Page 51 of Haunting Phantom
He crosses his arms, blankly staring at a darkness that offers him no light. He doesn’t say anything but, “Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to die, so we can be together?”
It’s a repeated sentence, one that breaks me in two.
“Blake, you have to fight this. Goddamn it, fight to live, you fucking bastard!”
“Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to die, so we can be together?” His words come out choppy and broken.
“No!”I scream, clutching his lost soul even tighter.“This is not what I wanted. I want you to live! I want you to find peace.”
Then he blinks, not the lost soul standing behind me stuttering through the same sentence over and over, but the man I gave my heart to as a child. The man whose eyes sew together every crack and break inside me.
He takes a stuttering breath, eyes fluttering as he fights the horrific pain. His eyes dilate, then focus on me like they’re looking right at me. He lifts his hand, so it’s somewhat cupping my face, and whispers, “My Eve.”
Then, like a silent whisper, his eyes close, leaving me in mourning.
The heart monitor cruelly beats with every broken heartbeat he has, barely hanging on, receiving the brunt most of them didn’t.
They’re all banged up, bruised, and broken, but they’re alive… moving… able to take breaths without waiting for a lung to collapse.
That’s where the shrapnel hit. Not near his heart like I thought, but in his right lung, puncturing it until it deflated. The paramedics barely got to him in time, and if it wasn’t for Krampus’ swift thinking, he’d probably be dead.
I still can’t shake the compressions that man did on Blake’s chest, refusing to pull out the shard of metal, but making sure he stayed alive just long enough for the real heroes to get there.
Now they’re all sitting around his hospital room in silence, heads bowed, each of them wondering what they could’ve done differently. It’s their fault he’s even in this position.
Drac called for war—a war they weren’t ready to fight.
Arturo was two steps ahead of them, and now they’ve gone under again, leaving the Elm Street Riders in shambles.
Krampus lets out a soft groan as he cradles his shoulder. “Fuck, this wasn’t how shit was supposed to go. What happened? How the fuck did they know we were going to be there?”
Drac hangs his head. He knows. I know he knows.
“Hyde,” he grumbles.
“Hyde?” Voorhees exclaims, his head shooting up in surprise.
“I was using him as bait,” Drac admits. “I wanted to see if my gut was right about who the rat in the club was… I just didn’t expect this. If I had known—” He hangs his head in shame.
“Good, you should be kicking yourself. Blake’s in this position because of your stupid leadership!”
“Hey, Prez, don’t beat yourself up over this. We didn’t know that the Misfits had bombs in their arsenal,” Pinhead exclaims.
“She was there, Drac. Poppy was there and I couldn’t save her,” Voorhees mumbles from the corner.
Krampus moves to his side, and places a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll get her out, Voor. I promise you that, Brother.”
Drac sighs. “Maybe we should leave Fernley? This would’ve never happened if I had just listened to Moseley and left when I had the chance.”
“No!” Blake shouts, groaning loudly, startling everyone.
“Phantom!” Drac is to his side within seconds. “We thought we fucking lost you, Brother.”
“You aren’t that lucky,” Blake jokes, groaning more when his laugh hurts his chest.
“Hey, take it easy. That piece of shrapnel pierced your lung. You’re fucking lucky to be alive right now.”
“I know. But we can’t leave Fernley. Not after that. We can’t let them win.”
