The Seven Deadly Sinners

17

He lunged the short distance over to me and pushed me by my hips. My back slammed against the wall and he grabbed my wrist before I could hold my taser back up to him. He took my other wrist in his other hand and pinned them up against the wall.

"What the fuck are you doing to me!" I yelled. I could ram my head into his or kneel him in the balls right now. But I didn't want to hurt him. He let out a laugh, a sadistic laugh. He was inches away from my face, pushing me up against my wall, restraining my hands with his. Seeing him laugh and smile right now, while we were screaming at each other, made my chest tingle again. Except it was more than a tingle. It turned into a deep ache, like the air had been knocked out of me, like my heart was twisting around inside of me.

I tried to take a breath, but no air came in.

"Yeah fucking right, Jupiter. I'm not a fucking idiot. I'm fully aware that you're chalk full of different tactics and strategies and whatever bullshit that you're going to use to try and get out of this," he growled. I continued trying to gasp for air, unable to inhale anything. Tears started to form in my eyes from how deep the pain was radiating throughout my chest.

"C-C," I choked, trying to say his name. His face immediately fell and he let go of me completely.

"Jupiter?" he asked, uneasy. I put both of my hands over my heart and fell over, still not able to breathe. I laid on the ground, shaking, my muscles tensing up.

"Sam! Kat!" Colby screamed, not bothering to use his quiet voice to summon them like I knew he could. Colby dropped onto the floor next to me and rolled me onto my back.

"What? What?" Sam yelled, running in. I looked up to see him and Kat stare down at me with terror in their eyes.

"She's not, she can't, she isn't breathing!" Colby said, stumbling over his words. "The fuck do we do?"

"Why can't she breathe? What happened?" Kat asked. I used the small amount of energy I had left and slapped my chest with my hand, trying to tell them that it hurt too bad to breathe.

"Oh my go—is it because of—," Sam said. "Did it hurt that fucking bad, bro?" he asked Colby.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Yes, it hurt that fucking bad. She's still a goddamn human. She's not supposed to feel that kind of intensity right now. Oh, shit. Mike was right. This could fucking kill her, we should have done that stupid ritual," Colby said. I rolled over onto my side, the pain slowly starting to fade. "Oh! She's moving! You're moving!"

"We can't even do anything about this, can we?" Kat asked.

"Not a thing," Sam said. I couldn't see them anymore since I'd rolled onto my side. All I could see were Colby's knees that he was on, next to me on the ground. My chest opened up a little bit and I was finally able to pull in some air. Not nearly as much as I needed, but enough to not suffocate. Colby heard me inhale again and drooped down over me, wrapping his arms behind my neck and giving me a hug.

"Oh, thank fuck," he breathed, hugging me tightly. He pulled me so that I was sitting up and he was behind me, letting my back lean against his chest. He wrapped his hands around my waist and tightly pulled me into him. He dropped his head down onto my shoulder while I continued to take shallow, shaky breaths. "You're okay. It's okay. I'm here," he whispered. I was almost able to answer him until he finished saying those words. The air was ripped right back out of me.

"Shit! I'm making it worse! Fuck!" Colby yelled. He let me go and laid me back down before hopping up. "This can't be my fault, I will not be the one who... I'm leaving," he said in a panicked tone. I watched him run out of my house, leaving me on the floor alone.

Sam and Kat took his place, getting onto the floor next to me, holding me, telling me it was okay. I forced myself to believe them, that I'd be okay, and found my breath just before losing consciousness.

"Finally," Sam sighed in relief. "Jesus, they weren't kidding about this being so much stronger for them."

"I know, I know. But she's okay," Kat said, hugging me tightly against her chest.

"Why the fuck did he leave?" I wheezed once I could talk.

"Explaining that to you right now might make this all happen again, so we'll tell you later. I promise," Kat said. I nodded in response, still lightheaded from not breathing.

"Can they even be in the same room with each other? It's clearly happening to both of them," Sam said.

"I know, it's just so weird that it's already happening, especially at this intensity. They only met last night," said Kat.

"Well, this just further proves that they really are the king and queen of hell," said Sam. "Damn, plus it happened while they were in here screaming at each other? Jupiter, you fucking masochist."

"Sam!" Kat exclaimed.

"What! Tell me there's another answer here," Sam said.

"We obviously don't fully understand this, babe. This didn't happen with the rest of us," said Kat.

"I'm right and you know it," said Sam.

"Okay, fine," Kat said.

"I appreciate your speculation of my supposed sexual preferences here, but can we go do this goddamn ritual before that asshole kills me?" I asked, finally catching up on all of the air I'd missed out on.

"Yes, of course," Sam said.

"Can you get up?" Kat asked. She let go of me and I sat all of the way up. I popped my neck and rolled my shoulders, then stood up.

"Yeah, no, I'm all good," I said. I reached up and pulled on my braided pigtails in case my wig had slid around, but it was still situated on my head. "Is my makeup good?" I asked.

"That's your first question?" Sam asked.

"No, my first question was asking why Colby left," I said.

"Yeah, it's all good. Nothing got messed up," Kat assured me. "Let's get back to the Traphouse."