Crush 12

Ez

Class 2A

I could still remember as bright as the day when the pencil rolled over to Mark, the school bully's feet and how he snapped it in half. I was angry, sad and more importantly, scared of him, of the monster that hung over his shoulder, big and with multiple hands.

I can also remember the same day when you gave me your pencil and showed me your bright smile. The only person who had no monster. It was the first day we met each other and also the day when we became friends.

My only friend.

And I was not going to lose you to anything for you were more than a friend to me, you were my brother, a part of my strength.

"I'll do it. Just…. He should be okay"

Enin nodded her head and started the chants. It was supposed to give her a mental image of how the building would look like. Soon I watched her hand move, as the painting came to live, slowly, bit by bit.

It was not a day's job. It took her a week to finish up making the blueprint of Alti's house. And another week to pinpoint where exactly they had kept Rix. I had to take some of his hair from the comb and give it to her for the job.

She took it, burnt it with some powder, and the smoke that emitted from it spread throughout the map, like a web, then stopped at the lowest part of the basement.

Apart from that, I had been following Alti and her father for the last couple of few weeks. Their comings and goings, everything. And in places we couldn't reach, Enin trained me, hard, during off days, how to manipulate my power and see through the eyes of some monsters that were stuck by some people.

So far, I have been able to see through some of their meetings, though only for split seconds, before completely vanishing. Small steps, I know, but I was in a rush. Who knew what they were doing with Rix right then? The thought made me scared.

If I were to lose him.

"Hey, Ez, are you okay?"

Enin shook my shoulders. I blinked and the silent tears rolled down my cheek. She engulfed me in a tight hug and rubbed my back, filling my heart with warmth and relaxing my muscles. My eyes felt droopy at some point.

"Thanks"

"Welcome"

She let go of me and went back to tracing Rix. His positions remained unchanged. It was when I tried to see Alti through the monster that stuck by her, following her close behind from the college, and Enin tracing the smoke to where Rix was that at one point it coincided.

Enin and I looked at each other baffled.

Alti had never visited Rix except for that moment. Our looks of confusion changed to perplexity, when not long after Alti left the place, Rix started moving up towards the basement down from where he was.

"We must go now"

I nodded my head in agreement.

She started the car and we were off with the map in my hand, putting more of his stuff, like pieces of his used clothes, in a dish then burning it with the powder to create the smoke for tracing where he was at the moment. I stared as he stopped near the patio then went back towards a narrow passage through the main hall. He stopped there for quite a long time as well.

I looked at the smoke as it slowly approached the main door. I had my fingers crossed.

"We're near".

Enin whispered as we neared the house. After parking at a place hidden among the trees, we ran for 5 minutes, as I kept a close eye on the map.

The gate.

I lifted my gaze as we saw him run towards the gate. The only problem, a guard was behind him who shot right on his calf. He screamed and fell to the ground.

"Rix!"

It all happened fast, as another shot rang but this time, it was the guard who fell to the ground, blood flowing out from the bullet hole in his head. I looked up and found Alti soaked in blood, standing on the roof, just watching us with the gun in her hand. She didn't smile, nor did she try to attack us.

For a few moments we looked at each other till the groanings of Rix increased. Seeing all the blood flow out of his system made my heart drop to the ground. Enin quickly wrapped his leg with a cloth and we took him to the car.

"Ez…."

"Hold on"

Please…..

"Drive faster!"

I yelled at her and gripped my hair tight.

"It's okay…."

Rix tried to cool me down. At once guilt overtook me as I looked at her. She gave me a small smile and shook her head. As soon as we reached the hospital, we took him inside.

"What do you mean there are other patients? He was shot by a bullet!"

"The doctors are all busy and we'll be needing some of the necessary documents"

"Wha-"

Enin grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away. I was livid when she, with a small voice whispered.

"Let it go. I- I can treat him"

My shoulders slacked and nodded my head. We turned to the gents washroom and locked one of the stalls from the inside.

She knelt beside his injured leg and used her finger to pull the bullet out of his leg. I winced and Rix crushed my hand, trying hard not to scream out. That few seconds felt like forever with the blood running out of his body like a broken dam.

I screwed my eyes shut.

Please….

The bullet finally came out and she took out a green paste and put it in his leg. It stopped the blood from flowing out but considering the amount of blood that had already gushed out of him, it was concerning.

"Hey, Rix?"

He made a disgruntled noise and that was it. I looked pleadingly at Enin.

"We need to get him some blood asap"

She whispered.

"We can't-....!"

I said with a broken voice.

Enin nodded her head. She then hesitatingly grabbed my hand.

"There might be a way to save him"