I updated! Eeee! I'm proud :) Thanks for all the EPIC reviews for the last chapter, but I felt a little bit of fluff was needed and it seemed appreciated! And the fluff... is now over. Quinn and Puck's story takes a dark turn in this chapter :) Enjoy, thank you for your support and make sure to read the authors note at the end of the chapter... :)
Cause when I'm in the sun, I see your shadow on the ground...
Quinn was running down the corridor as quickly as possible after her fellow glee clubbers. She had been the last one to leave the room excluding Rachel, collecting her things together before running after Puck. Before she left, she turned to Rachel, beckoning her to get a move on.
"Rachel? Hurry up, yeah?" Quinn said in a slightly panicked tone.
"I'll do my best Quinn. As a matter of fact, I'll probably be outside in a few moments – I'm just collecting together these music sheets for Mr Schue before escaping. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just catch up with Puck, okay? You have Beth to worry about after all," Rachel nodded before going back to collecting together her sheets.
"Alright, I'll see you outside!" Quinn turned away, letting the door fall into place behind her before beginning a run down the corridor. The heat from some of the doors was intense; she could feel it burning against her skin without even touching the door. Without even a second thought she continued running, realising that the school wasn't a safe place to be in anymore.
As she got to the corridor leading to science, she could see a body slumped against the lockers. Quinn could feel the sick rising in her throat and slowed down, stopping to hear what the person was muttering.
"Dear God, please look after Rachel. Make sure she survives this okay. I'm so sorry I never got to tell her how I felt. I hope she never finds out, it might hurt her too much to know. I can't believe the vocal lessons screwed me over like this, but I know you'll look after me God. Please make it quick. I don't want it to last much longer. I wish I hadn't been invisible whilst I was alive, I wish I'd told people where I'd gone. It's too late now, but I know wherever I'm going is better. Please God, make it quick..."
Quinn turned away, emptying her stomach on the floor. She wiped her mouth with her hand, dabbed her forehead with her sleeve and walked down the corridor a few inches to see if there was any chance of saving this boy. As she grew closer in one sickening blow she realised it was Matt.
"Matt!" she called, but her voice was whipped away as the ceiling gave away around him. Tears falling down her face, she turned away and ran as quickly as she could outside – to Puck, to clean air, to survival. As the cold air hit her in the face and she gulped in the oxygen greedily, guilt and pain churned in her stomach. Coughing to try and stop the flow of tears, she stumbled over to Puck who took her in his big, strong arms.
"It's okay to cry, baby..." he soothed, so only in Puck's safe arms did she cry again.
Quinn jolted in bed, the scenes of that horrific day replaying constantly in her mind. She could feel cold tears on her face and her throat was sore, as if she'd been screaming in her sleep. Slowly sitting up, she reached over to the mirror and wiped away the tears, scraping her hair up and fixing it in a bun so she felt a little better. She then reached over for a glass of water, taking huge gulps of the water to try and soothe her aching throat. The guilt of that day was replaying on her mind – this was the tenth nightmare in eleven days. There was only one sensible solution in Quinn's mind: ring Puck and come clean. She grabbed her phone, dialled his number and waited for him to answer.
"Hello?" his groggy voice came through the phone.
"Hi Puck. Sorry to wake you up. Will you meet me somewhere?"
She could hear him coughing and yawning in the background before she heard him shift off his bed, "I'll be at yours in five minutes. We'll go for a drive."
"Okay. Thanks babe," she whispered, putting the phone down and grabbing another coat. She then slipped out of her front door, quietly locking it behind her and waiting on the balcony for Puck. He turned up moments later, beckoning her into his truck. She skipped across the lawn, opened the door and slid in.
"Hey..." she whispered.
"Hi Q, what did you want?" Puck yawned, stretching his left arm and steering with his right.
"I need to tell you something," she stated, and with the look on her face he knew it wasn't good.
"What?" he asked, curiously but nervously.
"Please don't hate me," she looked to the floor of the car.
"I could never hate you, Quinn," he yawned again, pulling over to the side of the road.
"Well... on the day of the fire..." she trailed off and he prompted her to keep going with a swift nod, "I saw Matt. Right before he died of the ceiling collapse. It was my fault he died. I didn't act quickly enough. I ran towards him and the ceiling collapse and I ran Puck. I can't get it out of my head!" Quinn blurted, turning a ghastly white when she noticed the look of stricken horror on Puck's face.
"W-what?" he stumbled over his words, disbelieving all Quinn had said.
"It's true. I'm so sorry!" Quinn burst into tears. Puck did nothing to comfort her.
"Oh," Puck just stared into thin air, not knowing what to do, "You were right."
Quinn looked up at this, a look of pain in her eyes.
"What about?" she sniffed.
"It is your fault he's dead," Puck didn't know where the words came from. Was it from his grief? Was it because of his sheer exhaustion? As soon as he spat the words out he wanted to take them back, seeing Quinn's face crumple as she grabbed the door handle and jumped out of the car.
"Quinn! Wait! I didn't mean it!" he shouted, but it was too late, she was gone. He slammed his head on the wheel, leaned over to slam Quinn's door shut and drove off in an angry rage.
Quinn was exhausted from running from Puck. She was exhausted from the pain of the repeated nightmares and the constant guilt. Quinn, in short, was exhausted. Slumping into the bush that used to be her secret den as a kid, she reached into her pocket, fumbling around until she felt the piece of glass she'd never thrown away pierce her finger. Smiling at finding it, she pulled it out and drew it across her wrist, slowly and deep, enjoying the relief the pain brought.
"I'm sorry Matt. I'm sorry Rachel. I'm sorry Mercedes. And I'm sorry Puck..." she whispered as she fell into a deep, pain inflicted slumber.
Cliffhanger. And that's it. That's my last update until the first of September or the 30th August if you're lucky. I'm really sorry to leave you here but I'm going on holiday on Sunday until then. Thank you for your support and sticking with my story and it'll be back then! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review :)