Sophia's POV
It's been quite some time since anything's happened, since we heard something. The silence crawled at my flesh and I so desperately wanted to break it, but I couldn't. We had to keep quiet.
Currently, me and Bella were in an empty classroom, sitting in the back on the ground. The lights were off, just like in the rest off the building. I was cleaning her wounds, the scratches she got from being tied with ropes.
Luckily, we were in my science room now, so there was a sink with sanitary water here. I let only a thin stream of water run from it though, not wanting people outside to hear it. After I was finished, Bella got up and drank from the water, a lot. She must've been exceptionally thirsty, because she didn't let one drop go to waste.
While being stuck here, I took it to my advantage and washed my face as well, the refreshing feeling of cold water against my hot skin made me sigh.
"How much longer?" asked Bella, not facing me as she slumped back down to the floor. Her voice was raspy, but it sounded way better than before when her words came out as croaks. I fished out my phone, and just then, Grayson sent me a text. He updated us on their search for unlocked doors, and fortunately, it was good news.
"Not long." A smile emerged on my face and beckoned Bella towards me. "They found an exit," I stated proudly. Her face lit up in temporary optimism.
We stood by the door on each side - the middle part of the door was made out of glass - and she waited for my signal. "Okay, so we need to go to the entrance next to the bathroom, but we have to be careful," I explained.
She nodded. "At least it's not that far, right," she questioned in a rhetorical manner. I smiled again softly.
Once I looked through the little window in the door and saw no one in this hallway, I decided to make my move. I slowly turned the doorknob and cringed when it creaked.
I stepped out of our hiding spot and instantly regretted it as a gush of cool wind hit me, I shuddered. We have to, I remind myself, we can't hide in there until they find us.
Bella followed me when I gave her an indication with my hand that it was clear. She closed the door behind her and we subsequently started tiptoeing through the long, uncanny corridors.
Everything was going alright, just the way we planned, but that stopped when the sound of a door clicking open resonated around. Me and Bella looked at each other with pure fear in both our eyes, before she pulled me with her behind the lockers.
I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from whimpering as footsteps could be heard. This wasn't Cassius, I could tell by the pace and firmness behind them. Logan, I thought. I still couldn't believe he wasn't on our side. My first ever friend in this town...
A 'click' made me pull myself out of my daze. I risked glancing around the lockers to see if he was still there. No.
Me and Bella's hands were still glued together, not one of us letting go as if we were going to lose one another if we did. We came from behind our spot and started prowling forward again, however when we were close to the room Logan was presumingly in, we had to duck so that he wouldn't see us through the door.
As we made it past without being witnessed, jubilance flowed through my body. But that victorious feeling didn't last long as a gun clocking made my blood run cold. Bella's hand in mine stiffened as well.
I spun around so fast I was surprised I didn't get whiplash. There he was, a gun in his hand and eyes glaring right into mine.
The silence wasn't going to be broken if it wasn't for the noise of demur that slipped past Bella's lips. She was shaking her head at me unobtrusively, telling me she didn't want to be here, not near Logan. I suddenly remembered how we got here in the first place as if I almost forgot. Logan is the reason. Well, Cassius made him do it, but still.
Logan's biting gaze flickered to Bella for a moment. His almighty posture faltered as a mere look of contrition enveloped his face. He hasn't lost it yet, he's not fully against us. Maybe we can still try to bring him over to us, or at least distract him until Grayson comes - even though I told him clearly not to come.
"Logan," I started, without knowing what next. Once again, he stared at me, and I found myself observing some kind of pain in his expression. A pain as if he didn't want to be doing this. "Please don't do this." What else was I supposed to say?
He didn't move, neither did his finger that was set on the trigger. If only he'd let go of that weapon.
"Come with us." I was now whispering, tears at the brim of my eyes. I've astonished myself by not having a breakdown yet. Yet, there's still some time left to collapse. "Let us leave and come with us."
Bella elbowed me, not even trying to hide it now. "What the hell are you doing?" I ignored her when Logan spoke up for the first time.
"Do you not understand? After everything I've told you?" he asked me sincerely. "I can't leave." His voice was filled with desperation and was getting louder and louder by the second. I was scared about Cassius hearing us, but I couldn't shush him, not now.
"I can't escape him. No one can." I frowned. Why not?
"Yes, you can. Grayson, Kyle, Jake and Anderson will help protect you. We call the police and they'll arrest him," I reasoned, but he only shook his head.
"Oh yeah? Look at Grayson." My brows furrowed. "Do you think he escaped? He's being hunted down by Cassius, Josephine's dead and now you're next. All to torture Grasyon."
"No." I wanted my voice to be steady, but I instead got rewarded with an unstable and rocky one. "I won't die, not if we get out of here now. Together." I sound like one of those girls on TV trying to stop a school fight between her boyfriend and a jock. Oh wait... I kinda am that girl.
"Do you really believe that they'll help me after I betrayed them?" Logan pulled me out of my ridiculous and unfitting thoughts. I was speechless and felt bad for it. To be honest, I didn't wholly believe that they'd help him myself, but you never know.
"They're still your friends," I mumbled, my voice not as strong as I needed it to be. Only after a small pause that felt like eternity he opened his mouth.
"Go." Me and Bella made eye contact and then we both looked back at Logan. What?
"Go!" he shouted this time. It startled me and I stumbled backwards. Bella didn't hesitate to grab my hand tighter and attempt to run to the end of the hall. We were so close to our only exit, our only escape. The door was only a few turns away. Yet I couldn't leave. Not without him.
So, as I notice that Logan isn't behind us, I look over my shoulder, seeing him stand there. And with that, I halted. Bella almost lost her balance as she stared at me as if I were mad, and maybe I was.
