The Last of Them All (editing)

Immediately when I got into my hospital room I collapsed onto my bed from sheer exhaustion due to the events prior. Justin was now fully dressed and the TV was no longer blaring. We were all just overwhelmed. When I first came in they pried me for explanations, so I briefly told them, but then I didn't want to say anymore. It was too weird to think about. I closed my eyes and soon found myself drifting away into my own mind.

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I opened my eyes to darkness, as if I was still staring at the inside of my eyelids. Frantically I darted them around trying to make sight of my surroundings, but nothing came into my view. However, I could hear breathing. The thing was, it wasn't my own. This breathing was raspy, and thick, as if it was trying to breathe in sand. A voice broke through the darkness like an intercom announcement at school.

"You have made a terrible mistake." The voice had a slight Russian accent, but not as thick as the doctor's, as if they had been living in America for a while. They continued talking. "Because of your foolish mistakes, all your friends have to suffer."

The breathing got closer to me, because I could feel it's cold wetness down my neck and I began to shiver. I felt a hand clamp down on my leg and started to panic. I thrashed about, blind in The darkness, but the voice continued speaking.

"You are an absolute disgrace to your kind."

I shuddered even more and struggled to wake up as a wet, slimy liquid hit my face. If this really was a dream then wake me up now. Stab me with a fork or something.

"I should just kill you right now. I'd be doing the world a favor."

No! Wake up! Stop dreaming! I yelled at myself to come to consciousness. The mysterious grip on my leg tightened and I began to shake uncontrollably.

The breathing stopped but I continued shaking, thrashing about. Out of nowhere through the darkness I heard a loud bang, a gunshot ringing through the empty room and light come flooding back into my eyes.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" Beads of sweat poured down my face and I was still shaking.

"Ali!" Justin wrapped his arms around me and then looked into my face, his hands on my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"You we're going crazy, what happened?" Andrew had his hand on my leg, his touch must have been what I felt.

Breathe. I told myself. I closed my eyes, wait, bad idea, don't close my eyes. In, out. In, out. I screamed again.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. It was just a dream." Justin stared into my eyes and I shook my head fast. He looked confused.

"It, it just seemed so real." I looked away and Justin released his comforting grip on me. "I felt him breathing down my neck, I," I struggled to get the words out as they choked my throat, "I thought I was going to die."

Simultaneously, as if the boys had some form of telepathic communication they both came and enveloped me in a large hug, that seemed to wash everything away. We stayed in that position for what seemed like forever, but wasn't nearly long enough.

"Sorry to interrupt," we all separated as Dr. Tusik walked into the room, "but I felt like some explanations were in order."

"It's about time!" I exclaimed. I threw my hands into the air in a silent cry of desperation.

"Are any of you familiar with the Latin phrase, facit autem virtus nostra nos?"

"I recognize some of the words, like power, and one, something like that." Justin pulled his thumb towards his mouth and chewed on his nail, the way he always did when he was thinking. It was something he did that made him seem helpless and child-like, but was still vaguely attractive.