WEDNESDAY

All three of the group went to see a movie. 

A week passed and it was Wednesday again. The school was fixed and they would be going back to school the next day.  They all sat in Dana’s Diner again. The waitress greeted them all cheerfully, remarking on how she hadn't seen them for a while. It was all pleasant enough. But for the others it was fake. They felt as if they were losing their minds on the inside. The gripping and remarkably intense fear, anxiety and strain on their sanity was taking a toll. It made Lucas' gut twist. This time they sat in an opposite corner where they used to. Lucas did not want to sit where Jasper had sat. Nothing felt right as they all talked a little on how school was going to start up soon. Actually, mostly Penny talked. Not in a bad way. Lucas chimed in a little but Roxanne seemed mute. Finally, after about half an hour of this Penny finally stopped.

“What's the matter?”

Roxanne looked at her, eyes dark and pained.

“I'm fine,” she muttered, forcing a blatantly fake smile.

“Roxanne, I want to help,” she said, putting her hand on hers.

“It’s-It’s….” she trailed off as tears came to her eyes.

In a second she burst out crying. Heavy streams of mascara dripped down her face. She and Penny hugged.

“It's just I'm so tired, how can you two act so well? I mean our best friend.. And that thing. I can see it.” Her eyes were wide and she continued to cry.

“I know, I know. I see it too,” Penny said softly.

“Lucas. You knew him. how can you just forget him like that?” she said, staring into his eyes.

Lucas felt her pain. He had grown up next to Jasper. The two were like brothers. The agony of it was intolerable. But he had to. He could not cry; he had to keep working and keep living. No one could know about the monster. Something in his gut told him things would be a lot worse if that happened.

“Lucas, come on. Don’t you miss him? Aren't you sad you told me you saw the blood? You saw him. Don't you even care?” 

These last words stung like a slap across the face. Lucas looked at her glaring.

“Shut up,” he said coldly. 

Penny opened her mouth to speak but Lucas spoke first.

“You don't know what you're talking about. You do NOT get to talk about what I saw. And yeah, I saw him. I saw that monster and I saw its teeth. Roxanne, understand this and get it into your tiny head if you can. I not only saw his blood I heard his freaking bones breaking. Imagine it Roxanne, imagine watching and hearing bones crunching and blood dripping. Now smell it too. Let it suffocate you. Do not tell me I don't care. It's not all this self-centered world where it's only about your pain. He was like my brother. I watched him die. Now shut up and don't talk about things you don't understand,” he said, stopping to catch his breath.

“Lucas,” Penny began, but before she could continue Lucas spoke again.

“No, what I said was true. Yah, I miss him. Yeah, I wish the monster had killed me too. But I have to keep moving and don't shame me for living when you're too scared to.” With that he smacked the table and left.

Lucas’ anger burned inside him. It mixed, swirling with his misery. Everything was ruined. Had he just ruined his friendship with Roxanne? He was such an idiot. He got off his bike and pulled it to an alley. He sat slumped. He was angry and hurt. This was all his fault. If he had gotten to Jasper first he would have been able to pull him out and he would have been ok. He could have gone and moved in with him. But no. He had been too slow. He had messed things up with Roxanne. He put his head in his hands. He wanted to die. Just smash his head into a wall. Why was this happening and why to him? Why couldn’t he just do something about it?

Back at the cafe the two girls sat in silence. After a while Roxanne finally spoke, “I'm an idiot and a jerk,” she said, rubbing her eyes and smearing them to look like a racoon. 

“No, you're not a jerk or an idiot. You're honestly hurting and you said those things out of pain.”

“You make it sound so much better than it is,” she said glumly, head in her arms.

“Look, I'm not going to pretend what you said was good. But it's hard, life’s not easy and sometimes people say things they don't mean,” Penny said with a weak smile.

“I should call him,” Roxanne said.

Penny only nodded. The phone rang. And rang. No one picked up.

“I'm such an idiot,” Roxanne said, groaning.

“It's ok. He'll come around. Just text him you’re sorry and you guys have been friends for a while. It works out in the end.”

A ways away Lucas still sat in the dark corner. His head nodded down and his eyelids drooped. He felt completely exhausted. But did not fight it. He was too exhausted to even care. It did not matter anymore. He just wanted to sleep. 

Lucas woke in an instant. It was dark. What time was it? He felt the hair on his neck stand up. There was just this indescribable fear in his gut. It made him sick. Looking around he saw no one. He tried to breathe but his breath caught in his throat. Coughing and half gasping for air he heard it echo down the dark alley. 

“Nobody's there,” he muttered to himself.

“Nothing is there,” he muttered again.

He stood up, dusting his jeans. He forced himself to act as normal as he could. If one can get the body to act a way surely the mind will follow. Right? Lucas felt his face scrunching up as if he were trying not to sob. The feeling of just utter terror riddled throughout his body. It reverberated in his bones. There was nothing there, nothing in the dark. It was all in his head. But then behind him just as he was pushing up his bike he heard a harsh tap as if someone had nicked cement with a bone. 

