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A phone rang. A familiar sound to the both of them. The small phone sat on the dashboard in between the windshield and where the two boys sat. Jonah reached for it first, but Adam slapped his hand away.
“I’ll get it. I’m never letting you answer a call again after what happened the last time I let you.” Adam said with a judgmental tone. Jonah chuckled and sat back in the car seat beside his best friend. The phone rang one more time before Adam picked it up.
“You’ve reached the Bythorne Paranormal Society, how may I help you?” He was talking into the phone with little to no emotion. It was like he didn’t care.
The person on the phone was a lady. She sounded young. As she was talking, Adam moved both of his hands onto the phone and held it up to his ear. He nodded as the woman spoke. Jonah only caught little bits of whatever the hell she was saying. “Of course, ma’am, where is the location? Okay, thank you,” She kept talking as Jonah handed a small notepad to Adam to write down the address. “Would you mind giving me a brief description of what you’ve been experiencing?”
“I’ve been hearing… things,” She said, her voice louder and clear.
“Like what, ma’am?” God, Adam was trying to sound so polite. The way his expression showed confusion, impatience, and worry at the same time was almost amusing.
The woman hesitated over the phone, like she was catching her breath or watching something. “I still hear the meows of my old cat, Jonny, but the old guy passed away a few years ago.” Adam actually frowned over this, a stupid dead cat haunting some ladies house?
“Ugh, really? A freaking cat alternate?” Jonah whined, but Adam shushed him.
“I don’t think it’s an alternate,” The woman sounded sure of it. You could almost hear the denial laced into her soft words. “I just think his soul roams the house still. I want to make sure he finds peace in whatever realm he resides in. Do you think you could help…” She stops over her words once more. “... guide him?”
Adam gave Jonah a quick glance before talking back into the phone held up to his ear. “We can certainly try, ma’am,” – would he stop it with the ‘ma’am’? – “When would you like us to visit?” Adam’s voice was unsure and confused.
“As soon as possible, please. When's your next opening?”
He looks over at Jonah again, this time more annoyed. “Well, we… could do tonight if you want.” It’s almost like he knew this stranger, talking to her like that.
“Can you do… three nights?”
He paused and then stared at Jonah. He returned the same ‘hell no’ of a look, but they both let the (crazy) woman keep talking. Maybe she had a good reason.
“I’m away from home, on a business trip,” Her words were careful, too careful, like she hand picked them out herself or just caught herself from falling. “I’m sure this will give you enough time to… deal with him.”
“Uh, well…” He was exchanging this look of horror with Jonah, back and forth, wondering why he didn’t let Jonah take the call.
“How about $500 a night?”
It went quiet. But, Jonah sat up and his face lit up with so much joy. “Oh hell yeah!” He nudged Adam slightly, who fiddled with the drawstrings of his hoodie.
“Alright, sounds like a plan. Uh… we will help your cat, ma’am.” There he was again, calling this random woman ‘ma’am’ like she was the president.
“Thank you so much, I appreciate it more than you can think.” You could hear her smiling over the phone. She might have been jumping for joy.
“No problem, ma’am, it’s just what we do.” He said, smiling.
Then, the call ended there.
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The two boys loaded their shit into the car and headed off to this (totally stoned) ladies house.
It felt weird, y’know, knowing you’re going to get paid $500 a night just to sit around and guide this lady's dead cat out. And how were they going to do that?
Jonah wasn’t worried about it. He pretty much had some local pizza joint on speed dial. It was so much easier to sit back and let Adam do all the work rather than help this dead cat.
Adam, on the other hand, was shaking with so many different emotions. First one was anger, of course, because he’s Adam. Then there was excitement, – “$500 a night? That’s, like, everything we’ve ever gotten added up into a huge pile. What could we do with that, Jo?” – But then there was anxiety. What if they couldn’t help this woman’s cat? They had never done anything like this before. They had never even encountered a real alternate before.
So… what was the plan? What were they going to do about her cat? Sit there and let the ghost roam or actually take this damn thing out?
“Wouldn’t it be funny if we, like, just led this cat outside her house. So, technically, we did our job and we secure the money, but the cat is just outside her house, still meowing.”
Adam eyed Jonah from the wheel. “But, why would we do all that work? Getting it out of the house, just to leave it outside in the cold? ”
“Ugh, I guess you’re right.” That was the first of their snippets of small conversations they’d have on this car ride. Adam was driving, his eyes locked on the road. Jonah was sitting in the seat beside him, rummaging through the collection of junky CD’s they kept in the car.