But Logan didn't just stand there like before, his arm moved. It moved upward and it was bent so that the gun was held against his temple. "Sophia, come on!" Bella's voice full of agitation.
"Go on!" I ushered her to continue. She was silent, scanning my face for something off.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt-" I cut her off, shaking my head.
"No, no, I'm fine. But Logan's not, go, I'll catch up," I said, letting my fingers fall out of hers. She looked down at our now-separate hands.
"Are you crazy? No!" She seemed mad, and she had the right to. I was being naive, even for me.
"Yes, I am. Now go!" Before I could say anything else, she suppressed me by blanketing me with her arms. It took me a second to wrap my arms around her securely. We stayed like that for quite a while, neither one of us pulling apart. It caused me some sort of pain to think about letting go.
I forced the words out of me, "Don't worry, this isn't goodbye."
She took it as a sign and tore us apart reluctantly. She wiped her tears away so quickly, I didn't even see them. "Then why does it feel like it is?" she sniffed.
I didn't reply to that, only saying, "Find Grayson." I turned around before I'd change my mind. I heard her footsteps fade as she went the opposite direction.
"Logan!" I yelled out just in time. He didn't open his eyes, but his finger stopped in the act. The act of pulling the trigger. I ran closer to him, slackening my speed when only a few feet from him. My chest was heaving up and down rapidly.
I didn't realise I was sobbing until Logan peered out from under his lashes at me and put his hand under my chin. He gave me the smallest smile of smiles, it didn't reach his eyes.
"Please don't," I mewl. He strokes the loose strands out of my face with his rough thumb pad.
I took his hand in my grasp and didn't break eye contact. The tears didn't stop flowing, but I pretended they weren't there. "Please?"
This time, he didn't only smile, he nodded as well, though not without considering it entirely. I couldn't wait to get out of here, so I let out a curt, breathy laugh that sounded more like a choke and took a step backwards with his hand in mine.
"I'm sorry," he confessed. "For everything." I shook my head, not wanting to hear it.
"Not now," I said, and was about to turn around and sprint out of there, but didn't quite get there as an ear-splitting bang resounded throughout the entire hall. Liquid splattered on the side of my face.
I cried out loud, my ears felt like bleeding. I ripped my hands out of Logan's, which was done by ease due to the loose grip he had on me. I palmed my ears and closed my eyes. What the hell was that?
The moment I let my gaze fall on Logan to make sure he was alright, I wish I hadn't. It weren't my ears that were going to bleed...it was Logan.
I gasped at the scene that played in front of me. The blood pulsated in my veins so fast that I don't think it was normal anymore. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense at that point.
The sound was that of a gun's when a bullet came from it. And Logan was the target. I wanted to, I promise, I would have wanted to do anything else than simply stand there, but I couldn't move. I was frozen on the spot, my feet glued to the ground.
"Logan?" I whimpered, the cracks in my voice barely making it understandably. This isn't real. I'm imagining it all.
The hand that was near my face touched my jaw lightly, like a feather, I almost thought it was my imagination.
A single, lonely tear left and rolled down his cheek. When it fell and hit the ground, at that same time, realisation hit me with full force.
"I'm sorry, Princess. I really am," he apologised, for the last time ever. The fact that he called me 'Princess' like he always did at school made another sob leave my scratchy throat.
"No," I exhaled. "No, no, Logan." With my index finger, I swiped across my face and neck, the sticky liquid coming off. I gaped at it wide-eyed. The fresh, red blood of my dying friend is on my hand.
Logan sunk to the floor, leaning on me as his knees buckled. I crouched down, letting his body rest in my arms. I now had no control over my emotions as the salty taste of tears streamed non-stop down my face.
"Logan, hold on, please!"
The one thing I learned from watching crime films, is to never lose hope, or else what's the point of trying to survive if not even you believe you can.
"We're almost there, almost at the end," I grunted, jerking his arm in a useless attempt to escape.
I can't lose hope, not now that we're only a few turns away from our finish-line.
I hadn't even noticed that his body has gone limp by now.
Think happy thoughts, that's what Peter Pan said.
"We can make it." I was in deep denial. "We can!"
But I guess even Peter Pan was left alone when Wendy decided to leave him. Leave him to go to another world. A world were she was happier.
I looked down at Logan.
I hope you'll be somewhere better now. I hope you'll finally find the peace and forgiveness you've been seeking.
I saw the bullet hole where all the blood was flowing from. His eyes were half-open, but not blinking. His chest wasn't moving at all.
The fact that I haven't told him the most important thing yet made my breath hitch in my throat. I wanted to slap myself, hard. There was one thing Logan longed to have. He never literally told me those words, but all the clues he left me - the secret looks he always tried to hide, his last two sentences...
All he wanted was for me to forgive him. And I never did. And I can't now, because he's dead.
"I forgive you," I sobbed under my ragged breath. "I fucking forgive you!" I yelled into nothingness. I wasn't yelling at him, not anymore. He's gone.
Logan's actually gone.
"Darling, come on now, he's dead," the person I wanted to drown in his own blood said. I've never had such violent and cruel thoughts before. Dreams and wishes I desired to come true. But I didn't care, I couldn't fucking care any less. He'll be sorry. I don't know how, but I'll make him sorry.
With the last ounce of energy I had, I tilted my head up to see Cassius with his right arm outstretched and a gun between his fingers.
At least one of us three escaped, right...
ღ
A/N: Not me writing this chapter with sad music in the background...
And oh my God, I am sorry! I probably won't forgive myself for taking away Logan from this story. I really did like him :/
Please VOTE if you enjoyed it, and thank you for coming this far!