30 Day Writing Prompts

9

9. She had never before seen that much blood.

Laura's body lay limp on the floor, a pool of red liquid forming around her. Ainsley stared at her friend's body, a feeling of guilt washed over her. This wasn't her fault, not really. It was just bad, bad luck in Laura's case. Carefully as to not sit in her friend's blood, Ainsley crouched down and sat beside her. There wasn't any way she could be saved, that was impossible. Ainsley tried to help her. She made a feeble attempt at removing the thick branches from her friends back, but they were lodged inside of her so deeply that they were almost sticking through her stomach and chest. It was a disgusting sight. Ainsley had been sick twice already, and just acknowledging the fact she was sitting beside a dead body made her queazy.

Laura's blood was so red. It was so unfamiliar. The shade of crimson was so gorgeous, yet in the most gruesome way possible. Ainsley had never touched blood before, she was too scared to touch Laura's now. It was disrespectful, anyway. There was so much blood. How could someone bleed so much? Ainsley had taken biology, everyone knew about blood. You can never believe something until it really happens though. Ainsley sits, staring at the blood slowly pooling towards her in a menacing way. It was beginning to soak into the dirt, halting the puddle becoming bigger. Ainsley sniffled as she thought about the blood and how much pain Laura must've been in for that moment before she died.

"Stop!" Ainsley cried out to herself. No one was around to comfort her in the moment. She was alone. She just sat there and prayed. Prayed that the ambulance would come quicker. Prayed that she'd have to stop looking at Laura. She prayed so hard but not even the wailing of sirens could be heard in the distance. It was silent. A terrifyingly lonely silence.

The ambulance had been called almost straight away, but because of the area the two group were in, emergency services were taking a little longer to get there. Aiden, Theo, and Ellie had left the gruesome scene to make sure the ambulance and police would come the right way, but Ainsley knew that they had left to get away from Laura. It would've been nice to have some company, though.

Laura's lifeless blue eyes stared up at the sky. She couldn't see it though. Longing for one of those lame movie moments, Ainsley dared to move her hand and closed over Laura's eyelids. The blood was still pooling slightly, but it was probably just because it was soaking into the ground below. Laura had been dead for almost twenty minutes, however it felt like an eternity to Ainsley.

Mindlessly, Ainsley shakily moved her hand to the pool of blood spreading from under Laura's body. She dipped three fingers in and retracted them quickly, as if it was an electric shock. She had never before seen that much blood. She hadn't even seen blood that often. As a kid, Ainsley was extremely shy and would hardly ever run about. She'd never fall over and scrape her hands and knees like the other children would. She was careful as well, hardly ever slipping up in Home Economics. Laura was the complete opposite of Ainsley. She was clumsy, even as a child. Always running around and tripping over, her hands and knees were always covered in bandages or plasters. As they moved into secondary school, Laura still kept her clumsy ways. In Home Economics she cut her hands on numerous occasions, even so often that the teacher wouldn't let her use knives. It was strange how opposite both Ainsley and Laura were, but they were still best friends.

A stray tear rolled down Ainsley's cheek. She cried when Laura fell. Everyone did. Ellie started screaming and ran as fast as she could. Ellie was a track runner. Extremely fit and sporty. Seemingly always in exercise-ready clothes. Ainsley had never seen her run or move as fast before then, though. Theo and Aiden were stunned into silence. Whilst Ainsley, Aiden, and Ellie ran down the side of the mountain to Laura's mangled body, Theo stood at the top of the cliff where Laura had fallen from. staring down at her body with the same lifeless expression Laura had as she lay on the ground. He didn't come down for ten minutes, and that was when Aiden and Ella were about to leave to go wait for the emergency services. Theo went with, leaving me alone with Laura.

It made her feel like it was her fault. The loneliness ate at Ainsley, causing her to blame herself. It wasn't really anyone's fault though. Laura was clumsy. She was all over the place constantly. We didn't realise it was a cliff edge. From the distance the four of them were from, it just looked as if it was sloping downwards, but as Laura ran closer she didn't seem to notice the steep drop either. She tripped, it was an accident. But Ainsley will always blame herself. She'll have to live with the fact that she never stopped Laura. She was never able to stop her death.

"I am so, so sorry, L," Ainsley whispered, looking down at her best friend's blood which was drying in her hands. She softly kissed Laura's cheek, ignoring the fact her face was so cold. It shouldn't have been cold, but it was. "I'm just so sorry.. I love you."