Page 11 of Fatally Yours

A loud noise awoke me from the state I was in.

I attempted to take in a breath, but my body resisted.

After that failure, I tried to move, but I was stiff.

My mind was uncooperative with my demands, and my vision was cloudy, but I could still see and hear everything.

The birds chirping, the sun shining, highlighting the particles in the air—I could sense it all.

Someone was aggressively knocking on my door. I wished my head would turn, or at least my eyes, so I could see what was happening, but nothing worked as it should. Even if I begged and pleaded, my body would not move.

Is this hell?

August was gone, and I was propped up against the bed.

Even through the haze, I could see that I was still nude.

My pale skin was splattered with deep red blood, and I could feel it drying like a membrane.

The urge to scrape it off was overwhelming.

Adding to my annoyance and confusion, the noise continued.

All I wanted was for it to stop so I could get some rest, but my mouth was still like the rest of me. Not a single utterance left my lips.

Surely, this is hell.

The sun’s glow illuminated my flesh, and the remains of my lifeblood dried along my legs and pooled around me.

It would’ve been serene if I hadn’t sworn August stabbed me to death the previous evening.

Or the evening before that. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since his return or if it was him at all.

Perhaps I dreamed it all during a nervous breakdown, or someone broke into my home and brutalized me enough to cause paralysis. Even if it felt so real. I swore I could still feel the phantom of his touch on me, but I felt no agony. Either way, something was not right, and I needed help quickly.

Finally, the knocking stopped as the front door burst open.

There was a flurry of footsteps and voices, but I recognized that creaking anywhere.

People were in my home, and they were going to find me nude and bloody on the ground, surely traumatizing themselves like I had when I held August that momentous day he passed.

The intruders got closer, and I could finally make out the voices. My heart did not skip for whatever reason, making me wonder exactly what was happening. I must have been seriously hurt if I wasn’t feeling anxious about this strange situation.

“Natasha?” I was intimately familiar with that voice. It was Mandy. I hoped my eyes would widen, and I could get up and cover myself, but no matter how hard I tried, my body would not respond to my impulses. It just wasn’t fair that she would find me in this state.

“Tash, are you in here?” I heard Scott say.

“I tried calling her yesterday, but she wouldn’t answer.” If I could move, my teeth would press together with that sound.

Devin.

I didn’t want to speak to him ever again after what he said. Even if August returned—though I wasn’t sure that wasn’t just a hallucination—I didn’t want anything to do with him. He didn’t deserve me after that wicked comment he said. That was not including everything else.

“Probably because you pissed her off,” Mandy retorted. There was a stumbling noise, and I imagined her nudging Devin for his rotten treatment of me.

“You know she’s been emotional recently,” he said. “Ever since August fucking died, she hasn’t stopped moping.” Their movements continued as they searched our home. The doors squealed on their hinges as I pictured their heads poking in and out of each room.

“Yeah, because you’re a dick,” Mandy snapped.

“It doesn’t give her a right to be such a bitch to me.”

“Don’t call her a bitch!”

I wanted to pinch my eyes shut. I didn’t want my friends to argue about me, even if I was infuriated with Devin. The desire to raise my hands and place my palms over my ears was overwhelming, but something refused to listen.

It was a strange feeling, knowing your body was frozen in place so that you couldn’t even blink. I wondered if Mandy knew about some horrific medical condition that caused that. With all her morbid interests, it wouldn’t shock me.

“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.

But dead ? That wasn’t possible. Sure, there was blood everywhere, but I couldn’t be dead.

Not when I felt like 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, I would’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, and cheating?

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 his inconvenience was finally out of his way so he could fuck someone else. Someone who would actually put 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 considering getting 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.

“Oh, god…” she wept. “At least cover her up, man…” Devin sighed like it would be a chore and scooped up my discarded clothes. He picked up my shirt, and his lip curled. I wondered if he was disgusted by someone pote ntially slicing through it amid my violation, or if he was revolted by me.

Mandy continued to cry as he dressed me.

If my skin could crawl, it would be as his warm hands connected with me.

His hand brushed my breast, but I had no idea if it was intentional or not.

It was strange how I could still feel his heat, but I couldn’t bring a stop to it even if I wanted to, just like before.

Once he was done with his subtle desecration, he grabbed the bloody sheet from my bed and wrapped me in it.

Still, I was as lifeless as a corpse. When the fabric coiled around my head, I wanted to cry out and rip it from my mouth.

It wasn’t like I needed to breathe, but the primal fear remained.

The instinct to live was still burning, even if my life was snuffed out.

Devin laid me back on the bed, and I could no longer see what was happening.

All I knew was that Mandy was still crying, and I could feel the worry in their eyes searing into me, even through the sheet.

The panic of claustrophobia began to set in as I cursed that I could still feel fear.

I was dead, but I was still fucking scared. It just wasn’t fair.

“I know a place we can go, but we better wait until it’s dark,” Scott muttered. My hearing was muffled by the fabric around my head. “There’s blood everywhere.”