was gone— I looked up and for the first time I became aware of how quiet it was. The only sound was of my own breath. There were no frogs or crickets, no owls nor coyotes. It was silent. I was cold. At least I think I was cold. I was shaking, but it could have been the adrenaline wearing off. The rain had soaked through my clothes, so that could also be it. The wind picked up and bit at my skin. It drew a scent up to my nose. I recognized it instantly. It was unmistakable. Blood.