One Last Portal

6

[??? 9:30ᴀᴍ]
[Aᴅᴀᴍs ʜᴏᴜsᴇ | ᴍᴀɴᴅᴇʟᴀ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛʏ]
ᴡᴄ- 528
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Jesse sighed in annoyance as he tapped his fingers against the antique table, sitting upright to pop his neck.

neither Adam could get a couple hours of sleep so they went up to Adam's attic and used the table Adam pulled out along with a pile of blank papers to plan how to get rid of the alternates.

they had been doing this since dawn and hadn't taken a break, ate or drank barely anything and hadn't gotten up from the same spot for hours.

he scanned over the paper, biting the end of his pencil before crumbling up the paper and throwing it at the nearly overflowing trash can. he groaned quietly at the mess he and Adam made with balls of paper, knowing he would have to clean it up sooner or later.

Jesse jumped and turned around when he heard the attic door open. "oh, sorry I didn't mean to scare you." Lukas said, climbing inside the attic and gently closing the door behind him.

"Adam told me what you guys were doing up here and I wanted to check in on you since I haven't seen you all morning." Jesse sighed and turned back to the table. "how's it going?" Lukas asked softly, walking over to Jesse. "all the ideas won't work."

the attic door opened again and Adam entered with two cups. "anything?" he asked, carrying over the cups of coffee.

Jesse groaned and placed his head in his hands. "no. any idea I had is stupid and wouldn't work." Adam placed down a cup for Jesse and took a drink of his own. "it's really annoying because I want to find a way to get to the bottom of this and.." he cut himself off with another groan.

"Jesse, look at me. listen, you're just tired. both of you are too tired to think properly and are just beating yourselves up over it." Lukas said calmly, rubbing Jesse's back. "you guys should take a break and get something to eat. that and a nap would help clear your head."

Jesse exhaled. "yeah.. you're right. thanks Lukas." "come on, Mark made us breakfast." Adam said, nodding his head towards the attic door. Jesse rose from his seat, grunting at his legs feeling static-y.

there was a sudden scream and a gunshot.

the three looked at each other before racing towards the attic door, downstairs, and towards the source of the noise as they heard another gunshot. the source of the noise was Petra's room. Adam had stopped at Petra's door, grabbing onto the door frame.

Jesse noticed how Adam had stopped suddenly. "oh no.." he muttered to himself, immediately assuming the worst. he ran over to the room and pushed past Adam, Lukas right behind him.

he looked into the room and saw Petra on her bed, pressed against the corner. at the door of the bed was Mark, his face was stunned and also slightly angry. both of them were pale and breathing heavily.

there was a bullet hole in the wall near the door. Jesse sighed, relieved to see Petra and Mark alive. but, something else caught his eyes though.

"Ivor?"

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12/12/22