Gone Forever? #duskwood

Chapter 22

Jake's pov:

Three days passed since I talked to MC. I feel so devastated. How could I say all those things to her? She must be feeling betrayed. She must be hating me. Her hatred was the last thing I wanted from this earth.

Alex was a heartless monster. He doesn't care for anyone. His eyes, they kind of look similar... To someone else's eyes, but I don't know who. He is completely devoid of any emotions. I can't believe I actually thought of us being friends all those years ago.

Damien, another one of the hacker group, the most decent of them all, came to me.

"I am so sorry he is doing this to you, Jake." He said, looking at me with sympathy.

"Like you actually care." I huffed.

"I do, Jake. I do. I can't see you like this. You don't deserve this."

"Why are you still working with him? Wasn't he the one to strangle your brother? He killed your brother, Damien!"

"I know, Jake." He paused, remembering the tortourus memory.
"That's why I don't want him to hurt my other family members.. I can't bear to loose someone else."

"Damien.. Look, I am sorry to make you remember that... But if we all work together against him, we will out power him! He doesn't even have his mafia with him now thanks to-"

I paused.. Should I mention her in front of Damien?

"MC? Thanks to MC?" He guessed.

"Y-yes."

"Well, ah, yes... That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I heard Alex talking to Arthur and Sebastian. He mentioned something about getting rid of MC. I think they are trying to kidnap her or worse.. Kill her-"

"No! He won't dare to do that! I'll kill him if he does anything to her!"

"Calm down, Jake." Damien frowned.

"How can I calm down? MC should not get hurt. I don't think I'll be able to survive without her. I need her, Damien. I love her!"

"I can understand you Jake. Alex doesn't care about anyone. He is selfish! I hate him but what can I do?"

"Help me escape. I'll help you to get rid of him with MC's help! Please Damien!"

Before he could respond, Alex walked into the room. He wasn't at all pleased to see Damien in front of me. Damien tensed, he was still scared of Alex. Unlike the others, he isn't working with him for money, like me, he was forced to.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" Alex glared at Damien.

"N-nothing. I am sorry." Damien stammered.

"Then get lost, now!'"

Damien looked at me with guilty eyes and left.

"I hate you Alex." I said to him.

"I know."

Alex said with an uninterested tone. Who am I kidding, of course he doesn't care.

"You are so selfish Alex! How can you be like this?"

"Why shouldn't I be selfish? I have no one in the world to care about." He just shrugged.

"Yeah right. A person like you deserves no one, anyways." I sneered.

"Shut up!" Alex yelled and then gulped. He looked away from me, seeming to be in his thoughts.

"My parents left me and my sister alone in our house with just a note saying that we were a burden to them so they just left us! With no money and no food! I was just 8 years old and my sister.. She was just 4!"

What? I didn't Knew that. For the first time ever, I saw emotions in his eyes- sadness, anger, betrayal..

"What?" I asked quietly.

"Yes... Those monsters just left us like that! My dear sister... She was crying uncontrollably and I couldn't do anything to stop her tears.. I just sat there, my eyes fixed on that note. 8 Year old me didn't know what to do." His voice cracked.

"The neighbors heard my sister's cries and came to our rescue. They took the note from me as I wasn't able to utter a word. They understood the situation. When our parents were there, they all pretended to love us like their own children but, when we needed them the most, no one helped!" Rage overtook Alex's emotions as he continued.

"They sent us to an aweful orphanage. The warden, she was so cruel and selfish. She made us work all day and barely gave us proper food. All other children in the orphanage, were either too cruel themselves, or too quite to stand up against her cruelties.

"In a blink of an eye, my and my sister's life was in complete darkness. Why did our parents do that to us? Why did they just leave us like that? What did we do to deserve that torture?"

This was the most vulnerable I had ever seen Alex. He seemed to be pouring his heart out in front of me.

"I was done with being miserable! I wanted to live my life! I wanted money, a lot of money! So I ran away at the age of 16... That's when I met him, Steven. He came up to me when I was sitting near a dumpster, crying. Crying for everything that happened to me. Crying for being selfish to just leave my sister alone in that hell hole.

"He helped me, gave me food and a home. He treated me like a brother. Taught me hacking and that's when we started this organization. He brought more people like me. But his goal was completely different from me. But you know what? Being around selfish people, living that hellish life, I became someone I never wanted to. I became just like them! They forced me to become this! They forced me to become this heartless monster! I never wanted to be like this! All I ever wanted was a normal and happy life!"

He started punching me again and again. He was taking out his frustration on me. His story was indeed heartbreaking.. I didn't knew Alex suffered all of that. But his situations doesn't justify his crimes. I know what he did to Steven despite everything he did for him. I was about to pass out again but he stopped.

I regained my consciousness and stared at him.

"What about your sister? How could you just leave her like that?" I asked him as I regained my breath.

"I didn't wanted to.. My sister was the only family I had. But I thought that someone would adopt her, she was a smart cute girl. Her eyes, were always full of hope. She would talk to me every night before sleeping. She loved me dearly and I loved her too.

"She was always optimistic despite the turmoil of lives we were living. She kept saying that everything would be alright one day and we just needed to wait. Her words would heal my broken heart. Just looking in those pretty eyes of hers, similar to my own, which she got from our mother, if you could even call that witch that, gave me immense hope and pleasure.

"One day, while cleaning the orphanage, she accidentally spilled some water over the place. The cruel warden, slapped her so hard, my blood boiled. She started screaming at her. My sister kept apologizing but the witch didn't stop.

"That was it. That's when I decided I couldn't wait any longer. I stole money from the warden's office and ran away. I ran away to make money so that I could come back and take my sister with me, if she hadn't been adopted. She deserved the world. I ran away for her.

"But three years later, when I came back to get her... I found out that she had ran away the week before. I was broken. She followed my path, I never wanted her to do that. The struggles, the cruelty, the dangers of the world, my sister didn't deserve a bit of it!

"That's when I regretted my decision of running away. I searched for her everywhere, but I was unsuccessful. Then I just gave up. I lost my humanity, my sanity. I lost my everything! And chose this dark path of the criminal world. I don't know where and how my sister is, if she's even alive.. I can never forgive myself for running away that night... My dear sister.... I am so sorry..."

Alex just walked away in tears,  sobbing quietly. This was him, this was Alex.. Not that pathetic monster I had known. I felt bad for him, how can his parents just leave them like that? And his sister- I wonder where and who she is? Is she fine? Alex really loves her.... It was odd to say 'Alex' and 'love' in the same sentence.. But.. His sister... She was capable of bringing him out of his darkness...