50 Miles

Chapter 5

I hear ringing in my ear. The faint buzzing sound is towards the back of my head . . . almost like the sound is far away but close at the same time.

Birds chirping . . .

Wind whooshing . . .

Leaves crunching . . .

Wait. Leaves crunching? Oh no.

I struggle to hear any more familiar sounds for a while. I struggle to stay awake. My breathing intensifies as I realize something. Something very important.

I'm dead.

I'm huffing and puffing for more air as this realization hits me once more.

I'm dead.

I'm dead.

I'm de-

The buzzing in my head gets even louder as I fail to make sense of what has happened to me. My throat feels dry and scratchy and my eyes are watering like crazy. The buzzing in my head quiets down for a little while but I don't move. I don't know if it's because I won't or I can't.

That's when I hear it.

Muffled voices. I don't know how many but they're definitely people around me. Maybe this is death. Or maybe they finally caught me.

At least I'll be with him.

The one person who never turned their back on me. The one person who buttoned my coat at night. The one person who let me have the only pudding cup left. The one person who-

The one person who told me to never give up. Even when things seemed impossible, that I couldn't allow life to win. That I should fight. If not for him then for myself.

So here's to fighting.

For you.

I ignore the searing pain in my leg and feel around for any type of leverage. I look over and spot a thick root near a bushel of what seems to be berries and drag myself over in slow, painful increments.

That's when I feel a hand on my shoulder.

I swing with all my might and don't stop until I hear a thud on the ground. I turn around and stop dead in my tracks.

Liam???

What

In

The

Actual

Hell

Is

Going

On

?

?

?