"You might be a comet, but your hair is the fucking galaxy."
- Amber Marigold
"I... I did something useful," is the first thing I say after I push Xavier off his feat and I turn to my friends.
Blakey looks astonished and Amber's smile is so bright I feel like it'll be daytime any moment. Like the sun doesn't rise because the earth evolves around it, but rather because Amber is here and the sun is evolving around her.
My own smile stretches and I feel so happy for actually managing to do something for once.
To not be the stupid young kid that every yells at to go away. I matter. I can save my friends. I can make Amber smile. I can have the best hair. I can... I can...
I can feel something wet and sticky crawling down my neck.
Slowly, my smile disappears as I feel behind my head.
It doesn't even feel like my own body when I touch the wet, warm hole at the bottom of my head.
What is that? I think to myself. That's not normal. That shouldn't be there. Unless... Unless my new shampoo is a sham.
I bring my hand back and I can't believe how dark the red is that's stained onto my fingers.
Liam, I think to myself. Liam put red dye into my shampoo again! Huh, like I'd want to look like Calvin!
But then I start to feel it.
The light weight. How a warm, sticky liquid is running through the back of my suit. How gross it feels, but also how little I start to feel. My fingers are completely numb when I look back at Blakey and Amber again.
I... I got s-shot, I realize.
"I... I wasn't expecting that..." I admit before my legs can't hold me anymore.
Everything else becomes a blur.
It's like I'm here, but I'm not here. I'm still in my own body, yet it feels like my mind is watching everything from above. This feel like a bad dream from which I'll wake any moment.
Amber is the first to yell out: "Lynch!" And she dives for me.
Next up is Blakey with so much guilt and regret in his eyes. "Oh, God Lynch, not you. Please don't you do this to me too," he begs as he shuffles over to where I'm lying.
I'm so calm it's scary.
I want to tell them that I'm fine. We just need to get some pizza and everything will be fine, but I can't feel my tongue. I can't talk.
"He's still alive!" Amber shouts.
Calvin comes running and his face turns white. I want to make a joke and yell: 'Oh, my God, Calvin! Your hair caught fire!' But... but I can't. I can only watch as Calvin crouches down.
"There's so much blood," he mutters.
"WE NEED TO GET HIM TO A HOSPITAL!" Amber yells.
"Yes," Blakey whispers."Yes, you get Liam and tell Jack to call the doctor! We'll meet the doctor at the mansion!" Blakey orders before scooping me up like I'm a rag doll. I'm really not much smaller than the guy.
"Oh god, blood is dripping from his head," Amber says before ripping a big part of the front of her beautiful golden dress.
"No, it's too pretty..." I try and fail at whispering.
She wraps the gold around my head before Blakey is running us towards the exit. We have to dodge a couple of guys and at one point Amber picks up a fallen automatic to shoot anyone that gets in our way.
I spot the inner-East gang run through the giant glass double doors just before three thugs run up and close it. We're trapped inside...
Blakey is still holding onto me and in fear of losing me, can't let go. I look up and actually feel Blakey's pain as he helplessly watch Amber take on the three thugs. She's pretty impressive with her wild, scary kicks and fierce punches, but it's getting sloppier by the second.
Calvin comes running with Liam in his arms - along with Jack and Jessy on his heels. With a few easy moves, Jack has the last thug down and tries opening the door.
It can't open.
"Fuck!" Jack yells and starts slamming against the glass door, "You have to open from the outside... Xavier just activated the reversed security system," he says.
"Oh God, we don't have time!" Amber cries out.
Blakey looks down at me and I've only seen him cry once so to see his glassy eyes really shakes a deep part inside of me. I want to tell him to just eat some spinach and break through the glass door, but... but I can barely keep my eyes open now.
"Help us!" Amber yells.
The East-side gang stops and turns around at Amber's yell.
They don't move.
I can see some major conflict in Owens eyes as he contemplates the risk. He whispers something and the twins suddenly run off.