“What are you doing?” Adam removed his eyes from the crowded streets for a minute. Jonah held up a CD and jammed it into the player.
“Ugh. You know how much I hate this–” He looked at the screen, squinting and sighing. “Dammit, I hate you sometimes, you know that?”
Jonah giggled (a really fucking stupid one for that matter!) and put the case back. Every once in a while he looked over at Adam, like, nodding his head to the beat or humming the song. It was little things like this that made him smile.
There was just silence between the pair for a while. But, Adam just so happened to break that silence. “What do you think Sarah and Evelin are gonna think of this?”
“Why do you think Evelin is gonna care?” Was all of his hope still pinned on that girl?
A shrug. But a shrug that seemed sure of itself. “Like, what would they say about all this money coming our way?” He laughed as he cleared up his words and steadied himself behind the wheel. Jonah didn’t want to say anything, he felt as if they were being greedy for all this.
“Dunno. What do you think?” Oh, he didn’t even hesitate. He had this huge smile spread across his stupid freckled face and his eyes lit up like they were stars in the sky.
“Well, I think Sarah would be thrilled. Dontcha think? Do you think she’ll want some?”
“Of course she’ll want some, doofus! Who do you think she is?” He playfully smacked Adam’s arm. “She works for us, too, y’know. Don’t leave her out.”
Silence. Again. But just for a moment. Adam Murray to the rescue! “Yeah. Of course. Gotta love Sarah.”
“Don’t leave her out.” Jonah repeated to make sure it was engraved into his friend's mind. He nodded and gave him a smile before turning back to the wheel. Jonah politely turned off the music and imprisoned it once more in the case.
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The road was busy with cars, flashing their lights at cars in front of them and slamming on the horn to let the other person know when to go.
Adam looked like he was nodding off. His eyes seemed heavy, like they were huge weights over his eyes. His hands gripped the wheel tightly, never letting go.
“Are you okay? Do you want me to drive?” Jonah asked, genuine concern in his words. Adam groaned and shook his head.
“No. Never. I’m never letting you drive. Ever again.”
“You always say that! First it was the phone, now the car? What’s next, you aren’t going to let me pick our food anymore?” He teased.
“Actually, yes, cause you always pick either the same pizza or Chinese food.” Jonah was taken aback. He thought Adam liked pizza and chinese food!
“What? Are you implying that… you don’t like the food I choose?” A small bickering session, happens all the time. They were almost like actors on a stage. Doing all this fighting over such a small little thing in their lives just to burst out laughing about it later.
“Well,” He hesitated. But, surely, looked annoyed under that hood. “I got bored of it fast. But, it’s not like I don’t like it! I do!”
“That’s totally a lie… if you don’t like it, just tell me! We can get something else instead like,” Jonah browsed over the stores they passed by. “Oh, I know! Let’s get some Burger King!”
“Hell no, do you know how bad that shit is for you, idiot?”
The bickering continued, but after a while, it just got boring. They started laughing. Not ‘rocking back and forth crying’ laughing, but more ‘what the fuck am I doing with my life?’ laughing. Somehow, the teasing back and forth turned into a serious conversation about this lady.
“And who's to say… she’s not even crazy! What to say, she’s not as high as I’m going to be in thirty minutes!” His voice cracked in a comedic way as he spoke. Adam scoffed.
“Uh, I would hope for us,” He said, calmly. “Because the last thing I need is getting a weird house call from a stoned lady about a dead cat and then for there be nothing there.”
Jonah sat slumped over in his seat, staring out at the pretty stars in the dark sky. They were like little dots among a huge, black mass that covered everything (which is pretty much what they are anyway.)
“Right? Half of me thinks that there aren’t even alternates and the mayor was too stupid to just make that entire, uh, infographic?” Oh, he didn’t even stutter over his words. He was so sure of himself, confessing he didn’t think his job was real.
It was quiet. So quiet, Jonah thought he fucked up for a minute. “Yeah but then, like, why are we getting so many calls about alternates in the first place?” he was judging him, correcting him, even. Jonah crossed his arms.
“Maybe it’s because… maybe it’s mass hysteria, right? Do you think this is the rise of the war on alternates?”
