"I'm not going anywhere."

POV SWITCH RAY'S POV

I felt horrible, and I swore to Jeremy I was fine, but we both knew I wasn't. I knew I didn't have much time left, and this wasn't some illness, but I had to try to keep Jeremy from worrying so much. Doing even the slightest thing exhausted me, and my leg was hurting from where that creature bit me earlier. The blood that was dripping down my face was still purple, and it sent goosebumps up my spine as I thought about the poison searing through my veins, causing this reaction. Jeremy wanted me to rest, but I was worried if I closed my eyes, I wouldn't open that back up tomorrow. To be honest, I'm surprise I lasted this long.

Everyone else other than me, and Jeremy were asleep after a while and i could feel my eyes drooping shut, but forced them back open, and put my arm around Jeremy, feeling him snuggle into me. "No homo." I heard him whisper. Stupid platonic frendships.

After a few more hours Jeremy let himself drift off to sleep but I made sure to stay awake, and keep coughing up purple shit to a minimum. I was exhausted, but kept my eyes open anyway. Stay for Jeremy and your friends, keep them alive as long as you can. My breath hitched and I gagged up more blood. I hit my head against the wall and groaned. This is going to be a long night.

Once everybody was up, we noticed that, unlike the other days, the monster's corpse and what was left of shattered heather's body were still on the floor. Jeremy was still laid beside me, making sure I was okay every few minutes, and every time I coughed. I wasn't any better today, not that I was expecting I would be. My chest was hurting worse today, and I was exhausted.

Today we're playing another game, but this one is a little bit different. As you all know, one of the group members isn't feeling their best, to say the least, hmhm.

His snickering made me feel even more sick than I already felt.

Well, there is hope, I guess, but you'll have to figure it out. Lets just say the thought is a little rocky, and might leave a bad taste in your mouth.

What's he talking about? Is this some sort of riddle?

"W-what's he talking a-about?" I looked over at Jeremy, shrugging.

"Do I have to eat something?" I looked around the room, no one else seemed to be able to figure out what it meant either. I shrugged again and set my head back again, coughing out some more purple shit.

"Wait." We all looked over at Connor. "What if it's got something to do with, you know, that." He pointed over to the big pile of crushed and cracked fragments of stone. My eyes widened, I wasn't going to have to eat Heather, right?

I could swear I heard him laugh but pushed it off as my conscience.

"Does he have to eat Heather's statue? No way, right?" Philip seemed concerned, but I just shook my head and coughed some more, no way. Nuh, uh. Nope. Nada. Not a chance. I'm not going to eat someone else's corpse.

"But R-ray, w-what if you h-have to?" I looked back at Jeremy, leaning into my side and smiled.

"Let's just hope I don't."

Oh, Ray, I truly hope you listen to your friends, after all, you're almost dead, right? Hmhm.

I hate that chuckle. My eyes bulged, and I looked around the room, hoping this was a dream. My friends all looked at me and Connor got up. What's he doing? I watched him walk over, pat me on the back, and go to grab something. Stepping over the stones and dead creature, he went to the closet. He came back with a cup in his hand, squatting next to the rubble and putting a few scoops into the cup.

A moment later, I was sitting by the wall, coughing, looking down into the cup of Heathers remains that I had to eat. I looked into the gray powder, and chunks of rock and held back my gag. This isn't Heather anymore, it's just rock. It's just rock. Come on Ray, for your friends. For Jeremy.

After a minute, I glanced at Jeremy, and smiled a light, hopeful smile, qnd tipped back the cup into my mouth, pouring some of the rocky gravel down my throat. I tried to to overly chew, and swallowed, setting down the cup.

All of it.

Oh fuck no. You've got to be kidding me. I quickly dumped the rest into my mouth, feeling my teeth chipping from how tough Heat- the rocks were.

Unlike the first time, I felt weird now, and immediately started a coughing fit, but now, the blood wasn't purple, buta violet blue color. Please work, please work. It hurt like hell, and my chest was killing me now, tightening when I tried to breathe in. I watched as the color of the blood pouring down my lips slowly changed back to purple. No, no no no. This had to work, it just had to. I couldn't die down here, I wasn't ready, and I have to protect everyone else. They're not ready for this. Neither am I. I looked down again, now the blood was maroon, changing farther from purple and closer. Closer to red! Come on, come on!

I could feel my energy running out as the coughing continued. It'd been about ten minutes, and if I could describe death, it would be this. I looked over at Jeremy as he rubbed my back, and groaned at him, the pain getting worse. He had a grimace on his face, as if this was hurting just as bad to him as it was for me.

I looked down one more time, feeling my eyes shut, forcing them open to see a small glimpse of red color, then my eyes shut, and this time, I couldn't force them open. I saw black then a white light, was I too late. I think this is goodbye.

Wait, I hear something.

A/N: Another chapter I cried while writing. Been having a rough week so I'm sorry about not updating
I love you guys hang in there
Eliza Schuyler Hamilton 💙💙