Doomsday

Katie was in her own little world. Her eyes welled up at mound of chips right in front of her. She immediately snagged a bag of Fritos and began eating away when she heard her dad's call.

"Coming," she yelled back as she set down her chips. She rose up, dusted her hands off with the help of her shorts, and exited the room.

Katie groaned. The weight of her wounded and bloody friend was too much for a little girl. Luckily, she had already arrived at her destination. She sat Logan down on the chair that had already been pulled out. Katie had to move her shoulder to bring back some feeling in it. She waited for her cousin and the others to join her after clearing her bed and prepping it appropriately.

Alan entered the room shortly after with Ryan and the two gently set her down on the bed, the younger boy making sure to lay her down in a relatively comfortable position.

After the job was done, he stood up and breathed a heavy sigh as he approached Katie. Placing a consoling hand on her shoulder, he offered a gentle smile.

"You okay?" he asked her a moment later.

Katie looked up at him with a wide smile on her face. Even after everything that's happened so far, he still maintained a very compassionate attitude.

"I should be asking you that question," she told him. "You and your sister have been through the worst hell today. I wish dad and I had prepared a little better."

Logan was still unconscious, slumped down in the chair she had been set on. Her left ankle was visibly swollen, though without further inspection it was hard to tell if it was broken, or just sprained. What really needed attention though, was the gash above her right eye. It had several shards of glass in it, and because it was a head wound, it was bleeding quite profusely. Her eyes were closed since she was unconscious, but the blood was pouring down to her right eye, which wasn't good in any circumstance.

Brooke stood a corner of the room, constantly chanting those two words. Her eyes drifted over to Anastasia's resting body and studied it intently. She looked away after a while and silently continued her muttering. Brooke made it a habit to take short glances at her friend. Brooke's memory of her mother explaining the purpose of the sacred necklaces kept replaying in her head like a song stuck on repeat. She felt that the memory would be the only reassuring way to keep the last of her sanity in tact while she patiently waited for Stay to recover.

Ryan walked over to Brooke. He still had the gash on his head from when his car got rammed by a truck. He sat his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, how are you holding up?" He asked her softly.

Brooke's gaze stuck on Anastasia's tattered face and didn't once move, not even when she heard the footsteps of someone coming to talk to her. Her eyes only met Ryan's when she felt a warm hand land on her shoulder.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you." Her continuous chant hadn't stopped at all. Her mouth started growing sore from overuse, but Brooke didn't care. She kept her eyes locked on her companion but his question remained unanswered. After what seemed like ages, she broke her stare with him and returned her attention to Anastasia.

"Don't worry about me." he said abruptly. "I'm fine. I'm more worried about how Kirsten's handling all of this. And about you and Uncle Tatum."

A man who drinks that much alcohol can't be an easy person to live with. he decided to keep to himself.

"Anyway, we're not just going to freeload here, especially not at a time like this. If there's anything you need doing, feel free to ask me. I'll help out any way I can."

Katie raised an eyebrow at his response. She predicted him to still be caring towards everyone, but it shocked her to see him so worried about her.

"You're.. worried about me," she asked him.

Alan gave her a confused stare, like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked in reply. "You're my cousin. My family. Of course I'm worried about you."

Katie's smile turned into a grin. She suspected it at first, but now she knew for sure that she was looking at the spitting image of her mother.

"Hehe," she giggled. "We have some wounded to tend to. We should bring the doctor here."

Ryan chuckled and sat down next to Brooke. "I should be the one thanking you. If you had drove off a minute before I got in your car or just kicked me out, i'd still be in the city." He said as he patted her shoulder again. "I honestly owe you one."

Although her babbling continued, a smile formed on her face for just a second. It became perfectly clear that she heard everything he said, but her crazed state didn't fade.

Brooke's memory of the moment she learned about her necklace still hadn't ceased to stop rewinding in her head. With every replay, her hand tightened it's grip on the necklace more and more. Eventually, a droplet of blood seeped into the clear blue diamonds. After watching her friend for another good while, her eyes turned to the two talking near Stazia then to her seated companion. After a while of staring at him, her attention fell on Anastasia's unconscious and tattered body once again.

