(Jaime’s POV)

“How could this fucking happen?” I yelled in anguish at the body lying motionless on a stretcher next to me. The pain in my stomach from the stab could hardly compare to the pain in my head and heart. Paramedics had rinsed and bandaged my wound and partially tended to my burns, and I’d need to get stitches at the hospital, but, besides the anguish I felt over the love of my life being in the neighboring stretcher, I was otherwise okay.


“Jaime, calm down,” Tony grabbed my shoulders to try and contain me.


“Don’t tell me to calm down, Tony! I was the one who was covered in God damned kerosene! Why is she here?” I screamed, pointing to the stretcher. Vic was in a different ambulance… he was in very bad shape… I tried not to think about it…


“She was standing too close, Himes,” Tony said, his voice calm but his facial expression suggesting otherwise. His eyes were puffy and red, and he carried a distraught appearance. His face was also dirty with ash, but he wasn’t hurt.


I closed my eyes, the events flooding my brain. I remembered what had happened... foggily… The fire raced at me like a bullet, but then I was outside in the grass. Someone had yanked me out of the peril just in time. Just before I burnt alive. I was able to escape with minor burns and a stab in the stomach, but Mike… yes, it was Mike who had saved me… he wouldn’t let me back into the house to find the others. And then Tony stumbled out, mumbling things about being lost and not being able to see anything… and Vic and Spencer were still inside…


“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, oh, God, I’m sorry,” I looked to forward to see a distraught Mike, sitting in the grass with his head in his hands, his tall body hunched over into a ball.


“Why is he sorry?” I slurred. Numb.


“Vic… he had to drop Vic to save you…” Tony shook his head.


There it was again. That familiar feeling of guilt washed over me. My own personal storm cloud rained responsibility over my head, and I didn’t think it would ever clear up.


“No, Jaime,” Tony said severely. “Don’t you dare blame yourself,” he said.


I shook my head. My stomach felt tight in pain, but I didn’t care. “I am blaming myself,” I cried. There was nothing he could say or do that would change my mind. If Vic or Spencer died, I would blame myself.


“That’s irrational, Jaime,” Tony said, his voice emotionless.


I moaned in agony. The doors of the ambulance slammed shut, and then we were raced away. I outstretched my hand… I needed to find Spencer’s hand. I turned my head to the left so I could see her better. She looked lifeless. She just kind of… laid there… like a lump. Paramedics were rushed around her, but I paid no attention to them.

At last, I found her hand. It was cold. I squeezed it. She was ripped away before I got a chance to see if she squeezed back.


~~

SPENCER’S POV

Realization slammed into me like a brick wall.


“Vic,” I said firmly, removing my hand from his neck. I no longer hovered over him in desperation, noticing that he was no longer bleeding.


“Spencer?” he asked. I expected his voice to croak and gurgle with pain, especially because of his neck injury, but it was crisp, clear, and angelic. I studied him further, and saw that the open gash on his neck was no longer open, but rather a thin and almost invisible line.


He sat up, confused. “Why is my house on fire?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.


“Vic…” I breathed. His face was no longer swollen. It was smooth, not a single scratch on his face. It was beautiful.


“What?” he furrowed his eyebrows.


“Vic,” I repeated. I pointed to the scene to the left of the house: Mike on the ground in grief, Tony standing like a statue, Jaime practically being wrestled into a stretcher…


“Is that…” his voice trailed off as he stood up, looking more carefully at the mass of people. There were two more stretchers, one being carted off with Jaime and the other going to its own ambulance. We were in those stretchers.


“Vic, I think we are dead,” I said finally. He looked at me in horror, tears welling up in his eyes.


“But, I don’t want to be dead,” he said in a broken whisper.


Tears burned in my vision, as well. After all of this time, it finally occurred to me that I didn’t want to be dead, either. But there was nothing we could do.


And then my heart broke for us.

~~

VIC’S POV

“…But, I don’t want to be dead,” I said, beginning to cry. I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t ready.


I flinched when terrible images pushed their way into my head.


“What is this?” I screamed to my brain. Memories, it whispered back.


Spencer gripped onto my arm desperately as I clenched my eyes shut, trying to fight the memories from taking over.


“W-what happened to me?” I managed to choke out.


Before Spencer could reply, I felt a memory force itself into my head, and I felt myself being taken over by it…


I woke up with a splitting headache in a cold and bare room. Four walls. No windows.


There was only one door. Where was I?


I stood up, only to fall back down again. I screamed in agony, holding my legs. They were both broken. I was sure of it.


