Hallelujah

chapter sixty-three

I tore my dress up into tiny shreds with the help of a sharp wire poking out from the bed. Each strip of dress I coated lightly in the alcohol I had left in the bottle, the tiny ass flask held a lot more than I thought it would. I laid the pieces of dress evenly around the perimeter of the room making sure each piece touched each other and that it was in contact with every wooden beam on the walls.

I stood back and looked at it praying to God that this was going to go as planned. All I had to do now was to get Spencer in here, and I'm not going to lie I was terrified. I took my bobby pins and started to pick the lock as quietly as I could. Soon I felt the door unlock and I swung it open. Two boys stood outside my door with a shocked expression.

"Spencer isn't gunna like that," one of them said rudely shoving me back into the room and slamming the door. I heard them talk through a walkie talkie of some sort and soon I could hear loud footsteps pounding down the hall. I picked up one of my heels in defense and backed away from the door.

The door swung open and there stood Spencer. I held my shoe up as if it were going to stop him and he laughed at me.

"Oh Alex, it's no use to try to hurt me, you and I both know I could do worse," he whispered walking closer to me.

"You're a freak," I said backing up a bit more. The back of my legs hit the edge of the bed and I felt my heart beat speed up.

"What did you just say?" he said angrily.

"You're a freak," I said louder. He ripped the shoe out of my hands and pushed me against the wall, his hand around my neck, practically choking me.

"One more time dear," he said in my ear now.

"You're a freak!" I struggled to scream out. He threw me to the side and threw the shoe at me.

"Alex, how dumb can you be? Don't you realize, you're stuck here now!" he said laughing. I laid on the ground and looked around frantically. Once I noticed the loose piece of wood hanging from the door frame I ripped it off and held it close to me. I stood up facing away from him and lit the tip of it on fire with the small lighter I had. It slowly started to burn but soon the flame was growing. "What are you doing?" Spencer said with a mean look on his face.

"Trying," was all I said before I set the flaming piece of wood down on the ripped up dress that was soaked in alcohol. The whole room started to fill with flames quickly and I sprinted out. I had no clue where I was going, it was like I was in some sort of tunnel system so I just kept running. I heard two people coming up from behind so I ran into the closest room.

I slammed the door behind me and turned around trying to catch my breath.

"Alex?" I spun around and back up a bit.

"Josh?" I asked shocked. I looked around the room terrified looking for something to use as a defense weapon. He started walking towards me and I ran by him and to a small sink where there was a hand mirror lying face down.

"Alex, listen to me," he said walking slowly towards me. I slammed the mirror and against the counter and it shattered. I grabbed the biggest piece and held it as if it was a knife. I was gripping it so tight I felt some blood start to trickle out of my palm. "You need to get out of here, now," he said calmly.

"What?"

"Go, take 3 lefts, go up the flight of stairs and then to your right will be a door. Go," he said calmly. I felt tears starting to form and I slowly walked to the door. Before I opened it Josh grabbed my shoulder. I pulled away and gave his face a small cut with the glass from the mirror. He lifted his hand and covered it and laughed a little. "here," he said handing me my phone. I grabbed it quickly and then ran out.

I followed his directions exactly, when I reached the flight of stairs a boy with blonde hair came in and tried to grab me but I got him good with the glass and I sprinted my way up. Once I reached the top I ripped a part of my shirt and tied it around my hand to stop the bleeding from the glass.

I was almost out.

I slowly just started walking out pouring what was left in the flask behind me. I heard voices starting to get closer but I didn't even care anymore. I reached the door and I walked out but before I did I bent down and put the lighter to the line of alcohol I had spilt and everything slowly started to fill with flames.

I walked out into the lawn of the house and watched it as it slowly started to burn.

There I stood. Covered in ash, blood, and sweat.

Brendon's POV:

It was the next morning and we were finally coming up on Randel Lane. I felt my heartbeat speeding up as I prayed we would find her. We drove up the street slowly looking intently everywhere.

"Guys," Ryan said shocked.

I pulled the car over and looked at him and Patrick in the back seat.

"What?" I asked.

"Alex's phone just came back on the grid," he said confused.

"What? Where is she?" I asked excited and scared.

"Oh my god," Hannah said. I looked at her and she pointed to a house only a few houses up the road that was up in flames. My heart dropped and I sped up to it.

Outside of the house stood a girl covered head to toe in bruises, blood, ashes, and sweat. Hannah got out of the car and ran to the side walk.

"Alex?" she called. The girl turned around and stared at all of us with blank expressions.

It was Alex alright, but it wasn't the Alex we were all used to.

This Alex had been traumatized.