The Sanctuary

1-Alex

I sighed quietly as I tapped at my desk with my pencil. My eyes focused on the clock that seemed to freeze before ticking to the next second.

I glanced down at my paper, I had finished the entire page for my Psychology course, and yet, the teacher refused to let me get up.

I glanced over at one of my two friends, Lex, who was writing furiously into the answer boxes, hunched over his desk.

His wild brown hair was sticking all over the place, and I pushed away from the temptation to pat my hand on his head.

I returned my eyes back to the front of the classroom where the teacher was writing different definitions on the board, her small beady eyes narrowed at the board. Occasionally, she would look back and glare around the room to scope out anyone not paying attention. 

I looked back to the clock, happy to see that there were only a few moments left in the class. I packed away my pages and just as the bell rang, I was already up and patting Lex on his head to awaken him from his furious writing. 

"Ah, is the class over?" Lex asked, blinking slowly up at me with his golden-brown eyes. Lex had a round face with freckles decorating his cheeks and nose. 

His eyes were slightly drooping, and his plump lips were opened slightly as he sleepily looked around the room before packing up. 

I nodded, nudging him softly, "yeah, let's go meet up with Marcus." I said, grinning as Lex nervously nodded, shyly tucking some of his mousy brown hair behind his ear. 

"Let's," Lex said in a soft voice as he trailed after me down the long hall, weaving through other students caught up in their own lives. 

"Don't worry," I said softly as Lex seemed to shiver a bit in fear from the many people. He was inherently nervous, since the first month he had come from Italy, his home country, he had been terribly bullied. The bullies only stopped because Marcus and I intervened. 

"There's only one class left, and it's science," I said brightly, "Marcus is there as well, and we'll be working on labs together." 

Lex seemed to brighten up at the thought of science class, and a shy smile crept onto his features as we walked through the full halls. 

We soon got to our classroom to find it partially empty, with only the teacher, Marcus, and a few other students talking amongst themselves quietly. 

We made our way over to Marcus who was leaning on his black backpack, looking bored. 

He perked up as we sat down, and grinned widely at Lex's nervous smile and my smirk. 

"So, how was Psychology?" Marcus asked teasingly, his icy blue eyes glinting brightly with mischief as Lex flushed a bright red. 

Both Marcus and I knew that Lex hated Psychology with a passion, and although Lex was as shy as he was, he shoved my arm playfully. 

"Shut up!" He snickered, making us laugh softly amongst ourselves before a soft crackling sound came from the sound speakers above. 

The class went silent as the frantic panting breaths of the Dean gasped through the speakers. 

"Lockdown! This is not a drill! Lockdown! Lock all doors and win-" he was cut off by his own piercing scream, followed by the sound of coughing and a sound of splattering blood. 

For a moment, everything was silent until the speakers squealed with a high pitch wailing that made me snap my hands over my ears and Lex whimper in fear. 

"Now listen up, you brats." A thickly accented voice snarled through the speakers, "if you dare call the police, or resist what we want, we will kill everyone in this entire fucking building." 

I breathed hard, fear and adrenaline flowing through my veins. I grabbed onto Marcus's hand and held Lex's shivering body to close to mine as the man continued. 

"We will be coming through the halls to search for three boys. We will not harm you if you stay out of our way." The man said, and soon, the speaker crackled out, and everything went silent. 

I let out a soft breath, holding onto Marcus tightly as Lex started to sob. I gathered Lex into my arms, hugging him until he stopped shaking as I watched the door. 

The teacher was shaking, unable to move until he simply collapsed in a faint. Some of the girls screamed, covering their mouths in terror. 

I shivered, closing my eyes as I heard a gunshot ring out through the hallways, followed by a piercing screaming of terror. 

Lex sobbed harder, and as heavy footsteps echoed through the empty halls, my blood ran cold. 

"Stay still," I whispered to the two of them, my eyes opening to glare at the door until a large buff man appeared in the door. 

He was wearing a mask with a sort of oriental mask covering his face. He looked back and forth before he leant into a walkie-talkie and spoke softly. 

"I found them." He said in a deep voice, his sharp eyes focusing on me before he started to walk forward. 

I gasped and scooted back, hitting Marcus's chest in my fear. Lex whimpered softly, refusing to look up as the man came forward, reaching out a large hand. 

He grabbed Lex's arm, wrenching him from my grasp, no matter how I cried out and reached for him. The man forced Lex to lean against his chest, Lex's golden eyes gleaming with tears as he cried. 

The man fished a large syringe out of his pocket and grasped onto Lex's arm and pushed the needle into his vein. 

I screamed, covering my mouth to stop my screams, but it didn't last long as Lex collapsed into the man's arms. The man lugged him over his shoulder, and as two other men appeared, stepping into the room and grabbing onto Marcus and me. 

"No!" I screamed, trying to pull away from the man, but as a needle pushed into the flesh of my arm, I went still, gasping softly in pain until I started to spasm, and collapsed into the man's arms.

As my vision blinked out, I was roughly dragged away. I was pushed onto the floor of a large truck, and as the doors slammed, I blacked out.