0013. BURGUNDY
THIS VERY CYCLE had been happening to all seven of them since that night in Savannah, every single night. It was a recurring cycle, at 12 AM, their entire world shifts. The sky turns red, the color drains from the world as it becomes lifeless and mute and worst of all, shadow-like monsters begin to form and roam around mindlessly throughout the world. The group had decided to deem them 'phantoms' given the fact that Ashlyn hears them because of her phantom noises, so it was only appropriate.
They had figured out a couple of things since they had been experiencing this living hell every night. The first being that for an entire seven straight hours, they were all stuck there. The second being that even though time is moving here, the time in the real world was stopped at 12 AM, the very time they entered this hellhole. The third being that while this place seemed to be influenced by the real world, this world has not effect their world, meaning while changes in the real world such as placing weapons around happened in this one, if they were to blow something up in the phantom world, it would be perfectly intact in the real world. That applied to injuries as well, injuries acquired here, can be felt but not shown within the real world and vice-versa. The final being, they always returned right where they left off in each world.
Kaia's vision blurred, her head spinning as she same too in the phantom realm, tensing as she realized she was still in Aiden's arms from the time before and shoved him away, though placed her palm strategically over Aiden's mouth to ensure he couldn't speak and potentially give away their location seeing as the phantom that was previously aiming to kill them was gone.
"Duck." Ashlyn whispered to the group and they wordlessly followed her command with Tyler, Taylor and Ben taking to one side of the bus while Ashlyn, Aiden, Logan and Kaia took to the opposite side.
"Still here?" Tyler gruffly whispered cautiously.
Ashlyn nods as Kaia and Aiden sit with their backs to the seat, sharing a look as Aiden grins at her, wordlessly nudging her arm playfully reminding her of their argument just before this as she leans in closer to him. "That conversation isn't over." She muttered out, her lips accidentally brushing against his ear before she pulls away, looking away from him, not noticing the way his entire face flushed, making her words that she had muttered seem a lot worse than they actually were.
"What do we do?" Taylor questioned, noticing the odd exchange between the two, but knew it was most definitely not the time to focus on that, but made sure to keep it in the back of her mind for later use.
Ashlyn's lips purse, glancing down as she remained quiet for a long moment before finally replying, "we'll have to try and kill it."
Kaia blinked in shock at her words. They hadn't killed one of them yet, the closest they got was the first time they shifted into this dimension and Kaia had stabbed one of them in order to stop it from getting to Ashlyn, Ben and Aiden, but they haven't really fought against them like that since that day. It was more so run away and not interact than fight and kill, could they even kill it? Were those things even able to die?
"How are we going to do that?" Tyler questioned with a grim frown on his lips, unsure of her plan, wondering similar things to Kaia.
"We could have Logan shoot it through the window?" Aiden suggested quietly before glancing at the girl on his side. "Or have Kaia stab it, that worked pretty well the first time."
"Logan is a no go, the gun is for emergencies only." Ashlyn denied the first part of his plan, thinking over the last bit. "We don't have anything long nor sharp enough for Kaia to use without being put at too much risk."
"This is an emergency!" Tyler cut in, knowing the second part of Ashlyn's denial was right, they didn't have anything for Kaia to use as a longer range weapon the same way she had open used the pipe back at the motel that night, but her denying Logan was something he couldn't let slide.
"An emergency is a swarm or one of us is about to die." Ashlyn argued back, her voice subconsciously rising and Kaia's lips straightened into a line, her eyes squinting as she winced, glancing around fearfully. "We don't have many bullet, so we need to try and kill it with our weapons first and have Logan as our backup. So as it stands now, Kaia is our best best once we can get our hands on some form of weapon."
Kaia sighed at the mention of her name, it had become an unspoken thing that Kaia was the one that usually tried taking on the brunt of the fighting due to her experience in a wide variety of fighting styles and her training in self defense and boxing that when far deeper than the few lessons Ashlyn took for self defense and kickboxing when she was like seven. Not only that, but Kaia has shown herself capable in acting without hesitation if needed when attacking them, a trait that only she and Aiden seem to have when it came to being brutal on their feet, though Kaia had more strength to back it up than Aiden did.
Ashlyn tensed suddenly before pressing a finger to her lips. "Shh." At her command, everyone went silent in a mixture of confusion and terror. "Hide under the seats."
