Page 47 of Back In the Shadows

I placed my palms on the cold, white tile floor, trying to grip reality, but it all began to fade into oblivion.

A firm hand jerked me up, then rushed me out of the hospital and into the cool evening air.

“Hurry up.” Ryan refused to let go of me as we hurried into the parking lot. “I’m going to kill the motherfuckers that did this to Ella.”

“Where are we? What’s going on?” I asked, disoriented.

“Shit. Sebastian, is it you now?”

“Yeah, Ryan, what are you doing here? Where the hell am I?”

My skull filled with pain again and I stumbled forward, my voice changing and sounding foreign to my ears. “Get the fuck out of my head, Sebastian. I have to take care of some shit, and I don’t need your lame ass hanging around.”

Ryan stared at me in awe as he unlocked the car and practically shoved me into the passenger’s side. He closed the door and hurried to the other side.

“Jesus, I’ve never seen you change or … Are you Death or Bass?”

23

SEBASTIAN

I stared at him blankly. “This is fucked up. I haven’t felt anything like this before.” I glanced around and then I looked at him again, trying to understand what was happening. “Both are here. I can feel both inside my head. What the fuck is going on?”

Ryan started the car, then hurried out of the parking lot. He fumbled for his phone in his back pocket, then slapped it on the seat next to him.

“Siri, call Kip Renshaw.” He shot me a sideways glance as the cell began to ring through the phone’s speaker.

“Hey man, how’s everything? How’s Ella?”

“Uh, pretty fucked up. How close are you?”

“We are just about to take off, so it will be a few hours. I’m assuming something else has happened since you’re calling?”

“Ella … she didn’t make it, and Death went crazy and started tearing up the emergency room. He almost got arrested, but I was able to get us out of there. At the moment, he and Sebastian are aware of each other.”

Silence filled the line as I blinked, wondering if what I was hearing was correct. This had all happened while I was Death? My Ella had died? Tears welled in my eyes. My phone buzzedin my back pocket, but I ignored it. Nothing could be more important right now.

“How?” I asked. “How did my wife die?”

“Bass?” Kip questioned, his voice tight with emotion.

“Yeah, it’s me. I don’t remember how I got here or what happened.”

Ryan turned left, then continued toward the outskirts of town. “A shit show. Death almost got you arrested. Is he still around?”

I stilled for a moment, the world blurring, then I heard his voice. A chill traveled down my spine with his words.I got her killed, that’s what happened.

“He’s here, and said he got Ella killed. She’s … is … is that how it took place?”

“Her heart stopped from the trauma. Death and I found her in the middle of the road. A knife was in her thigh, but the back of her head was also bloody. I think she must have hit her head at some point. I need to get back to the hospital and see what I can find out. Death told the doctor that I’m her brother, so I should be able to learn more. I just had to get Death out of there before they arrested him and discovered who he really was. But, then Bass started to appear.”

“Fuck,” Dope said. “She can’t be gone, dude.”

I struggled to comprehend the magnitude of my loss, but I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to digest everything. The sound of sniffles filled the car, and I realized tears were running down my face. “What the hell did Death do? If this is my fault … how will my kids ever forgive me?”

“I need to find a hotel room where Bass can lay low. I’ll tell you guys where to meet us, and as soon as I have him settled, I’m going back to the hospital to demand some answers. Plus, I probably have to talk to the cops and try and get Death off the hook for his outburst.”

“Okay, keep us posted,” Kip said before he disconnected the call.

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