The Turned- Pt. One

I was in school when it first happened.

The boy I liked, Jason, was very sick. He had never acknowledged me much in high school before, that I knew of. We were partnered together once or twice throughout the year, only on small assignments though. You're probably asking yourself, "Now why would she like a guy who she's never talked to?" It's a lot more complicated than that. We were best friends at one point. Never the less, that's not what's important. "Will someone take Jason to the nurse's office?" The teacher asked. None of the girls raised their hands, which surprised me a little, because Jason was super popular and most girls would kill to do something like this. But Jason was looking pretty bad at that point, and the girls most likely didn't want to get sick. In fact, he was getting worse by the second. His friends were raising their hands, but with stupid smirks on their faces which the teacher wasn't stupid enough to ignore. They would be up to no good.

I was looking over at the teacher whom eventually caught my gaze. I looked away, but it was a little late for that. "Emma." She said, "Why don't you take him?"

I squirm in my seat a little, not looking over at Jason, a slight blush apparent on my cheeks. As much as I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to say no to the teacher. "S-Sure."

"Okay, good. Come get this pass and take him quick. He's not looking too well." She instructed. This received a few snickers from the class.

Jason, already standing by the teacher's desk, looked at me with his cold, expressionless face he's worn since... Since the incident. I walked up to the front desk, someone sticking their foot out and tripping me only once this time. Never the less, that earned them a disapproving look from the teacher. She smiled and handed me the note when I finally reached her desk. I was about to walk out the door with Jason when she walked over to us and pulled me aside.

"I know that he isn't exactly your favorite person," Ms. Till said to me with a knowing look, "But I don't think any of the other volunteers meant any good. So thank you."

"It's not a problem." I whispered. Then the loud coughs came. I followed the teacher's gaze over to Jason who was bent over, hacking up a little blood. He looked horrid.

"Please, get him there quick." She ordered, pushing me in his direction. "I have to watch the class. I will call an ambulance."

I didn't need to be told twice. I rushed over to him and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, as well as held him up right at the waist. I tried to move as quick as I could with him on me, but he had a lot of muscle, so he was pretty heavy. We were almost to the nurse's office when I heard a low moan right beside my ear. I slowed down, my eyes widening. I turned my head a little and saw the discoloring of his skin, his bloodshot eyes, smelled the foulness on his breath. Icy realization crept throughout me. I knew this day would come, I just didn't think it'd be so soon. Trembling, I removed my arm from around his waist. I was taking his arm off my shoulders when he started leaning forward, mouth wide open. I shrieked and dropped down. Then I crawled away as fast as I could. I heard a thud, a grunt, and a sob, none of which caused me to turn around. What got me to turn back was his voice.

"Wait!" I stopped, my breath catching in my chest, "Wait." He repeated. I turned my head back. Once I met his gaze, I knew I couldn't leave him like that. His cold, hard exterior was gone. His true emotions showed. I sighed.

"Will you... just, uhm... stay." He pleaded. I was contemplating why I should, and was about to say no because I couldn't find a good enough reason, until he added, "Please. Stay til it's over." Then I put myself in his shoes. I wouldn't want someone to leave me at a time like this.

I nodded my head without another thought and crawled back over to him. I flipped him over (with much resistance from Jason) onto his back and rested his head on my lap, stroking his soft, blonde hair.

"Jason, I-" I was about to tell him that I didn't know what to say, but he cut me off.

"Emma..." He murmured. "Emma, I love you, I'm so-"

"Jason, stop, it's just the sickness." I said, holding back some tears that threatened to spill over.

"No, really, I do. I always have. I'm so sorry. I was so stupid, I should have never-" He was cut off by his sudden coughing fit, which reminded me.

"Why did you even come to school?' I asked.

"It was just a tiny cold this morning." He told me. He then looked into my eyes and added, "You know how my mom is."

I laughed at the remembrance of his strict mom, and at all the other good memories we shared. Then came the bad memories; including the bitterest of them all. You're just a stupid fatty. Tears sprung in my eyes at the emotional pain. I took in a sharp breath. Then I felt an overtly warm hand caressing my cheek. Looking down, I locked gazes with Jason's baby blue eyes that I always loved.

"Please don't cry, Emma, please don't cry." He pleaded. "I never meant any of those things I've said to you that day. I- I don't know what possessed me. I'm terribly sorry." He paused before adding, "You're beautiful. You always have been. Smart and beautiful. Don't you think any way different."

I wanted to slap him right then and there. I wanted to release all of the hate and burden that piled up over the years since the incident. I wanted to release it all on him with one blow to the cheek. But I knew that I couldn't; not like him as an almost-

I didn't even want to think of the hideous word.

He deserves it, my brain said. I gasped. No one should ever wish what was going on with Jason on another being. But there I was, shamelessly rolling that thought around in my head. That horrid filthy thought.

"Emma... Say something." He whispered. I noticed a single tear traveling down his cheek. "Forgive me."

