Part 2

I was laughing as my friends sang at the top of their lungs. We were all excited, dazed by the alcohol and not caring that we were breaking the law.

“Let’s see how fast this bus can go!” Matheson yelled and I pressed my foot down on the gas.

We were speeding down the road, all of us shouting fearlessly as I rounded the corner too fast. I felt the side of the bus lift up as I hit the curb and we started rolling. The screech of metal was horrific and I was thrown backwards into a seat and then against a window and the roof. I heard screams of pain and I smelled blood as the bus skidded to a stop against the perimeter wall of the school.

My eyes closed involuntarily as I wondered if everybody was okay. I felt someone touch me and I heard faint voices as I tried to open my eyes but the flashing lights hurt them and the voices became clearer as I groaned and tried to turn on my side.

“Get a stretcher in here!” I heard a voice call.

“We’ve got you,” another voice said as a man lifted me and put a neck brace around my neck.

I was taken out of the bus and loaded into an ambulance but I felt groggy and everything hurt. My head was throbbing and my muscles screamed in agony. Why wasn’t I healing? 

‘I can’t heal you, human,’ Blaise said in my head. My eyes closed again as the bright lights of the hospital forced my eyes shut.

My injuries weren’t as extensive and I was left with a dislocated shoulder, a sprained wrist and a multitude of cuts and bruises from the broken windows. I was stitched up, my shoulder popped back in and my wrist bandaged as I saw the police officers outside in the hallway.

“What’s your name, son?” One officer asked me as we sat down at a table. They had taken me to the hospital cafeteria since it was the quietest place at that time of the morning and I felt alone and afraid.

“Jericho St. Claire,” I said to him as he took out a pocketbook and made notes.

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen,” I said.

“Can you give this other officer your parents' details so we can phone them?” He asked me.

I wrote down our address and Kai’s telephone number for the officer. He stood up and left the cafeteria presumably to contact Kai and inform him what happened. The other officer was quiet until his partner came back and joined us.

“Can you tell us what happened?” The officer asked me.

“I don’t remember,” I said because I knew that lying was my only option here.

“Who was driving the bus?” He asked me.

“I don’t remember, we were drinking a lot,” I said.

“Where did you get the liquor from?” He asked me.

“Everything feels very vague, like my mind’s fogged up,” I said to him.

“Your records show that you bumped your head pretty hard and you have a few cuts on it as well but you need to know that it’s important for you to try and remember what happened,” he said to me.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember the accident at all. I remember we were drinking and then I woke up in the hospital,” I said to him.

“Were you all friends? Whose idea was it to steal the bus?” He asked me.

“Yeah, we’re all friends and I guess we all decided to do it,” I said honestly.

“We’ll be in contact with you again as we investigate this further since you’re the only survivor of the crash,” the man said to me and I looked up at him. His eyes weren’t unkind.

“What?” I asked him in disbelief. It couldn’t be true.

“I’m sorry, son, all your friends died in that crash,” he said and placed a hand on my shoulder as tears made their escape and ran down my face.

“No, it can’t be true,” I said and my shoulders sagged at the realization that I had just killed sixteen people.

“You’re very lucky to be alive,” he said and stood up.

“Jericho!” I heard my father’s voice and looked up as he walked towards me with Falcon right beside him.

“Dad,” I said as he grabbed me into a hug and I couldn’t contain all the emotions anymore as I held onto him and just cried. 

Falcon had followed the police officers towards the exit and exchanged information with them. They talked for a while and he walked back towards us as the police officers left. The look on his face spoke volumes and I could see that he wasn’t pleased.

“Are you okay?” Kai asked me once he finally let go of me.

“I’m okay,” I said as he looked me over.

“The police officer said that they stole the school bus and went on a joyride, drinking and crashed the bus into the school wall. From the turn off, the bus rolled about five times before stopping,” Falcon said to Kai.

“What happened?” Kai turned to me as I looked down.

“Officer McMurphy said they would probably rule it as an accident because they can’t determine who the driver was, they’re not getting any usable prints from the steering wheel. Kai…Jericho’s the only survivor, sixteen boys are dead,” Falcon added, not looking at me.

“The truth, Jericho,” Kai said, using his Alpha voice on me and I saw his eyes flicker as they started to change color.

“We stole the bus and went drinking,” I said in a low voice.

“Who was driving the bus?” He asked me.

“I was,” I said and looked down again as his hands left my shoulders.

“I can’t even look at you now,” Kai said to me angrily and disappeared as he ported, leaving me alone with Falcon in the cafeteria.

“Come on, I’ll take you home,” Falcon said but even his eyes told me what he was thinking. I was a murderer.