Page 83 of Blood Sport

“Fuck!” Jaylen shouts, his body stiffening.

I turn my head to the right to see a car roaring through the intersection, running the stop sign. The headlights are blinding, momentarily creating spots of white light dancing across my eyes.

I’m so disorientated that I barely register when Jaylen swerves out of the way of the car, the tires locking up as they screech across the gravel. It feels like the bike fishtails before I can no longer feel the cool leather beneath me or the warmth from the engine racing up my legs.

“Jaylen!” I cry when I can no longer feel his body against mine. I can no longer feel anything. Just the way my stomach twists painfully as I freefall through the heavy drop of rain, my eyes screwed shut.

“Evie!” Jaylen calls out, but he sounds far away.

I open my eyes in time to see the wet asphalt come into view as I fly face-first toward it. Bracing for impact, my shoulder slams into the ground with a hard thud, my head bouncing off it. I cry out as the rough surface connects with my skin and I slide forward with no sense of direction. All I can see is the sidewalk in front of a house illuminated by the street lamps. I don’t know where Jaylen or his bike went.

My skin is burning, and my head is pounding as I try to sit up, but my limbs feel heavy, and I slump back down on my scraped shoulder. God that hurts like a motherfucker.

I can feel a sense of darkness washing over me, forcing my eyelids to close. I try to fight the feeling as best as I can, but I’m powerless as it consumes me and my body. As my mind drifts to a peaceful place and my body grows limp, I can hear Jaylen shouting my name in the distance, his voice filled with panic.

Why is he panicking? I’m just going to shut my eyes for a moment and sleep. I’ll see him when I wake up.

27

Evie

I’m drowning in the metallic scent of blood.

But not just anyone’s blood—my parent’s blood. And lots of it. It’s running down the staircase and pooling at my feet as I stare up at them and the man standing over their bodies. I meet his eye, and for a moment, we stare at each other, neither of us moving. But in the blink of an eye, he’s gone, and I’m being wrapped up in the arms of my Aunt Jas.

When did she get here? I don’t remember calling her or the police. How did she get here so fast?

I let her walk me out of the house and onto the front porch, watching as multiple police officers rush inside the house with their guns drawn. I want to tell them about the man I saw, but the words get stuck in my throat and all I can do is cry on my aunt's shoulder as she hugs me close, running her hand down my hair in a soothing motion.

I don’t know how long we stay like this on the bench under the front window. The tin roof above rattles as the heavy raindrops slam down on it, the sound filling my ears and drowning out the voices of the police officers nearby. It feels as though time is moving in slow motion as I watch them walk in and out of the house, carrying plastic bags filled with unknown items. The men in white hazmat suits scare me a little, but Aunt Jas reassures me that they’re just doing their job, but wouldn’t tell me what that was.

Two detectives—a young woman with short brown hair and an older man with a gray beard—stopped by to talk to me and my aunt but I don’t recall much of the conversation. Aunt Jas did most of the talking. I only answered a few questions.

When they walk away, for some reason, my brain tunes into their conversation. They’re a few feet away, but somehow, I can hear what they’re saying.

“So, she just walked in and found them?” the younger woman asks.

The older man nods, looking down at the notepad he had been writing on. “That’s all she knows from my understanding. But she’s in shock, so that’s understandable. If any other details come to mind in the next few days, her aunt will bring her into the station.”

The woman nods and glances in my direction, but doesn’t see me watching them. “The upside-down crosses carved into their foreheads are a little odd, right? It reminds me of an old case that has gone unsolved since the late ‘70s.”

“I was thinking the same thing too,” he said, lowering his voice a little. “But for now, we’ll keep that detail to ourselves, okay? I don’t want to worry the family right now. Once we have more evidence to link it to the unsolved case file or find out if there is a copycat going around, then we can fill them in. But until then, we keep it on the down-low.”

An upside-down cross? That sounds awfully familiar to what my mom had told—

“Evie!”

My eyes snap toward the pathway as the downfall of heavy footsteps against the wet pavement fills my ears, drowning out the conversation from the detectives. I spot Miles running up the pathway, his eyes wild. Behind him, Jaylen stands beside his mom’s car, the rain soaking his messy curls. His blue eyes are filled with concern as he watches me, something I have never seen from him before.

“Evie! Are you okay?” Miles calls as he pounds up the front steps. “What happened?”

I open my mouth to speak, but the words get stuck in my throat. My tongue feels heavy and my mind grows foggier, my vision blurring at the edges.

“Evie? Can you hear me?”

His voice sounds distant like he’s feet away and not standing right in front of me.

“Evie.”

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