The Tales of Robin Hood

Chapter Ten - William

"It's not your fault."

I sat slumped up against the wall, replaying what happened to Nick over and over and over.  Isaac was wrong, it is all my fault.  No matter what he says, I'll always know that.

I got my best friend killed.

We've known each other forever, as far back as I can remember we've been friends.  We've done the stupidest of things together, we've had fights, and somehow we've stuck together.  And now he's dead.  All because I wouldn't let Him into my mind.  Ross might even end up the same way...I can't let that happen, though.  I'll just do whatever he says, I guess.  He's got two more people he can kill because of me, and I'm not going to let him touch them.

"It really isn't your fault."

"Yes, it is," I croaked, refusing to go to the bars.  If I do, I'll just see Nick's body lying on the ground.  That evil man had moved him right in front of my cell after I had let him in my mind, a constant reminder that I got him killed.

"He gave you no warning," Isaac said. "He's the one that brought us here in the first place."

"And he killed him because I wouldn't let him in my mind," I snapped. "It's my fault."

I heard rustling in his cell and then silence, I guess he laid down to get some sleep.  Just then, the murderer himself came in and started going around to all the prisons, sliding something through the bars.  When he finally got to my cell he smirked as he stepped over Nick's body, then made a tray appear in his hand and shoved it through the bars.  When I looked down at it after he had left, I saw food.

"Don't worry," I heard Isaac say. "It's not poisoned.  He needs us alive."

I didn't say anything as I brought the tray closer to me, seeing a ham sandwich, a bowl of tomato soup, and a cup of water.  My stomach growled and I felt empty, realizing just how hungry I was.  I grabbed half the sandwich and devoured it, then ate all the soup, and then the other half.  I gulped down the water and sat back against the wall, still hungry from being in here a few days.

Eventually I fell into an uneasy sleep, and then I woke up in a nightmare.

I was standing with Robin over Nick's body, looking down at his lifeless figure until her gaze traveled up to mine, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Is he really—dead?" she asked, her eyes pleading.

"He is," I whispered. "And it's all my fault."

"No," she said, her eyes seeming to get even sadder. "It's all mine."

I was about to protest when another figure came out of the darkness, and at first I couldn't see his face, but as he got closer I realized it was Nick.  I looked down to where his body had been a moment before, and heard Robin gasp.  He looked alive, but the cut in his throat was there and bleeding, but he didn't even seem to notice.  The blood oozed out of the wound, down the front of his shirt and his arms, flooding around us.

It brushed my fingertips in just a few moments, filling the nothingness and trying to drown us.  It reached my shoulders and I pushed down the feel of disgust as I swam in place to keep my head above, seeing Robin struggling to do the same.  Her head barely broke the surface and I tried to get to her, to help her the best I could, but the closer I got to her, the further away she got.

The blood had started out watery, but now it was so thick I could barely move my arms.  I was dragged under and I held my breath, my lungs already screaming, as I tried to get back to the surface.  No matter how high I swam, though, I never reached it.  Soon my chest felt like it would burst and my limbs felt heavy, so I stopped struggling.  I sank to the bottom of the thick liquid, wishing that I had somehow been able to stop his death.  Then maybe I wouldn't be drowning in his blood, and Robin wouldn't go down with me.