Kaia purses her lips at the command, very unsure of it as going under the seats hindered their range of mobility but she didn't dare argue against Ashlyn, trusting the ginger completely, something she thought she'd regret more, but couldn't find it in her to care that much while within this world. Trust here was a matter of staying alive here, trust in the other world was a matter of saving her heart.
Kaia crawled side by side with Aiden as Logan was behind them while Ashlyn was right in front of them. She paused in her movements the moment the creaking of footsteps entered her ears and subconsciously she moved closer to Aiden. The blond was tense at her side, glancing towards her and shooting her a small smile of reassurance as she felt fear course through her as the footsteps grew louder and her eyes spotted the black shadow figure's legs appear, not being able to see past it's calf as it walked through the aisle of the bus. Kaia chewed on her bottom lip, her entire body frozen as she suddenly felt someone brush their hand against her own, gripping tightly at it, as the phantom brushed past their seats. She didn't pull away.
Though all worry for herself left her the moment the sound of a loud scrape echoed through her ears from in front of her and she instantly knew it was Ashlyn. Kaia's head snapped away from Aiden's shoulder and towards Ashlyn, her eyes widening in horror as her eyes connect with Ashlyn's worried ones for a mere moment before they caught sight of the terrifying figure right in front of her. "Ash..."
Ashlyn's eyes stared at Kaia's form for a moment, glancing around her in order to make sure the phantom was no where near her, but the moment she caught sight of Kaia's horrified gaze and heard her whisper, she instantly knew that it wasn't anywhere near Kaia, no it was near her. She spun her head back around, coming face to face with the terrifying creature.
"Ashlyn!" Kaia screamed out, no longer caring about dragging the attention towards her as she reached forwards, her hand slipping from Aiden's grip in order to grab Ashlyn's ankle and dragging her back just before the phantom could slash at her, but she didn't pull her down far enough for it to miss grabbing one of Ashlyn's braids.
"Get the weapons!" Ashlyn commanded, fighting against the phantom as it held a tight, inhumane grip on her hair.
Kaia didn't need to be told twice as she scrambled out from beneath the seats, rushing towards the weapon box, beating everyone else there as the only thing that rushed through her mind was saving Ashlyn. She couldn't lose her, she couldn't do it. She wouldn't allow it. Kaia gripped the long rusty knife as she caught sight of the spot where Ashlyn was being yanked up by Logan and Aiden and her gaze narrowed in a glare.
She rushed towards them, stabbing the hand just as it reached out towards them as she grabbed Ashlyn from the two boys and yanked her towards the other side of the bus on the opposite seats. Aiden and Logan instantly follow in her lead as the phantom crawls out from under the seats and Kaia breathes heavily as she grips the knife tighter in her hold.
From behind her, Aiden lights up as he reaches out, grabbing Kaia's shoulder and pulling her towards him for a mere moment, "trust me." He tells her so quiet, Ashlyn had barley picked up on it before he pushes Kaia aside and out of the way of the incoming phantom as he grabs both of it's wrists, spinning them around for a moment until he planted his back in a seat ahead of them and used his body weight of the fall back to push it up and over him as his feet plant themselves firmly on its stomach.
Kaia's eyes widen instantly in realization, "get the window!" She commands, rushing towards it as Ashlyn and Logan instantly follow the command, both realizing his plan as well as they slam the window down just as Kaia comes from behind, stabbing it through it's back, but not before Aiden's grip on it's wrists slips and the phantom manages to attack in a wide arc, slashing Logan across his side and getting Kaia across her chest.
"Kaia! Logan!" Aiden and Ashlyn scream in horror, Aiden's smile fading in an instant as soon as he feels her blood splattering across his cheeks, watching as her eyes widen and she lets out a yell of pain, her grip on the knife loosening as she is forced to stumble back. Logan falls back as well, clenching his side, his glasses slipping from his face as he falls into the seat behind him while Kaia falls onto the aisle of the bus.
"Kaia!" Ashlyn screams out in horror at the sight of her best friend bleeding out with three large scratch marks decorating her chest. "Kaia!"
Kaia can't find it in her to reply to Ashlyn's horrified call as she clenches her eyes shut in pain. She takes it back, paper cuts were most certainly not nearly as bad as this, not even close to as bad as this. She curses as she feels as though she can't breath as her heart beat picked up in her chest and her ears were ringing loudly. She couldn't hear anything beyond the ringing and her heart beat, not Ashlyn screaming for her, not Aiden's calls for her, nothing. Her body felt like it was shutting down and a huge part of her was terrified she was going to go into shock and possibly die.
