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Susie and Julie sat on the floor of the shack,Susie nervously picking at a frayed thread of her hoodie, Julie staring off into space. Frank and Joey argued whose fault it was that we were stuck here. Frank would yell that it was “that piss-poor excuse of a victim” , and Joey would try to argue it was Frank’s. They had been going on like this for what seemed like an eternity.
“...Hey, Julie?”
Julie rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help the burble of pity in her heart at the words. She knew what Susie was going to ask; She always did. And still, every time she heard it, she felt worse.
“Yeah, Susie?” She replied, trying to remain stoic and sound strong. At least she cared about Susie and showed the minimum amount of fucking compassion, unlike Frank, who only had an emotional hard-on for Julie.
But Frank was too fucking stupid and horny to realize that Julie had feelings for Susie.
Julie could already hear the quivering of Susie’s lip and the stifled whimpers, as the younger girl tried to hold back her tears.
“Will we ever see our families again?” Susie asked, trying not to show her thinly veiled sadness.
“You mean your family.” Julie snapped, unintentionally. Her family had kicked her out long ago.
Susie’s parents were sweet, unknowing of the mayhem and destruction Susie wrought to convenience stores late at night. Her little sister would hug Julie every time she saw her, and would always show surprise at how she had such short hair for a princess. She was 5. It was whatever.
It was not a huge surprise Susie would be crying even more at the snap. It just made Julie feel worse.
She scooted closer to Susie, wrapping an arm around her small frame. The hoodie was originally her’s, but gave it to Susie the night of the incident. She would have been spotted right away with her neon as fuck hair.
“I’m sorry, Suz” she muttered, never having been really good at apologizing. “ I didn’t mean to snap, it just is kinda a real shit situation we got here. We don’t know where we are, why everything seems fucking misty as shit, or what time it even is.” She sighed, glancing over at the two idiots who seem to be bickering still.
Susie nodded and rested her head on Julie’s shoulder. It wasn’t unusual, Susie was the most affectionate of the bunch, and was always most comfortable around Julie.
They had been friends since fifth grade, and met Joey in sixth. They barely even knew Frank, maybe just three months? But Frank had a way with words, and convinced them all to join his little gang, ‘the Legion’.
What a shit name.
Susie used her sleeves to wipe away her tears, and was able to talk like a normal human being now.
“Jules, do you think this is like hell or something? Like in Doom or whatever? “
“We didn’t die Suz. We just.....” She didn’t even know. They were burying.... and then Frank went into the mist, and everyone followed and now they were in whatever shit hole this was. “We just got lost.” She decided that would be a suitable answer.
“How did we get lost? We just walked forward!” Her voice lisped a bit as she raised her voice. An eighteen-and-a-half year old with braces. She was always the baby of the group. “God, this is so stupid!”
Susie stood up abruptly, knocking Julie off her balance from her comfortable position.
Julie sighed and looked down at her hands, still caked with blood. Hell, they were all bloody. She couldn’t believe what she had done. Frank’s screams echoed in her ears. She remembered the face of the man, his firm grip on her wrist, and the scream of horror as he gargled blood, the life draining from his eyes. Then he made Susie and Joey join in.
Maybe this was hell. They were murderers.
She glanced up at Frank. She hated him. She hated him more than anything. She hated what he did to her and her two friends. She was filled with an overwhelming anger, making tense fists with her bloody hands.
She looked up and realized Susie felt the same. Everyone did. Even Frank was filled of hatred. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but oh, she fucking knew. She was filled with fear and hatred and anger and
And
Sadness.
Intense emotions cycled through her. It was like she couldn’t breathe. Susie was hyperventilating, as her inhaler was left in her backpack at Ormond. Julie stood up, and took her hand, both crusty and caked with blood and dirt.
In that second, they were all afraid.
A whisper echoed in all of their ears, and it felt like needles and thorns were surrounding her. Not painful, just.... terrifying.
The whisper spoke a promise.... a dreadful promise. One that made Susie’s grip tighten on Julie’s hand, which, if it weren’t for the foreboding dread that engulfed all of them, would have made Julie’s heart skip a beat.
“Death... will be your escape”
And just like that, the gang knew everything. They didn’t speak a word. Susie cried silently. Joey closed his eyes, and furrowed his brow. Julie’s heart pounded in her chest, like it was loud enough to be heard for miles. She was afraid.
And Frank. Frank was shaking. His face was sweating, and his fists were clenched. Julie knew, she just knew, that Frank was the most terrified out of all of them.
And that’s when Julie knew. She knew that Susie was right.
This was Hell.