Ryan chuckled at her jabbering. He noticed her gripping her necklace pretty tight and put his hand over hers to get her to loosen her grip. He then noticed her sight was focused on her friend on the bed. "I'm sure she'll be fine." He told her.

Alan glanced at Anastasia's unconscious form for a moment, a sad look passing over his expression.

I've never seen an injured person before. What is the world coming to...? he thought. An image of Kirsten's smiling face entered his mind, and he had to choke back a quick sob at the thought of it fading away at some point. An innocent girl like her just didn't deserve to see a world like this.

He suddenly noticed his eyes getting hot with tears as he regained his focus. His eyes still rested on the unconscious girl, but it suddenly shifted to the other girl that they had brought in. He noticed that her mouth was moving, but he couldn't see what she was saying. He couldn't begin imagine what she was going through at that moment, and assumed that it was definitely worse than his situation.

"You handle it," he started, not taking his eyes off of the girl. "I'll be right back."

Not waiting for her to respond, Alan made his way over to the talking girl. Once he reached her, he leaned in with a concerned expression on his face. Now that he took the time to focus on her, he noticed that she looked...unwell, to say the least. The rapid movement of her lips as she muttered the same line repeatedly looked almost supernatural, and she reminded him of a horror movie that he had seen a while ago.

What was the word he was looking for? Possessed? Yeah that was it. She definitely looked like she was possessed as she chanted the same words over and over.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your friend. I can't imagine how you must feel right now, but just know that if you need someone to talk to, I'm here." His offered a dry smile.

"I may not be able to offer much comfort, especially since we've barely just met, and not under very good circumstances either, but my friends say that I'm a pretty good listener, and I apparently have a pretty comfortable shoulder." he joked in an attempt to get her to cheer up.

It was a long shot, but he just couldn't stand seeing someone in a state of dismay. It wasn't anyone's fault but his own, since ever since he was born, he just couldn't stand by when someone was in trouble. Problems big or small, he'd always be there to lend a helping hand. This little quirk of his quickly earned him the respect and admiration of nearly everyone he met, and coupled with his friendly demeanor and willingness to befriend anyone and anything, made him a naturally likable person.

He never dropped that habit, even now. Which is why he would always trying his best to make everyone happy.

And now that he thought about it, she really didn't seem like she was in a joking mood. He instantly regretted trying to joke with her.

"S-Sorry. Bad joke." he followed up with. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, hoping that he hadn't messed up and made things worse.

Katie nodded after he walked away from her and disappeared from the room. She had kept the wounded women waiting long enough. If she remembered correctly, Tanner would probably be in the other room with Kirsten.

The warm hand pressed against hers made her take a slightly shorter glance at her compatriot yet again, but she looked away again and resumed her chanting. Her grip tightened the more she thought of her mother which only resulted in a few more droplets of blood that brought color to her necklace. Brooke loosened her intense clutch afterwards, letting her hand fall to her side. It was only when the boy that helped carry Stazia earlier walked up and spoke to her that her eyes finally began fluttering. Life powered into her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank-..."

Tears welled up in her eyes. Brooke's legs nearly gave out. She quickly regained any lost balance before she collapsed to her knees. Brooke finally let her welled up emotions pour out like a waterfall. In less than thirty seconds, she found her head buried the boy's chest and her hands holding his shoulders in a death grip. Her sobs became louder than the store's alarm(that oddly hasn't been taken care of by now). Each tear brought the traumatizing events of today down with it and her overly utilized words became very sentimental.

"Thank you," she cried to the young blond. "Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Alan gasped in shock when the girl jumped into his arms. He just stood there awkwardly for a few moments before he realized what was happening.

"U-Uh, it-it's okay, you know." Finally regaining his bearings, he placed a hand on her back and rubbed it gently to soothe her. He used to do the same thing to Kirsten whenever she felt sad, so he knew it would be effective.

"Everything will be okay. There's no reason to cry. She's fine, everything's...fine."

It was a lie, plain and simple. Everything was not fine. Not fine at all. But he figured that it was what she wanted to hear at that moment. He hoped that she could find comfort in his words, even if she knew that they weren't true.

At the very least, he hoped that it would calm her down.