The room was murky and dark. I have never been in a place like this, so I had no idea where I was…


My breathing quickened and my chest tightened, panic rising within me. My legs felt like they were being stabbed repeatedly, and my head… God damn, my head. It hurt like hell…


I tried my hardest to control my breathing. Having a panic attack here was not going to solve the problem.


I knew I had to get to that door, but my legs were completely immobile. I groaned, using my hands to drag myself to the door.


Damn it. Whoever did this… whatever happened to me… whoever put me here definitely didn’t want me to get out. One of my hands was broken, too, making it unbearable to drag myself anywhere. I had no other option but to concede to the ground. I laid down on my back, focusing on my breathing, staring at the rotten ceiling above me. I silently hummed to myself, hoping that the pain would go away with the tune…


The water is rusted, the air is unclean…


I sang a few lines of something completely random; the words just flowed from my mouth. I continued to hum again, trying to drown out this nightmare.


Hang from the gallows, asleep in the rain…


I closed my eyes.


This is a wasteland…


I stopped humming, losing my tune when I heard a creaking noise. I sat up in horror, seeing the open the door and the terrible figure standing before me. His sharpened teeth, his beady eyes, his flaming neck tattoo…


“Welcome to Hell.”


“Vic! Vic!” Spencer shook me out of my memory. I shook my head.


“Bad things happened there…” I mumbled.


“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Vic, it’s all my fault, I’m so sorry,” she cried. I looked at her curiously.


“Why is it your fault? You didn’t kidnap me…” I reminded her.


“Drew Sanders haunted my life. It’s my fault that I stuck around long enough for him to infect yours!” she cried, burying her face into her hands.


“Drew Sanders…” I muttered. His name tasted like poison.


“He’s dead,” she said sourly.


“How?” I asked, my voice husky.


“Tony,” she said. Tony killed him? I would have expected Spencer to be the one to kill him… “He wouldn’t let me. I wanted to. But he wouldn't let me,” she cried a little more. “I’m sort of glad he didn’t let me,” she added quietly.


I smiled. I grabbed her hand, and together we walked towards the ambulances, which were now departing.


I smiled again, realizing how innocent we both were. “Well, then, now we can go to heaven together.”


~~

SPENCER’S POV

I smiled back. He was right. We both were pure. No blood on our hands. We could both die peacefully… if there really was a Heaven, I’d like to agree and say that we were headed there together at the same…


“What should we do?” Vic furrowed his eyebrows.


“I don’t know,” I bit the inside of my cheek. “Aren’t we supposed to go somewhere?” I asked.


“I guess we should… follow… ourselves?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders.


I didn’t know what else to do, or where to go. How were we supposed to know what to do when you die?


I silently agreed, gripping his hand tighter. Wherever we were headed, I was scared. I felt a mixture of relief and guilt, though: relief, because Vic was here with me, and we could get through this together, but guilt, because Vic was here with me.


We arrived to the hospital. I didn’t want to look at Jaime, or Tony, or Mike… I didn’t want to look at myself, or Vic…


“Maybe we shouldn’t be here,” I said quietly. I looked up to see tears in Vic’s eyes.


“I don’t want to leave them,” he began to cry. I squeezed his hand tighter. I was afraid to let go of it. I was afraid that if I let go, he would go up while I went down…


I followed Vic as he knelt down in front of Mike. Mike had a blank expression on his face. His eyes were swollen. His bottom lip was quivering. Tears lined his eyes, threatening to fall. He blinked, causing a few to spill over. Vic reached up to touch his brother’s face.


“I’m so sorry, Mikey,” he cried. I looked away. I couldn’t watch this. It hurt so much, seeing Vic like this.


“He’s going to die,” Mike suddenly said to the others. Tony and Jaime shook their heads.


“No, Mike! They’re going to save him! He’ll be okay!” Tony yelled desperately. It hurt to see that Tony didn’t look like he agreed with his own words.


“I need my brother,” Mike cried.


“I’m so sorry, Mike. I wish I could be there for you,” Vic tried to hug Mike, but an unknown force feverishly denied the contact. “Damn it!” Vic screamed in Mike’s face. “I am right here!” he yelled again, his soft face now ragged with tears.


“We are right here,” he added quietly. “Spence, why can’t they just see us?” Vic turned to face me. I shook my head. I didn’t know anything. This was a mystery we were going to have to uncover together.


Vic reached up and gripped Mike’s shoulder. “Be good, brother. Don’t be stupid,” he choked out. Mike looked up, his eyes distant and piercing right through me and Vic’s image. Mike shivered.


Vic tore himself away from Mike, moving on to Tony. Vic was at a loss for words, and he resolved to tears, sinking down to the floor at Tony’s feet. “This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening,” he mumbled repeatedly.


