The stages of falling

‘Took you long enough’ he joked.

‘Sorry, got caught up with some friends’

‘It’s cool, just be ready to get your butt kicked tonight’

‘I highly doubt that’ I laughed and we entered my house to find Lee sitting on the couch watching TV.

‘Hey brother’ I walked in and shoved him playfully.

‘Hey, Nic. Listen I’m going out tonight and-‘he stopped mid-sentence ‘Well I was gonna invite you to come, but you have someone to hang with’ he stood to fully face Oliver.

I smiled and introduced them, Lee remembered him from the coffee shop and they seemed to get along fine. Lee said his goodbyes and left me with Oliver.

‘So, pizza?’ he proposed.

‘Sure thang’ I phoned the pizza place round the corner and the pizza was in our hands in the next 20 minutes.

‘Alright, let’s get halo started’ I scrambled around the Xbox for ages before I figured out I wouldn’t get it working tonight. I huffed and turned around to face Oliver.

‘No luck, it doesn’t wanna work tonight’

‘Movie?’ he proposed.

‘Alright, anything in particular?’ I asked, he shook his head in response with a mouth full of pizza. I took a random movie out of the cabinet and shoved it into the DVD player. I pressed play and dark music started playing.

‘Looks like it’s a scary one’ I smiled deviously, he laughed and I re-joined him on the couch biting into a piece of pizza.

We were well into the movie with an empty pizza box in front of us, my legs were crossed in his lap and he was tightly grasping a pillow in his arms. He looked pretty uneasy, the final scene in the movie consisted of a man’s neck being slit, the blood ran dark down his chest and onto the floor. The cruel killer dropped his limp body and walked away unnoticed wiping the blood off his knife. The credits rolled in and I side glanced at Oliver.

He looked deep in painful thought and tightened his grip around the pillow; he sighed heavily and finally faced me.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked worried, I moved closer to him.

‘I really don’t like blood’

‘You should have told me, I would have picked like, The Goonies or something’ I offered
‘Nah, I don’t like to avoid it, every time I face it, I get a little better’ he smiled.

I smiled back and switched the TV off ‘So what made you so scared of it anyway?’ I asked hesitantly.

‘Well remember how I told you I was a patient at the hospital for a bit?’

‘Yeah’ I answered hesitantly.

‘Well, something happened when I was younger, ever since then the sight of blood makes me squirm’ he was speaking quietly and his impossibly dark eyes got darker.

‘What happened?’ I was weary.

He sighed and turned to me “My older brother, he was 15 at the time. I was only 9. I- I found him…” It was as if he couldn’t find the words to describe what he found “…He- um- he took his life and his sheets were covered in blood, I’ve just hated the sight of it ever since then” his voice was shaken.

“I, um, I was in the psychiatric ward, I guess it just drove me crazy. I just kept thinking, did they burn the sheets, or did they scrub, and scrub until all the blood was gone and just sleep on the sheets for the rest of their lives” he stopped.

‘That’s heavy Oliver’ I came closer to him ‘I’m sorry’

He just smiled ‘Don’t worry about it’

‘How about we lighten the mood’ I stood up and offered him a hand.

He chuckled ‘Actually, I have work tomorrow and it’s pretty late’ I checked the time and agreed with him, I walked out to his car with him.

‘Hey Oliver’ I called after him, just before he got into his car ‘Thanks for telling me that’

‘I’m glad I did’ He hopped in his car and drove away, leaving me on my front porch.

. . .

I drove in silence to olis house, I'd given him enough time, and I thought maybe he needed some comforting. I checked my reflection in the vanity mirror and tucked a stray hair behind my ear.

I knocked on the front door hesitantly. When he didn’t answer I felt nervous and opened the door to find an empty house. I walked in, up the stairs and down the hall to the first door which was closed. I opened it slowly, maybe Oli was asleep. I didn’t want to wake him. When my body was fully in his room, my eyes took their time to deliver the sight to my head.

Blood. Everywhere. Olis once warm cheeks were cold and his once bright hazel eyes were dull and lifeless. My stomach churned and the smell of blood filled my nostrils. I held my hand to my mouth as I came closer to his body, his was just covered in blood, I took my hand off my mouth and let a terrifying scream escape. The tears fell heavily and I could feel the blood being drawn form my palms, because of how hard I was bunching my hands. I knelt down clutching my stomach tightly. I just kept screaming and screaming.