"I- I-" The words caught in my throat. I couldn’t seem to squeak the words out before he said, "You have beautiful eyes, you know that?" I blushed and looked away, only to look back into his eyes a second later. I seemed to have gotten lost in them that time though. My heart yearned for me to bend down and kiss him, and I could see that Jason wanted that too, but the disease... It would infect me within a matter of minutes. A million emotions clouded over my brain, making it near impossible to think. I wanted so many things from Jason, but his time now was short. There was no time for it. I removed his hand from my cheek and held it between my own. That was when they started. The thing that I knew would be unavoidable, but only hoped that they wouldn't start that soon.

I snapped out of my daze and lowered his head from my lap and onto the cold, hard tiles. The tremors from the seizure began, and all I could do was sit and watch. I should have left at that point, but I didn't know how. I didn't want to leave him yet. It was silly because I could only sit there, holding his hand, until the inevitable happened.

I closed my eyes and thought back to that day.

"You're just a stupid fatty." He said, "I don't even know how we've been friends for this long." More tears sprung to my eyes as the memory became more palpable.

~Beginning of Flashback~

She pushed me to the ground. But not before dragging her sharp, manicured nails across my arm. I landed in a pile of mud, my arm stinging as some of the dirty water got on the new scratches. Tears strolled down my face as I looked over to Jason, who did nothing about his girlfriend's act. We locked gazes. I tried to plead him with my eyes to get Beth to stop. I thought I saw guilt in his eyes, like he was about to stop her, but then she said something that changed my life forever.

"Jason, don't you have something to say to this- this ugly, worthless, lump of nothing?" She hissed with much venom in her voice. I didn't know what I did to deserve that. Jason just wanted to talk to me. I had no idea what made her turn against me like that. I thought we were friends...

Her words stung. But they could never compare to what Jason was about to say next.

"I- I-," He looked to Beth, then me, then Beth again. For the longest moment I thought he was going to dump Beth right then and there and tell me he loved me. But then Beth interjected once again.

"Well, spit it out. We're waiting." She said, gesturing to the crowd forming around us.

Jason gave me one last apologetic look. Then he seemed to get motivation from Beth's death glare at me, and the growing crowd's eagerness. He didn't seem to look at me at all when he said his next words.

"Emma, I hate you." He said it so low that I thought I misheard him.

"W-What?" I could no longer hold back the tears. Sobs wracked throughout my entire body.

He seemed more courageous when he said his next words. "I said I hate you, and you're worthless. We- we're not friends anymore!" He still had yet to look me in the eyes when he said those things, but Beth seemed triumphant. I somehow mustered up enough strength to stand. I trudged over to him on shaky legs.

"Look at me." I told him. He didn't. "Look me in the eye and tell me you hate me!" The people around us seemed to have disappeared, despite their loud snickers and rude comments that pierced through the rain. "If you really mean it, with all of your heart, stare me straight in the eye and say those words again!"

Despite my heart silently begging him not to, his striking blue eyes met mine. But this time they held fire, anger, hateful emotions that I had never seen him wear before. "I hate you, Emma Fosh!" With that he did the unthinkable.

He shoved me; hard. I stumbled backwards for a few seconds before falling back into the spot I was in moments before. It wasn't only the hard fall that took my breath away, but also the fact that my best friend since forever did that to me. I had no idea why he would, either. I was so stunned that I couldn't even cry. I felt as if a hole was punched straight through my stomach, as if my heart was in shatters all around the park. Just fifteen minutes ago, Jason and I had been having so much fun. I thought he had pulled me over to the side to tell me he loved me- a little hopeful, I know- but then Beth and her group of backstabbing friends came and... Now this...

He stepped forward, "I really, really hate you." He couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of mine right then, "You're just a stupid fatty. I don't even know how we've been friends for this long."

A few tears slipped out of my eyes despite my lack of emotions at that point. Jason took a few steps towards me, as if he was going to step on me. I threw my arm over my face to shield it and dropped his gaze. The crowd became quiet. A few moments passed before I looked under my arm. He was frozen in place, his foot positioned to squash me like a cockroach, which was worth more to him in his eyes. Speaking of his eyes, the anger in them seemed to have wavered for half a second, or maybe it was my imagination. But time dragged on as the wheels in his head started up again. What felt like hours later, Jason slowly put his foot back onto the ground. The anger faded from his face, replaced by a rock hard expression that I would come to know so well in the following years.

He spat on me. "Get out of here."

For a second, I was too shocked to move. I just sat there, humiliated, staring at him, trying to see through his ugly mask he just painted over his face.

"Are you deaf? I said go." His voice rose a little.

The second those words left his mouth I wasted no time in scrambling to my feet and booking it out of that park. The park I vowed to never enter again. I didn't looked back once.

I heard shuffling at one point, but then Jason's voice interjected, "Let her go."

From then on, school has been nothing but a living hell, and Jason has never said another nice word to me.

~End of Flashback~

Shudders coursed through my body over and over as I allowed the horrid memory to fade away into the depths of my brain. I was almost positive it was from me sobbing, but then I remembered where I was. I blinked a few times to clear the tears from my eyes and noticed that the tremors from Jason's seizure were slowing down. I didn't know what I would do when they were over. Only time would tell.