I looked Tony in the eyes. I wish he could see me. A part of me thought that he could sense our presence, though…


“Tony…” I said quietly. “You were so brave,” I shook my head, choking on sobs. “You saved my soul,” I whined, referring to how he wouldn’t let me kill a man, despite how evil that man was. “I love you, Tony. Please know that,” I begged uselessly. I couldn’t say anything more, so I kissed his cheek lightly. His face twitched slightly at the contact, and tears spilled out of his eyes.


My heart stopped (well, maybe it was already stopped... so, my heart figuratively stopped) when I saw Jaime. He had bandages wrapped tightly around his middle, and loose bandages on his arms. He was shaken up, but I was glad to see that the stab was not life threatening. If it was, well, he would be here with me and Vic…


I looked at his face. There was nothing there. No tears, no emotion. It broke my heart over and over again. “Jaime…” I managed to choke out. I brought my hand to the left side of his face, drawing circles with my thumb. “You’ll be okay…” I whimpered slightly, knowing that he probably wasn’t going to be okay. Nobody was going to be okay again. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered roughly. “I’m so sorry about Vic, and everyone,” I cried. “But you’ll be okay! You have to be okay,” I cried. “Find a girl, fall in love again… marry her, spoil the shit out of her, fix her if she needs fixing. Never leave her. Love her forever. Fix yourself. I know you’re going to need someone, Jaime. So find a girl who can fix you, too, and never let her go,” I cried, burying my face into his chest. I clenched my fists as if I could actually grip his t-shirt, and I pounded his chest as if he could actually feel it.


Jaime’s hand all of the sudden clutched his chest, right where his heart was.


“Jaime, man, are you okay?” Tony asked, worry spreading across his features.


Jaime nodded, and then shook his head, and then nodded again. Yes, no, yes…


“My heart hurts,” he finally spoke, and now he began to cry.“How could this happen?” he cried again. I peeled myself away from him. I couldn’t watch this. I couldn’t see them cry over us anymore.


Vic held onto my hand tighter than ever. If I were alive, it probably would have hurt. But nothing hurt where we were.


Nothing hurt except our hearts and our minds.


Vic and I walked into the room that the others were sitting outside of. There were two hospital beds next to each other. It felt wrong being in here. I shivered.


“Oh, my God,” Vic dropped to his knees again, looking at himself. He looked… terrible. His face was swollen, his body was very broken, tubes and machines surrounded him. He was tiny compared to the hospital equipment surrounding him. He looked like he could disappear any moment. He looked like “nothing” would look like, if “nothing” had an appearance.


I turned to look at myself. I looked rather peaceful. I had a massive bandage on my head, and my forehead was bruised, but that was it, besides loose bandages around burnt skin. “What happened to me?” I asked quietly, touching my head with my hand.


Vic shook his head. I guess we will never know.


“You two need to come with me,” a dark voice suddenly spoke. It scared me. Why could this person see us?


We turned around together, still holding eachother desperately. I wanted to scream and punch and cry when I saw who… or what… was standing before us.


He was just a dark blur. An indistinguishable mass inside of a heavy black clock. I recognized this image as Death, himself.


“No!” I cried. Vic and I jumped back in terror. We didn’t want to go with this… this thing. I would rather die a thousand times than have to go with Death.


“You don’t really have a choice,” Death growled. He outstretched his hand, reaching for us. His hand was like a claw, dripping with vice.


I screamed, clutching onto Vic in dread. I closed my eyes, and we held each other, as the darkness overwhelmed us.


~~

JAIME’S POV

“Something’s happening in there!” I jumped up, alarming Mike and Tony.


Doctors suddenly rushed into the room, keeping us back. The tears were unstoppable. I hardly noticed them anymore.


We could hear monitors beeping like crazy and Doctor’s cursing under their breaths.


That could only mean one thing.


They were dying.


I buried my face in my hands. I didn’t want to feel anything, anymore. I couldn’t bear seeing them like this.


“They are stabilized,” a Doctor walked breathlessly out of the room. “For now,” he added severely. “Have you decided on whether or not you want to pull the plug or keep them hooked up on—”


“Keep them hooked up on the machines!” I practically yelled. I shook my head. I could never bear to pull the plug on my best friend and girl friend. I looked desperately at Mike and Tony, and their facial expressions told me that they felt the same way.


“Okay, okay,” the Doctor said calmly. He walked away.


“How much longer is this going to go on?” Tony groaned. “It’s been weeks!”


“As long as they need,” I muttered under my breath, staring intently at the wall, my mind drifting to nothing.


~~

VIC’S POV

“Spencer,” I shook her arm gently. “Spencer, darling, wake up,” I said louder. She slowly opened her eyes, looking up in wonder.


