A scream erupted through the house, shocking me from my slumber. My body stiffened as my eyes flew open in shock.

                Sofia gasped, her fingers digging into my chest. Her eyes snapped open, meeting mine with shock. I forced myself to release her from my grip.

                She rolled off the side of the bed, scrambling up frantically. “Clay, stay here. I need to see what was happening.”

                “Sofia!” The shrill scream of Mimi echoed throughout house the house again, “Help me! Oh, fuck, someone help!”

                Sofia threw the door open, sprinting down the stairs.

                I sat in the bed for a moment.

                Rolling off the side, I chased after her out of instinct, a bad feeling in the pit of my gut. I didn’t bother with stealth, stumbling over my own feet as I practically jumped down the staircase in impatience to find out what was happening.

                I slid to a stop right outside the kitchen, listening to Mimi’s cries.

                “There are more! He-he’s down there! Sofia, what’s going on?!” She sobbed barely coherent words.

                “Mimi, it’s ok, I promise you!” Sofia tried to sooth her panicking friend with little success “Calm down! I’ll take care of it!”

                “We have to call the authorities! This is the second one in a day!” Mimi was in hysterics now, completely loosing it.

                “No!” Sofia practically screamed that word at her. “We are not calling the authorities. Calm down! We can handle this on our own! We call the authorities, I’m screwed.”

                “Wh-what?!”

                Sofia faltered for a moment. I felt my heartbeat picking up. How was she going to cover for herself this time?   

                “You remember my experiments?” Sofia said.

                There was a silence. I assumed Mimi had nodded by Sofia’s next words.

                “I still have them. I can’t caught, Mims.” Sofia’s voice was slow, as if she was talking to a young child, “Calm down. We can handle this.”

                I moved slightly into view so that I could see the two girls in the kitchen.              

                Sofia was handled so that I could see her front. Her hands gripped her cousin’s shoulders tightly. Mimi’s back was to me. Her body was shaking and I could tell she was trying to hold back the sobs that were coming.

                Sofia’s hair was crazy from sleep, her entire body stiff with fear. Her eyes flickered over to where I stood, hardening slightly.

                I shook my head.

                Please don’t do anything rash, Sofe.

                Her eyes moved back to her friend.

                “I’ll get rid of them. Just like I got rid of the other one.”

                “Bullshit.” Mimi whispered.

                Sofia blinked, “Excuse me?”

                “Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!” Mimi was shrieking now. She pulled away from Sofia roughly, “I heard you and him talking last night!”

                Sofia was at a loose for words. Her eyes moved quickly to me before back to her friend. I didn’t know what to do.

                “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

                “No—”

                Mimi turned around, her eyes blazing with fear.

                I stood paralyzed in my spot.

                “I fucking knew it!”

                “Mimi—it’s not what you think!”

                “He’s still alive! I knew it! I knew there were two voices in there! I mean, you didn’t do anything with a body! I knew it!”

                “He’s a DQ. I swear on my mother’s life!”

                She faltered, “He doesn’t look like one…”

                “He is. He took the Speed in hopes of getting here. He’s new. He landed in mine. Mimi, I swear to you, he’s a DQ.”

                Her eyes narrowed, face twisting into a look of disgust, “Filthy Damned Quint.”

                I frowned in confusion, “Damned Quint?”           

                Sofia shot me an apologetic look, “It’s a derogative term for DQ.”

                “What’s a Quint?”

                “Slang for fag.”

                Even homosexuals were welcomed on the Girls’ Side. Ellie told of tales where it used to be every teenage girl’s dream to have a homosexual best friend. I found that rather disgusting considering their lusts were wrong.

                I made a face, “I am not a Quint, I can assure you.”

                Mimi took a hesitant step back, “I’m calling the authorities. I don’t care about your damned experiments, Sofia. This is beyond ridiculous.”

                “No, Mimi, you can’t!”

                Mimi started to shake again, looking back and forth between me and Sofia. Her eyes widened when they landed on me a second time, a scream erupting from her lips.

                Something smashed into the side of my head. Black blurred my vision, my eyes rolling up. I felt my body lean towards the left, toppling over.

