An Alternate Grim Dark

An Alternate Grim Dark
Title: An Alternate Grim Dark
Status: Complete
Characters: Anon, Fang, Trish, Reed, Naomi
Rating: SFW
Classification: One Shot
Author: Anonymous
"Stretching and yawning, I realize that it’s a lot brighter than normal."
"Did I sleep in?"
"The alarm clock on his table has been unplugged…"
"I reach over to grab my phone to check the time."
"Nine-o-two AM?"
"Oh shit, Anon and I are beyond late."
"Wait, where is Anon?"
"His backpack is gone, too."
"Oh come on, he went to school without me?!"
"I rush to put my clothes on and get out the door as soon as possible."
"About halfway there my phone buzzes in my pocket."
"Unread texts from Anon?"
"A cryptic message stops me in my tracks."
"Something is definitely wrong."
"This almost reads like…"
"The adrenaline pushes my feet back into a desperate bolt towards the school."
"The whole time my mind floods with horrid worst-case scenarios."
"I tell myself I’m just worrying, but my mad sprint betrays the lie."
"As I approach the school, I notice a crowd through the haze."
"Surely it’s just a drill."
"The deceit is shattered when I see the crowd consists of students huddling and crying, with teachers quietly making sure everyone is accounted for."
"...Where’s Anon?"
"He has to be in this crowd."
"There’s just a fire in the school that scared people."
"He’s in this crowd somewhere."
N "YOU!!"
"The voice calls out through the silence for all to hear."
"Naomi moves to stand a dozen feet in front of me on the pavement."
"A shaky finger directing malice towards me."
"She’s redfaced, streams of tears running the mascara down her face."
N "WHY DID YOU COME HERE?!?"
"Blurred heads turn to the commotion."
N "YOU BASTARD!!"
N "LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!"
N "ARE YOU HAPPY?"
"I can’t say anything."
"Is this really happening?"
"She chucks her phone through the air."
"It misses by inches and smashes on the ground somewhere behind me."
N "I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU THE WHOLE TIME!!"
N "I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU!! YOU!!"
"By now her tirade becomes incomprehensible screaming."
"A teacher has to hold her back and try directing her to a nearby curb to sit."
"...I don’t have time for this."
"Where is Anon?"
"I gotta get in that building."
"I turn around and dash away into the fog as Naomi is being consoled by a group of students."
"The side door is still unlocked, and I’m able to slip in without being noticed."
"The halls are silent, despite it all."
"Her footsteps clatter through the empty halls."
"Anon always talks about having to deal with Trish in Math."
"That’s not on this floor, fuck!"
"I pause when I reach the stairwell upwards."
"I can’t say for sure what, but my instincts are screaming at me to not go up, to turn back now."
"... I can’t."
"My hand lightly glides along the handrail while I cautiously cross the stairs to the second floor."
"The first thing that hits her is the smell."
"That electric, almost metallic stench of wet ozone."
"It’s a smell everyone instinctively knows."
"I couldn’t tell what sound I made, because I frankly don’t remember."
"All I will ever remember from this is the sight of my former classmates splattered across the halls like bags of waste."
"The spills and trails of blood tell the story of their final moments."
"Two were trying to run and still remain face down in their final resting places."
"One slumped from a locker, smearing his remains all the way down like a puppet string."
"This isn’t real, none of this is real."
"I’m just having a nightmare after last nights’ episode."
"Things are just fine, I’ll return to reality soon…"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Please…"
"...God...Damn it..."
"...Where is Anon…?"
"I just need to find him."
"There’s one open door in the hall, the one closest to the battlefield."
"I already know I’m not going to see him."
"Anon hasn’t been in that room in a long time."
"The only things in there, are the corpses of your best friend..."
"and someone else, who tried to block the shot, now clumped together."
"It was Reed."
"..."
"The stairs."
"There’s only one place he can be."
"One place where he’d go."
"When I turn back to the stairwell, something makes a wet thud behind me."
"Somehow, Reed’s still alive."
"He’s moved his arm in my direction, and still has the strength to move a bit."
"His eyes meet mine for a moment."
"Disappointment."
"Sorrow."
"Mourning."
"..."
"I can’t focus on him."
"He’s got seconds left, anything I tried would just be a waste of time."
"His hand makes a wet slap against the hard tiles one last time while I start up the stairs."
"Somehow, the remaining two flights of stairs have gained another several hundred steps."
"I haven’t seen who it was yet, it might not be him."
"She knows well it can only be him."
"How could I have known this would happen? This isn’t my fault..!"
"She had just as much a hand in this as he did."
"...How long have I been standing here, staring at the doorknob?"
"...How much longer could I get away with putting it off?"
"As it is, it’s not the worst case scenario."
"Even if Reed and Trish are gone…"
"There’s a chance it’s not Anon up here."
"She’d rather just stand here forever."