-------------

I woke up to loud sirens in the distance and a low moan. I frantically looked around, wondering where I was. I shot up, remembering what was happening. Somehow I had managed to fall asleep in the middle of this mess.

The low moaning made its way into my ears again. I glanced down and almost had a heart attack. Jason was no longer Jason. This thing, was not Jason. It was lying on its back, struggling to flip over onto its stomach. I attempted to slide away from it, but my hand caught on something. I looked over and saw that I was still holding what used to be Jason's hand. I tried to take my hand back, but the thing seemed to have known what I was doing and tightened their grip a little.

It was then that I started to panic.

I had taught myself countless times what to do in a situation like this. Yes, I've been preparing for this day since the incident with the "bath salts" in Miami.

Bath salts, my shiny white ass, I thought to myself.

But that's not the point. As the thing inched its mouth towards my hand, trying with all its might to get a bite out of it, I did the best thing I could think of at the moment.

I kicked him where the sun doesn't shine.

Looking back on it, I have no idea how that could have helped, but it caused it to loosen its grip enough to let my hand free. Maybe it was because he had just turned and still had a little feeling left, but the world may never know. I stumbled backwards as fast as I could until my back hit the lockers. Worry struck through my body. I was frozen in place, my brain unable to comprehend anything. I had no idea what to do, even though I've trained for this for years. I guess doing research on the internet about the dead returning didn't really do the trick.

What really got me scared was when the thing managed to flip over onto its stomach and was doing something close to an army crawl to get to me. My throat constricted, only allowing a few futile squeaks to escape passed my lips. Jason's body got closer and closer. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was then that I figured I wouldn't be able to do any thing until I relaxed a little. My eyes shot open when I felt a hand on my leg. I squealed.

"What are you doing?" The owner of the hand asked. "Get out of here!"

I hadn't had time to notice anything about this stranger, except that they were male with brown hair. He grabbed my arm and yanked me up so that I was standing. My mind seemed to be a bit too clear from my mini meditating session, because I was walking around like a headless chicken. That is, before I noticed what mystery man was about to do. I saw the reflection of light bouncing off of something shiny out of the corner of my eye, so I looked over in time to see the guy shove a pocket knife into the brain stem of Jason's carcass. How he had gone around the school with that thing unnoticed didn't cease to amaze me. It kind of worried me, to be honest.

"Jason..." I whispered as his body went completely slack on the floor. The guy looked up at the whisper of the name and seemed to have given me a solemn glance, until his face hardened over in a fashion almost identical to the way Jason always hid his emotions. He stood up as the sirens got louder. He wiped the blood off the blade and onto his uniform pants before closing the knife and storing it inside his shirt somewhere.

"I suggest we leave now." I just realized how deep and pleasant his voice was. I shook my head, telling myself that then was not the time to think about stuff like that. I nodded my head in response. "Let's go before they suspect anything." He turned and started walking down the hall. I stood there for a second longer, admiring his easy-going gait, a little dazed. Then I ran after him when I noticed the sirens where right outside the entrance to the school. A few teachers and students poked their heads out their doors to see what was going on, and no one suspected that me or the mystery guy had anything to do with it. Although it was only a matter of time before the school would check the security cameras, and I didn't exactly want to be there when that happened.

Once we rounded the corner I noticed him walking towards the red exit sign placed by the back exit of the school.

"Hey," I said out of breath, still quite a few paces behind him, "Wa- Wait up!"

He stopped and turned to face me. "What?"

"Where are we going?" I asked, catching up to him. We stood there until I caught my breath. During that time, I took in his dark brown eyes that were so dark they almost looked black; his unkempt, brown hair that was strangely attractive; his slightly tanned skin; the intimidating way that he stood a few heads taller than me. I looked away, knowing that my face was tinted pink at that moment.

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here before more of those things come after me." He stated. I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"You mean, that wasn't the only one?" Terror passed through my body.

He laughed as if I was the stupidest girl in the world. "Of course not. There were two girls in my class that looked pretty bad, so I knew I had to get out of there. Then I ran into you, and my suspicions were confirmed." He started towards the exit again, me following suit.

"So you're saying I can come?" I questioned.

He hesitated before answering, "Yes." I sighed in relief before he continued, "But we will have to part ways eventually."

"O- okay." I didn't bother arguing right then. My mind was on my parents at work. I'd have to see if we could some how go get them. But my mind stopped. What if it's just a passing thing? What if it goes away eventually? Something in the back of my mind told me it wasn't as simple as that.

We approached the doors. We heard shrieks coming from one of the classrooms down the halls. I noticed alarm flicker across his face for a second. I didn't hide any emotions from surfacing to my face, though I didn't say anything.

He looked at me. It was then and there that I realized this wasn't some video game you bought from Walmart. This is the real deal. This is the present, the now.

"Are you ready?" He asks.

"Yes." I answer with a little more confidence.

We push through the doors.