The smell of blood in the air – coppery and bitter – was prominent, and Melody’s fear heightened. She wondered if she’d be welcomed only to the sight of death and blood, of Cedris’s cold dead body. She had almost completely forgotten the argument from last night.
“Cedris?” she called out, shoving the door the rest of the way open. The air was also cold, now that she noticed it, like windows had been left open. It made her skin pop up goose bumps and the still, deafening silence weighed upon her ears as she ventured down the hallway.
“Cedris, please, answer me,” she said, her voice trembling as much as her body. “Look, I’m sorry for the fight, okay? I don’t know what to do to make you happy anymore. It’s like…” Like you don’t care, she thought sadly. She knew sorry wasn’t good enough, but what else could she do? Not love Damien anymore? It couldn’t possibly be that easy. And anyways, Cedris should be happy for her – she had met someone she had found true love in, someone who cared about her. He’d been flirting with that one girl, Amber, hadn’t he?
She walked down the empty, dim hallway, the only light provided from the streetlamp outside. She saw a long pole-like thing at the end of the narrow hall, and guessed it was the lamp that was usually on when she visited here. Her fingers curled into her palm as nervousness and an unfamiliar dread consumed her. As she looked closer on the floor, she saw that the bulb had shattered on the carpet, pieces of the fragile glass glimmering like small rainbow fragments. She stepped over it carefully, cautious not to let any of it slice her thin ankles or slip into her low-top Converses. She went to Cedris’s room, tiptoeing so that if someone still resided there, an intruder, then they wouldn’t know she was here poking around like a dog in trash. She pushed open his door, wincing as it squeaked in protest. There wasn’t anything wrong in there, everything the way it was supposed to be, from the familiar wolf blanket on his bed to the anime posters and laptop on the desk.
She left the room, feeling like a detective finding a new clue to his mystery. She looked in the bathroom, the other rooms of his roommates and found nothing. She was beginning to think he hadn’t stopped here, that nothing was wrong. Last place: the kitchen and living room. Her heart picked up rhythm.
There was something to be said, though, when Melody caught a glimpse of the kitchen. Her hand flew to her chest and a gasp escaped her lips like steam from a kettle when she saw the upturned chairs, some of the legs broken, the torn-off doors of cabinets, the smashed glass scattered across the linoleum like a child had spilled shiny clear marbles. The refrigerator door was dented, as if something heavy had been thrown into it, the pictures of Cedris and Melody smiling ripped and torn on the floor. She vaguely noticed the broken mug she had gotten him for his birthday last September, his name spelled out in gold and red lettering, smashed on the wall above the counters.
A low moaning came from the living room, and as she jumped in terror, she was afraid to find out what it was. It sounded human, though it could well not be. Turning her head, through the darkness, she discovered the upturned couches and armchairs, the destroyed picture frames, the fragments of the crushed screen of the widescreen TV. The walls were smashed in, full of cracked plaster. The sliding glass door had was open and, thankfully, undamaged. She held back a sob, pressing her fingers into her mouth, wondering, horrible, of what could have happened.
“Melody,” the voice moaned, and this time she recognized the voice, the ruggedness. She started like a startled deer, stumbling clumsily over glass and splintered wood, to a space behind an upside down couch. The light provided from the moon outside outlined the body of a muscular, tall shape.
His name stumbled out of her mouth, anguished and agonizing. “Cedris.”
He cursed, and then moved, looking like some horrifying humpbacked demon from the underworld. His arm came out and clutched at the sofa, finding something to gain his balance, but being unsuccessful at trying to stand up. He collapsed back onto the floor.
“No, don’t move,” she pleaded, reaching her hands out and touching his chest. It was bare and wet, and the way the slashes on his chest were made, she presumed something had been carved onto it. A sign, maybe. She looked at what she hoped was his face, tears stinging her eyes. “Cedris… what happened?” she said, her voice cracking.
“I… they came… Damien… the silver, it… molten… they injected it in my veins.” His voice came out in wheezy breaths, as if something were pressing hard on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe.
“Who’s they? Who came, Cedris?” Her voice rose higher and higher in panic.
“Them… Alonzo… Raiders,” he coughed, and Melody touched his cheek. Sweat was pouring down his face and his lank gold hair fell in sweaty strips at the sides of his cheekbones. “You have… to go.”
“No!” she screamed in defiance but lowered her voice when Cedris winced. “No, I can’t do that. We have to get help, have to find Aaron or something. He can help you Cedris. C’mon, please, get up.” She slipped her thin arms under his and pulled with all her strength, but was unsuccessful. He weighed a thousand pounds, and even if he didn’t, she didn’t have the muscles.
He pushed her away roughly. “Leave me alone. I’ll be fine.” But his voice cracked and his body erupted in jerking spasms of coughs and he got on his knees and spewed out dark liquid – blood.
She reached out. “Cedris…”
“What?” he spat, throwing his gaze to her, hatred glowing in his fierce dark gold eyes. “I don’t need you. Go away, with your little boyfriend.”
Her lips trembled, but then her anger rose like a wave, and crashed down. “Don’t pull that on me! You can’t be jealous about that just because someone – a guy – loves me and has me to him! I wanted to find love in someone and you think that’s repulsive, like a sin or something. How could you? Don’t act like you don’t flirt with that stupid slut Amber! Don’t you know how that makes me feel? Like you don’t like me anymore! Like I’m not your best friend anymore, like I’m not worth anything to you! Why do you do this to me? Why?”
Cedris looked at her with shock, as if he’d never thought she’d say anything like that, and Melody felt a grim triumph. It was nice to let that out, to set him right, but couldn’t this have been at another time? When he wasn’t on the verge of death? Seeing him now, with bleeding – crimson and silver – arms, a scratched-up face, bruised lip, swelling eye, and a red flow seeping into his shirt from the slices on his chest, he seemed like a totally different person. No longer the grinning-like-a-maniac, dancing gold eyed Cedris from West Seattle High School, but a battle-worn, scarred warrior fighting to Protect, to save the world. He was a person she didn’t know, a foreign stranger. But even so, his face and himself was so familiar to her that it didn’t matter. He was her Cedris, the best friend, and the love she had for him was something she couldn’t ever forget.
“Let me help you, please, Cedris, quit being so stubborn.” She didn’t want to lose him, not now, not ever.
