Chapter Twenty - Two ✧Truth or Truth✧

As we stood in the bathroom, Mason's gaze bore into me. My body was still shaking, still feeling like I was melting from the inside out. My mouth was dry. I felt like I was falling apart and seeing the way Mason was looking at me now, I almost wished I would just break into a million pieces and wash down the drain of the sink. 

The only good side that I could find for the predicament I was currently in was that Genevieve was no longer possessing Allison and standing over my shoulder, whispering about how my demise was just around the corner. So, at least I had that. 

"Charlotte," Mason finally said, breaking the awful silence that had been wrapped so tightly around us. "What the actual fuck is going on?" 

I tried to move my mouth, but no words came out. I was pretty sure that my vocal chords had somehow been stolen from my body. My mind was buzzing with overstimulation that I was pretty sure any more silence would send me into a panic attack, and with the dread doctors surely coming for us, that was the last thing I needed to happen. 

Quickly, I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on my breathing and on not having a panic attack. The fire that had taken over my body, that had been burning my entire essence from the inside out, finally felt like it was dying down. My body felt less tense, less in danger, as I focused on controlling my breathing. Them, I tried to picture I was being taken somewhere else. Anywhere else. 

My imagination took me to Arles, France. It took me back to one of my favorite memories of the summer, when it was just Isaac and I standing and laughing outside of a home that was once Vincent Van Gogh's. I was back to one of the last moments when I had been just boring little Charlotte Lahey, when I had been normal. 

A hand touched my arm, and my eyes fluttered open as I jumped at the sudden contact. Mason had gotten closer to me, and now I could really see the concern in his expression. 

"Are you okay?" Mason asked. His eyes searched every part of my face for an explanation. 

I nodded at him slowly. I did feel a bit more in control of my self and my emotions again. I didn't feel as utterly wrong as I had before. "I'm okay," I assured him. For now, is what I didn't add. 

"What just happened?" Mason asked next. 

I couldn't answer him, not because I wanted to hide my problems from my best friend any more but because I honestly didn't know how. Plus, we definitely didn't have the time to unpack all of my insane problems at the moment. 

"The book," I remembered suddenly. I fumbled to find a way to make sense of the story I was about to tell Mason. "The one with the Dread Doctors. I-I read it. I think it's playing tricks with my mind." 

The problem was, I hadn't read the story, the others had. I just had to hope Mason didn't know that, but the way Mason was still examining my face for any tells made me a little less hopeful. I desperately needed to change the subject. 

I took a deep breathe, thankful that I could still do that. "Why are you here?"

Mason's expressions quickly from one overflowing with concern, to one laced with excitement. "I found another chimera. I thought I had to let you guys know, you know? So I came to the school and when I got here I saw you rush into the bathroom...so... I followed." 

Involuntarily,  I felt my eyebrows raise. "We should go find the others." 

"Okay, yeah," Mason nodded in agreement. He headed for the exit of the bathroom, looking over his shoulder cautiously to make sure I was following. "They're in one of the science classes, right?" 

"What?" I shot Mason a confused look. "No, we're in the locker room."

Mason froze as he held the bathroom door open. "Then why did I just see Scott go into a classroom?" 

All it took was for Mason and I to exchange one confused and admittedly frantic look, and the two of us were hurrying in the direction that he'd seen Scott go. As we got to the door to the science classroom, we heard a half-howl, half-shout, that I knew for a fact could only have came from Scott McCall. 

Hearing one of my closest friends in pain made me throw all caution to the wind as I threw open the door. Sure enough, there he was, in the middle of the classroom and in clear anguish. The thing was, he was also completely alone. Whatever was happening to him was inside his head. 

The book, I realized. The very lie that I had fed Mason of what was happening to me was what was making Scott think he was actually being attacked. 

"What do we do?" Mason asked hurriedly. 

I bit my lip and racked my brain for any halfway decent idea. "Pain," I murmured, more to myself then Mason. 

My eyes scanned the classroom for anything that could be of use. I needed something, anything, that could help me snap Scott out of this trance he was in. Finally, my eyes found a container of scalpels on the teachers desk that were probably around to be used on some dissection project. God, was I glad we were in a Science classroom. 

I quickly grabbed one of the scalpels and headed towards Scott. He was kneeling in the middle of the aisle, his one hand gripping tightly to a table as the other one clawed at his neck. It almost looked like he was being choked. Somewhere behind me, Mason was telling me to be careful.  

For a moment, I reevaluated my plan. Was this the best idea? Maybe not. But it was all I had. 

I took one final step forward, and then put the sharp blade to Scott's hand that was gripping the table. Carefully, I applied pressure and broke through the skin, and blood began oozing from the wound. As it did, Scott jumped away from me, his pained shouts turning into what sounded like an angry war. 

"Scott, it's me!" I exclaimed. I dropped the scalpel and rose my hands defensively. "You needed to snap out of it and Isaac- he always says the pain is what makes you guys human." 

Scott was panting now, but the way he was looking at me in confusion told me he had been snapped out of his delusion. He blinked a few times and looked around the classroom, as if he wasn't sure it was really over. After acknowledging Mason, he looked back to me. 

"Where's Liam and Hayden?" he asked. 

I frowned, how was I supposed to know. Then, my mind realized why Scott was in here and not in the locker rooms. The dread doctors must've drawn him out so the would have a better shot at getting what they came here for. A twisted feeling in my gut told me our plan was falling a part in front of us. 