There. Our last hope is going to leave us...
But then Owen says something else and he and Matt runs towards the glass door just as Sean nods and runs off with the twins.
Matt is the first to get to the door and quickly opens it. Blakey runs out with me still in his arms and Amber is right there. Beautiful, kind, lovely Amber with her golden hair and infinite stare...
Another series of gunfire comes from the house and Blakey turns to look just as two thugs intercept Calvin and Liam before they can get through. Owen grabs Jessy before she can run back in and drags her away.
"We need to go!" Owen yells to both our gang and his.
"Don't leave Liam!" Jessy cries - breaking her voice at the same time.
"What about Calvin!" Amber protests.
I can feel Blakey's heavy breath. He can't answer them as he runs away with me in his arms. Owen is still dragging Jessy and Amber is too conflicted to leave me.
"We can't just leave them..." Matt says to his leader.
"They're not our gang, Matt. We saved enough of the enemy as it is," he says with a particular nasty look at my sweet Blakey.
We're getting further and further away from Isabella and I somehow manage to see the two thugs approach Calvin that still has Liam in his arms.
"Fuck this," Matt says before running back to the house.
"Matt, get back!" Owen yells, but Matt doesn't listen to his leader.
He burst through the doors and takes the thugs on. "Run!" he yells at Calvin. The latter does just that and is sprinting towards us.
I feel a sense of victory at the whole gang getting out of that horrible house, but then guilt starts to over shadow everything as the two thugs kick Matt down. I watch in horror as someone from the East gets beaten to a pulp because he saved someone from the West...
"Oh, please God..." Amber whispers as Matt gets dragged out of view by the Northern thugs.
A car pulls up and Owen tells us to get in. Blakey protest because it's an East-side car. But then Owen says that if Blakey wants to see me live, he'd have to climb into the damn car, because Sean is the fastest driver between the gangs.
Blakey nods before climbing in and Amber follows. Jessy, Liam and Calvin climb into a car that the twins pull over and Owen and Jack climb into a third car.
Blakey shuts the door when I'm laying in the back seat - my head resting onto Amber's lap.
"West-side house," Blakey orders and Sean speeds off.
I start to forget things as soon as I see them.
Through the window I see passing street light. Wait, what did I see? I look up and Amber is crying above me. Wait, what color are her eyes again? I open my mouth to say something, but I've already forgotten the words.
"It's going to be alright," Amber tries to soothe - more for her own sake than mine.
When I have enough strength, I try handing her my goofiest grin yet.
"I'm glad I met you, Amber. If even for a week, it has felt infinite. You will always be the nice girl that didn't judge me," I whisper.
"Don't you dare start giving fucking last words over here, Lynch! I swear to god I will resurrect you and then kill you again!" she threatens.
I let out a wet chuckle.
Is that blood I taste?
"We're here!" Blakey announces and everyone jumps out of the car.
Well, that felt fast...
I vaguely spot an ambulance in the driveway as Blakey rushes me inside. He runs through the long corridor until he gets to the hospital room. Yeah, when you're in a gang, it's kinda required to have a hospital room at your gang house.
Blakey puts me down onto the cold bed with heart breaking gentleness.
I grab his hand before he can step away.
"You deserve to live," I tell him, because I know how much he hates himself for being the one that got to live two years ago... He wishes he'd switched places with his brother.
A single tear leaves Blakey's eye and I cling onto life with everything I have, because I don't want to even think about how much this'll ruin Blake. I'm like his second brother...
"You're so stupid... You should've stayed away like I told you," Blake breathes.
"I don't regret it. My two favorite people are safe," I say.
Amber rushes in and grabs my other hand. "The doctor is here," she reassures me.
She's so beautiful...
"You're going to make it. The guy said that if he works fast, he might stop the bullet from damaging anything fatal. You got a lucky shot, Lynch. The bullet is still in your head, but it didn't hit your brain," Amber sadly smiles.
