I claw at the ground trying to get to Jared. My palms and knees are scraped bloody by time I get to his barely moving body.

Barely moving.

It could be my eyes tricking me in a desperate attempt to deal with shock, or he really could be moving.

God, my head hurts so fucking much.

I wipe my bloody hands on my now torn up pants before rolling his body face up. Placing both my hands on his chest, I hope for any sign of life -  a breath, a heartbeat, even an annoying stomach growl.

Then, it's there.

That butterfly that landed on my face before everything went black. As it flutters nearer to us, I fight my urge to both run away screaming and to swat it out of the sky.  I watch it closely, trying to discern what it may do next.

It lands on the bloody, open gash across his forehead.

And I watch as it flutters away. Then I feel it - a faint heartbeat getting stronger.

He gasps. Then coughs - a ton. I roll him over, like he has done for me many times, so he won't choke on his own saliva.

"Jared" I whisper as his coughing spell comes to an end.

"Blu?" he wheezes "What the fuck happened?"

"I don't know."

"Where are we?" he asks, attempting to sit up.

Not only does he have the bleeding gash across his forehead, but deep cuts up and down his arms and abdomen, and a few slashes across his thighs. He must have taken the brunt of the explosion.

"Am I in a hospital?" he asks, trying to open his eyes.

I hover my hand in front of his face, "Jared, it's really bright and vivid out here - it's gonna hurt."

He swats my hand from in front of his face, "Ah fuck off, Blu. I've been in hospital before, many times - nothing shocks me, I can take it."

His gasp makes my giggle.

"Blu! Where the fuck are we?! This is definitely NOT the hospital" he exclaims in a fluster.

"Whoever told you we were in a hospital? I told you I DON'T KNOW where we are, but I think it has something to do with last night."

Jared winces in pain before twisting to look behind him.

"NO! No! No. Nononononoononoooo this canNOT be happening! Not now!" he grumbles, scrambling to his feet.

"Jared? What's wro-"

"-Blu. I've been here before - I mean, I think I have - but it happened so long ago - I-I thought it was a dream or some shit- or-"

"Indeed you have" a smooth voice says behind us.

I spin around, expecting to see one of the girls from last night, but I am greeted by a glowing figure with wings like the ones I had on last night."

"Who the fuck are you!?" I ask, "Where are we? What happened?"

She smiles calmly at me before turning her attention back to Jared.

He's looking at his feet.

"Welcome back, Jared, I'm glad your mind hasn't forgotten us yet.  I hope you had a good trip-"

"Um, EXCUSE ME lady, but we did NOT have a good trip! I'm mean look at him, he's all cut up and bleeding and so am I -  so obviously we did not have a good trip. There was like an explosion - with real fire and a shit ton of-"

Her icy eyes cut me off.

"So you must be the famous Blu Destiny Sparkfield" she muses, smiling once again, "We've heard so much about you. It's a pleasure finally meeting you in person."

"Wait, how do you know my name?"

"You've been a friend of Jared for awhile. He's a good kid, very strong you know."

"Yes, but how do you know my name?"

She looks at me once more, curtly nodding her head before turning to walk away.

"Wait!" I call out, "What are we supposed to do? Are you gonna help us? Like, how am I supposed to get home because in case you didn't know - I have a ton of homework to do."

She stops, "Why do you humans need every single detail explained to you? I know Jared knows better, and so should you. Now you will follow should you go anywhere - we don't need you to die, for there are people out to get you Blu, far worse than those in your world."

Without looking back, she continues down the path of flowers in front of her.

"Jared's coming too." my voice quivers.

"Yes, he has his own things to learn."

I take one glance as Jared and follow.

If only I had known that following this figure with wings would make my life a hell of a lot more complicated.

✨

Hello all! It's been awhile, and I know this is a pretty short chapter, but I wanted to get something out there... It's summer here so I don't have as much time to write but thanks for reading my new story!

Y'all know the usual- if you see any mistakes, please point them out.

And don't forget to vote, comment, and share.

Much love ❤️

ATCAgainstTheCurrent