Castle High's After School Horror

Chelsea shakes her head, not wanting to believe the assumption she'd made. She ignores the burn on her arm and in her nose, too concerned for Ray to care. She clutches her chest as she simply cannot breathe, watching Ray scream in agony as his body is being claimed by the acid. There are tears escaping his eyes and joining his blood as it disappears from existence into the liquid.

"What do we do?" Mikey whines.

"Maybe if we pour some water in, the acid won't...you know..." Bob stutters uneasily. Chelsea's tears roll down her face as she watches Ray, whose desperate wails are shrinking into pained moans.

"How do we get that much water?" Mikey asks.

"The janitor's closet probably has a bucket," Gerard says. "We can go into the bathroom, fill the bucket, and-"

"The janitor's closet is over there," says Bonnie, pointing.

Chelsea, who's shaking from head to toe, follows Bonnie's eyes. The door she is pointing at is the only door without a glass window to look through. It's not a bathroom so it has to be a closet. Unfortunately to get to it, they'd have to go through the acid. Which is impossible.

"Christ," Bob breathes.

Chelsea falls to her knees and stares at Ray. He flinches and screams again, his body convulsing. He seems to be shrinking into the ground as the clear liquid takes him. Chelsea rocks back and forth.

"Do something," she croaks.

"Ph-phones," Bonnie says. No one has a signal.

"Ray, try to lift your hands and we'll help you out of there," Gerard says. "I-it's all we can d-do."

Ray moans and screams in agony as he attempts to raise his arm. He gets it about two inches off the ground. Chelsea sees that half of his arms is eaten away. She shakes her head in disbelief, still rocking back and forth.

"No, no, no..." she hisses. "God no."

"What do we do?" Bonnie moans.

"Help," Ray groans, letting out a wail of agony that makes Chelsea's ears hurt.

"I don't think there's anything we can do," Gerard says solemnly, choking on the last few words.

"No!" Chelsea cries. "He's...you can't let him..."

Ray breathes like he's having a panic attack. He's crying and moaning. He turns his head to the side. Chelsea almost throws up at the site of white at the top of his head. Ray looks up at Chelsea. His arms are completely red as the skin is lost to the liquid while barely any of his face is left. Chelsea continues to rock back and forth, shaking her head. Her heart, her limbs, everything hurts at the sight before her. Ray stares at her sadly for just a moment. He stops moaning.

"Ray," Chelsea whines, tears falling into her mouth. "I love you."

Ray's eyes flutter close. Chelsea closes her own and folds her body in half.

"Oh my God," Bob breathes.

"Oh no," Bonnie whines.

Chelsea is shaking. The image of Ray, suffering as he burned alive, plays over in her head. The way he screamed, the way his skin disappeared in the clear liquid, the way he looked at her. Her chest is tight as if the cage of her ribs had wrapped around her heart and is trying to squeeze out all of the blood. She sobs and rivers fall from her eyes. And she realizes that she had been right. It is her fault. If she hadn't upset him, if she would've kept her mouth shut...Macey wouldn't have run away. And Ray wouldn't have gotten angry. And he wouldn't be...he wouldn't...

Chelsea screams, grabbing fistfuls of her hair. Her vision is blurred. She feels two hands hold onto her waist. She tries to lurch herself forward. Ray's body is still corroding into the ground. She screams, shaking her head and trying to pull away from the strong arms that are holding her back.

"Let me go!" she yells. "Let me GO!"

"Chelsea..." Gerard whispers softly into her ear. She's rocking herself in his arms, crying hysterically. Everything inside her feels like it's collapsed, disappeared. She falls into him and wraps her arms around the boy. Someone she never would've talked to, someone who never would've cared if it weren't for the fact that...

"Please tell me he's not dead," Chelsea whines. "Please."

Gerard lifts Chelsea up. She falls limp in his arms and he cradles her like a baby. She wraps her arms around his neck and rests her head on his chest, listening to the beating of his heart. No one speaks. Chelsea doesn't need them to speak. She pretends that Gerard's heart is Ray's, beating reassuringly. Telling her that it'll be okay.