Adam paused again. Processing every word like that was just something he did. “I don’t know… we’re just two guys driving to some weird ladies house.” He was confused, worried, anxious, whatever else this guy was feeling.
Okay. Sure. Return to your driving.
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The GPS hummed out, “You will arrive at your destination in ten minutes.”
Jonah instantly smiled and glared down at the machine. “Holy shit, that’s actually really useful,” Adam didn’t say anything like he wished he would. “Ugh, I mean, they didn’t have to outlaw these things, did they? Like, I doubt that guy’s face could appear on something like this, and y’know, kill you, I don’t know.”
Adam chuckled and shook his head, letting his eyes close and focus on something other than the road. “No, they did not.”
“I guess… crime really does pay.” Literally.
“I like how you’re making us out to be gangsters when all we did was… y’know, get all of this.” He motioned to the trunk. That was where all their equipment was stored.
“I know, I know, it’s just,” He closed his eyes and sighed. “We lived our whole lives under the radar, right? Like… the quiet kids.”
“C’mon, you don’t need to talk like this right now when we’re literally about to get to this crazy ladies house.”
“Right.” Back to silence. But just ten more minutes. Then, everything is going to change.
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They arrived. And the GPS screamed that in their face.
The house wasn’t impressive, but they weren’t expecting anything more or anything less. Usually, the houses they go to are either rundown and worn out or just small and cozy. This seemed like a ‘small and cozy’ type house.
“We’re here.” Jonah said with a blank face. Adam chuckled and kicked open the car door.
“Oh, I couldn’t have guessed.”
They exited the car and emptied the trunk of the contents. Adam pulled up his hood and strapped a camera to his chest. “‘Kay, do you know if everything is working right?”
“Sure is. You wanna come in with me and help or sit in the car as usual and do nothing?” Jonah rolled his eyes at his remark. Just the usual teasing, but he couldn’t help but feel a little anxious and annoyed as Adam bullied him.
“I’ll take the usual. Thanks!” He smiled with a hint of sarcasm hidden behind. Adam returned the smile, but retreated to his blank look.
“Alright, ready when you are.”
Jonah hurried up to the front seat and slipped behind the wheel. He sat his radio down beside him and watched Adam study the house.
The key was under the doormat. Nice. The key slipped into the handle with ease and welcomed Adam into hell.
It was small on the inside. And cold. A chill ran through him the moment he stepped in. It was like he was tied to this house now. There was no going back.
He looked around, taking his time as he listened for any noise or noticed any movement. But there was nothing. Nothing weird, nothing crazy, no stoned lady, no dead cat, nothing.
There was a door. Nothing off about this door, but it was locked. Why would it be locked? He tried the knob again. It wouldn’t budge. The room was empty and had a cat door, which was odd. Jonah’s voice broke through the empty silence.
“There’s one camera in there already, but it’s one of those old ones with the tapes and stuff… it will record, but I just won’t be able to see it in real time. We’ll just have to look at it afterwards.” He sounded annoyed and stubborn with how this turned out, but kept his cool.
Adam looked around the room a little more. His light met every surface it possibly could, leaving bulky shadows and weird shapes against the plain walls. He found himself glancing behind him from time to time, making sure nobody was there.
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“Here, kitty kitty. Everything okay?”
He made those weird clicking sounds with his mouth, trying to get the ghost cat’s attention. Clearly, this wasn’t working, but Adam didn’t give up. “Are you at peace here?”
Jonah watched over the intercom, laughing at Adam’s effort. “You look so stupid right now.” It was his turn to bully Adam.
But he snapped. “Dude, what am I supposed to do for a literal ghost cat?” He was stern and serious about this. But why?
“What… What's it gonna do? Just meow us to death? Like, what are we doing here?”
“Would you mind taking this seriously for once?” It was late at night, almost twelve, and he’d been driving all day with little food, of course he had the right to be angry.
“I mean, in the end, I don’t really have to take that much seriously at all, cause I’m here, and you’re in there, and you’re…” He laughed.
“Yeah, because you were too scared to go inside to begin with.” Oh, he went there. Jonah rolled his eyes and adjusted how he was placed in the car seat.
“I’m not too scared, I’m not too scared.” He repeated.
“ Yes you are.”
“No, I’m not. I’m not scared. I’m not. I’m not. I just…” He sniffled. “I’m allergic to cats.”
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The knob of the locked door rattled. Locked. Weird.
“You seeing this?” Adam studied the door. There was nothing really off about it. It was just a normal, locked door.
