Okay, this is weird and sudden, but just WARNING! There is mention of blood and stabbing in this (Wow, way to reveal the plot) but seriously, if you don't like that or find it disturbing don't read this or just skim. I don't know how to break it up with the plot so things might get little confusing if you skip.
Also, Luke deals with panic attacks and has in the past.
So straight forward, I know.
On with the show!
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Luke felt Julie slip away, reluctantly releasing her hand from his. He shoved the boys in the arms, signalling that she had left.
'Not again!'
He yelled into the darkness, watching as the lights flickered out.
''Julie! Julie!''
It was his nightmare all over again.
The guys searched the room, trying to see through the pitch black. You think that being a ghost would help with things like this.
It didn't.
They continued to scream her name, running their hands along chairs and bumping into tables. And then Luke's heart hurt. It wrenched in his stomach, and he fell to his knees, breathing so fast, it would be impossible to think he wasn't able to breathe. Luke felt helpless lying there, as coils of black grew up from the floor, twisting around him. He could hear Alex gasp in the background, Willie struggling, Reggie, kicking and scrambling on the floor.
This was it.
Caleb had Julie. He was going to kill her, and then destroy their souls, making Julie his little puppet. The grip of the coils tightened, and they burned like hot iron on his skin. He grunted in frustration, the black wisps continuing to tighten around his body, pinning him to the floor. He strained against them, and they pulsed with a purple glow, just like when they were cursed. He hated this. He hated everything that was happening. He hated Caleb. He hated being just like everybody else. Helpless, hopeless, and hurting. He let himself go slack against the burning rope, closing his eyes, barely breathing. Then he heard a muffled cry from behind him, and his heart broke into a million pieces. It was Julie. Julie. The one person he cared about more than anything. He screamed in anguish, loud and strangled. His eyes burned with tears and sweat, and he pulled and tugged at the rope, fueled with fury. Nothing. He was trapped. He stopped fighting, an uneasy calm coming over him. Caleb had gotten enough energy and was able to control the boys. Able to control Julie. As he fell back down to the ground, his eyes stinging, his throat on fire, he felt a cold, flat sensation lean onto his neck. But he wasn't afraid. He knew what it was. He could smell his scent a mile away. He laughed at himself for that. At least this time he knew death was coming. At least this time he could accept it.
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Julie watched aimlessly as Caleb paced in the darkness. She could hear the guys screaming in the darkness, calling her name, but she couldn't answer. Caleb had chained her to the wall with his power, gagging her with a cloth so she couldn't scream. She had thought they had escaped him, that there was no way he could get to them. But she was wrong. Like he said, he had the upper hand.
She could hear him muttering to himself, the floorboards creaking underneath him. This place was old, and had been blocked off for years. Well, at least that's what she thought. She had never heard anything about this place. It was old as far as she could tell, and that was why it lived up to its creepy potential. She guessed it started around the 1960's, and she guessed Caleb was in his early 40's back then, which made Caleb....She shuddered. That made him practically a hundred years old. Nearly a century. God, that was old. Things couldn't get any weirder.
As if on cue, Julie noticed Caleb stopped pacing and slowly made his way over to her, grinning the same sickening smile.
"Well, that was definitely a cute little reunion. Such a shame it had to end so soon."
Julie stared at him intensely, hoping he would burst into flames. He definitely knew how to rile her up. She gave him that.
Caleb curled his hand into a fist, and Julie watched in horror as flashes of purple lit up amid the ghostly black. She could hear the guys little yelps of pain, and she could practically imagine their faces. Julie choked back a sob, watching Caleb's smile grow wider, his teeth shining under the neon glow of the smoke. He looked like the devil. No, he looked like hell.
"This is going to be a very special performance," he said, curling her hair around his finger. She pulled away at his touch. "For everyone at this point."
He smiled another one of his sickly grins.
"You watch them suffer, they watch you die, they lose their souls, I get yours."
Julie struggled against her bonds. This man was sickly, cruel, and psychotic. Just the sight of him made her want to run in the other direction. Which is what she should have done in the first place.
'What the hell had gotten him to do this? And WHY was he doing it to them?'
Caleb disappeared back into the darkness, and Julie let out a muffled cry. She wasn't going to escape. She was going to die. Die. But this wouldn't be going to heaven, like she had been told she always would. She might not even come back to earth. She didn't have unfinished business like Alex, Luke, and Reggie did. No special connections. Caleb would own her soul. She would just become Caleb's puppet. His lifeless, miserable puppet. By then, she couldn't keep it together. The floodgates opened, letting out all her pain, all her misery. She let her head fall in front of her, exhausted and defeated. It was her mother's death all over again. She cried and screamed and choked and sobbed, but every time she was constricted by the glowing rope.
'She was going to die. Oh, god. She was going to die.'
An ear-piercing scream rang through the room, and Julie could feel her heart tear in two.
'Luke...'
She could feel her strength returning, meaning Caleb had moved away, but where? Where would he have gone? His words echoed in her head.
"You watch them suffer, they watch you die, they lose their souls, I get yours."
'No!'
