Low on Time/Issue 19

This is issue nineteen of Low on Time, entitled: Nightmares.

Issue 19; Nightmares
''It was a dark night in the woods, the moon being the only available light; and it was gorgeous. But, quick footsteps approached, and Ike ran through the woods, being chased by a couple of hooded people, holding crowbars. You couldn't see there faces, as it looked like they didn't even have faces. They were walking, but even as Ike ran, they seemed to get closer and closer. He looked behind him, seeing them as close as could be. He, unknowingly, tripped over a branch, falling flat on his face. He quickly got up, leaves all over his shirt and face, and continued running. He was getting out of breath, almost tripping over himself every step of the way. One of the people, took out a knife from his back pocket, and threw it at Ike, hitting him right in the shoulder. Ike collapsed to the ground, holding his shoulder in pain. The two people walked over Ike, and one of them lifted the crowbar, hitting him across the face. Ike felt the pain rush through his face, and the blood fly over his face. The next one hit him in the head, and they kept going and going, until Ike was nothing but a bloody pulp. He felt his life slowly going away, before one of the guys, lifted the crowbar, ready to put him down, but before he does, he took off his hood, revealing it to be Ike's dad. Ike looked at him, in shock and turned to the other one, who's hood was already off, it being his girlfriend, Chrissy. He looked back at his dad, and he went to swing when...''

''Ike woke up, sweating and breathing rapidly. He started to calm himself down, realizing it was just a dream when he looked over to his door, where his aunt stood by the door, in a bathrobe. She looked tired, but also worried at the same time.''

''"What--?" he asked, still breathing heavily.''

''"You were screaming in your sleep again, Ike." she said.''

''"Sorry." he said, lying back down.''

His aunt walked over to him, and sat on the foot of the bed.

''"Do you want to talk about anything?" she asked.''

''"No-- I'm good." he said, lying.''

"Are you sure?"

''"Yes!" he fired back at her, angrily. "Don't act like you all of a sudden care about me."''

''His aunt sat back, and sighed. "I always cared about you." she said, you can tell in her voice she was hurt.''

''"Oh really?" he asked, sitting up, staring her down. "When my mom left, I don't even remember seeing you for those first few months. And remember when you walked in on my dad beating me? What did you do? You acted like nothing fucking happened. You only took me in cause I had nowhere to go, and even then you'd kick me out every now and again..." Ike felt angrier and angrier as he talked. "And then when Chrissy..." the thought of Chrissy, made his voice quiver. "When she was killed, and I came to you, willing to give you everything on her murderers, you told me that there was no hope in finding them; and just like that it was over." as he finished, he found his heart racing.''

''His aunt was speechless, but nonetheless thinking back on it, she realized how crappy she was to the poor boy. He lied back down, a tear in his eye, but he made sure his aunt didn't see it. His aunt needed some time to think, so she got up, and left.''

A terrified Isiss ran over to Ike, who was lying on the floor, blood pouring out of his mouth. He was choking on his own blood, and Isiss quickly realized this, turning him onto his side and the blood, very quickly, rushed out of his mouth. She just rushed her fingers through his hair, trying to reassure him that everything was gonna be alright, as she was calling for help. Jake ran into the dorm, and quickly ran over to the struggling Isiss.

"What happened?" asked Jake, who was beyond petrified.

"I-I don't know, I found him like this." Isiss said, nervously.

"Ok, just keep on doing what you're doing." Jake said, looking over Ike's body. He saw, on his hip, there was a little stab wound with blood coming out of it, steadily. He quickly pulled the closest shirt to him, and put it over his cut, holding it there. Ike's body was shaking, but not enough for Jake to lose grip.

Isiss looked at Ike's face, and saw that he was staring at her, almost crying. Isiss put her hand against his cheek, trying to calm him down. "Where the hell is everyone else?" asked Isiss.

"I don't fucking know!" Jake said. "We need some fucking help in here!" he yelled, hoping to grab someone's attention.

"We-- we need Kira or Allen to help with this." Isiss said, taking a deep breath.

The door flew open, and Amanda ran in, holding a book.

"Go get Kira or Allen!" Jake yelled to her, and she turned around and ran.

Ike reached his hand up, slowly, and grabbed Isiss' shoulder, and she looked at him, grabbing his hand. "Don't worry, Ike. You'll be fine." she whispered to him.

