My mouth dragged sideways into something warped that barely resembled a smile, and then the laughter came out of me before I could hold it back. It sounded wrong immediately. Empty in a way that made my stomach turn, like it had been trapped somewhere deep in me for far too long and finally forced its way out the second it found an opening. I kept laughing anyway.
Hard enough that it started hurting. It echoed off the stone, off the ground, off everything around me, twisting into something that didn’t sound like it belonged to a person anymore. You would’ve loved that, little Ghost. Or maybe you would’ve looked at me differently after that, hard to tell. I finished, adjusted my clothes again, then I looked up towards the trees.
The spot where he had been, empty, no trace of him at all. If he were moving, then I’d find him. I pushed myself up out of the grave, boots once again slipping against the loose dirt before I got enough leverage to pull myself over the edge, landing harder than I meant to on the uneven ground above. My body reacted too late. Pain flared through my side, my shoulder, places I’d ignored long enough that they were starting to demand attention again, but it didn’t matter. I straightened, turned toward the trees, ready to move, ready to hunt, but then.“Stop! Hands up!”
I turned and there it was, a gun, pointed straight at me, locked and more movement behind it. Shadows shifting, spreading, cutting me off before I even had time to move.
“Hands where I can see them! Now!”
My heart slammed so hard it fucked with my hearing, everything coming in too loud and too distant at the same time. Blood still on me, dirt under my nails, the grave behind me, the hole, the coffin and that gun, pointed right at my chest.
PART THREE PLAYLIST
Placebo - Running Up That Hill
Saint Vice - KILL
Five Finger Death Punch - House of The Rising Sun
Ash to Eden - You
Nightshade Anthem - It’s Killin’ Me
Five Finger Death Punch - Remember Everything
BRKN LOVE - River
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside
Five Finger Death Punch - Wrong Side of Heaven
Falling in Reverse & Marilyn Manson - God Is A Weapon
System Of A Down - Lonely Day
Ash to Eden - Beg (On Your Knees)
Slipknot - Snuff
Stone Sour - Through Glass
Slipknot - Vermilion, Pt. 2
Three Days Grace - Time of Dying
Falling In Reverse - Voices In My Head
Marilyn Manson - Tainted Love
Labrinth & Zendaya - I’m Tired
Thorgan - Why Don’t You
Velvet Desires - Bite me harder
HIM - Join Me
Motionless In White - Afraid Of The Dark