“Where the fuck are we?”


“I don’t know,” I said nervously. “But, Spencer, I can hear them talking. Apparently we’ve been like this for weeks!” I exclaimed.


“Weeks?” her eyes bulged out in alarm. “Impossible…” she hissed. “Oh, my God, they aren’t going to pull the plug on us, are they?” she asked, her face now terrified.


“I-I don’t think so…” I said, biting my lip. “I hope not,” I added. If Death tried to take us again, we would fight back.


I carefully studied our surroundings. The place looked familiar… but it looked… very… clean. Unusually clean, and unusually bright, and unusually white.


“Oh,” I said calmly.


“What is it?” Spencer sat up, looking at me intently.


“We are in the San Diego venue. We played our first big show here,” I said, smiling nostalgically.


I sighed. “I’m going to miss this,” I said, feeling a tear slip down my cheeks again.


“You guys made good music,” she smiled half-heartedly at me.


I sighed, agreeing.


“Will you sing for me?” she asked weakly.


I smiled. If there was anything that was going to get us through this, it was going to be music.


She playfully sat down where the audience would normally stand, sitting with her legs crossed and smiling broadly.


I hopped onto the stage, grabbing the microphone that was so convientally there. I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was there on purpose… like some unknown force put us here on purpose…


I began to sing whatever came to my head. I imagined that the guys were playing there instruments along. I have never heard this song before, but I liked it. Maybe if I lived again I could sing this song again.


“Don't you say you had a part of it,
I guess we'll never know.
Oh would you say that had a part of it
Well I guess we'll never know

Constant recovery
I see you choke and it takes my breath away

But all is good, we close our eyes
They all accept the lie

So bury what you are outside
Brother, promise you won't leave me

I know you're tortured within
Your eyes look hungry again
But I'll never wander, my friend

Will somebody believe in this suicide?
Am I the only one that thinks that you should stay alive?
Oh, I became ashamed as you backed up on the ropes to arm yourself and lie

And so I scream, "Mayday, I'm in trouble, send somebody on the double."

Scratching at the floor inside my mind
They all accept the lie

So bury what you are outside
Brother, please don't be afraid of...

I know you're tortured within
Your eyes look hungry again
But I'll never wander, my friend

I let you down
And I started to run
Never meant to be your pain
What have I become?

Show me and show me the way back
Show me the way back home

I know you're tortured within
Your eyes look hungry again
But I'll never wander, my friend
No, I'll never wander again

I know what I want,
But it's not what I need

Can I just have one more taste
Just to make it through the day
You're tangled in
You're tangled in the great escape

Great escape, oh

I never meant to hurt nobody, no no, yeah
I never meant to hurt you, no no no no
I only meant to do this to myself, to myself, to myself
Great escape
Great escape
Great escape
Oh, great escape
Let me out of this, yeah
Let me out of this, yeah”

My eyes were closed with passion as I sang. Every word connected to this situation, to Spencer, to me, to the other guys…


Show me the way back home… I didn’t want to die, I didn’t want to be dying.


Brother, promise me you won’t leave me… I promise, Mike. I promise I won’t leave you.


Never meant to be your pain, what have I become? This line was for Spencer. The poor girl felt guilty about everything, but she was wrong. She was not Jaime’s pain, after all.


You’re tangled in the great escape… Let me out of this… Somehow we would make out of this. Spencer and I, together, we would escape Death, for now. It just wasn’t our time.


I opened my eyes. I heard a scream.


Oh, no! He was back! Death gripped Spencer by her arms, dragging her away.


“No!” I yelled. I sprinted to her, jumping off of the stage. Death laughed at me, but I growled at Death. Somehow I was able to grip her legs. I yanked on her; Death yanked back. It was tug-of-war with her fragile life.


But I won.


I ripped her away from Death, who shattered into a million crows, flying away. She cried in my arms. “I don’t want to die. Let’s escape,” she cried.


I nodded, holding her tightly. For Jaime’s sake, I was never going to let her go, at least without me. I'll never wander, my friend...


I held her in my arms, singing over and over again: “Darling, you’ll be okay,” until everything disappeared.


~~

SPENCER’S POV

“…Darling, you’ll be okay,” Vic’s soft voice lingered in my mind when I opened my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, I breathed. Real air. I knew immediately where I was when I heard people crying around me… crying happily.

Holy shit, I was alive.

I looked to my left to look at Vic. He was awake, too.

Our eyes connected for a long time.

We smiled.

Notes

So, Pretty fucking long chapter. Took forever, but you guys deserve every piece of it! :)

Don't worry, the drama is not nearly over. ;)

But thanks so much for the amazing reactions, it makes me so happy and inspired!

xoxo