Infected: Corruptin Chapter 4

Chapter 4

She lay slumped in the corner, holding her knees to her chest, crying to the wall. Her hair flowed down her back and lay sprawled across the floor. The bruises on her arms were a deep purple. A failed attempt maybe. Jason envied her.

“It must be nice to die,” Jason said coldly, “Welcoming Death and leaving this life behind. What I wouldn’t give to die.”

“Don’t say that,” she muttered, “Nobody wants to die. There’s noting in death.”

“But that’s all I want!” Jason said stubbornly, “To die! To leave and never come back. To not have to live. I never wanted this life. There is only pain and sadness. There’s nothing worth living for, no one…” Jason wandered off. Actually, there was someone, but would have forgotten him by now.

“There is someone, isn’t there?” she whispered.

Their silence fell to the screams and agony around them. Jason could hear them dying. He envied them, his lust for death lay unsated.

“You know,” she said as she picked herself up off the floor, “You sound just like him.”

She turned to face this pitiful soul. She would comfort him, show him the better side of life despite her agony. Her despair would solve nothing.

Only, it was him, her only one. The one she had waited for, the one she gave her heart to. She was speechless.

The screams killed the silence.

“Like who?” Jason asked, interested. Maybe this other person could die with him.

“You don’t remember?” she whispered softly, a tear in her eye. She basked in her memories of him. The time when the skies were blue and the nights were only a darker shade of the days. She cherished the time they had spent together, loved every moment of it.

“What?” Jason asked. He had seen her mouth move, but had heard nothing. He should have left that room, there was nothing for him there. But something kept him there, in that room, with that girl. Something that tugged at his heart, a heart he thought had frozen over and lay solid. he could not ignore this feeling.

She missed those days, when they were happy. When life could not get any better. But he had changed.

Looking at him, she could see the changes. His arms were scarred, traces of blood barely visible. His eyes were bloodshot from tormented nights. His neck was bruised a deep purple. A ghost of the past.

He stood there, clothed in black, wearing what anyone would wear, only darker. A black shirt, where blood stains only made it darker. A pair of loose fitting jeans, ripped and torn by someone, or something. He never did avoid fights. A pair of plain white sneakers, dirty with asphalt. His face was older, burdened with the weight of time. His hair was longer, reaching past his neck, its black color blending with his shirt. But his eyes were as pale as ever. They were considered blue, but they were faded, empty of any joy or life.

“N-Nothing,” she stammered.

This was the him of the past, before she ever met him. This is what he returned to, despite their time together. This wasn’t the him for whom she had waited for, but it was him nonetheless. A promise is a promise, but what if he didn’t remember?

Jason stood there, staring at her. Who was this girl? Did he know her? Should he know her?

He stared at her. She returned his gaze with her hazel eyes. The room was silent, save for the screams. Jason tried to remember her. He looked her over more closely.

Her light brown hair fell gently down her back, stopping just past her shoulders. Jason saw now that the bruises on her arms were from some sort of shackles. He wondered if she was really that dangerous by herself. Her navy blue jeans still had the price tag on them. Her tennis shoes were still a bright white, almost blending in with the room. The T-shirt she wore was a light brown, but a darker shade than her hair. She wore a silver necklace around her neck. It suit her perfectly…

Flashes of some memory surprised Jason. It was raining, pouring oceans onto the city. The frigid wind sent chills down his spine as he ran. He was drenched from splashing puddles, and his body was going numb. But still, Jason kept running. Next, he stood under a streetlight. She stood in front of him, her face silhouetted by the bright light. The silver necklace glistened in his numb hands. Without looking at her, he knew she was happy. Then a kiss, accompanied by a warmth in his chest, something Jason had never felt before…

Jason gazed into her hazel eyes, while that same feeling tugged at his heart. Could this be that girl? Jason wondered as he touched his lips.

No. it couldn’t be. There was no love, not for someone like him. No. only Death would welcome him with open arms, and hold him forever.

There could be nothing for him here. A silver necklace, a kiss, a girl, they belonged to someone else. Not him, who could only long for death. Jason began to leave.

“No,” she cried, “Not again. I’ve waited for so long. No. No! Don’t leave me Jason!”

Jason stopped dead in his tracks, paralyzed by a memory. Those words echoed in his ears: “Don’t leave me Jason!”

It was a gloomy morning. The clouds blocked out the sun. Jason looked on from the back seat of a van. She was crying. It was depressing. A tear fell from his eye. As the engine rumbled and the car awoke, he looked at her on last time. She shouldn’t have to suffer. The distance grew between them. He remembered the words he promised her, “Wait for me, okay? We’ll kiss under the light of a full moon, just for you. This is just temporary. Just for now. Goodbye, Sarah.”
“Jason!” he watched her call one last time as she collapsed on the street.

“Sarah?” Jason whispered.

She rose her eyes to meet Jason’s.