Dream On

Chapter Seventeen

My heart seemed to stop beating after I heard that shriek from inside the room.

Then my instincts came into play, and I did the thing that any normal person would do if they just heard a gunshot, especially what a hormonal teenage girl would do.

I screamed.

I screamed as loudly as I could, my throat constricting and my breathing coming in ragged breaths. In an attempt to calm myself, I took deep inhales of breath before I realized that I was hyperventilating.

Isaac and Jake's footsteps could be heard pounding on the wooden stairs, their heavy footsteps being the only thing that was happening around me. Footsteps and gunshots echoed in my mind, haunting my thoughts. I could only think of one thing.

Lucas.

"Natalia?" Isaac's voice broke into my swirling thoughts. "What happened?"

"We heard a thump on the ground and a bunch of screaming," Jake added unhelpfully, his eyes wide and filled to the brim with fear and a hint of curiosity. "What happened?" he echoed my brother's question.

They both looked at me expectantly, and I shrank back, tears still falling down my cheeks. "I-I don't know," I stuttered before burying my head in my knees. "All I know is that I was talking to Lucas from out here and then there was a gunshot and a scream that sounded like Lucas' voice and then I started screaming and then you guys came and..." my voice trailed off before I burst into tears. "I can't even go into the room because I'm too scared to face him," I whispered, staring at the bare wall opposite the hallway from me.

Jake rubbed my back soothingly. "Calm down, okay? Isaac and me are going in to check and see what happened in there then, and we'll come back out and tell you what's in there, alright?"

I nodded mutely and chewed on my lip as the two older guys went into Lucas' room. My belly was doing backflips in my stomach, and I felt like barfing up all of the chicken alfredo that I had eaten for breakfast this morning.

I heard another shriek of horror, this time sounding like Isaac's voice before they both stumbled back out of the bedroom, their eyes widened in horror. Jake's chest heaved before he dashed off to the bathroom across the hall. Retching noises echoed from the tile walls in the bathroom, and I covered my mouth to keep myself from barfing as well. "W-What happened?" I asked my brother, who was standing in front of Lucas' bedroom door, still as a statue.

My voice wavered as I asked him again. "What happened?" I whispered, dread filling my body.

Isaac's eyes glazed over. "You don't want to know," he replied, his voice husky. "You really would not want to know."

"I need to know, Isaac," I insisted firmly, squashing down the butterflies in my stomach before pushing past my brother and marching into Lucas' room.

Long story short, I screamed a lot more after that.

Yes, Lucas was there.

But at the same time, he wasn't.

Because his body was splayed on the ground, his electric blue eyes half-open and glazed over, his eyelashes still and his eyes staring into nothingness. In his left hand was his phone, in his right hand was a gun. And in the middle of his broad chest was a small hole, with a bullet lodged right there in his skin, with a thin stream blood dripping from the bullet wound. Below him, a pool of blood just kept expanding by the second, the warm, sticky liquid coating my jeans as I knelt down beside Lucas' body.

"Why?" I whispered, gazing at his face. His expression wasn't anything like horror or dread, like mine. In fact, he looked sort of peaceful, as if he knew that this was the right thing to do.

Isaac walked in, his head bowed. "The ambulance is on its way to see what they can do," he murmured, crouching down beside me so that our grief-stricken eyes could meet. However, we both knew that he was too far away from us to save.

I nodded mutely and put my trembling hand over his eyes, closing them so that I wouldn't have to see his beautiful eyes any longer. I stared at his face once more, drinking them in. I took in all of his face's features: his wavy black hair, his long eyelashes, the small dimple in his cheek, the growing stubble on his face, his perfect nose, and most of all, his beautiful lips. Then I turned around and walked out of the bedroom, grief stabbing my heart like a knife.

In the distance, I could hear sirens wailing as they approached. Their red and blue lights flashed around the neighborhood before finally stopping at our house.

It's funny, how I'm already saying that this house is "our" house now. It's almost like we have bonded as a family in a short time. Me, Lucas, Jake, and Isaac. Four peas in a pod, I guess. We were growing so close before I had to go ahead and break it all apart.

Then I froze as icy dread numbed me.

What if Lucas was so upset over me that he killed himself?

My heart raced about million times faster. I always knew that Lucas was more sensitive, but would I have really pushed him that much over the edge? My thoughts swirled around me like a tornado, tormenting my mind.

A paramedic knocked on the door and Jake quickly opened it, signaling to Isaac to show the paramedic where Lucas was. Isaac nodded shortly and ran up the stairs, his feet pounding against the wood. Jake stayed behind, telling the other paramedic what had happened. I just stood there, frozen in horror.

What if I was the reason he was dead?

Well, shit.

~~~

Two chapters in two days? Did I hear you correctly? The laziest girl to have ever been born just published two chapters in two days?

YESSIR, YA GIRL HAS DONE IT. TWO UPDATES IN JUST TWO FREAKING DAYS.

not to brag, but i'm so proud of myself😂

so how was this chapter? any thoughts?

XOXO Petalleaf💋