No, no, no, no... No! There was just no other word for it, Greer couldn't handle the sight of that brick. In what world would they need a brick to help a suicidal kid stay alive? Was the brick a metaphor? Was it even a brick? Maybe it was a little box and the real answer was inside it, "so Johanna... About that brick?" Greer asked with her last spark of hope.

"Yeah what about it?" Johanna said as she stopped the car in front of the abandoned apartment building that Claire was still squatting in. "It's a brick, you know, for building walls," she explained plainly as she unfastened her seat belt and exited the car, brick now in hand. Greer had become very annoyed at this point, her confused anger caused her to stumble with her seat belt, giving Johanna a window to enter the building first. "You can wait in the car if you want, the distraction was the most important thing I needed from you," she called back once Greer got her door open.

"Johanna wait a second! Please!" Greer pleaded as she finally got out of the car, but Johanna didn't listen. Once she was inside the building she wedged a plank of wood against the wall and the door's handle; no one was going to stop her from saving Claire. When Greer couldn't get the door open she started to pound on it instead, "Johanna! Johanna no!"

 Claire could hear all the commotion, she still hadn't taken any pain killers so she was taking in all of this commotion with an almost clear mind. "Johanna? I'm not in danger, this is just where I hang out after school, you can leave," Claire was uneasy about this whole situation, Greer's yelling made that unease turn to fear. She quickly hid the pain killers and pocket knife into her backpack so the scene looked less dangerous, maybe that would convince Johanna to leave.

It didn't, Claire's talking made it easy for Johanna to find her, she was only a few rooms away. "This will all be over soon Claire, you'll be able to go back home and hug your parents, start a new happier life," Johanna tried her best to keep a normal speaking voice but her heightened sense of purpose made her words come out more like a heroic monologue tonally. She held the brick behind her back as she turned the corner to finally see Claire, whom was currently standing in the furthest corner of the room away from Johanna. She smiled and her head tilted to the left a bit, this was her chance, she was going to divert a disaster. Claire started to sink into her position, lowering her body down till she was almost sitting, she instinctively held her arms up to act as a shield between her head and Johanna.

Johanna kicked aside pillows and bits of trash as she approached the defenseless high schooler. The way she continued to hide the brick behind her back was so obvious, anyone would know she was hiding something, in Claire's mind it was a gun. She started to cry, no where left to run, nothing she could use to defend herself but her arms, Johanna getting closer every second. Greer managed to pound on the door enough to get the plank of wood to dislodge from its wedged position, allowing her to finally enter the building. "Claire! Scream!" maybe that would snap Johanna out of it, Greer hoped, but Claire couldn't muster up anything other than more sobbing.

Greer walked into the room just as Johanna stopped advancing, standing over Claire imposingly, only four inches away from each other. "w..w... what do I do... what did I do wrong... w...wha.." Claire finally managed to stammer once she saw Greer, seeing her as the hero Johanna wanted to be recognized as. Johanna let out a smug singular chuckle before she stood aside, giving Claire an opening to dash away. Greer motioned Claire to take the opportunity, she shakily stumbled up to her feet and attempted to make a break for it. With her defenses down, Johanna was given a clear shot.

She lifted the brick high above her own head, then brought it down right against the top of Claire's. There was an audible crack as Claire's skull gave way for the brick's impact, blood started to spill out over herself as she fell unconscious and collapsed onto the dirty floor. She laid motionless, not even a single muscle spasm, her body only continued to bleed from the brick induced skull fracture. Greer screamed at the sight of it, the absolute brutality, her friend committing a murder in cold blood.

Johanna wiped some blood off the brick, which had managed to stay in one piece, as she stepped past Claire back toward the exit, "call an ambulance Greer, then we're leaving." Those were the only words she said before leaving the building, she just sat in the car waiting for her friend to return.

Greer couldn't compose herself, how could she? Some of Claire's brain was exposed for god's sake! She nearly dropped her phone twice as she fished it out of her pocket, she failed to dial 911 twice, 912 and 991 wouldn't cut it. Her ears were ringing from the trauma of the situation so she didn't know if her call got through or if the person on the other line was talking. "Send an ambulance to... t.. to 3343 Cedar street now," she hung up after that. This was a crime scene and she didn't want to be here when the police arrived. Johanna honked the car horn twice, Greer's ears weren't ringing hard enough to block that out; they helped her focus on the situation at hand. She didn't want to be here, so she had to move, she could think logically enough to come to that conclusion. Greer found herself in the passenger side seat of the car once more; with the door closed and locked Johanna drove them away. They went back home, not directly, but they ended up back home after a few extra unnecessary turns to hopefully throw off any possible followers. Greer had passed out during the drive, Johanna thought it'd be best to just leave her there till she woke up naturally.

Claire was not dead, she woke up a few times as she was handled by police and medical staff, though she fell back under shortly after each wake up. Her head was patched up enough to stop the bleeding as the ambulance drove her to the hospital. It took six hours for Claire to wake up for more than a couple seconds, recognizing where she was as soon as she did. Her head hurt like hell and her whole body was tingling, she couldn't move her arms or legs but she could still speak. A nurse was walking past her room, she managed to gasp at them a couple times incoherently to get their attention. He looked over, noticed she was awake, then quickly called out to her doctor and a police officer that was still in the building.

The doctor assessed some of her vitals and motor functions, as Claire went through them her body stopped tingling as much. Her arms and legs would move again, she was talking very slowly at first but her speech normalized in mere minutes; it was almost as if she wasn't hit by a brick at all. Her head still hurt, her skull was still fractured, but she was otherwise unharmed, she didn't even seem to have any memory loss (as far as she knew). Claire recounted what happened to the officer as best she could, telling the story of how she would hang out in that abandoned building as if it were a club house, and that a loose brick fell down from the ceiling and... That's all she could remember. The officer noted down her testimony, thanked her for her time, then left.

The doctor stepped away to look over her medical records and insurance information, the nurse used this opening to attempt some bedside manner. He was a student, hoping to become a doctor one day himself, and since Claire seemed fine he didn't see any issue using this moment for some hands on experience. Claire began to chat more openly, thinking this whole situation was just a dumb mistake that was her own fault; why would she hang out in a run down building like that? She was practically asking for the roof to cave in on her head. The nurse pulled out a piece of paper that accounted for her personal effects, when he saw the bottle of unopened pain killers he got suspicious of her previous story. "Do you think you could tell me why you were carrying so many pain killers around?" he tried to ask it in a casual manner, not wanting to out right accuse her of being suicidal.

"No, I have no idea why I would have so many of those on my person. I mean, I don't even experience pain regularly, there's no reason for me to have those," she stated plainly, almost robotically. The nurse didn't know whether or not to doubt this, but she seemed like a good kid, probably wasn't going to kill herself in a dusty old building. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got a brick to the head for it, could happen to anyone.

The nurse didn't notice it but she did, she thought that isn't how she talks, and that her backpack was already heavy enough as it is, why would she carry around something she didn't want? Not even she knew at this point, nor did she really care. If her story was true, she was lucky to be alive which feels... Good right? Being alive is what she wanted isn't it? Thinking about it more made her head hurt, she requested the nurse leave her alone so she could rest; she fell asleep soon after, having a dream that she didn't remember in the morning.