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Chapter 1.
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"I can't believe she would do that! How dare she?" I chuckled as Claire ranted on about what some girl did to her at her track practice earlier.
I didn't do any sports; I was usually in the library all afternoon, if I wasn't, I was with my friends because they didn't have any type of practice or lecture at the moment. It wasn't that I hated sports or anything... it was that I was probably physically incapable of running even thirty meters without tripping over my own feet. But hey, I was still fit because my roommate always dragged me to the gym with him saying he needed a spotter. As long as there was no running involved, I was good.
"That looks heavy." I shot a glare at Shiloh when he joined us while we were walking across the clearing towards the parking lot. Being the kind of friend he was – and obviously Claire as well – he didn't bother offering any help aside from his comment.
"Yeah, I didn't notice." I muttered sarcastically as I moved my arm around the books in my arms trying, unsuccessfully, to make it easier to carry.
My bag was already filled.
"You have heard of the internet, right?" Shiloh kept poking at me.
"I prefer more reliable means of study then celebrity pictures captioned with fake quotes from historical figures." I replied. He chuckled as Claire laughed.
"You're coming to James' tonight, right?" He asked.
"No, I have an assignment to finish." I said.
"When's it due, Alex?" he gave me a look. I gave him a tight, guilty smile, let's just say I didn't HAVE to finish it today, but I preferred getting things done as soon as possible, "Come on, Man, even the girls are coming. You never take a night off!" he said.
"I'll take nights off when I graduate." I shrugged.
"Yes, two years from now, amazing. No wonder you can't find a guy." I shot him a glare.
"He's right, you know." Claire waved a chip at me. "How is anyone supposed to fall for your adorable face when they never even see you?"
"Adorable? Really? You couldn't find a better word?" I frowned at her before I rolled my eyes. "I don't need anyone." I said.
"Hah." Claire began laughing. "Shiloh, tell him." She looked at Shiloh.
"Man, you need to get laid. Everyone can see that. You practically fricking radiating stress and obviously that stress is not academic or financial." Shiloh said.
I felt my face burn as both my best friends stared at me waiting for me to reply.
"Uh... I'll- I'll see you guys on Monday. Tell AJ I send my regards, Claire." I said.
They both groaned. "See, you can't even speak like a normal person anymore! You have no social skills!" Claire said.
"Alex, help us, help you." Shiloh said taking my shoulders and looking at me seriously. I laughed.
"See you guys later," I said seeing my roommate waiting for me at his car.
"Wait, let's see something –" Shiloh ran over to my roommate, Jordan's car, "Hey, J. Quick question. What will you be doing tonight?" he asked as they fist-bumped.
"Party at James'" Jordan said as he fist-bumped my hand before hugging Claire. Shiloh turned to me giving me a pointed look, Jordan laughed, "Another night in? You cannot be serious, Alexander!" He said to me. I rolled my eyes at the use of my entire name.
"You're wasting your life!" Shiloh cried.
"By not getting drunk and grinding against random people I don't know before heading to a random room, well, if we're lucky enough for it to be a room, to do the dirty and possibly – actually probably get an STI I haven't even heard of?" I asked.
"'Do the dirty'?" Jordan stared at me like I was some type of alien, "Are you guys sure he's male? Are you sure he's even human? Because I'm not." he said to our friends.
"Neither are we." Claire shook her head. She didn't sound like she was joking.
"And we're highly starting to doubt it." I kissed my teeth frowning at my friends, "See you later, Jordan. Enjoy your weekend of solitude, Alex." Shiloh patted my back before Claire hugged me saying her goodbye. I greeted them before Jordan and I left.
We lived in a two-bedroom apartment not that far from our college. He worked in sales to pay his half of the rent, even though his father offered to pay it for him (Jordan would always say something about being 'independent') while I used the money I had inherited from my parents after they got killed. I would work but I wanted to focus solely on school.
The ride home consisted of him relaying stories about basketball practice and trying, unsuccessfully, to convince me to join them at James'.
When we got home, I went straight to my room and threw most of my clothes off leaving me in just my boxers before I walked to the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge along with the last bag of cheese puffs from the cupboard before I walked out and walked towards Jordan's room.
"How do I look?" I rolled my eyes before I ran them over him. He was a little bit bulkier than I was; his blue and black shirt clung to him a little. He wore a black jean and high-top sneakers.
"Honestly? The same as always." I admitted.
"Alex." He frowned at me. I chuckled.
"Woman won't be able to keep their clothes on when they look at you." I almost rolled my eyes as I said that.
"That doesn't help, I know they won't." He said. We laughed as he grabbed his car keys, "Don't have too much fun." He gave me a blank stare, his voice laced in sarcasm.
"I'll try not to." I smiled. He rolled his eyes.
"Alex, you really ought to get out more. I'm serious, I'm worried about you." He looked concerned, "Don't expect me back tonight." He smirked and left.
I turned and made my way back to the kitchen finishing what was left of the puffs in the bag. I was still starving... I looked through the cupboards cursing silently at the fact that Jordan and I had been too busy (and lazy) to actually buy any groceries. I knew I would be too lazy to cook right now anyway.
I glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after five. I would just order something in a few minutes. I went upstairs and sorted my books out before I decided to just read over the assignment I had gotten earlier.
What I thought would be a few minutes later resulted in being a few hours, and the only reason I stopped doing work was because my head was starting to ache because of my hunger.
It was almost eight when I gave in to my hunger and dropped my pen. I got dressed into what I had been wearing earlier and pulled a jacket over it because it looked windy outside.
The store was a fifteen minute walk away from my apartment and it closed at nine. I left shoving my phone into my pocket as I walked along the side walk. I pulled the box of cigarettes from my pocket and lit one. It was a bad habit I picked up after my parents died and I began stealing cigarettes from our gardener because it relieved me a little. According to my friends I had quit smoking a while ago. I only had one now and again so it wasn't that bad of an addiction.
Jordan and I lived in a pretty middle-class neighbourhood. The houses weren't that big but most were taken care of so it looked pretty clean, the paving (amongst other things) needed to be re-done but it was good enough.
I watched as one car drove by me, it was a white van. Looked like a delivery truck. What was a delivery truck doing at night? Passing through the middle of a city, no, that made no sense... Well, it had no logo so maybe it wasn't a company vehicle. I watched as it disappeared around a corner. I walked by the park and a few more houses before I reached the store.
I bought the things I wanted along with a few things I knew Jordan liked eating before I left to make my way back home. I had just reached the park when my eyes fell on a fluffy little white thing not that far from me.
"Sammy?" I called. The dog looked at me and barked happily as she ran over to me. I chuckled kneeling down to give her a pat, the tag on her neck proved it was Sammy. She was our neighbour's dog. I chuckled guessing that she had snuck under the fence gain, our elderly neighbour, Mrs Davids, hated when she did that. "Bad girl." I mumbled with a smile as she kept jumping against me.
I decided to take her home but as I reached to pick her up, she went running into the road.
"Sammy –" I jogged after her following her into the park. "Sammy, come back here –" I stopped as I found myself in front of a foam factory. I tried to call for the dog but I was cut off by the sound of screeching tyres.
I dropped my groceries as I jumped to the side just as the white van from earlier came seeding out of the factory. It had slowed for a second when its lights had landed on me and swerved. I cried out as loud shots went off before the van swerved and fell onto its side. I stood frozen for a few seconds watching as its door fell open letting brown bags fall out into the street, some broke and sent a puff of white smoke all over the road. I was completely shocked by the scene in front of me, but I was quickly jerked out of it when I heard shouting.
I shifted behind a tree and held my breath praying that no one had seen me, but I knew the driver of the van probably had.
"Make one move. I dare you." My heart pretty much stopped as a voice came from behind me. I looked to see a guy standing with a gun in his hand pointing it right at my forehead.
I lifted me hands shaking my head. I didn't trust my voice but I felt the need to speak, "I-I- " I cried out as his gun met my temple.
"Shut up. Move." He shoved me making me step out from behind the tree into the view of the white van.
I watched as someone tried to climb out of the van only to get shot in his head. I felt myself shaking while I watched as he fell back into the car before more shots were fired at it.
I covered my ears as the man behind me fired a shot and it hit one of the people that had shot the truck.
I heard curses. I glanced behind me contemplating running. He was distracted by them, but if I ran; chances are I would get shot in the back.
"You're fucking dead!" I heard someone shout from behind the factory walls.
"I'll kill your friend!" The man behind me shouted. He thought I was with them!
"I-I'm not –" I cried out as he slammed his gun into the back of my head.
"Shut up!" No. There was no way I was dying. Not after everything I had been through.
"You're dead either way, Rick." A shot fired and I took advantage of the temporary distraction when he fired back.
I turned and shoved his arm further out of my line before I kicked him in his gut. I grabbed the his hands as he fell over and stepped on his wrist so he let the gun go before I turned to him as I backed away.
"Stay – stay where you are –" My voice cracked, hands shaking so badly as I held the warm metal that I could see gun point moving off target.
I wasn't going to shoot him; I just needed to scare him so I could run.
"Wait – wait – I'll let you go." He looked at me holding his hands up as he got to his feet slowly. We were still hidden behind the tree.
I held the gun tighter trying to stop my shaking. "Stay!" I shouted. The sound of sirens made me tense up and I saw his hand move to his side and grip another gun.
I shut my eyes as an ear-piercing shot went off and I felt warm liquid spray onto my face. I let out a croak as I the gun dropped from my hands before I brought them to my face seeing him on the ground. I shot him. I shot him!
I turned and began running only to get speared into the grass of the park. "Who do you work for?!"
"N- No one! No one! I-I – I don't know – I didn't see anything, please – I promise I won't tell anyone –" I let out a panicked sob as I felt a gun against my temple. "Please – please –"
"Clyde, kill him! We need to move." A car hooted.
I swallowed as I looked at the man above me. My breath caught in my throat. I had seen him before, just outside of my school... He smirked and I realised he recognised me as well. "He might actually be helpful though." He muttered.
Before I could begin to think about what that meant, I felt a bard hit against my temple before everything went black.
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Chapter 1! :D Please tell me what you think of it so far, share and vote.
- Joey.