The Keys to My Heart

Chapter Twenty Three - Revenge

Chapter Twenty Three – Revenge

“Hey, have you seen Nicolette?” asked Devon as he spotted Matthew sitting on a bench in front of the math and science building.

“Actually, I’m waiting for her to get her stuff from her science class, but it’s been ten minutes already, so I’m slightly worried…especially when I saw her talking to the new kid earlier.” he replied slowly. “I think the boy sort of looks like you.”

Devon frowned as his eyebrows pulled together in deep thought. “What does he look like exactly?”

Matthew shrugged, “He had sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a crooked smile. He was wearing a leather jacket, dark jeans and—”

Suddenly, Devon swore, “Do you by any chance know his name?”

“Uh, not many people know of it, but there are rumors that his name is Vince, or Vincent or something…” he replied.

Without warning, he took off into a sprint towards the entrance of the science and math building. “Vincent…” mumbled Devon in anger. Why here? Why now? Why was his brother talking to Nicolette?

***

The moment the car had came to a halt, Jerome immediately shoved Nicolette out and forcefully pinned her arms behind her back.

One look around her surroundings and Nicolette was sure that there was no use calling for help. They were in a snow covered forest with no one else around. Her heart sank a little, but she held her head up high as she met Tessa’s blazing glare.

“You know what I hate most about you?” she asked, pausing for a moment before continuing as if Nicolette had already answered. “Everything.” she spat out. “You don’t deserve Devon, but of course he was stupid enough to protect you from me, stupid enough to officially call it quits with me.”

Nicolette rolled her eyes, “It’s not like I really like him. You can have him for all I care.” she replied.

“But he likes you,” interjected Vincent, “and he’ll do anything to save you.”

“How do you know?” demanded Nicolette.

“Oh, I’ve been watching, but how can I not notice it? I’m his brother, after all.”

She stared at the male. How could she have not noticed before? Most of his features reflected Devon’s and Lillian’s. For a moment she stayed silent before she asked the question that was burning in her mind. “Why? Why are you here? Why are helping Tessa?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I want revenge just like she does, and knowing that you’re the one he likes makes this current situation more interesting…” Vincent gave a cold smile. “See if he’ll come save you now.”

Without warning, Tessa stepped forward and her fist flew out, colliding with Nicolette’s nose. Her punch wasn’t the best, but there was a terrible crunch and blood started to flow out. “That was for stealing my boyfriend!” she yelled.

As much as it hurts, Nicolette kept a poker face. She wasn’t going to let Tessa have the satisfaction she wants; in fact, she thought it be interesting to taunt her. “Is that all you can do? A weak punch from a weak girl?” she spat out.

Tessa’s eyes flared as she kicked Nicolette as hard as she could in the stomach and then punched her in the face again. She smirked, satisfied at what she did as she grabbed her hair. “Let’s play a game. It’s called how much pain you can take before you’re dead.”

Nicolette gritted her teeth, feeling as if her lunch would come up her stomach. She wasn’t going to give in just yet... “Like I said, is that all you got?” she wheezed, squaring her eyes towards Tessa.

Another kick and another punch came her way. Nicolette’s legs threatened to buckle from underneath her; however, Jerome kept her standing up. By now she felt distant and faint, almost semi-conscious.

“I think that’s enough.” commented Jerome, looking half nervous and half scared.

Tessa shot him a look, “Not yet, there’s one more thing missing.” she replied, as she revealed a pocketknife.

“You’re not going to—” began Jerome.

“No!” snapped Tessa. “But I am going to—”

 Suddenly, there was music blaring from Nicolette’s jean pocket, turning Tessa’s attention to her. “Vincent, check who it is.”

Within seconds, he reached into Nicolette’s pocket and looked at caller ID. Even though it didn’t have Devon’s name on it, he knew that the number was his, “It’s Devon.” he said as it stopped ringing.

“Alright, call back and have Nicolette talk to him.” ordered Tessa before looking at her. “And of course you will tell him that you’re perfectly fine…or else.”

The moment Vincent pressed redial and shoved it against Nicolette’s ear was the moment that Devon had answered.

“Nicolette?”

“Yeah?” she managed to breathe out.

“Are you okay? Where are you? Is my brother with you?” he demanded.

“Yeah I’m okay…” she replied slowly, trying to think of what to answer next. “I’m just outside; you know playing in the snow and no, he’s not with me.” she lied.

Nicolette heard a deep chuckle from the other line.

“That doesn’t answer my question. Are you somewhere on campus? I’m going to come and find you because there’s going to be a snowstorm soon.”

Again she went silent. “I’ll be fine; don’t you worry about me so much. I’ll talk to you later; my phone is probably running out of battery right now.”

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“Uh…uh, I just want to say that—”

Abruptly the phone went dead. Nicolette’s head spun as Vincent took the phone away and slid it into his pocket. For a moment, she glanced up into the sky. It looked as if the snowflakes were falling down pretty quickly.

Jerome followed her gaze and gulped, “Tessa, if we don’t leave soon, my car is going to be stuck here for a while.”

She was silent, debating if it would be reasonable to stay any longer. “Alright, let’s go, but before we do, take off her boots, and jacket Vincent. She’ll have a long way to walk…”

Within two minutes, Nicolette had watched helplessly as the three drove away. With nothing to keep her warm, she was sure she was going to freeze within a matter of minutes. Slowly, she sat back onto the snow and closed her eyes. This was nice and peaceful, while her whole body was in pain, but something still bothered her. What was Devon going to say to her before her phone went dead? As much as she tried to ignore it, she couldn’t get it out of her mind and before long, she was trying to look for a road. Even with her half frozen arms and legs, she was determined to find someone who could help her, anything to survive, anything to see Devon, her mom, her friends one last time. The more she walked, the more the forest started to clear away again, until suddenly she couldn’t walk anymore and fell onto hard ground.

Laying half conscious, Nicolette could only think of one thing. This was it. She was going to be dead soon enough.

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Dum, dum, dum! Haha, thought I'd leave it here for now. Comment and I will be posting another story soon.