Hunt

Chapter 7: Recourse and Reprecussions

I slept like a baby that night. That was until the alarm clock for school pulls me from my blissful sleep. In my still half asleep state I shuffle slowly through my morning routine. The events of yesterday and last night felt like they were miles away, somewhere over the horizon long behind me. Yet I had a small itch in the back of my mind; What would've happened if I didn't go back to help Heather? How would things have gone if I had acted differently?

I'm shaken from my thoughts as Julie enters the kitchen where I've begun to halfheartedly devour some cereal. "Quite the cereal killer this morning huh?" She pipes up, having made a beeline for the coffee maker. Her usual first stop.

"Shut up." I grumble, too tired to even come up with a clever comeback. As Julie turns back to me with her coffee I catch an emotion on her face that I couldn't place. Worry? Fear? It seemed like a mix of many. "Hey Julie, you alright?" I ask, concerned that something happened to her.

There was a hesitation to her words. A small hiccup in between. "Yeah, it's just... Kyle level with me right now." She sits across the table from me, staring into her coffee. "What were you doing last night? I saw the bathroom after you went to bed."

"W-what do you mean?" I question. Setting the spoon down in the bowl.

"Blood. So much blood in the sink." She crosses her arms, closing herself off. "What's going on?"

Grinding my teeth I fail to meet Julie's eyes. "It's nothing important. Trust me."

"Bullshit!" She nearly screams, causing me to jump in surprise. "Kyle! You came home in the middle of the night covered in blood! I think that's pretty damn important!"

I frantically try to get her to shut up. The last thing I needed was our parents to wake up and get involved with this discussion. "L-look, I just went for a jog last night, I needed to get out. Someone's dog got out and came after me. I cut myself up pretty bad hopping a fence to get away from it. I'm fine. Really." I give my best convincing face, hoping she buys it.

Sighing she hangs her head, "Okay." The air between us remaining charged as we finish our breakfasts.

As the time comes for us to leave I gather my backpack. "You ready?" I ask to Julie.

"Yeah. I think I'm just gonna take the bus." She says with crossed arms. Not meeting my eye.

"Wha—okay. If that's what you want." I say confused. I wanted to know why, but I don't want to push the argument any further. Julie never wants to take the bus so she must still be upset over something. Leaving the house and closing the door behind me I take the walk of shame to my car. I hated lying, especially to family. It was the wrong thing to do, and I admittedly wasn't very good at it. Turning the key I peel out of the driveway, frustrated at myself. But I have to lie to them. I made it my life to lie.

As I accelerate I focus on my hands clutching the wheel, trying not to close my heavy eyes. I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night and it was showing. I felt like I was drifting in and out of sleep constantly, flashes of lucidity as I cruise down the road. With a sudden and violent flash my hands are covered in an oppressive and sticky crimson. Covered in someone's blood that not my own, not Heather's... With a sudden jolt from the surprise I swerve, nearly clipping a car in the oncoming lane. Suddenly wide awake and breathing heavily I steel my nerve just enough to straighten out my car. My heart pounding in my chest.

As I look into my rear view mirror to watch the car I nearly collided with I meet the eyes of a figure sitting in the back seat. The same figure I  thought I saw last night in the trees. With a panicked shriek I slam the breaks, swerving to the side of the road where I nearly slide it into the drainage ditch. The blood fades from my hand along with the girl from the rear view, yet the feeling of it all is still there. An oppressive sticky feeling covering my hands.

Taking a minute to collect myself I groan into my hands. My higher than normal paranoia is being elevated by my sleep deprivation. Slowly I gather the confidence to limp he rest of the way to school. Heather's car in the usual space, meaning she was still alive and able to drive to school. Despite being shot she still came. It strikes me a little odd, but I try to push it from my head. Impulsively I begin scratching at the bandages on my arm, which had begun to itch. Throwing my backpack over one shoulder I try to push my anxiety away. Once through the doors I immediately make a beeline for the closest bathroom, where I wash my hands over and over, scrubbing my hands red and raw as I try to remove the sickening feeling of the blood that wasn't even there. The feeling never leaves regardless of how much I scrub. Stopping after countless cycles, breathing ragged. Looking up at the mirror someone's there, behind me.

"Amei—" I whip around. Empty. Nobody there.

As I rush out from the bathroom I'm immediately flanked by Reyna. "Hey! I saw you— Jesus Kyle, are you alright?"

I must've looked how I felt. I felt like I was losing touch of the world around me. Losing control over my own mind. I really needed to get some sleep.

"I could be better," I admit as we walk to where we had shared lunch yesterday. "I've been having a rough time sleeping these last couple of nights."

Reyna's hand rests on my shoulder, sending warm waves through me. I begin to feel better almost instantly. "I'm sorry to hear that, if it's something you need to talk about..."

"No." I say quickly, harshly. "Nothing that I can't figure out." I follow up with a smile, trying to tone down my voice, changing the conversation. "Thanks." I didn't notice I was still unconsciously scratching at my arm; Beginning to tear through the bandages I had wrapped haphazardly last night and had yet to replace. A silence falls over us, the distracting conversations of those around us seemed to fade further to silence the longer we didn't talk. Only ceasing when the bell rings.

School's officially in session.

I catch Reyna's eyes once more as we split ways. She still had a worried expression on her face as she vanished into the crowd. My first class today was P.E. Nothing like forcing teenagers to compete for a passing grade to get my mind off everything. But it's only when I get to the locker room do I finally realize the damage that I've done to my arm. I've torn clean through my bandages. The skin peeling and bleeding as I involuntarily removed the one thing keeping it covered and clean. Pulling my hand off from the now town fabric I look down at a blood covered hand. This time it was my blood on my hands causing the sickening sticky feeling, not anyone else's.

The next couple of minutes were a blur of still-frame photos. I remember someone had noticed the blood, then I was running. Not In class, but through the halls of school, running to my car. Sliding into the backseat, clutching my bleeding arm to by chest, trying to stem the rampant bleeding with my body. There was a long time where I couldn't inhale, sudden panic causing my heart to threaten to leap out from my throat. Try as I might it was like someone had sucker punched me bad. Sitting in the back of my car, bleeding badly, and now unable to breathe.

There was a sound that felt a mile off. A soft knocking followed by the clicking of a door opening. A car door that I thought I had locked. "Kyle? Are you..." A girls voice calls out. Turning to look I couldn't focus on her, my gaze just passing straight past them. "Jesus..." Sudden movement causes me panic. To try to stumble back, resulting in me falling into the gap between the back seat and the back of the driver side seat. "C'mon. Up we go." She says softly, taking my hands and gently pulling me up. I still couldn't focus, by breath stuck in my throat. "Kyle. You're gonna be okay. I need you to breath..." Gazing over at my savior I couldn't focus on her features.

The only think I could make out were her emerald eyes.