Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 36

"I wanted to show you something, but..." He turned to me. "This isn't right. Let's leave." He reached out to grab me.

I recoiled from his touch. Not only because I was scared of teleporting again, but because I needed to see what he was talking about.

I pressed my face up to the glass. We were on the left side, where the living room rested in the corner of the house. It allowed for three windows to give natural light to the area- one directly over the front door and two on the side where I was- and I was looking through one of the other two.

Neither one of us spoke. We listened intently at the conversation happening inside while peeking through what the blinds let us see.

Is that...Brady? I rubbed my eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving me. Shit, that is him! I almost hadn't recognized him, it had been so long.

My suspicion turning into full-on accusation and anger, I turned away and cursed.

"That son of a bitch!" I said, punching the ground.

"Shhh!" Zero said behind me.

Only because I wanted to know what was going on, I became quiet and resumed watching him, waiting for my anger to flare up again.

He was on the couch watching a football game. His eyes moved back and forth, looking for blue and black-clad teams moving across the screen.

I felt my fingers trying to create sparks. I held them in. My self-replenishing energy reserves were beginning to restore themselves.

I sighed in relief, but several other harrowing thoughts took up the rest of the space in my mind.

Suddenly, Brady jumped up and screamed in delight. "Yes!" he exclaimed. Someone had scored a touchdown; I guess it was the team he was rooting for.

Typical dude. I didn't care much for it.

Cassie entered the room. "They scored?" she asked hopefully.

My hear clenched- and cracked.

"Hell yeah!" Brady grabbed her by the waist and kissed her passionately.

Several more cracks resounded from inside my chest, reaching my ears.

"Mm," she moaned, kissing him back and pressing her body up against his. "I like that."

Brady broke contact. "Oh, you do, now?" he raised a mischievous eyebrow.

"Ew. I can still read your mind, remember?" Cassie hit his arm playfully. "Keep it away from me or out in the open, please."

"Well..." He grabbed her legs and lifted her up to the ceiling, then placed her delicately on the couch. "Your parents aren't home, right?"

Cassie shook her head, her smile breaking my resolve and fueling my anger at the same time.

I glanced at Zero. He was gripping the brick wall so hard that I knew it would break at any moment.

Only now did I realize that she meant as much to him as she did to me.

Brady lifted a leg over her and placed it over her other side, throwing his shirt off as he did so.

I noticed how different this version of him was versus my foresight. He was a lot more muscular. Way more than me, and chiseled features that amped up my jealousy to the max.

He lowered his head down slowly until he was at Cassie's stomach, which he uncovered with a flick of his hand, and began kissing her. She grabbed his head and began to breath heavily, noises of ecstasy coming from her mouth. She forcefully moved his head lower and lower, until...

I heard it. That defining moment when my heart shattered into a thousand pieces. I could see the shards lying in the small shaft of light closing rapidly against the shadows of my chest.

Actually, that was the brick breaking into pieces inside of Zero's grip, but still.

I forced my gaze away from the window and pulled Zero away as well. I couldn't imagine how it was tearing him up inside.

Of course, he already knew what was going on. He just wanted to show me.

Why? To hurt me? To break me?

No, not that. That's why he changed his mind at the last second. He was trying to help.

Maybe that's been his goal this whole time. Maybe, in some twisted way, he thinks he's making me stronger. Helping me become a better person by being the evil one.

I fell down and lay on my side. I was still in Cassie's yard. She was fucking a guy only a wall away from me and I was right there...broken.

Zero pulled me to my feet, supporting me with his arms. "Hey. Look at me."

I rolled my head to the side, only seeing him sideways.

"I know it hurts now. It always will. But it gets easier, I promise." He furrowed his brow in sympathy.

"We're going to have a huge fight in two days. It will be gruesome. One of us is going to die. The entire world will be at stake." He waited to make sure I was listening. "But if you win, you will be stronger for it."

He let me go so I could stand on my own two feet. I did, engaging myself in this problem. This, I could handle.

Ironically, a world threat was exactly what I needed to pull myself together.

"You'll have to find me, but you know where I'll be," he said in a low voice. Then, he backed up and teleported away.

I resisted the urge to look back inside, and I wasn't sure why. Maybe because I wanted to see it all, to convince myself that this was reality.

This is reality.

This was the thought that calmed me. No matter where I was, future-seeing dreamworlds or real worlds, the universe would always screw me over.

I just had to get used to that.

My powers now strong enough for me to operate, I used my superspeed to head back to the highway. I used the time to calm myself down and close my emotions off from my mind.

Panicking now could have catastrophic consequences.