"Relishing in the possibility that there’s some hope left."
"However."
"Time stops for no one."
"Not even me."
"The police sirens have been outside for a while."
"I can’t ignore them any longer."
"I owe Anon this much at least."
"..."
"The doorknob is still cold on my hand."
"I turn it and exit to the rooftop."
"After a while, among the sounds of alarms and sirens..."
"The only thing to stand out is a voice behind me..."
"One that I easily recognize."
F "Anon."
"I ignore her, acting as she's not there."
F "Anon, please. Say something."
"I remain silent, with her unable to tell if i'm looking at her or not."
F "Anon. Come on. T-this is all…"
"Slowly more and more details come into her view."
"The revolver hanging limply from your fingers."
"The splatters of blood on your pants and jacket."
"And the sound of your ragged breaths."
F "Anon…"
"Her fingers brush against your shoulder."
F "ARGH!"
"You see her left leg crumple under her."
F "A-Anon… WHY ARE YOU-!"
A "Aaaah… haaaah… Fang… Why…?"
A "Y-you weren’t supposed to be here!"
A "You shouldn’t have come here!"
F "Fuck… Because… Because I love you! Haaaaaah."
"She hobbles forward, struggling to balance on her left leg."
"The hole in her shin dribbles blood down to the floor."
"Fang steps forward."
A "S-stay back!"
"The revolver clatters against the concrete, spent on ammo."
A "Fang… please…"
"A painful step backward."
"She takes another forward."
F "Anon!"
F "Just come downstairs with me… It’s not over, it doesn’t have to be this wa-"
"With a crunch, her shin gives out completely, lurching her forward onto her claws and knees."
F "Please, come down with me."
"I briefly look behind me, the trail is spilling out and making her other leg wet."
A "Oh-oh god. Oh my god. S-stop…"
"Bile rises up my throat at the sight."
"I swallow hard and look back to Fang."
"I keep backing away as she tries to get closer, remaining out of her reach."
"I stop and catch my balance."
"My foot is halfway over the edge."
"We’ve reached the edge of the rooftop."
"End of the line."
F "Anon."
F "Look at me."
"My head shakily turns from the concrete below to meet her eyes again."
F "Back away from there, please."
F "I-I… I…"
A "Stay with me here, please."
F "I…"
A "Don’t leave me alone."
"We stare for an eternity, all through the police’s screaming below."
"I look below once more, down the three story drop to the walkway below."
"The walkway we’d passed through so many times to get to classes without a second thought."
"The walkway we crossed daily with our friends through all our trials."
F "Please…"
"She looks to me again, less shakily this time."
"The sides of my mouth curl into a warm smile."
"The last of my tears fall."
"I jump."
F "Anon!"
"As I fall I see Fang’s beautiful amber eyes."
"They’re red and puffy, with makeup-less tears running freely down her cheeks."
"..."
"The authorities betray her final wish of death by bursting through the door at that exact minute."
"Fang drifts into unconsciousness when they start wrapping her leg."
"..."
"Three weeks pass."
"Probably."
"All I can remember is the sterile hospital room and an endless lineup of reporters."
"The whole incident made national news."
"Apparently I had become ‘the brave soul who took a bullet to stop a school shooting.’"
"But to everyone I know I’m just the one who caused all this."
"After I refused to answer the constant pestering enough, I was finally left in blissful solitude."
"I expected a visit from Spears, or Naser, or Stella or someone."
"But they never came."
"I got discharged just yesterday."
"I’ll need to stay on a crutch for a few months, but that’s hardly the wound I'm worried about."
"...His funeral was today."
"I didn't want to be here."
"But I can’t just leave it either."
"So I wait out of sight several hundreds of feet away for the few others that came to go home."
"The last two figures linger for over an hour."
"She was right the whole time, about me."
"And here I am, defiling his grave with my presence."
"Eventually, they too leave."
"The alternations of footsteps and the crutch make me feel more mechanical than human."
"Then again, that may be true regardless of having a crutch."
"His and Reed's graves are right next to each other."
"In memory of Reed."
"...I’m sorry, man."
"I hobble over to the other headstone."
"Here lies Anon."
"God damn it."
"This is all my fault."
"None of this would have happened if I noticed something was wrong."
"If I just supported Anon more instead of getting into a fight."
"Fuck."
"And because of me Trish and Reed and Anon and the others are gone."
"Because I’m too fucking stupid to see any of the warning signs."
"I should be crying right now."
"I should be screaming to the world why I should have died instead."
"But I instead I just feel…"
"Anon's final plea to Fang races through her head."
"Don’t leave me alone."
"I just feel completely and utterly and hopelessly alone."
"The sprinkling rain stops."
"Seems the world is tired of my monologuing."
"The split second I thought I was somebody, I ruined everything."
"And the people I cared the most about are gone."
"..."
"It’s better this way."