“Uh… the door?” Jonah felt the same way, a boring, old door.
“It’s locked tight. Kinda weird.”
“Try and um… do you have anything to… uh, y’know, tear it down?” Jonah asked.
“I’m not gonna burst down this random ladies door.” He rolled his eyes and continued with his search through the house.
“It’s fine she’s not gonna find out.” Jonah said with a smirk.
“Anyways, moving on.” He snapped a picture of the door before turning away.
There was nothing else, nothing out of place. Everything was the same. There could have been a faint shuffle behind Adam and he wouldn’t know, though, so he wasn’t going to assume everything.
He was getting an eerie vibe from this house, like he didn’t want to be here anymore. But he couldn’t just leave! What would Jonah think? Did he have the same feeling about this house?
Adam decided to head back to the car and process everything. He tapped on the window, motioning Jonah to slide over back into his usual seat. Jonah rolled his eyes, but obeyed.
“So, you uh… see anything in there?” Jonah asked as Adam slid into the car.
“No. I mean, there was nothing. Besides that kinda weird locked door. Not a meow, not a noise, nothing. You see anything weird on the cameras at all?”
“Yeah, I’m not… I’m scrubbing through this and I don’t see anything either.”
Adam sighed and played with the strings of his hoodie. “I mean, who knows. Maybe it's just locked downstairs.”
Jonah sat uncomfortably besides Adam and looked out the window. “Yeah, I’m not gonna lie to you man, the more I look at this house, the more I don’t wanna be in it.” He blinked at the house that stood in front of them. An uneasy feeling appeared in his stomach. Adam eyed him.
“I mean, I don’t see anything. I think we’re kinda just babysitting an empty house for three nights.” Adam said with a shrug.
“I mean, the best thing that could happen is we just leave now and say we were here the entire time,” Jonah started. “Cause, I’m looking at this house and I’m looking at this footage, and even though there’s nothing too threatening about it, I don’t… I don’t like it. I really don’t like it.”
“It’s literally just an empty house, bro,” His voice sounded judgmental once more. “Can you suck it up for three nights?” A small spark of rage bubbled up inside Jonah, but he kept his cool, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.
“Ugh, suck what” –
Then, there was that sound. Like something you’d hear in a horror movie. A scream, almost, cutting through the cold, quiet air surrounding them. It was like nothing neither of them had ever heard before in their years of hunting alternates. Jonah’s eyes shot open and Adam perked up.
“Where did that come from ? ” Adam sat up right away and looked around. Jonah sat in his seat, almost gripping the sides, eyes wide and panting.
“I think it came from the house, man. I really don’t like this now.” He was shaking.
“I’m the opposite, this is kinda interesting!” A smile spread across his face slowly.
Jonah sighed. “I really don’t think you should go in there now.”
“I’m going back in. I think there’s something deeper than a cat here.”
“I think that’s the problem… I…”
“I think it’s fine,” Adam was opening the car door. “You’re overreacting. Do you realize what this could do for us?”
“Do what for us? We’re already on the run! We don’t need this attention again!” He could feel tears forming in his eyes.
“Whether you like it or not, I’m going back in.”
“Adam, please!” He reached for Adam’s arm.
“It’s too late, I’ve already made up my mind.”
An uneasy feeling overcame Jonah. He tried to protest, but Adam was already out of the car and opening the front door.
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The house was completely dark.
Adam held the flashlight in one hand. It was unsteady in his hand, but it still did the job. “How did you die?” It was like he was talking to himself. Standing in the dark, listening to static, hoping for a small sound that would catch his attention.
“Where are you from?” Nothing but static. “What year were you born in?” The same jumbled noise. “Are you lost?” Silence.
“Am I coming through?” Finally, Jonah’s voice filled his ears.
“Loud and clear.”
Another moment of silence and static. Suddenly, Jonah’s calm voice turned distressed, loud and screaming. Adam jumped, startled by his yelling. “Oh my god, behind you!”
Surely it was just another one of his jokes. He rolled his eyes and ignored it. “Shut up,” He returned to flashing his light down the hallway. “You see anything on the cameras?”
Then again. “Oh my god, behind you!” Would he stop? It wasn’t funny anymore.
“Dude, cut it out.” And then again.
“Oh my god, behind you!”
That was enough. “Dude, seriously, stop.” The joke had gotten stale a long time ago. It was time to quit.
