Ringing in the Sane

We had been running for a while, and I desperately needed a rest. I grabbed Jared’s sleeve and made him slow down.

“I have to stop,” I puffed out.

Jared looked at me for a long moment in silence, and then replied, “Alright.” I followed him into a small, pungent alleyway that was only about a metre wide. Jared stopped suddenly and I collided into the back of him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried.

“Shh,” he said, digging into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “What?” he asked the person on the other end. “Yeah, he’s with me... No... Yes... five minutes? Alright.” He hung up and turned to me. “We gotta go.” He swivelled around and darted out of the alley onto a larger side street.

“Jared, where are we going?” I asked, trying to keep up with his fast pace.

“To help.”

“Help as in helping someone, or help as in help for us?”

He looked back at me and scoffed. “Idiot.”

* * *

Jared had got the call almost five minutes ago, and now we were sitting on the curb of a nameless street, waiting for the person inside to open the door. They're taking their sweet time, I thought to myself.

A door opened, flooding the street with sickly yellow light. Jared jumped to his feet, saying angrily, “Kill the light!”

The light clicked off and we walked inside. The door closed behind us and a dim light was switched on. I turned to see who opened the door; a man about the same height as me, but with way cooler hair.

“Well that’s a face I’ve missed for fucking ages!” Jared exclaimed, voice brimming with sarcasm - but a small, genuine grin on his face. “Now, where’s Pixie?”

The man sighed, replying with: “Captured.”

Sirens began to wail quietly outside, police were driving near our location. I began to panic but Jared put a hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” he said, almost kindly.

“Come on, we’ll talk in here,” Jared’s friend said, walking into the kitchen. “Coffee anyone?”

Well, one thing was for certain - the coffee was way too strong. I kept sipping it, anyway, I needed the energy. All that running had drained me, and it was still not even an hour since we had killed her. I still couldn't believe I was free, all because of Jared.

“What?” I asked stupidly when Jared looked at me; apparently he had asked me a question.

“I said, are you in?” he said grumpily, rolling his eyes at me.

“What? In what?” I really should pay attention more often.

He sighed. “Well. You know how Luke said Pixie was captured?”

“Yeah, I’m not that deaf.”

“Then stop fucking acting like it!” He threw a fork that was lying on the table at me, I winced as it found its target. “Anyway, we have to rescue him. And Luke here reckons there’s hope for us.”

“Just my luck, getting into more shit,” I whined angrily. Why couldn’t I have had a normal life? Things would be so much easier. “Yeah yeah, whatever. I’m in.” May as well, I've got nothing better to do. Plus now, I could be with Jared longer, even though he was an immense risk to my health and safety.

“Great. So what’s the plan?” Jared asked, turning towards Luke.

The phone began to ring, and silence descended upon us.

“What the hell?” Luke asked no one in particular. “How the... no one knows this number!” His whole demeanour changed, now he was looking incredibly stressed and worried as opposed to quite comfortable with his coffee. “Do we pick up?” he asked Jared.

A long moment of silence, except for the ringing of the phone, passed. “Yes.”

Luke got up and answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Put it on speaker, dumbass.” Jared said huskily.

“The hero dies in my terrible tales” the person on the phone said.

“How the hell did you get this number?” Luke asked angrily.

“Are your young hearts racing?”

“Who the fuck is this?” Luke yelled. “Stop speaking in fucking riddles!” He sat down on the cold tiling and put his head in his hands. “You have Pixie, don’t you?” he asked miserably.

“Ah, I can see the flames burning in your eyes.”

My gaze was drawn to Jared, upon his face was plastered a look of complete horror. “I know who it is,” he said, letting his coffee mug slip out of his hand and land on the kitchen floor. Luke had looked up once Jared had spoken; an identical look of shock on his face.

“Given up already Jared?”

“Jared? How does he know your name?” I asked him. “Jared?”

“No matter how many pages I turn, he's always there...” he muttered quietly to himself. “No way in hell I’m giving up, it’s never over,” he said loudly so the person on the phone could hear.

“There’s no charms or four leaf clovers here.”

Luke stood up and asked Jared quietly, “How does he know we’re here?”

“Listen very closely Jared.”

We listened, and I started to hear something. It started off quiet, but grew louder as I began to realise what it was. “Holy shit.” It was a ticking, like a clock. But different. Ticking like a bomb.

“You’ll burn for me.”

“What?” Jared asked quickly, beginning to panic.

“You’ll burn for me,” the voice repeated. “Because you didn’t hang up when you had the chance. Because you never said goodbye.”

“Where the hell is it?” Jared asked me and Luke, scanning the small room. I walked out into the room connected to the kitchen and discovered the source of the noise.

“Guys! We have to get out!” I screamed out and ran back into the kitchen. “There’s a bomb in there!”

”Three more unhappy endings.”