Meet Me At The End Of The World

Chapter Thirteen

Once the headteachers office is clean of bloody rags that will only attract the undead, I enter to see Simon. Where he lays, is surrounded by blood and he appears dead.

"Simon?" I question, too afraid to check his heart for a beat.

"He'll be out for a while." Honey informs me as she also enters the room. While I linger by the walls she strolls forward and sits besides her best friend, taking his pale hand and holding it tightly in her own. Once again, I feel that my relationship with Simon is inadequate to what these two have.

"How's Val?" I ask as I remember how they exited the room coated in blood with tears streaming down their face. While they may be intelligent, Val isn't a doctor. They don't know how to truly amputate a limb and after all, they are only sixteen. They shouldn't have to know that.

"They're cleaning themself up. In all honesty, I think they just need some time." She tells me as she gently strokes the fiery red hair from Simon's face. The pale tone of his skin creates the impression that each of his freackles are darker showing just how many he has despite it being winter.

"Did Simon have that many freckles when you first met?" I ask, finding the sunshine boy more intriguing then any other puzzle I've had to solve before.

"Yeah." She says with a long sigh. "He was holding a gun the first time we properly met yet he still appeared innocent despite it all. He always had that power. The power of such angelic purity."

"You said that your dad murdered his. Could you tell me more about that?" I ask desperately wanting to know more about the boy I've grown to love so deeply.

"His dad got mixed up in a bit of my dad's business and for a time everything was alright. I don't know what fully happened between them but my dad always stated that the mureder of Simon's dad was to protect Simon and his mum." She explains as she stares down at her beloved friend. "Simon's not stupid. He knew who killed his dad so when the police refused to do anything, he did. Simon found a gun, who knows what he did to get it, and brought it to my home. Like I stated before, I pursued Simon out of speaking revenge. I think he was spooked afterwards at what he had intended on doing. After that day, he's never been able to hold a weapon."

"Fuck." I cuss.

"Danny?"

"Back in the car I forced a knife into his hand." Knowing that I caused him such distress fills me further with guilt. Simon is so much of a puzzle and whenever I feel close to solving him, he breaks again and I have to relearn everything about him.

"Danny..."

"This is all my fault."

"I disagree." Honey states sternly. I turn to her to see a genuine expression on her face proving that she means every word. "How were you supposed to know if Simon never told you?"

"He was trying to tell me and I rushed ahead." I inform her and she sighs.

"Well then, you're a dick." She states casually before turning back to where Simon lays and running her fingers through his stunning red hair. She shakes her hand out pulling a face. "He really is extremely sweaty."

"Will he be alright?" I know it's a stupid question but I feel stupid at this moment in time so that should make the question okay to a degree.

"Probably not." Honey replies in that perplexing way of hers. She obviously loves Simon yet her words are strong and lack any true hurt in the matter. Unlike mine that is.

"How are you so relaxed about that?" I question in awe of her while also feeling slightly afraid.

"My dad is a gang leader. He's seen that many people have been killed in his life making it something my family has just had to live with. Everyone he had killed deserved it. He wasn't petty enough to kill over money." She explains. After mentioning her father's involvement in crime, Honey still appears strongly in love with him which while could be veiwed as alarming, I see it as sweet. She's a fifteen-year-old girl who adores her father and has put every ounce of faith into him returning for her. For all any of us know, he could be a rotten soldier yet she continues to believe despite the odds.

"I've really messed up." I state as I watch my boyfriend lay still clearly pained.

"Haven't we all?"

"Honey?"

"As much as I want to blame you Danny Hayes, I'm as much to blame as you are. You may have allowed it to happen yet I wasn't there to prevent it and neither was Val." She states before standing and brushing her ripped jeans of dust and drying mud. "Speaking of Val, I'm going to check on them. They were in a pretty bad way after the amputation."

"Should I..."

"Stay with Simon. He'll be pleased to see you when he wakes." She orders before leaving the room. I remian still and silent for a few seconds before I scoot over to Simon's side.

"I was such an idiot Simon." I state as I kiss his sweat coated forehead. "Despite everything I just keep leaving people. I left my parents to rot and then each of my sister's. Every time I feel horrible and yet I continue to do it without realising until it's too late."

Tears fall from my eyes as I remember my sisters blood and my dying parents. The way Simon lay on the ground like the life had been sucked from him. Honestly, despite how many times someone will tell me that none of this is my fault, I'll never be able to believe them. I should have died at the begining of the apocalypse yet by chance and the sacrifice of others, I've managed to live through it.

I really am a desgusting human being.