Page 19 of Fatally Yours
“Check her room, Wes. She’s probably sleeping—like usual,” Scott said, his voice sounding closer than before. A moment after, the door slowly creaked open, and I saw Wes peek in, scanning the left side of the room, then the right, before his gaze fell upon me. I wanted to greet him, but my vocal cords were like stone.
“O-oh, my god. She’s fucking dead, man,” he said in disbelief. The rest of the group’s footsteps raced towards the room like a stampede.
Dead? That’s not right.
I couldn’t be dead. I could still see, even if it was hazy, and I could still hear. My body was not responding to my brain, which I supposed was a lot more horrifying than if there was nothing. Butdead? That wasn’t possible. Sure, there was blood everywhere, but I couldn’t be dead. Not when I feltlike I was clinging to life.
The door opened more as everyone crowded around the doorway. Mandy shoved past Devin and Scott, and I saw the color drain from her face as she jumped into Wes’ arms, burying her face in his chest.
“Oh, my god!” Her voice was shattering with tears. All I wanted to do was reach out to her and tell her I was okay, but everyone else’s faces were sheet-white as they gazed upon me. Were my injuries so bad that I appeared to be dead?
“Holy shit, someone fucked her…” Scott breathed as he and Devin stepped into the room while Wes held Mandy. He pinched his eyes shut and refused to give me any attention, making my heart break. I was watching the people I loved think I was just a corpse on the floor. Indeed, this was hell in its rawest form. And if this was hell, then I really was dead.
“She’d be really pretty if she weren’t full of stab wounds,” Scott said flatly. I hoped he was just in shock and acting like a moron rather than there being any truth to that vile comment. “August was a lucky man.” Devin scowled and turned toward him. All the while, Mandy’s sobs reverberated through the room. Before anyone could stop him, Devin cocked his fist back and punched Scott in the arm.
“Ow!”
“The fuck is wrong with you? Don’t talk about my girlfriend like that,” he snarled. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be referred to as his girlfriend anymore. Because if I were dead, that meant the ritual worked, and August had been resurrected. Even if this was all a strange hallucination and he was still cold in the ground, I still didn’t want that title.
“She wasn’t your girl, Dev,” Wes said mournfully, rubbing Mandy’s back and still avoiding eye contact with me. “I don’t think she was ever your girl. She always belonged to August.” When I saw his face, his eyes were red with tears.
“Well, fuck her then.” His jaw visibly clenched with his words. “I have other girls who are interested in me, anyway. Girls who will actually fuck.” Suddenly, Mandy ripped away from Wes and drew her hand back, smacking Devin. He cried out and held his face with a scowl. If I could chuckle, Iwould’ve been doing so right now. If only for a moment before I remembered that someone could play connect the dots with my stab wounds and that I was supposedly dead.
Though my brief joy faded, and my heart ached with that comment. Was he really doing things behind my back? And being terrible to me? Calling me names, being inches away from striking me,andcheating? That was cruel. Now I knew for sure that this was hell. This was punishment for some unknown sin I committed, and August sent me here. This was my reward—watching the people I loved crumble and admit wrongdoings, all while I was helpless to stop it.
Yes, this was hell.
“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” Mandy cried.
“She wouldn’t fucking put out because all she thought about was August,” Devin said. She gritted her teeth together and went to jump on him again, but Scott hooked his arms in hers and held her back before she could do anything more. Tears were streaming down her face, and Wes had his head in his hands. I wished I could cry, but I couldn’t squeeze anything out. Probably because I really was dead.
“You fucker! I knew you were nasty!”
“Mandy, chill, please. We need to fucking call someone,” Wes said, pulling her towards him again. His voice was shaking when he spoke. If my chest could suffer with sorrow, it would be doing so right now. She continued to sob against him. She didn’t want to face me either, and I didn’t blame her. It was bad enough that she saw August die. Now she was witnessing me, sprawled out, stripped of dignity, with gaping wounds spritzing until I was drained.
“No, we need to get rid of her, or they’re gonna think we did it. Just like they think we killed August.” Devin’s cold glare looked at me like I was no longer human. His expression said it all. He didn’t give a fuck. He wasn’t crying, even though he claimed to love me, at least at one point. Maybe he was happy hisinconveniencewas finally out of his way so he could fuck someone else. Someone who would actuallyput out.
“We can’t do that to her,” Mandy said through sobs. “That’s terrible.”
“Says the serial killer slut,” Devin snarled. Her face turned a shade of red.
“Fuck you!”
“You’re just jealous you’re not Natasha right now,” he said. “I bet you’d love to get dicked down and stabbed by some sadistic fuck just like she was, wouldn’t you?”
“She’s my goddamn best friend, and she’s fucking dead. Of course, I’m going to be upset!” I couldn’t stand to listen to them argue anymore. The hollow ache in my chest was unbearable. All I wanted to do was scream at them to stop and that this was all just a mistake, but my unresponsive body, inability to feel pain, and their horrified reactions told me all I needed to know.
I was gone.
Somehow, I was still conscious, but I was true and well dead. It broke my heart to know we were reduced to this. Before August died, everything was almost perfect, or as perfect as possible. Devin would’ve eventually backed off, and everything would’ve been normal. Now, that was an impossibility.
The look they shared made me want to be sick—like they were actually consideringgetting rid of me. But it shouldn’t hurt, at least not physically. If they did, no one could mourn. All they would be left with was a bloodstained bed and the ghost of what could’ve possibly happened. My parents, my family, my other friends… I didn’t want to think about if they never found me.
“He’s right.” Scott’s voice was unsteady. “The cops’ll pin it on us. Two people dead? They’re gonna think we’re sacrificing them to Satan or something.”
“We can’t do that!” Mandy gripped Wes’ shirt until her knuckles were pale.
“We have to,” he said. “They’ll make up some bogus evidence and imprison us, just like they did in Oklahoma with those goth kids.” She looked up at Wes, who avoided her gaze, affirming his compliance. Mandy broke into another round of tears, and pressed her face into his shirt again.