''Ike sat in his car, listening to "How To Save A Life" by The Fray. He lost Chrissy over a week ago; but he couldn't get her out of his head. The Fray was her favorite band, so Ike just listened to it, for her. His eyes were closed, and he felt like he could die right then and there; and he wouldn't care. There was a knock on the car window, and he looked over, seeing a little girl, about 7 years-old, standing there. He recognized it as Chrissy's younger sister, and looked in his rear-view mirror, seeing her mom walking towards them. He rolled down his window, and forced a smile at them.''

''"Hey, Kylie, Barbara." he said.''

''"What are you doing?" Kylie asked.''

''"Just passing the time. How are you guys doing?" he asked, although he could feel his voice trembling.''

''"We're fine." Barbara said.''

''Ike nodded, and he wasn't able to keep his smile on. He went to a more serious face, but fought back the tears.''

''"Listen, I'm sorry; but I'm in no mood to talk." he said.''

''"It's ok, we were just going." Barbara said, taking Kylie's hand, and walking away.''

''Ike rolled up his window and closed his eyes again. He looked back at the pharmacy he was sitting in front of, and his aunt strolled out, holding a couple of bags. She got in the passenger seat, and looked over at Ike who she could tell was not right. She sighed, and put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it. He looked over at her, and tried to put on his tough guy act, but it wasn't coming.''

''"You don't have to act like this, honey." she said. "I know I haven't been there for you in the past; and I know I fucked up, but please, I want you to know you can tell me anything, and that you can trust me. I love you, Ike."''

Ike looked over at her, and she pulled him in for a hug.

Allen and Jake lifted Ike onto the bed, lying him on his stomach, as Isiss, Amanda, and Olivia stood around, not knowing what to do. Allen looked at the stab wound, and then put more pressure on it.

"Is he going to be ok?" asked Isiss, nervously.

"It didn't go to deep, luckily. Just give me some time." Allen said.

Amanda, Jake, and Olivia left, leaving Isiss with the two. "Can I stay?" she asked, and Allen gave her a questioning look. "Just in case you need any help."

Allen smiled, and nodded. "Of course."

Kelly sat with Trent and Paul, looking out the door, waiting for someone to come in and tell them what was going on.

"Should we go check it out?" asked Paul, nervously.

"No, Jake and Olivia have it covered." Kelly said.

"What if they were attacked?" asked Trent, his voice shaky.

"Don't think like that." snapped Paul. "You can't do anything anyways, so, just relax. They're fine."

The door opened, and Olivia walked in, slowly. Paul and Kelly both stood, looking at her.

"What happened?" asked Kelly.

"It's Ike." Olivia said.

"What about him? What did he do?" Paul asked.

"He didn't do shit." Olivia fired back at him. "Someone-- someone fucking stabbed him."

The three were drawn back, looking at one another.

"Who did it?" asked Trent.

"I don't fucking know." Olivia spat back.

"Is he ok?" asked Paul.

"He's fine, as far as that new guy can tell."

Kelly looked over at Paul, who was staring at Olivia in disbelief.

"So, does that mean... someone tried to kill him?" asked Trent.

"I don't fucking know! Maybe he banged into something; I mean last night he was pretty fucking drunk." Olivia said.

"But, let's say someone did stab him... who would do something like that?" asked Paul.

"Take your pick!" Olivia said. "Ike wasn't the best person to be around, I mean he made enemies with Amanda, Tyler, Jeremy... you two." she said, looking at Trent and Paul.

Trent and Paul both looked at each other, and back to Olivia.

"You're not trying to imply anything on us, are you?" Trent asked her.

"No, of course not." she said, sarcastically.

"I'm not a murderer." Paul said, quietly.

"He pulled a knife on you the other day! Don't act innocent." Olivia spat.

"Guys!" Kelly said, loudly. "We have enough going on without you putting the blame on each other." she said.

"She's right." Trent said, quietly.

"Come on, I think this is something to talk about with the rest of the group; not just us four." Kelly said.

Sean and Kira were both in their dorm, putting all these wires together and, from the looks of it, were trying to build something. There was a slight knock on their door.

"Come in." Sean said, loudly.

The door opened, and Valerie walked in with Langston.

