Living with Thorns

4

A soft wet thud was heard followed by a hopeless moan. Daniel pushed him away from himself and pushed himself up with his unhurt arm. He stared with wide eyes at William before turning his head towards Owen. The metallic smell got stronger as the smell of his blood was accompanied with William's.

"Owen?" He called out at his dumbfounded friend, but he gave no response.

He got up and gripped his shoulders before shaking him back to reality.

"Owen!" He shouted and tried to catch his gaze.

Owen blinked as he started to process what he did. His hands started to shake as he stared at William, who was laying on the ground with blood flowing out from the back of his head.

Daniel gently pulled the rock out and threw it to the ground beside them.

"Is he..." Owen started while pointing at the body on the ground.

"I don't know."

Owen looked at Daniel and pushed him away. He forced himself to the body as another flock of seagulls flew across the sky. He squatted down beside him and put his index finger in front of his bandaged nose.

Nothing came out from his nose. No sounds. No air movements. Not even a tiny sign of life.

"I...I think he's..." Owen stammered. His body started to shake as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He staggered away from the lifeless body and fell on the ground behind him. He didn't try to get up, he just covered his face with both of his hands instead.

"No, it can't be," Daniel shook his head while his gaze stayed on William. He took a deep breath to steady himself before forcing himself towards the body. He kicked at the motionless body with his right foot and waited.

"Wake up," He implored, his hands started to shake uncontrollably.

"We should call the police," Owen blurted out after a few minutes of silence.

"What? No!" Daniel shouted, "We'll go to jail if we do that!"

"But what else can we do?" Owen asked desperately.

"I don't know," Daniel ran his hands in his now messy hair and started pacing back and forth. He was contemplating whether to do the right thing and pay for it or listen to the devil in him, so he could carry on with his life.

It's horrible, but that's the best outcome for both of us.

"We have to clean up," He said eventually after stopping in front of Owen. He waited for him to looked up before extending his hand to him, pulling him up on his feet. "We have to get rid of him somehow. We can't let anyone know about this and make sure all of this won't get traced back to us."

"What?" Owen stared at him with wide eyes.  He couldn't believe him saying something like that. How could he be so irresponsible?

"You don't want to go to jail, do you?" Daniel looked into his eyes and asked.

Everything is so wrong, but he's right! I don't want to go to jail and this is the only way. Owen tried to shake his guilt out of his mind. He forced his head to moved from side to side as his eyes started to water.

"So what are we going to do?" Owen asked between sobs.

Daniel looked at William and the direction in front of them.

"We could throw him off the cliff. That should cover up the bruises from me and the rock."

"Okay," Owen said after swallowing his saliva. Never in his life would he predict what he was about to do now. He would never have thought that one day he would be involved in something like this.

"Okay," Daniel repeated and started towards the body, forcing himself to ignore the fact that he was murdered and his killers were them.

Blood covered the ground underneath William's head and his soulless grey eyes stared straight ahead to whatever was in front of him. They bent down and commanded their hands to touch the body. A slight warmth was still emitting from his body as Daniel and Owen carried him from each end.

They moved his body near the cliff where Owen stood an hour ago. The moon had completely replaced the sun by now, giving a creepy glow to the surroundings. They stopped in front of the edge of the cliff and surveyed their surrounding, making sure they were the only ones around. Then, they exchanged gazes and nodded.

"On the count of three." Daniel said and Owen nodded in respond. He should have been studying instead of being part in this horrible thing.

"...three!" Owen pushed the body off the cliff as Daniel did the same and they stared straight over to the mountains across the sea. A series of soft thudding sound was heard as the body hit the rocks below before a loud splashing sound ended the whole process.