“Oh my god, behind you!” – again and again, a few more times over the glitched radio.
“Dude, fucking quit!” Adam shouted over the radio, but Jonah on the other end seemed confused.
“What the hell did I do?” Did he not know what he was just doing? Must have been some weird glitch in the system. Adam shrugged it off.
“Just forget about it.” He kept shining his light across the empty hall, hoping for something to come to him.
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“Uh, what are you seeing exactly?”
Jonah squinted at the camera. He waited for Adam to reply, but it didn’t come. Instead, a different voice came over the radio.
“I’ve been watching you.” It sounded like some voice filter. Jonah looked over at his radio and shivered.
“Dude, that’s not funny.” It really wasn’t. Was Adam trying to be an asshole?
“I can see you.”
He sat a little further away.
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A worried feeling came across Adam. He felt like he did something wrong, something he shouldn’t have done.
Had he messed up going back inside? He didn’t think so. But standing there in that dark hallway left some fear lingering inside him. He couldn’t help but feel like something was behind him, watching him, like something lurking in the shadows, eyes wide open and staring at him.
He suddenly felt kind of scared.
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There was nowhere else for Adam to go.
So, he was going to sleep in that empty room. He could have gone anywhere else. Like back to the car, safe with his best friend, but somehow, that room just called to him.
He snapped a quick picture to let Jonah know where he was, then dropped everything on the floor and sat back against the wall. It was cold. Everything. The floor, the wall, everything around him.
From where he sat, there was a perfect view of that door. The locked door. It looked almost wrong in the dark. It felt like he was a little boy again, watching his closet door, making sure there were no monsters.
But now, he kept his eyes locked on this door. Something felt wrong, something was behind that door. He didn’t know what it was, but he was going to find out. He couldn’t stand this feeling of sitting around, hoping a door would open or he’d find something. He needed to do something about it.
His camera sat in his lap. He studied the door, looking at every detail in the painting. It looked like any normal door.
There was this voice. This robotic, weird voice. He felt his whole body shaking as it spoke, “You followed the shepherd.” What did that even mean?
It was almost like a soft whisper. Like a comforting voice. Somebody reaching out to him, holding him, trying to comfort him, but at the same time it felt so, so wrong. “You are a fool. Follow my voice instead.” It felt familiar almost.
He almost did want to follow it. “You will find great happiness,” Would he? Would he ever find happiness after everything he’d been through? “Wake up, Adam. Don’t make me wake the others.”
That felt almost unavoidable. Was he dreaming? Was this all just a dream? He sat still, staring at the door, watching. Waiting for the voice to appear again, he sat. But it never did.
It was too quiet. Too silent. No static could be heard. No Jonah. No radio.
But then he was saved. “Hey, I lost visuals on cam… three. You think you could check that out?” Jonah said.
He didn’t move or speak. Nothing could get him to do anything. His eyes closed and he let himself calm down for a moment.
He felt watched. Something was in the dark, or behind the door, staring at him. He held his camera close and let the flash cut through the darkness.
There was nothing but darkness. Then a light, but that was just his camera. His eyes were pinned on the door as it slowly crept open.
He held his breath. Another flash of red light through the empty darkness. Then again.
The door was wide open, welcoming Adam back into hell once more.
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Adam felt like he was losing his mind here, but something kept him inside.
There was this series of loud whispers, over and over again in his ears, mumbling nonsense. He couldn’t understand, he didn’t understand. He closed his eyes and covered his ears, wishing, waiting, praying for it to go away.
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Jonah was starting to get worried.
He knew Adam looked at the photos he took on the camera, so he decided to leave a message. He needed to know he was okay.
“adam why didnt you come back to the car after you tried talking to it - jonah” After a few minutes, nothing. “dont act like i dont know you stare at these stupid pictures all day. i know you are reading this - jonah” Again. “look man im hungry and i dont wanna leave without you. im kinda worried - jonah” Again. “idk what youre so busy doing in there. just come out to the car and lets go get a pizza and then back home. please - jonah”
Finally. A new message appeared and his heart almost stopped. “Jonah, look. The locked door is open. I finally hear the cat. It’s meowing. Call me on the radio and you can help me with this.”
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There it was. The meowing. So the cat was real after all.
A ghost cat locked in the basement of a stoned ladies house. Crazy, right?
It was silent besides the faint sound of a cat crying.
