NO! Alex wanted to scream but the door was closing and he was gone. He was gone and still here and there were hands on him. They were all over him, and Alex tried to move and to fight back but he couldn't. He wasn't strong enough. He wasn't thinking straight. This couldn't be real. This was a bad dream. This was just his imagination and whatever was in the pot he smoked.
He closed his eyes and everything stopped. He felt nothing again and he was alone. Alone in the dark and he was pretty sure he was covering his hears and curled on the ground.
No. That's not what happened. It wasn't that. It wasn't that. The guy was trying to help her. That's it. That's what happened. It wasn't this.
"You don't know that!" the voice of the ceiling monster said.
"But I don't know what it is!" he shouted back.
"You could have known," it accused, "You should have done something. You just walked away."
The last two words thundered in Alex's ears. He walked away. He walked away and it could've been that or it could've been anything else. He didn't know. He couldn't know. But this didn't involve him. It wasn't his fault. He didn't do any of this on purpose.
Emotions he hadn't felt for a long time came rushing back. He said that sort of thing before. It wasn't his fault. He didn't know. He didn't know what was going to happen. He couldn't know what was going to happen. When he opened his eyes, he saw the girl staring at him. She didn't look drunk now but she stared at him with accusing eyes. She was half-dressed and it was clear what happened to her. Next to her, Ashton's spirit stared at him, smothered by the black spirit and glaring at him.
What have you done? his grandfather's voice whispered in his ears.
"I didn't know!" Alex shouted and began screaming it over and over again in almost a rhythm.
Badum . . . badum . . . badum . . .
In the emergency room, Alex's heart beat steadily and the doctors surrounding him breathed with relief. His heart stopped but it was less than five minutes. No damage. Hopefully.