Ch. 22 Dark Side, Dark Past

                                    

                                          
For a split second I did feel a burning sensation as if I were actual hit by a grenade and being burnt alive, before my surroundings switched to the familiar simplicity of the White Room, named after ours truly Erick. (Literally there was nothing in here but white furniture). I blink my eyes a couple of times as they readjust to the lighting. Once adjusted, I realize that I was on my back as Jake and Lucas were standing over me with a worry on their face.
                          
"How do you feel?" Jake asks as I sit up.
                          
"Like I actually died, now stop looking at me like I'm a puppy who just got kicked," I tell them as they both pull me up to my feet. A large projector that was embodied in one of the wall was playing the current game play of our surviving members. Bailey was currently up against two girls who were pretty pissed as Oliver was running off somewhere.
                          
"You should've ran," Jake says as I flop onto one of the arm chairs and stretch my feet over the side.
                          
"I would've felt guilty if Oliver died twice because of me," I grumble as Lucas places a hand firmly on my head.
                          
"If you think you did the right thing then you did the right thing," Lucas says as Jake arches an eyebrow.
                          
"Look at Lucas getting all sentimental," Jake says with a half smirk on his face before Lucas shoots him a look. Now I’m no genius when it comes to Lucas, Oliver, Erick, and/or Bailey. But even I know when a guy sends another guy a look it means to shut up, like asap. Jake just turns his attention back to the screen with his arms crossed over his chest as Lucas gives me a half smile before he turns back to the screen. His facial expression changes slowly as I look at Jake who also has a similar facial expression.
                          
“What?” I ask them as they both shake their head.
                          
“Uhm… Oliver is currently having a shoot off with one of the girls,” Jake tells me without taking his eyes off the projector. I look at the screen seeing Oliver’s back up against one of the red walls in the dining area. Meanwhile there was a girl behind the bar who had a Ak-47 shooting at him her bullets barely missing his head.
                          
“What is he thinking?” Lucas asks as I shrug.
                          
“Oliver has a different kind of intuition,” I tell them honestly. Oliver pokes his head around the corner quickly as he see’s the girl quickly reloading and then proceeds to shoot at her with his dual wield Kap-40 guns. Oliver seems different, like he’s about to kill everyone in sight. Well, he actually is. As the girl points her gun to him, Oliver simply grabs it and flips it out of her hand and shoots her with her own gun.
                          
His facial expression doesn’t change as he throws the gun to the ground the moment Bailey runs in and shouts at Oliver to hide behind the bar, the other girl had a grenade launcher. They both jump over the bar as the last girl standing comes in. Her eyes scan the room, she knows something is up. The look in her eyes changes from predator to prey as a bouncing betty flies up.
                          
• • •
                          
No one spoke the rest of the ride home. Jake went home separately saying he had to grab a new rewrite from his manager, leaving the rest of us to be driven home by Bailey. It was a disturbing type of quiet, one that crawls up someone’s back to send shivers down their spine. I mean, who am I to say that we were expecting this. Expecting Oliver to become a hardcore killing machine. If someone were to tell me that, I would have laughed and said they were crazy. Oliver is always so happy about nothing, always full of unnecessary enthusiasm. Now he sits next to me in the back, his gaze out the window
                          
I lick my bottom lip before biting down on it. Thinking of the conversation we had before leaving. It went a little something like this:
                          
“Jake what about Oliver?” I asked him as he shrugs. I cross my arms, as we can now see our breath in the sky. Oliver was in the restroom as we went to go get the cars.
                          
“He’ll bounce back,” he reasons.
                          
“Oliver isn’t a bouncy ball Jake,” Bailey adds. “He was full on Kill mode back there.”
                          
“I agree with Bailey, but Jake’s right. For now we have to give him some space,” Lucas tells me shooting an apologetic look as Bailey wraps his jacket around me. I give him a thankful smile as we see the cars.
                          
I want to ask him what made him flip a switch and go completely ‘kill mode.’ I open my mouth to say something, but what exactly do you say? ‘She didn’t really die, stop thinking about it. It’s just a game!’ or ‘Oliver you can’t frown, you’re Oliver!’ or ‘Oliver I swear to god, if you keep frowning you’ll get more wrinkles.’ I don’t think any of those will work.
                          
“We’re here kiddies,” Bailey says as he tries to break up the tension. However Oliver doesn’t shift or even move to get out of the car. Lucas and Bailey exchange looks as they nod before stepping out of the car. Lucas look back at me as I mouth one minute. He nods as he and Bailey walk inside Jake’s house.
                          
“You okay?” I ask as I unbuckle my seat-belt and Oliver finally looks at me. His hazel eyes seem distant but so close. He shakes his head before responding.
                          
“No, it...it’s nothing,” he says softly as he tries to leave and I grab his arm.
                          
“Oliver, come on what just happened back there? You can’t expect us to brush it off, you were like the terminator or something. Was it like Defcon 1 in your mind or what?” I ask him as he stares back as me. Before I knew it he grabs my wrist and pulls me into his lap, hugging me tightly. He buries his head in my neck as I freeze.
                          
“I thought I lost you,” he whispers to me. “It was all too real that I forgot. I just knew that I wanted to end them.”
                          
“Oliver nothing is going to happen to me, to any of us. It was just a game,” I say as I try to comfort him.
                          
“I didn’t mind when it was me, I could have cared less if it was me. But when you pushed me to the ground, all I could do was watch. I can’t lose you, I can’t lose anyone else,” he whispers to me as his grip tightens. “I lost her when I was younger. I lost my sister to an apartment fire, and all I kept thinking was that it should’ve been me. It should’ve been me instead of her.”
                          
“Oliver…” I whimper as I lift his chin up to meet my eyes. “It’s alright. I promise. I promise that nothing is going to happen to me any time soon.”
                          
“Jaz… can we stay like this a little longer?” he asks me as I nod.
                          
“Sure," I say softly with a small smile on my face.
                          
We sat like this for another 5 minutes before Oliver assures me that he was fine, but he wants to be alone for some time. With a nod, I head back inside to see Bailey and Lucas sitting on the couch watching football on ESPN.
                          
"And Oliver?" Lucas asks me as I walk in and toss Bailey his jacket.
                          
"He wants to be alone for a bit longer. Today reminded him of something that happened in his past, so he needs some time," I inform them.
                          
"Like what?" Bailey asks as I sit next to Lucas on the couch.
                          
"Nothing that you need to know about Bailey," I assure him as he crosses his eyebrows and pouts.
                          
"Look Jaz, now you made him mad," Lucas says with a heavy sigh as I gape at them.
                          
"Made him... excuse you. If he wants to know he can ask Oliver himself. I'm not going to give people's secrets away like my own," I tell them.
                          
"Why do you have any secrets?" they both ask in unison.
                          
"It's none of you business," I reply as I look away, and they both throw pillows at me. I look at them with a death glare before grabbing the pillows and throwing them back. I won't be giving my secrets away, not to them, not to my friends, not to anyone.