Salvation : Book 3

CHAPTER 5 : Play With Fire

Jack Patterson 

I betrayed Marcus, I wasn't going to deny that. I lied to him, convinced him to trust me again so I could stab him in the back all over again. I betrayed him like I had back at boarding school. I told him he could trust me, that I'd never hurt him then I did exactly that, I hurt him. The way he looked at me as I held a knife to his father's throat made my stomach churn. His eyes widened in disbelief, but then his expression twisted to rage. 

     He hated me. 

     That hurt more that anything in this world. My best friend hated me. I deserved his hatred and I'd let him hate me, because given a second chance I would have done it all again. I'd lie to him, I'd convince him to trust me so I could stab him in the back. I'd do it because it was the only way to save him. As long as Marcus made it out of this alive I didn't care if he wanted me dead. 

      Ashon had promised he wouldn't hurt him, Marcus would be okay as long as I did as I was told. He'd sworn that my best friend would be unharmed. He just wanted what he wanted and he'd made it clear that he'd get it no matter what. Marcus would have ended up in Ashon's clutches either way, at least this way he had a chance to survive. 

.........................

"But it felt so fucking real," I said as I groaned into Seth's pillow. It smelt oddly like peaches so I chucked it at the headboard of the bed as I forced myself to sit up. 

      "It was just a bad dream," Mark assured me, not even raising his gaze from the notebook he had placed on top of his crossed legs. He bit the top of his pen as his worked on his homework. He always did that when he was trying to solve an especially difficult equation. I had no idea why he stressed himself out so much, he was easily the smartest guy in the whole school. He had straight A's in every class. 

       "Yeah, the most fucked up dream ever," I grumbled as flashes of my most recent nightmare surfaced. The world in ashes, demons running rapid and mountains and mountains of corpses. I'd woken in a cold sweat, terrified out of my wit and my hands trembling, in fact, my whole body shook. 

       I'd never had a dream this bad, it was scary but the most terrifying part about it was how real it had felt. It felt like I was there, watching the world igniting, crumbling, tearing before it was nothing. Until it was gone. Until the world had ended. I could still even smell the smoke rising from the burnt bodies. 

      I shook my head, trying to get the images out of my head, Mark was right, it was just a bad dream. Nothing more. 

      I got to my feet swiping the notebook off Mark's lap. "Hey!" Mark said whipping his head up to pin me an annoyed glare. 

     "Dude, you've been studying all day," I pointed out, "you need a break." He looked like he was going to argue but instead he just huffed before nodding. 

      "Let's go get some food, I'm starving," I told him as he hopped onto his feet. He straightened out his clothes before he nodded. 

      "You're always starving," he quipped and I just grinned. 

     "Hey, I'm a growing boy. I need my food," I argued. He chuckled before I led the way out of the room and to the dining hall. 

.....................

I couldn't sleep. I'd tried. I'd spent the last two hours tossing and turning to no avail. Sleep wouldn't come. Eventually I gave up, huffing as I pulled my blanket over my face. Why couldn't I sleep? I kicked the blanket off my body suddenly feeling too warm. It was as if someone had suddenly turned the heat up in the room. I laid on the bed uncovered for about fifteen minutes, staring up at the ceiling occasionally groaning in frustration. I turned my head to my roommate, Gregg, who slept soundlessly. A bit of envy flurried up but I shrugged it off as I rose to my feet.