“Did you just pick that up? What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” Adam spoke over the radio. Jonah squeezed his eyes closed and took a deep breath. He was quivering, shaking, ready to beg Adam not to go into that basement.
“Don’t,” He stuttered. “Just don’t, okay? Please.”
Adam almost laughed. “Oh, so now you’re taking this seriously.”
“Dude, I don’t know what you want from me. I’m as serious now as I’ve ever been.”
This time, he did laugh. “This whole time, huh? So you fucking with me, was you being serious?”
“I get that I screw around sometimes, okay, but that’s just what I do!”
“Well maybe it shouldn’t be.”
“Look man, I'm just devastated that I’m not as broken as you still are with everything that’s happened and I’m sorry I can’t keep helping you carry this burden.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“But I’m reaching my fucking limit here! These things have taken so much away from us yet you still run to them every chance you get!”
“No I don’t!” –
“Fucking listen to me! You’re not invincible, okay? I know you thought that when we started doing these fucking… death marches and nothing happened, and I get it. But this right here, is real! And you should know that more than anybody!”
“What’s that even supposed to mean?”
Jonah didn’t even hesitate to stutter, but he never thought over his words. “I wish we never looked for you mom because she is dead and gone and we were never gonna get her back!”
“What did you just fucking say to me?” Why did he say that?
“And I’m sorry that these are the lives that we lead today, but Adam,” His words slowed down, the anger and fear settling down. “If you walk down those stairs, you’d be joining her. And if by some miracle you come back out, I don’t think you’d be yourself. And I’m telling you right now, that I won’t be here… to confirm that.”
Silence. Then the silence was filled with yelling. Adam yelling.
“Well, then just fucking leave then! Leave!”
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He crept down the stairs slowly, his light meeting the surface of the bottom.
He was shaking. His whole body. He could barely catch his breath.
Once he reached the bottom, he stopped. His heart stopped. He stopped breathing. The whole world seemed to stop around him.
It was a TV, a small one, like the one he had when he was a boy. It was just static and faint music playing behind the cat's desperate meows. But then the screen faded into a cat. A small cat. His eyes met the screen as he felt fear stumble around his stomach.
Before he knew it, the cat was gone and the screen flipped to a familiar face. His heart truly stopped. He felt like his lungs were being crushed.
“What are you…?” He felt himself muster out from all the questions swirling around his mind.
The screen flipped back and forth between familiar and unfamiliar faces. He couldn’t make out what the voice was trying to say.
Suddenly, a music box started playing nearby. His heart pounded against his ribs. He felt like he was going to throw up.
“What… have you… done?”
“I did the right thing.” Did he though? He yelled at Jonah and now he was alone. Why did he do that?
“Nobody knows where you are.”
Was Jonah going to come back for him?
“Do you understand?”
No. No, he really didn’t.
The TV screen cast a message : “Do you understand?”
This was torture. Literal torture.
What did he do to deserve this? Was this payback for screaming at Jonah and ignoring him? He could have listened. Jonah was right.
“Jonah…?” Static. What had he done?
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Tears streamed down Jonah’s cheeks. His hands gripped the wheel tightly.
His eyes burned. His cheeks burned. His hands hurt. Everything hurt. Why did he listen? Why did he let himself leave Adam? Now for all he knew, he was probably dead.
He was drowning in guilt. What was he even doing? Why did he leave Adam? Jonah was truly alone now. What was he going to tell Sarah and Evelin and everyone else? How was he going to get over this?
More hot tears just spilled from his eyes. He sobbed and cursed under his breath, blinking away the sloppy tears from his eyes, trying to focus on the crowded road ahead. It seemed to never end, taking him down an endless road of cars full of people who didn’t even care.
There was this voice, whispering loudly, screaming at him in a low tune. “You left him behind.” He really did. “What will he do without you?”
What was he running from? Where was he even going? What was he going to do with himself? Was his only friend gone?
The same cold voice yelled in his ears. He would do anything to make it stop. He just wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear. Nothing but guilt surrounded him.
“Shut up…! Shut the fuck up …!” He slammed his face into the wheel. It didn’t stop. Over and over again, “Open your eyes.”
He swerved to the side of the road, tears clouding his vision. He felt like he was going to throw up. Swiftly, he jumped out of the car and crumbled onto the side of the road. Crying, gagging, throwing up. There was nothing left for him to do.
What the fuck had he done? “You left him to die.”