The Seven Deadly Sinners

20

"Mmmph," I groaned, rolling over onto something warm. My body was exhausted, my muscles sore.

"Mike!" I heard Colby yell. I slowly opened my eyes to see that I'd rolled over onto Colby's legs, which were straightened out in front of him. He was sitting up, leaning against the headboard of the bed we were both in with a book in his hands.

I heard footsteps thundering down the hallway and Mike burst in, Brennen behind him.

"She up?" asked Mike, out of breath from running to the room.

"No," I mumbled into the side of Colby's leg.

"Oh, thank fuck," Brennen sighed. "I really thought you fucked that up, Mike."

"It's not like I could have practiced doing it earlier!" Mike argued.

"Well, we know she's alive now. I'm going to finally go home," Brennen said, leaving the room.

"Me too. I'm dead. Call if there's any issues," Mike said, following Brennen out. He shut Colby's door behind him. Colby grasped my shoulders and slowly sat me up. He leaned my back on the headboard like his had been and placed my arms in my lap. I could hardly move my own body.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, tucking a strand of my bright red hair behind my ear. They must have taken my wig off.

"Yeah," I grunted, trying to shift my body. "Jesus, today kind of sucks."

"You wouldn't know," Colby said. "It's not 'today'. It's next week. It's Friday afternoon."

"Huh?" I asked softly. My head was kind of foggy from everything.

"You decided to take a nice long nap on Sunday night. It's Friday now. You passed out. You've been asleep for five days," Colby said.

"Oh, god," I grumbled. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision.

"They were all pretty sure you died," Colby said.

"They?" I asked.

"Yeah, everyone else. I knew you didn't," he replied.

"You geniuses could have just found my pulse or heard me breathing," I pointed out.

"Ah, yes. There's that lovable attitude. And okay, I guess I didn't necessarily mean die. More like put into an irreversible eternal coma, during which you would still breathe. And you don't have a pulse," Colby said.

"You couldn't manage to find my heartbeat. For five days," I said. How fucking stupid...

"No, you literally don't have a pulse. You don't need one anymore. No need to overwork your heart. You still have one, of course. A heart. Just doesn't need to beat," said Colby.

"What, like a fucking vampire?" I asked.

"No, like a demon. Vampires aren't real," he said.

"Like I would fucking know that at this point," I replied. "So did it work? The ritual?"

"Let's see," he said. "Can you stand up yet or no?" I wiggled my legs side to side, which brought some feeling into them. I noticed I was wearing a big t shirt and Dev's spandex.

"Oh, yeah. Figured you could use a shirt," Colby said when he saw me staring down at it.

"Thanks. And yeah, I think I can stand," I said. I slowly swung my legs over the side of the bed and put my weight onto them. I was a little wobbly, but managed to stand without tipping over.

"Come here," Colby said, holding his arms out. He was a few feet away. I slowly staggered over to him and he gave me a big hug. "I knew you didn't die, but you really scared me. You know that? Freaked me the fuck out. I didn't know when you were going to wake up or if you would still be you since we had no idea if Mike had done anything right," he said. His voice was quiet and soft since he was talking right next to my ear. "I'm so glad you're okay."