Julie pulled against her smoking bonds, trying and failing to stand up. She pushed harder, thinking of everyone she would lose, everyone she loved. She thought of Luke, and Reggie, and Alex, and Carlos, and her dad, and her mom and it hurt. It hurt so bad to know she was going to lose them without ever being able to say goodbye. She choked back another sob, letting herself go limp against the smoking pipes wrapped around her. But instead of being slinged back into the chair, she watched in amazement as they fazed through her, sizzling and popping until they hit the ground and disappeared.
She had no idea how that happened, but she could figure it out later.
Flinging the gag aside, she tried to remember where she was, scanning her mind for any information she might have gathered after spending almost two hours memorizing the stage. When she finally found the stairs, she flew down them, screeching to a halt as she reached the bottom.
'What if Caleb could see her?'
Flattening herself against the floor, she started to crawl along the wood, her feet slowly dragging behind her. Once or twice she would hit a chair or a table leg, but no physical (well, as physical as you can get with ghosts), moving parts. She was just about to give up when she heard a faint whisper. But it wasn't a whisper. It was...someone breathing? Julie continued to crawl closer to the sound, and then she suddenly came face to face with Luke. She peered into the darkness, searching for the usual gleam in his eyes. His smile. But he was dull. And a ghostly pale. Which made no sense.
He was a ghost.
He was already dead.
Right?
She felt on the floor for his hand, grasping it with her own. But it was wet and sticky. She released her grasp from his weak one, bringing her hand closer to her face. In the pale light that shone overhead, she watched as the mysterious liquid in her hand turned a deep, crimson red.
It was blood.
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He thought it would go through. He was a ghost. Didn't things just fall through them now? Wasn't he already dead? But this, this was different. He could feel the knife pierce his chest, and the pain and agony he felt were real. It was almost like the jolts they felt, except this was worse.
Way worse.
Because all he could think about was that this time he would die. And even though they had already died, and gone through the whole thing with Caleb, it hurt way worse than just magical jolts that made his whole body feel like it was on fire. Which hurt. This just felt too real, like even if he tried there was no coming back to life. This was it. He would never get to live again.
He tried to scream again, but the sound was weak and hoarse.
'Well, this sucked.'
Luke could feel himself start to hyperventilate, but then it slowed into short, raggedy breaths. It reminded of the times he would be hit with a panic attack, except instead of hearing everything at full force, a scary silence surrounded him. He swore he could hear something move beside him, but against all of the background noise, it seemed like nothing happened.
His mind was probably playing tricks on him.
Right?
He released another shaky breath, his vision slowly clouding. He felt something weigh into the palm of his hand, and this time he swore it was real. He heard a voice call to him, nearly silent against the fog.
"Luke?!"
He tilted his head towards the voice, afraid to open his eyes. He could feel someone roughly shake his shoulder.
"Luke!"
That voice. He knew that voice. That voice...
"Luke! Please wake up!"
The voice flowed in his ear and out the other. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember that voice. But the voice was scared. Very scared. He could practically feel the person next to him trembling.
How did they know him? And how did he know them?
He could hear someone let out a stifled cry, and the grip on his hand tightened. That voice. He knew that voice.
"Luke, please. I need you to wake up. Alex and Reggie and Willie need you to wake up!"
All of a sudden, everything clicked. He knew he was dying, but where? They were at the...club. Caleb had brought them to the club. Because he had wanted to hurt...Julie?
Luke felt a small smile form on his lips.
Julie.
He let the world come back to him, sucking him out of his haze. He could feel Julie's hand in his own, holding it so hard her nails were digging into his skin. But with the good feelings came the bad feelings. The pain in his chest blossomed, and he inhaled sharply.
Yep. He did not like that.
His vision was still blurry, but if he squinted he could see her outline. But it kept shaking, in and out of his line of eyesight. He could hear a sound escape her lips.
She was crying.
Oh, crap.
He parted his lips, sucking in a deep breath.
"Hey."
His voice came out shakier than he wanted it to. She looked at him with shock and relief, a small grin on her face.
"Hey."
She was talking to him. That was good.
"I'm in...a bit of a pickle."
He thought he heard her laugh. Or cry. He didn't know which.
"Yeah. And, oh god," she whispered, as if reality finally settled in. But technically, he wouldn't really have called it a reality. He was still hoping he was dreaming, and that he would wake up any second.
"What do I do? Luke, you're...human. And you're- you're bleeding. I-I need to help you I-"
Luke raised a finger to her lips, wincing as a surge of pain ran through his side.
"I'll be alright. And honestly, this feels a lot more heroic than hot dog food poisoning."
This time, he definitely heard her laugh. Or at least chuckle.
"Why of course! Because this time you were trying to protect me..."
Her voice trailed off, tears flowing down her cheeks again.
"Where are the other guys?"
"Somewhere."
Flashes of purple lit up the room, and Julie could see the shadow of someone standing above them. A small scream rang in her ears, and she gripped Luke's hand even tighter.
"You need to go find them," he gasped.
"No!" She stared at him in horror. "I can't leave you."
"But you can't lose them, either." He coughed, his fist curling and uncurling in pain.
"I'll be fine."
She stared at him again, but this time with determination. She lent down, pressing her forehead against his, her hazelnut eyes staring into his own leafy green. She released her grip on his hand, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"I will come back for you."
Luke could hear her scuttle away, feet dragging behind her on the floor. The feeling of the kiss lingered in his mind, and he felt, for a moment, okay. But then the pain returned and he realized with a heave in his heart, she was gone.