HSMTMTS: The Core Four

12

3

I open my eyes and I see they're back to their pretty bluish-green color.  I take a deep breath then I hear a familiar voice.

"E-Day!"

I look to see Asher, Uncle Dennis, and Aunt Debby walking in with Ash.  Asher runs up to me and hugs my leg.  I rub his back and squeeze him close, smiling through the teeny bit of pain I'm feeling from the scars and bruises.

"Oh sweetie, I was so scared" Aunt Debby walks up and presses her lips against my forehead, and keeps it there for a while.  Uncle Dennis takes a seat next to me and holds the back of my head.  "How are you feeling?"

"Oh I'm fine, my friends got hurt because of me and I've been dead for weeks, I'm feeling great" I smile sarcastically."

"Hey, it's not your fault.  Don't beat yourself up about it.  You friends are fine" Aunt Debby wraps her arms around me and holds me close.

After a few minutes, I excused myself to the bathroom.  I look at myself in the mirror, there are a few bruises on my face and a few more scars and marks on my arms.  Now I'm afraid of what my chest looks like.  Well, I guess I should look.

I take off my Duke sweatshirt and pull up my shirt to take a look at my abs.  God, I now feel and look like a freak.  There are scars and marks all over my torso.  I didn't feel like much, but now that I'm looking at it, I feel some pain growing in my body. 

Wait, what just happened?  My chest, my arms, or at least the inside of them, there glowing with red electricity, like in my nightmare.  No, EJ, this is just another nightmare, I don't know why this keeps happening, but I'm gonna make it stop.  I do the same thing I do last time.  Close my eyes and count to 3.

1

it's okay.

2

nothing's happening.

3

I open my eyes and my skin is back to normal, other than the scars and marks.  I pull my shirt back down, grab my sweatshirt and walk out.  I'm going to go home, call my friends, tell them I'm okay, ask if they're okay, then go to sleep for the rest of the day, maybe that will take my mind off that nightmare.

--The next day--

After school, which I decided to skip out on and just take the time to rest, Ash and I went to Salt Lake Slices for that get-together she was talking about to celebrate the fact that I actually am awake and alive.

It was night and we were playing "Never Have I Ever" and it was getting pretty interesting and funny.

"Okay, never have I ever had feelings for someone in the room," Gina says.  Apparently a lot of people like each other.  Gina, Big Red, Carlos, Ashlyn, Seb, Andi, Cyrus, Jack, Walker, TJ, Amber...even Rick.  Yeah, Ricky told me when he was 11, he had a small crush on Nini, but that didn't last long, but I still like to tease him about it.

"Kourtney?"  Nini asks, nudging her arm.  "Please, I am not up for that boy drama" Kourtneyscoffed, making us laugh.  "EJ?"  Big Red asks.  "Nope, I think I would've known" I shake my head.  Okay, I didn't have a crush on anyone in this room, but I did have a little crush on a girl named Brooklyn when I was 14.

Suddenly, my head starts to hurt, but I don't hold my head so no one would notice.  I start to hear multiple heartbeats again, dinging bells, cars honking, and much more annoying and nerve-wrenching noise.

I try my best to ignore them so I can have fun with my friends, but I'm failing in this battle.  I excuse myself from the table and walk to the bathroom.

As soon as I enter the restroom, I hold my head in pain and fall to my knees, groaning, but, making sure not to be too loud, to make sure no one would hear me.  It causes me more pain to move, my I gather enough strength to grab onto the sink and lift myself up.  I look at myself in the mirror and I almost fall fack down, my arms, or at least half of my arm and a part of my chest were...gone, like they were invisible.

I shut my eyes and try to wake up from this nightmare.

1

You're okay

2

Everything is gonna be fine.

3

I open my eyes, but it doesn't work, parts of me are still invisible.  Now I know for a fact I'm a freak. All the pain in my head gets too much to handle. I fall back to the ground and back into a corner, holding my head in pain, trying to fight the urge to cry and yell. 

"Stop, please" I whisper, but it doesn't matter, no one's gonna hear me. I'm so different from everyone else, what did I do? Something's wrong with me, and I don't even know why.

"EJ?"

Wait, did they actually hear me?  I hear a soft knock on the door, and just like that, my headache stops, of course.  I look at myself in the mirror, thankfully I'm back to normal.  I crack the door to see Nini staring at me. 

"Nini, what's up?"  I open the door further letting her take a look at me. 

"You seemed a little off, I decided to see if you were okay," said.  "Um, well, I'm good, so no worries," I say, leaning against the wall.

"EJ, you know I can tell when your lying, you can tell me anything, what's wrong?"

I take a sigh before finally decide to tell her.  I'm not gonna tell her what just happened, but I am gonna tell her something else that's true.

"I feel awful.  I asked you guys to come with me to the laboratory, if I hadn't asked, you guys wouldn't have been hurt or put in the way of danger.  I'm really sorry, about everything."

Nini brings me in for a hug and I dig my head in her neck, wrapping my arms around her.  She rubs my back with one hand and her other hand runs through my hair.

"EJ, it's not your fault.  In fact, if that roof fell on us, it could've killed us, but you risked your own life to save us.  We don't blame you for that and we never will.  You don't have to feel bad, it's okay."

I didn't say anything, but I nod my head and fight back my tears, this time I'm winning.  After a few seconds, she pulls away and gives me a smile.  "Come on, let's get to the others" she takes my hand, but gives me a surprising shock, making me yelp.

"Oh, sorry," Nini says.

"No, it's okay," I tell her.

That was kinda weird, not the shock, that could happen to anyone, but what was weird is that after I felt the shock, small blue sparks shot out of her finger.  But she didn't notice and just kept walking, I guess it was just my head again.  It was just my head, right?

Here's another chapter.  Now I'm gonna need you all to understand something.  When I first started this, I was excited I wrote all the other chapters in just a few days, I didn't even know I could write that fast.  So the others might take a while, I'm really sorry.  So EJ is feeling pretty off, with all his "nightmares" right?  And I was thinking of adding a Portwell or Caswen moment, but I decided to make it Ejini (EJ and Nini) I hope that's okay.  Be safe and have a great day or night, wherever you are.