Chapter 15 Caulder
Caulder
What I’m seeing, it doesn’t make any sense.
Lucas can’t be lying like that. It isn’t—it can’t—be real.
And the blood. Why is there so much blood?
Covering his hoodie, pooling next to him, spreading out to touch my knees, so that I’m leaning in a puddle of his blood.
Instantly, it’s like something’s clawing its way up my throat, dragging itself up bit by bit, and I choke on the bile that surfaces as a result.
“Lucas,” Avery says, shaking him. “Lucas, wake up.”
Her eyes are locked on Lucas’s, and his eyes are closed, and his face is covered in blood.
But I refuse to believe the possibility that he might be dead.
I drop down next to her, putting my index and middle finger on his neck, feeling for a pulse.
I wait for him to jump up, to start laughing and asking me what the fuck I’m doing, but he doesn’t.
He’s still. Way too still. But I keep my fingers on his neck, and that’s when I feel it. Subtle but there. A pulse.
“He’s alive,” I choke out, then give his arm a shake. “Lucas, man, wake up. Lucas.”
He’s got to stay with me. Still, all that blood…And where’s it coming from? There’s a tear along his shirt and blood congealed there, mashing the fabric to his skin.
“Shit,” I say, pulling back my hand. “What happened? Lucas, man, come on.”
“We need a doctor,” Avery says. “We need a doctor right now—we need to get the teachers.”
I look down the hall to where the teachers should be. Didn’t they hear Avery screaming? Us yelling at Lucas? Lightning flashes outside, revealing that Avery’s turned paler than I’ve ever seen her. Tears carve trails down her cheeks.
“We need to get the teachers,” she says. “And call for a doctor. I’ll go—”
“No,” I say, looking around. “It’s not safe.”
Her eyes meet mine, glassy and wide. “He could die,” she says, daring to utter the word that I refuse to say out loud. “He needs help.”
The sound of footsteps behind me makes me whirl, and I’m not thinking when I see the figure in the dark. I rush forward, grabbing the shadow by the front of their shirt and then throwing them back against the wall.
“Jesus Christ, man, what’s your problem? It’s me, Javi.”
It takes me a minute to process the voice, to see who it is in front of me. Javi’s eyebrows are furrowed, and he struggles against my grip, until someone behind me starts screaming.
I let him go, turning to see Marlene and Kaitlyn standing behind Avery, holding their hands over their faces as they stare down at Lucas.
“What the fuck?” Kaitlyn demands, her voice shaking. “What the actual fuck?”