                I rolled onto my back, groaning in pain. It felt like someone had shoved a brick against my head. My side pounded painfully, throbbing. I forced my eyes to stay open, keeping consciousness. I’d want to live as long as I could.

                A blurry figure stood before me. It went in and out of focus, the features resembling a suspicious someone.

                John.

                He chuckled.

                Mimi was still screaming in the background.

                I had no idea where Sofia or Cassie were.

                “Look who finally has the upper hand, Clayton.” John chuckled darkly. He kneeled down, bracing his hands on his thighs. His eyes held pure hatred in them, “You can’t touch this. I am invincible, Clayton. When will you get that through your thick head?”

                “I’m going to…” I struggled to keep myself awake and alive, “Kill you.”

                John snorted, “You can barely keep yourself alive. I’d love to see you kill me.”

                I groaned in pain, unable to respond.

                “That’s what I thought. Your new girlfriend bailed on you. You really can’t win with the ladies, can you?”

                “You fucking killed Ellie.” I hissed.

                He shrugged, “She deserved it.”

                “No she didn’t!” I shouted, ignoring the pure pain that pulsed through my skull. I reached up drunkenly with one hand, grabbing for his throat. John stood up, easily escaping my attempt to strangle him.

                “You’re so naïve.”

                “Shut the hell up!”

                “She was using you. Just like this little Leech did too. Just like I did to that other Leech, Cassie.” He chuckled darkly. “No need to worry about her anymore.”

                “What did you do?” My eyes widened in fear.

                “I took care of business.”

                “What do you mean by that?”

                He didn’t answer.

                I turned my head, noticing a silence had filled the room. Mimi was lying on the floor, having fainted from fear.

                John chuckled, walking around so that his feet stood by my head. I ignored him, struggling to sit up right. He pressed a foot on my chest, pushing me back down roughly.

                “Now, now. Rest. You’re going to need it.”

                “What are you going to do to me?” I snapped, “Kill me? Go on. I dare you. We’ve been best friends for years. I dare you to kill me.”

                “Wrong.” John hissed.

                “What?”

                “You’re wrong. We were best friends. We were roommates. We were brothers.” John growled, “But once you started messing with that Leech… we were through. Clayton, you’re dead to me. Absolutely dead.”

                Despite the fact that I had wanted to murder this man for nearly a month, despite the fact that he had killed my first love, despite the fact that he was most likely going to kill me, I found my heart panging painfully at those words.

                I had known John most of my life. I had trusted John most of my life. For him to say it as heartless as he did…

                It hurt.

                I took a shaky breath, pushing past the pain that pulsed through my veins. I scowled at him, staring up. His foot was still pressing roughly against my chest. It was beginning to start to cut off my breathing.

                Where was Sofia?

                “I hate you.” I hissed. “I hate you so much.”

                I watched his eyes, hoping to see some sort of emotion pass through them. Some sort of pain. After all, we had been as close as it was possible.

                Nothing happened.

                His cold, heartless face stayed.

                Another pang beat through my chest.

                “Say your prayers, Clayton.” John’s foot pressed harder.

                I opened my mouth, gasping for breath, when I noticed the smallest detail. The minor detail that changed everything.

                The small red dot that line up perfectly with his temple.

                A bang echoed through the house.

                John’s eyes widened.

                He was knocked over to the right, falling on the ground with a painful thump. His wide eyes stared at me, empty.

                I scrambled upright, swaying slightly on my feet.

                I turned my head to the opposite way of John’s fallen body.

                Sofia’s arms were still stretched out, holding the gun, but pointing in a different direction. Her face was a look of determination.

                A look of anger.

                A look of fear.

                It possessed an infinite amount of emotions.

                But it was a look directed at a certain someone.

                I sucked in a deep breath, my heart pounding in fear, surprise, worry. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

                My eyes followed the gun to its target.

                She was pointing the gun at Mimi.

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I'm ending this at twenty.

There will be an epilogue which I guess will techinically be twenty-one, but....

What do you guys think of this? Too sudden? Not dramatic enough? I need opinions for the next chapter :D!!!!!!!!