The Color Line

Cat's Out of the Bag

"W-what do you mean it doesn't exist?"

Alex grabs my hand but I yank it away.

"It's not real," he whispers. "I mean it is but it's not...ugh I can't explain it. All I can say is that I can't let you go back now."

"Why not? I want to know what's going on. That town needs to be stopped! I can't just run away and continue to let families go in there to be treated like my family or almost killed like Nina's family."

"Who's Nina?" He changes the subject.

"The girl that I saved... This," I point to my side, "was intended for her, not me. Your dad was aiming to kill her."

He looks down at his feet and doesn't say a word.

"I'm going back," I tell him. " I don't care what anyone says. I have to get to the bottom of this Alex, and I need you to help me."

"Harmony, I can't. My parents will kill me."

"Since when have you been afraid of your parents?"

"This is serious Harmony. Bad things could happen if we do this. It's dangerous."

"We'd be saving lives. If more and more people go to Sunnytown then...," I pause.

"What's wrong? "Alex asks, taking a step closer to me.

I swallow nervously. "If Sunnytown doesn't exist then how did Jessie find it? How did Nina's family find it?"

Alex's cheeks turn a deep red. He backs away from me.

"What aren't you telling me Alex?" I don't know whether to be scared or pissed off right now.

"I - I'm sorry... I knew that a family was requested but I didn't know who. I didn't know that I would fall..-"

"Requested?!" I interrupt him. "What the hell does that even mean? My family was requested? By who?"

"By- by the town. Well not really the town but a committee that my parents are apart of. They send special emails to families. They usually watch them over social media.. I'm not sure how it works exactly but I just know they send listings for houses. I should have told you sooner. Fuck!" He starts pacing the room and tugging at his hair.

"Alex.. this can't go on any longer. We have to put a stop to this. The police can't and won't help us so we have to do it ourselves."

"I know," he huffs. "It's just dangerous. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"What could happen to me that hasn't happened to me already?" I ask, rubbing my side. It's weird how anxious Alex is right now. It must be pretty serious to have Mr. Bad Boy scared.

"Fine," he surrenders. "But don't tell your family."

"I wasn't going to. They're stressed enough as it is."

He nods and we sit in silence until he leaves about an hour later.

Once I'm alone again, my thoughts begin to spin in my head like a tornado. I know what I'm about to do is probably stupid. Any sane person would just pack their things and move away, pretending that nothing ever happened...but I can't do that. I refuse to do that. Just thinking of what could happen to anyone else who enters Sunnytown sends chills down my spine. They won't be as lucky as my family and I were. They won't have Alex to protect them. Nina's family was set to die as soon as they stepped foot into that town. I guess after killing my family failed, due to Alex, they finally decided to stop the amusing torture and just go straight for the kill.

At least I hope that's why we weren't killed off  quickly.

I lay my head back and cocoon myself under the thin blankets. I'm thinking way too much. I know I am.

Maybe if I drown my thoughts out I'll stop thinking. I grab my phone and my headphones and find the Weeknd's new album on Spotify. I put the buds in and turn the music up as loud as it can go. I may be damaging my eardrums, but I don't care as long as my mind is blank at the moment.

I allow the mellow beats and the transcendent feeling of the music to cast me into a deep sleep.

. . .

When I wake, the first thing I see is Eve's big brown eyes staring at me. She's sitting on the edge of the bed with her hands resting gently in her lap. The same album is still playing so I guess I didn't sleep that long. I look to the other side of the room and my mom is sitting in a chair next to Jessie, but she doesn't look too good. She looks sad. I assume it's because of me being in the hospital, but she knows I'm okay now. She was happy the last time I saw her.

Before I can say anything Jessie starts to speak. I can't hear him but he looks sad too. He doesn't look as sad my mom though. He looks as if he's sad because she's sad.

He gets up and grabs my hand. At this point "I Feel It Coming" is almost over, which is the last song on the album. As soon as it's over and the last beat fades away, Jessie looks into my eyes and says one last thing.

"He passed away this morning."