It seemed as though we all realized how doomed we were at the same time. In unison, we rushed out of the classroom and through the unlit hallways of the school. It felt like it took years, but we finally made it back to the locker room. Scott threw the door open, and Mason and I quickly entered after him. 

The first thing I saw was Lydia and Malia just standing there like they were frozen. I then realized that they were the only other ones in the room. 

"They're gone," Lydia murmured, answering the question I hadn't been able to bring myself to ask. 

Malia looked over her shoulder at the three of us. Her expression was starkly serious. "Liam and Hayden are gone," She confirmed. 

My gut twisted a little more, and I felt as though I was beginning to burn up again. I looked over to Scott, hoping he would have some kind of idea on what we could do next, but his expression told me he was just as lost as I was. 

Mason offered to drive me back to the McCall house and I accepted. The ride had been entirely silent. I could tell Mason was trying to find a way to assure me that everything was going to be alright, that Liam was going to be alright, but I don't think he could muster up the energy to say something he was so unsure about. 

The car stopped in the driveway, and for a moment Mason and I just sat there. I didn't want to go inside just yet. I didn't know how I was supposed to just go in there and get ready for bed when I was being haunted by a ghost of a woman I didn't even know on top of also having just had someone I cared deeply about be ripped from me. As an extra cherry on top, Scott wasn't even home yet to talk to, mostly because I don't think he could make himself look me in the eye about not telling me he was using Hayden as bait and then not being able to actually protect her from the Dread Doctors. 

I took a deep breath. I really couldn't just sit in Mason's car for the rest of the night, even if there wasn't that much of the night left. With a deep breathe, I unbuckled myself and opened my door. Before I could get out, though, Mason grabbed my arm. 

"Mase, I can't talk about it," I sighed, falling back into the seat. I looked over at my friend and hoped he could see how absolutely drained I was. "I can't sit here and pretend like we will find him and it'll be alright when we have absolutely no clue where to start. I just- I don't even want to think about losing him." 

Mason didn't say anything for a moment. He just looked at me carefully. I could see about a dozen different emotions swimming around in his eyes and I knew he was just as scared as I was about losing Liam. 

"Charlotte," Mason started, but his voice was a bit too quiet. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I know you didn't read the book." 

I opened my mouth to respond, but there was nothing to say. He was right, I hadn't read the book. I lied to him earlier just like I'd been lying to him and the others for weeks and it had finally caught up to me, and I still didn't even know what was going on. Everything just seemed pointless and I felt like I had singlehandedly ruined everything. 

"I'm sorry," I choked on my own words. I wanted to tell him I was sorry for lying to him, for not being the person he thought I was, and for just being an awful friend. I wanted to, but I couldn't. I tried to find the right words but there was no sentence that I could form with the English language that would properly explain to Mason how truly vile I felt. 

So instead of spitting out any more apologies, I just began crying. I hadn't realized there were tears in my eyes until the spilling from them, and I didn't bother trying to stop them. I let the sob that I'd been trying to keep back from so long finally leave my body as I melted back into my seat. Tears were streaming down my face, cries pouring from my mouth, and a headache from all of these pent up emotions were pounding around in my skull. 

Mason proved for the fiftieth time since he made it his mission to befriend me freshman year that he was a friend I was lucky to have by unbuckling himself so he could reach me across the center console. As best as he could, he pulled me into a hug and I desperately hugged him back. It wasn't the most comfortable hug in the world, but it was exactly what I needed. 

"It's okay. Hey, it's okay. Charlotte, whatever it is you have going on, you can tell me," He whispered calmingly. I hugged him a little tighter. "I can help you figure it out, but I need to know everything, first." 

I nodded against his chest. I didn't want the burden of this secret anymore, I just had to find the right place to start. 

Slowly, I pulled away from Mason just enough to be able to look at him. I felt like I owed it to him to look him in the eye for this, so I wiped away the tears from my face and did my best to tuck my hair behind my ear. 

"I-I've been having these visions," I started. My breathe caught, and I had to take a moment to collect myself so I wouldn't start crying again. 

"Of Genevieve?" Mason guess. "I heard you say her name in the bathroom earlier."

"All I know is that her name is Genevieve Carodine and I think-," I hesitated, not sure how to explain my relationship with my ghostly companion. "I think she's supposed to help guide me into the next life." 

"You mean like..." Mason trailed off, not able to finish the thought. He didn't need to.

I couldn't make myself look Mason in the eye any longer. "Mason, I think I'm supposed to die soon." 

Mason didn't say anything for a moment, and I couldn't bring myself to look at him in that moment. What I had just said was hard to process, hard to make sense of, and it was understandable to say the least that he needed a moment to fully take in each and every word. So I just sat there and let him process the insane news I had just given him. 

However, Mason never got the chance to make any comment on my impending doom as both of our attentions were grabbed by a faint scream. It was coming from inside the house. 

My heart dropped. "Melissa," I realized. 

Without thinking, I jumped out of the car and rushed into the house. When I entered the house, I saw Melissa McCall almost immediately, and she hurried to pull me towards her into a tight, protective hug as if she was trying to keep me from seeing the horror that had evoked such a heart-wrenching scream from her just moments before. 

But it was too late. I had already seen it. I had seen the body of the girl on our dining room table, a sword that looked all to familiar lodged completely into her chest. 

hello. it has been over two years. I am so sorry. if you are still here I am so thankful for your patience. I hope someone still enjoys this story. :)