But that didn't happen as the moment she felt hands cup her face, she was suddenly grounded once again as her eyes squint open and blue meets red.
"Holy shit you're alive!" He breathed out in shock, his smile forming once again the moment his eyes met her bejeweled blue ones that still managed to take his breath away even with the large amount of pain that was held within him.
Kaia blinked as she felt pain leave her for a moment as she took in the blurry sight of him, he was covered in black blood. "Di...ed?" She mumbled out as she could feel her consciousness slipping from her the more blood that spilled from the wound.
Aiden grinned at her as Ashlyn and Ben were currently handling her wound while Taylor and Tyler were handling Logan a couple seats down. "Yeah, Ben killed it." He told her gently as he stopped himself from looking down at the wound that decorated her chest currently. "You're safe now."
Kaia hummed, her consciousness slowly coming back to her after she had blacked out for a moment, but the longer Aiden spoke to her, the more aware she became once again. "That's... good." She groaned out as she hears Ashlyn curse before the sound of her shirt ripping echoed throughout the bus. "I'm going to need a new shirt..."
Aiden chuckles, not glancing down at her now bare chest with the singular exception of her bra as Ben couldn't get to the majority of her wound with her shirt in the way. He kept his eyes on hers, "yeah, but I can buy you a new one once we leave here, least I can do."
Kaia frowns at that, glancing towards him, his figure still rather blurry, the only thing she can truly make out is his eyes. The red that looked unreal yet somehow so natural within his iris's, though now that she was closer to him with him leaning right over him, they looked almost burgundy as though his natural brown eyes were trying to sneak their way through and for some reason, she cannot think of a time she's seen a more breath taking color. "Burgundy."
Aiden blinks in confusion, "you want a burgundy shirt?"
"No, my favorite color." She weakly tells him, her eyes never leaving his own, wanting to memorize the color she was seeing within them. "Your eyes, they're burgundy, it's my favorite."
Aiden stares at her in complete shock before her eyes flutter shut and her breathing evens out. He couldn't find it in him to move an inch or even his hand off her cheek, which was now realizing was resting there the entire time they were just talking, which wasn't long, but it was the longest touch they've shared without Kaia growing disgusted and brushing him off.
His shock slowly slipped away and he actually processed her words as a grin erupted onto his lips. Her favorite color was burgundy, the color of his eyes in that moment... He wished he had recorded her saying that, because he has a feeling she was going to deny ever saying such a sweet thing to him the moment she was more conscious and well.
Aiden stuck faithfully by her side as Ben and Ashlyn finished cleaning up her wound, bandaging it before the two deemed her well and Ben wondered over to Logan in order to help while Ashlyn stayed hovering over Kaia, staring down at her form with a look in her eyes that Aiden had never seen before and it hit him that he wasn't the only one that had almost lost Kaia today and he wouldn't have been the only one shattered by that loss. Ashlyn would have lost her too.
Ashlyn stared down at Kaia's form, blinking rapidly as she breathed in slowly and unsteadily. Her eyes stayed peeled on the rise and fall of her chest, feeling herself relax the more she counted her breathes and the more even they became. She had almost lost Kaia just then... Ashlyn feels her body shake at the very thought as she reached her hand down, slipping it into Kaia's still one. "Thank god you're alive..." She whispered so softly, not even Aiden had heard her as she gave Kaia's hand one last squeeze before slipping away and steeling herself again. She couldn't slip up.
She pushed herself to her feet, glancing at Aiden, who's gaze was resting on Kaia's face, watching as she slept and she thought back to Kaia's words just before she passed out and she felt her chest lighten. Kaia was letting him in, that made her honestly a little happy for her only 'friend', especially as she watched as he smiles, humming to himself as he brushed stray hairs out of her face.
She could only hope that Aiden meant to stay, or else Ashlyn would be forced to watch as Kaia broke all over again and Ashlyn wasn't sure she could pick herself back up after that.
♡˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚ : author's note
i. kaia only being nice enough to say something like that to aiden because she's bleeding out is so real of her
ii. BUT anyways what was your guys favorite moment this chapter? mine was hands down her telling aiden his eyes were her favorite color and aiden not knowing how to respond cause it was probably the nicest thing someones ever said to him
iii. ANYWAYS i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! please remember to vote, comment and to have a wonderful day!!