His entire body began to shake. It's in my head, it's in my head. It's in my head. He repeated over and over again quietly. He trembled. He stood frozen, one leg over his bike. Listening. Always listening. But nothing. No sound. He had imagined it. It had been in his head. He even half laughed. Trying to shake off the feeling.  

He got on his bike and forced a sigh. Checking his phone he sighed seeing it was dead. But as he looked at the black screen he saw the corner of his face in the reflection. He was half surprised at exactly how exhausted he looked. But then something behind him caught his attention. It was a kind of glint of light. Angling his phone about half an inch he felt his breath catch in his through. There were two kinds of spots of lights behind him. Two glowing squinted eyes. They sat in the darkness imitating a kind of reddish glow. Reddish like blood. Red like Jasper’s blood, like Jasper’s broken and twisted arm. 

The eyes were right there. Right behind him. He couldn't just feel a kind of warm breath on his neck. He was too scared to even flinch as his bike clattered to the ground. He stood frozen staring at the death his phone reflected. Eventually he could not stop himself and he very slowly turned around. He could see nothing except the two eyes. Dead and alive all at the same time. Hideous and radiating that red glow of death. He could not even smell it this time. Before when it had been close he could smell it. Surely this was proof he was staring at nothing. All in his head or the light was catching on a piece of trash in the alley. Nothing was there. There was no monster. And yet Lucas stood frozen staring now. 

In an instant a car drove past, its lights showing the dark alley for only a moment. But a moment is more than enough time. It illuminated the creature's face. Every crisp white arm. The huge smile staring at Lucas. Every sharp tooth shone in perfect detail. It was less than two feet away. Its horrible eyes squinted even further as it smiled even more. Stretching its mouth wide open. The lip pulled back to reveal reddish pink gums. With thousands and thousands of tiny teeth inside. And then the moment was over, the car had passed leaving him alone. No, not alone, with the freak of a creature. It was there. Not in his head. He was sure of it now. It was in front of him just waiting for Lucas to run. Like a cat waiting for the mouse to move. No, not like a cat like a bear and a baby. He stood frozen, his mind trying to force thoughts that simply would not come. And then he heard another car coming. It rushed past. He felt as if  his organs had all spilled out. The thing was closer now. Just barely closer. But closer still. Inching closer. smoothly leaning forward. Almost so slow that you could not tell. But it was enough. Finally the terror made way for the adrenaline. It hit Lucas like a bull and he began to run. 

He flung himself around so hard he fell backwards but rolled and was up in seconds. He heard a kind of tapping but he did not have time to think about any of it. He could only run. And run he did, sprinting as hard as he could. He could hear a clattering behind him. Like a huge spider on cement. But this was no spider. A spider would have been better, that was something completely and utterly known. This was some demonic creature from hell. Some demon sent to torment him personally. And it would do so if it caught Lucas. He realized he was screaming. His throat felt raw, how long had he been screaming? His feet pounded the cement so hard that it hurt reverberating up his leg and slamming into his knee. But he grit his teeth and ran harder. He didn't dare look back and only kept on running. He didn't know where he was. He felt dizzy and sick. All he could hear was the blood pounding in his head. It was as if he had gone deaf. He rounded a corner. His vision began to blur. 

NO! No! No! He thought if he stopped for even a moment he would be dead. The thing would catch him and rip him limb from limb. He saw something out of the corner of his eye behind him. It was some mass. And red light. He screamed again and rounded a corner, again smashing himself into the wall trying to hide. His body needed air. He bit his hand hard, drawing blood. It dripped down his face. He looked straight ahead of him, eyes open wide. He stayed pressed against the wall, maybe the thing would run by him. His lungs burned as if they were on fire. He didn't dare breathe.

He felt something touch his arm and he whirled, kicking and screaming. Something was holding his arms. He screamed and kicked it, it let go and he ran more. But something caught him from behind. He was slammed to the ground with a heavy weight atop him. He screamed and felt tears sliding down his face. His ears rang but he heard something behind the ringing, was it a voice. He tried to silence his own body while he was still yelling. He was slightly aware now he was sobbing. The fear washed over him again, stiffening his body. But he was still dazed. He was pulled to his feet, his hands behind his back. 

He tried to cause his eyes to focus. but he was so exhausted. Red and blue light washed over his face. Tears still rolled down his face. He looked around frantically for the monster. Was it gone? What was pushing him? His mind finally seemed to work somewhat. It was a car. The lights were from a cop car? Was he being arrested? 

A door was opened and he was put inside the car. He sat curled into a ball. He felt his body shaking. It was darker in the car. He heard a kind of murmuring sound. He curled tighter into a ball, shutting his eyes tight and shushing the world. The murmuring stopped for a moment but then continued a little quieter. Lucas felt sick. He wanted to curl up more into himself but his hands were stuck behind his back. He shoved his face into the seat lying on his side. He bit his lip trying to be quiet. The thing would hear him. He whimpered but was silent. He wished the murmuring would stop. What if the monster came? What if it heard it? And then Lucas felt like he slipped into a huge pool of ink. His terror faded. The murmuring faded. He even heard his own breathing and whimpering fade. Nothing. Sweet nothing.