"Amber, this is a delicate head-operation, let's get real about my chances..." I tell her, because even though I really don't want to die, I don't want Amber or me getting our hopes up either.
"You silly boy, you'll live," Amber says. Tears are furiously sliding down her cheeks and it's like the world's most beautiful ocean is spilling just for me...
Calvin suddenly comes in with Liam and lays the latter onto the hospital bed next to me. Liam has a growing red stain at his stomach and that get's me to panic a little. The doctor walks in with his mask, gloves and a few tools. He's the guy we usually use for emergence so I smile back at him before returning my stare to Amber.
The girl I saw three years ago at a Sterling gathering. And dreamed of meeting.
"A life knowing you, Amber Marigold," I whisper, "is a life well-lived."
"Lynch, you better hold on," she growls.
I only now notice Blakey has let go of my hand and he's sitting in the corner of the room - more vulnerable than I've ever seen as his silver eyes turn liquid and spill down his cheeks. His neck. His soul.
"Should've been me," he mutters over and over to himself.
"Fix the big baby over there for me, will y'a?" I ask Amber.
She can't help the quick chuckle.
"Okay, so first thing's first, we need to get rid of the hair for the operation," the doctor suddenly says and switches on the shaver.
Oh god...
"No, no, no! Not the hair! Get away!" I protest.
The doctor is shocked and takes a step back while Amber grabs my shoulders and tries to calm me down. "Lynch, stay still! He needs to operate," Amber tries to reason.
"Get the morphine. We need to send him to sleep for this," the doc says and my breathing gets worse as panic takes over.
"Please, leave me! Don't let him touch my hair, Amber! I'll be fine! The bullet can stay!" I beg.
Amber holds me tight and the doctors brings a needle.
"Oh, god, I'll look like Liam!" I cry out.
"Bro, I'm not bald," Liam grumbles from his bed.
I look back at Amber with panic taking over who I am. "Please Amber! PLEASE! Don't let me lose my hair!" I scream and start thrashing to get away from the needle. I kick and scream and tears leave my eyes like never before.
Jack appears out of nowhere and helps to hold me down as the doctor injects me with the cold, cold needle. Immediately, I start to feel a darkness force itself onto me.
"Please... A comet can die, but don't get rid of the galaxy..." I silently beg as tears spill everywhere and my mind starts playing tricks on me.
"I'm so sorry, Lynch," Amber sniffs and even more tears are coming from her.
Shadows grow. Faces blur. And something golden is standing next to me.
I turn towards the golden entity.
"If my Mum ever gets out of rehab, tell her I'm sorry," I beg the golden entity, because there is no way I'm surviving this.
I picture my mum in my mind. The before and the after. Before drugs and after drugs. Before dad died and after dad died.
Dad with his curly, wild hair... Mom loved him so much and after cancer took away his hair, and then his life, mom fell to drugs and I swore I'd never lose my hair like dad did. I tried convincing myself that if mom saw my wild hair long enough, she'd remember that it's exactly how dad's hair looked and she'd stop trying to forget everything with drugs.
Now, she'll have to look at a second pale bald corpse.
How can I do that to her?
My eye lids grow heavy and I hear the shaver buzzing alive and getting closer.
"You'll be fine, Lynch... You have to be..." the gold entity next to me whispers with a cracked voice.
"I don't want to be," I admit before I can't keep my eyes open anymore and that cruel Xavier's words echo in my head. It's what he said before I decided to make my move and push him off his feat.
There are things much worse than death...
Hey goldies!
FIRSTLY, chapter 35 got double the amount of votes than any over chapter in the book. So many of you want lynch to live, so I have you a chapter from his point of view.
Like look at what this person made:
SECONDLY, we still don't know if Lynch lives or dies. To be honest, I'm still deciding. You guys are so cute and passionate about Lynch. I originally just wanted to kill him off, but...
Love my goldies!
PS: Awesome cover by the amazing Janvi113!!!!
~ Holly Shmit