"What's up?" asked Kira, although she didn't take her eyes off of her little contraption.

"The group is meeting, down the hall... just came by to get you." Valerie said.

"Alright, we'll be there in a moment." Kira said.

"What are you guys building, can I ask?" Langston asked.

"We're trying to build our own radio system. This will work just as a cell phone; we say something to it, and any alive person in the vicinity can get it if they have a cell phone, car radio, or anything like that." Kira explained.

"Wow, how the hell do you guys know how to do this?" asked Valerie.

"It's all that guy." Kira said, pointing at Sean.

"Dad graduated from MIT, and well, I kinda picked up after him." Sean said.

Isiss stayed with Ike as the rest of the group was outside the door, talking. He was passed out, and Isiss sat by the door trying to hear what was going on. Ike suddenly woke up, breathing rapidly. Isiss turned to him, and ran over to him, looking over him. His eyes rapidly moved around; as if he had no idea where he was. Isiss grabbed a water bottle that was behind her, and poured a little of it in his mouth.

"Calm down, Ike. You're fine." Isiss said, trying to calm him.

"Wha-- wha..." Ike muttered.

"Take slow, deep breaths, Ike." she said. "What happened to you?"

Ike started to take deeper breaths, but still tried to talk. "I-I don't know... I can't remember anything besides me drinking a lot; and I woke up choking on my own blood... to weak to move."

"Well, you're fine now. That's all that matters." Isiss said.

Ike nodded, still taking deep breaths. Isiss sat back, and smiled to herself, just happy he was ok.

Outside of the room, everyone, excluding Isiss and Ike were standing around, Allen addressing them.

"So, it was very apparent; someone did try and kill Ike. I mean, he was clearly stabbed." Allen said.

"Is he ok?" asked Kira.

"He's fine, but still, I think we should take pre-cautionary measures with this... I mean, if someone hated him that much to actually kill him..."

"How the hell will we know who did it?" asked Tyler, angrily.

"We won't, not like we can run DNA tests anymore. I guess for now, we just make sure he's safe." Allen said.

"How will we do that?" asked Paul, annoyed.

"I know for one, that I didn't do it." Allen said, smiling. "I can make sure he's safe."

Besides the murmurs of the group; it was quiet in the room. When it was apparent there was nothing else to talk about, most of the group disbanded. Allen, Langston, and Tyler went into the room where Ike and Isiss were.

"Looks like he's awake." Allen said.

"How are you feeling?" asked Langston.

"Who the hell are you two?" he muttered.

"The guy who saved your life." Allen said.

Ike rolled his eyes, and sat back, with help from Isiss. Tyler looked back at Langston and Allen.

"Can I talk to him, in private?" he asked.

Langston nodded, and the two left.

"You can go too, it'll only be a second." Tyler said, looking at Isiss.

Isiss left too, leaving Tyler and Ike.

"Listen, man. I'm sorry." Tyler started.

"For what?" he muttered.

"This could've easily been avoided if I had trusted you when you offered to help me." Tyler said.

"How could this have been avoided? Someone would've tried killing me anyways..." Ike pointed out.

"Yeah, but maybe you could've been ready."

"Can we talk some time else? I'm not in the mood to talk." Ike said.

Tyler nodded and walked out; and Isiss and Allen went back in when he left.

Amanda lied down on her bed, crying, when the door opened, and Paul walked in. He sat next to her, and started to rub her head.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I-I did it." Amanda said.

"What did you do?"

"I tried to kill Ike." she said, still crying.

Paul stared at her in disbelief. He took his hand off of her head.

"Why?" he asked.

"He was always so mean." she cried, "He could barely walk last night, and I thought it was the right thing to do, you know? Save everyone the trouble."

Paul continued to stare at her in disbelief, not knowing what to say. Amanda sat up, and hugged him.

"Please don't tell anyone." she cried, as Paul still was in shock.

Credits

 * Kelly Gay
 * Olivia Bell
 * Jake Munoz
 * Kira Fulton
 * Sean Solo
 * Tyler Blake
 * Paul Alexander
 * Ike Dennis
 * Jeremy Flynn
 * Trent Jones
 * Isiss Rivera
 * Violet Middleton
 * Owen Horne
 * Amanda Dixon
 * Langston Otto
 * Allen
 * Valerie Wilson

Deaths

 * None