Innocence at its Worst

The Boy in White - 20

Mason was pacing back and forth apprehensively. He felt a change in the air, as if the very fabric of space around them was interrupted somehow. Rhea groaned in her sleep, paler than she ever has been before.

"Do you think she's going to die?" Charlie asked in a voice barely above a whisper. Brook placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, comforting her. 

Arian swallowed hard, running his hands through his hair. "How are we going to explain everything to our parents? They'll pin us for Levi and-- and now Rhea..." He punched a wall, his hand flew through the dry wall, inches away from a support beam.

Mason would have been impressed, had he not been so distracted. He felt someone watching them, and that set his nerves off, making him jumpy. 

Mason, can you hear me?

Shuddering, Mason quickly left the room. He didn't feel needed in there anyway, since they all blamed him for basically killing Levi. He didn't have a choice! There was something in that living room with them, and it was possessing Levi, making him do terrible things. Mason had to stop it even though he knew in his heart nobody would forgive him. 

Mason... I need your help...

Passing by a mirror, Mason creeped himself out when he thought he saw another person in the room with him. He looked around, spinning in a slow circle. He didn't stop until he was facing the mirror, and standing before him was Levi in nothing but a pair of white boxers. 

"Dude, put some clothes on," Mason blurted before realizing he was just seeing ghosts. "Why the hell did I just say that?" he rolled his eyes.

Seriously? The ghost Levi in the mirror crossed his arms. Dude, I'm not actually dead.

"Say that again. For real, say it again while you're inside a mirror in whitey-tighties and half making me think I'm insane."

I'm serious! I'm not actually dead! Levi tapped his foot impatiently. It's a lot to explain, but I'm not dead. In fact, all of you are in comas, and I need you to kill everybody just like you did to me.

Mason laughed aloud. "Right, now I'm really going crazy. This is because I killed you, isn't it? You're just a figment of my imagination telling me to do evil things now too. What if Maeve was somebody that one of us killed and wanted us to kill more people? What if this is me dealing with shock?" 

I'm not joking. If you kill everbody else, you'll wake them up and then jump off a bridge or something. Then we'll be back home.

"If home is heaven, there's no way I'm going to make it there," Mason leaned against a wall and stared at the reflection. "I killed you..." he said in a softer voice.

Snap out of it! I don't know how to work this stupid power, so I can't really come back in the simulation unless I were in the machine too. Just listen to me, okay? Trust me. I know what I'm doing.

"I don't," Mason shook his head forlornly. "You're going to haunt me like ghosts do to murderers. I'm not going to listen." With that, Mason left the destroyed living room and headed back to Rhea's bedroom where she lay on her bed, a wisp of her old self.

Kill Rhea for me! If you can do that, then all of us can get out of this! She'll listen to me!

"No can do," Mason muttered, pushing Levi's voice out of his mind. 

Charlie started panicking, "She isn't breathing! Somebody help! Do something!" she shook Rhea as hard as she could, but Rhea didn't awaken.

Mason stepped forward, Levi's voice strong in his mind. 

Use your shadow power and kill her! Trust me, it won't actually kill anybody. I'm stuck in this grungy cage, and if she wakes up, then the FBI guy might let me talk to her. We could wake all of you up and get out of this mess!

Mason raised his hand, his power flooding through his body as he siphoned his own life into Rhea's still body. The dark splotches on her face receded and her blackened hair turned a dirty blonde once again. Using the last reservoir of power Mason could reach, he took away the black mark on her arm, making her whole. 

No! How could you!? I thought you were my friend.

"Friends don't ask to have their other friends killed," Mason snarled at the closest mirror, seeing Levi's image standing there. Brook gave Mason a confused look, but thought nothing of it. She quickly embraced him, already having forgiven him temporarily for murdering her brother and knelt at Rhea's other side, helping her sit up.

Rhea's eyes fluttered open. They were black as night, but soon the pigment faded away, revealing her normal bright green eyes. "Dude, that was trippy," she rasped. "I had the weirdest dream that Mason murdered Le--" she looked around at all their shocked and solemn faces. 

Arian sighed and covered the hole in the wall with a picture frame. "It was real," he confirmed.

No it wasn't!

Mason dutifully ignored Levi's haunting voice and stood back as Charlie and Brook helped Rhea stand on shaky feet. 

"It was?" Rhea's lip trembled. 

Charlie nodded sadly, unshed tears shone in the girls' eyes. Mason stepped out of the room to give them privacy, following Arian closely behind. 

>>--->

It was days before the funeral was held; Mrs. and Mr. Tenebris were taking Levi's unexpected death the hardest. Rhea stood at the front with his family, holding Charlie's and Brook's hands as the hymns were sung. 

Mason didn't feel like he belonged, but Brook personally invited him, so he stood in the back, hands clasped behind him respectfully as he watched the coffin lower into the ground. Levi was dressed in a white tux, specially chosen by Rhea to commemorate the moment they first met. The parents didn't have any argument, for they thought they had seen him wear the color black all too often.

The remaining five friends noticed their powers beginning to ebb away as the weeks passed by. Levi tried contacting Mason many more times, but he too was becoming weaker. It eventually came to the point that Mason could no longer hear the ghost, but instead sometimes feel his weak presence. Soon enough, Mason hoped he would disappear completely. 

Except by then, the remaining five friends would already be gone. Little did they know the Pugillares Regidum was failing...

One day they were brooding silently at Rhea's house; she had recently received the news that her father died in prison and immediately tried to kill herself with a bottle of pills. Charlie came to the rescue at just the right time and called everybody over and they all helped calm her down. They sat together in the dark and empty house, their minds lost elsewhere. In the quietest of hours, Rhea spoke softly, "Does it ever feel like this is all just a dream?"

A/N: Please comment below if you want me to write ONE more part. I really really really want to, but this is how I promised myself it would end. Unless some people are willing to convince me otherwise...? PLEASE!!! I am sworn by my duty to not continue this unless at least five people speak up. I will for real, write an alternate ending, or continue this on for ONE more part. 

If not, that's okay I guess... At least tell me what you thought of this story! I know it was a little slow in the beginning, but that was because I didn't really have a direction at the time. Please and thank you! All votes and comments are appreciated!! Have a great night/day/time lol