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Everything is going to be okay.
The noise came suddenly and very loudly, catching Jonathon off guard. The sound was deafening and had knocked him off his feet, nearly knocking his head on the island in the center of the kitchen. His vision had blurred momentarily and his he could hear nothing but a god awful ringing in his ears. It took a moment for him to recover and in a matter of seconds, everything had gone to shit. Hell had flew in through the window in the form of a homemade explosive. As he stumbled into the room where the bomb had gone off, his breath caught in his throat and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene.
The living room was nothing but flame and destruction. The figures writhing in the center is what had halted Jonathon, their screams louder than the roar of the fire. In the center of the flames were his two best friends, Craig and Luke. Mini and Cartoonz. The flames had consumed them. Jonathon wanted to scream, to run, to fucking do something but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but stare as his friends burned alive. He was helpless. For a moment, he and Luke had made eye contact and the fear in his friend's eyes would haunt Jonathon for the rest of his life, he was certain of it.
As if something snapped inside of him, Jonathon stepped into the burning room, wanting to help his friends. He held out his hand to grab Luke's arm, who had reached toward him in response. He grabbed Luke's hand and the heat from the fire that engulfed him burned Jonathon's hand, making him release his grip on his friend and he cringed backwards with a yelp. Luke tried yelling at him but the noise was to great and Jonathon couldn't hear. Instead, Luke pointed at the window behind Jonathon, in the kitchen. It took a moment for him to realize he was telling him to run.
Jonathon shook his head but before he could talk, the window was smashed and somebody was pulling him backward. He stumbled and fell again. Looking up, he was met with the concerned face of Tyler. He helped Jonathon up and pulled him toward the window again. Jonathon couldn't help but look backwards at the two friends he was leaving behind. Both his friends were now on the ground, un-moving and silent. Tears stung at the corner of his eyes as Tyler lead him through the broken window and down the fire escape on the side of the three storied apartment building.
When they reached the ground, they were greeted by Lui, Evan, and Nogla on the opposite side of the street. The flames were quickly growing behind, a thick trail of smoke coming from the busted window.
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Jonathon woke up with a scream. He was sweating and breathing heavily. Resting his head against the wall, Jonathon tried to calm down. Fuck.. It'd been the same thing again.. He'd been having the same nightmare for the past five months. Ever since Craig and Luke had died, their deaths had plagued him every night since. It was always the same dream too.
His hands curled into fists and he grumbled in anger. All because of some rival gang that was still pissed they'd lost a few of their guys in a shootout awhile back. It was something Jonathon, Luke, or Craig had no involvement in. They later found out that the gang had targeted more than one hideout that Jonathon's gang occupied. He was lucky enough to escape with minimal wounds. Well, compared to the five of his friends that had died that day anyways. Jonathon was still recovering from burns he got in the fire, had several gashes that were just starting to get to the point where he could take out his stitches, and had a bullet wound in his shoulder. It was some fucking miracle he was still alive.
Tears came pouring unwillingly as he reminisced that day, as much as he didn't want to. Luke and Craig had died. He'd tried to help but it was to late for them. He had to watch his friend burn alive right before his eyes.. Then, as they were fleeing from the building, Lui and Nogla had been shot and killed by that fucking gang. Jonathon, Evan, and Tyler had barely escaped by a hair's width before the police could be heard in the distance and their attackers fled. Tyler had bailed when he saw the guys with the guns. Thankfully, he was a fast runner so he barely had any damage done to him. Lucky bastard... Evan had been shot in the leg and shoulder as well so between the two of them, they had to half drag each other to a hospital. Thank god the closest one wasn't that far and some nice old woman had seen the two of them, burned and bleeding to death, and had drove them.
His room's light flicked on as Evan entered. His leg was still bandaged and he walked with a limp.
"I heard you scream.. Are you okay?" Evan asked, sitting on the edge of Jonathon's bed.
Damn. The poor guy looked like he hadn't slept in a week. There were heavy bags under his eyes and his hair had been messy and unkempt for the past few days. Truth be told, Jonathon hadn't gotten much sleep either and they both knew why.
Jonathon shrugged in response. "Yeah... No.." he knew his puffy eyes and the tears spilling down his face wouldn't fool anybody.
"You're still having the same dream?" Evan said, meaning it more as a statement than a question.
"Y-yeah.. I just... No matter what I do, I can't quit picturing their dead bodies..." he said with a nod.
"I know.. I'm the same with Lui and Nogla. The others too... I'm pretty sure Tyler has them too even though the stubborn bastard won't admit it." Evan said, giving a little huff of laughter.
Jonathon gave a small smile. Tyler was never one to talk about his feelings so it was no surprise, even now, he didn't want to talk about the hell they had gone through. Jonathon, in a spontaneous need for some kind of reassurance, scooted closer to Evan and wrapped him in a hug. He wanting nothing more than to be by one of the very few of his friends that were still alive. He felt Evab stiffen in surprise and was glad when his friend returned his embrace.
Evan's voice was almost a whisper as he talked.
"Everything is going to be okay."