Almost Human Intro (First Draft)

“Dude, don’t smoke in here. How many times have I told you?” I asked Stan. He laughed, taking the cigarette from his chapped lips and smashing it on the carpet.
“Sorry.” He laughed quietly. He smiled widely. He always seemed to be having a good time.
“You didn’t have to stomp it onto the carpet…” I said in a joking, sarcastic tone. We laughed for a second. He looked down to the floor.
“Just think, man. This will be one of the last times we see each other, you know, before college.” Stan said. I picked the cigarette up and put it in my pocket. It was true. We were both going to different colleges soon. It would be weird. Would I find a new best friend? I wasn’t sure.
We stood in the hall, just outside my room. It was graduation day. We had finally made it out of high school. I was just excited to get out of there. My health was deteriorating because of that place.
“Aidan! You ready?” I heard my mom yell. Stan hit me on the side with his elbow. His brown hair was messy, and almost covered his equally brown eyes.
“Yeah! Just let us get our stuff.” I told her, leaning over the corner of the staircase. She smiled at me, and walked away. I saw her make the strangest of faces.
“’Us’?” She mouthed. I shook it off, not thinking anything of it.
I turned back to Stan, who had already grabbed the caps and gowns for us. He handed mine to me, and then zoomed past me down the stairs. He always ran fast. I guess that’s why he did so well in Track and Cross Country.
“Hey! Wait up! Seriously.” I laughed, running down the stairs after him.

It was a beautiful day. So it was a perfect idea to hold the ceremony indoors, right? Well, that’s where it was. In the gymnasium of the dumpy old school.
“Last day, man! We will never have to step foot in this place ever again…” Stan whispered to me as we walked in.
“I know, right?” I laughed.
Most my family showed up that day. It was a pretty big school, so we could bring just about our whole family with us. So, there was my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins…I was a single child, so no brothers or sisters.
Stan didn’t really have that great of a family, so that’s why he came with us. They said that they couldn’t be bothered with his graduation. That’s what I don’t get. How could Stan still be so happy? After all that he had been through, he was still one of the happiest people I knew.

“Stan Taylor.” The principal said into the microphone. Stan smiled, and walked across the stage to get his diploma. There was a vague look of pure joy on his face. This was the highlight of his life. He never thought that he’d graduate high school. He was just in shock that he had made it to this point. And I was proud of him too.
He wasn’t looking, at that point. He just was walking to his seat, holding his ticket to life. And then all I can remember is leaping from my chair, a rush of warmth hitting me.

Everything became a blur. I can remember…seeing Stan lying on the floor underneath me. His neck, ripped out. His eyes…staring at me, a vague, dead look in them.
“Why…” Was his final words. There was screaming. It was my screaming. And other people’s screaming. My mother’s. My father’s. My whole family’s.
What was this taste in my mouth? Blood? I had it all over my face and hands. There were deep, fresh wounds in both my arms and on my face. They felt like scratches. My cap and gown were stained with sticky, oozing red.
Did I do this? Did I just kill my best friend? Or had something else done it…?