ACT FOUR:MY HEART IS GOLD
16 YEARS AGO
Alexander's Perspective
"How did things ever get to this?" I whispered as I stared up at the sky. We were both laying on the ground, near the bonfire we had made. It was a beautiful sight yet stars seemed a little less bright with Andrea gone... Ashley sighed and shook her head.
"I don't know...I always knew something was off about Adrian but...I didn't think he was a killer." I sighed also and thought it over.
"I didn't even know things like this could happen..." I laughed in disgust. " I then shivered as I felt the cold grass against my skin. "I miss Andrea..."
"I guess Andrea is the love of your life?" I slowly nodded as I shed another tear. I turned onto my side.
"I just want to touch her again. I want to hold her hand again...I wanna pet her hair and I want her to hug me..." Ashley sat up, looked at me, and raised a eyebrow.
"Sounds like puppy love..." I shrugged.
"I guess...Her hair always feels so nice, you know...Her hair is always soft and it always smells nice. Usually it smells like strawberries and peaches but sometimes it smells like cotton candy...I think every now and then she wears perfume." she looked at me.
"What's the color of her hair--"
"Brownish black." we both looked at each other for a few moments. She sighed and pat my knee.
"Damn...You've got it bad kid..." I sighed and looked away.
"I know...But it's really her fault..."
"How do you mean?" I chuckled and shook my head. I stared at the blades of grass surrounding us and sighed.
"She's the one who's so cute all the time...Maybe if she wasn't so cute I wouldn't have to be lovesick." I looked at her to see her rolling her eyes. She laid down next to me again, laying on her back. I turned over and laid on my back again.
"Ugh. Love, huh? Yuck." I laughed a little. "Can we talk about something else?" I thought a few moments before responding.
"...Don't you have a 'Andrea?'"
"How do you mean?"
"An 'Andrea.' A person you care a lot about and love?" I looked at her. She rolled her eyes again.
"The correct term is a 'lover,' not a 'Andrea' you sucker."
"Yeah. Whatever it's called, don't you have one?" she shook her head slowly.
"...I don't have anyone Lex. Besides from the group I don't have any friends or family..." I frowned.
"Why not?" she shrugged.
"They all died in a fire. It just so happened that I was in school while it happened." my eyes widened. I leaned up and looked at her. I had no idea there was so much violence in the world until today. The idea that could happen...It seemed so unnatural to me. The idea that it could even happened seemed bizarre.
"...Do you remember them?"
"No."
"...You have me." I smiled. She sighed.
"I know but..." she looked at me. "I'm not going to have you for forever you know...You're gonna go back home and you're gonna have Andrea and...everything's gonna be fine for you. I, however..." she looked at the sky again. "I'll go back to the orphanage." my eyes widened a little more. I grabbed her hand.
"Ashley, you can't."
"I have no where else to go."
"You're one of my best friends. You...Y-you can stay with me. You do enough chores and my dad should be fine with it...You can have a place to bunk for a while."
"I don't need a place to bunk I need a place to live."
"W-well maybe you could live there for a while. How old are you?"
"I'm fifteen."
"Well. Than you can live with us until you're eighteen." I smiled. She shook her head again and sat up straight.
"Lex, I'm flattered, but no. I'll be alright. The place isn't that bad... I'll just have to outgrow the place..." I began to tear up as she spoke.
"But Ashley...Adrian...A-Adrian's gonna come back..." I bit down on my bottom lip. "What if he gets you?" as a tear streamed down my cheek, she gasped and cupped my cheeks.
"Don't cry Lex, don't cry..." I shook my head and looked away.
"I don't want to see people get hurt anymore and I don't want to be a bystander anymore..." I shook my head quickly. "If you go back, Adrian's gonna find you and he's gonna get you."
"Lex I'll get him first. I promise."
"I don't want that either!" I stood up and balled my fists. A few more tears came out, and before I knew it I was balling. "I just want peace! I don't want anyone to get hurt and I don't want to do this anymore!" she stood and covered my mouth with her hand.
"Lex, you have to be quiet. You don't know who could be around." I slowly backed away.
"I-I wanna go home. I wanna go home..." she shook her head and walked towards me.
"Lex don't leave me--"
"I'm sorry--"
"Lex wait." she grabbed onto my wrist. I gulped and stopped moving. She took a few steps towards me and used her index finger to point at the sky. "God's got a plan for us. He's got a plan for you and he's got a plan for me. He knows what's going to happen next and whatever is going to happen, he wants to happen. It builds character..."
"Wh-What builds character?"
"...Pain. Pain builds character. I promise you Lex. If I die that's just a part of God's plan. If I don't die, that's also God's plan. God takes sides. But either way, we will be alright...But can you promise me something?"
"...Yes. What is it?"
"...Y-you love Andrea. Correct?" I slowly nodded. "Okay." she took another step towards me and smiled a little. "Okay well Lex, you need to hold onto that for as long as you can." her voice began to tremble as she teared up. "If I die tomorrow, I want you to learn one thing from me... I want you to learn from my mistakes. Do not ever turn your back on her and do not ever...ever, forget to tell her that you love her." she bit her lip. I watched as tears began to stream down her cheeks also. "Okay? D-do you promise? Pinky promise?" she then extended out her pinky finger. I wrapped my pinky finger around hers and nodded.
"I promise."
Andrea's Perspective
I could hear twigs snap from underneath my foot as I took another step forward. I was very tired at this point yet I refused to quit searching for him. So far I hadn't had much luck with finding Alexander but I didn't give up hope. He had to be somewhere, he just had to be. And I didn't believe Adrian's theory on him being dead. Alexander was fragile, but, not that fragile. I taught him better than to just die early on...
"Alex?" I whispered and kept looking. I couldn't see very well, it was now very dark outside and I obviously didn't have a flashlight. "Alex..." I quietly called out his name again. I hoped to see Alexander come out and surprise me yet instead, something else surprised me. I jumped back and gasped as something dropped to the ground in front of me. I looked up and around. I was now standing right under a large tree.
"Hello?" I took a step closer towards the tree and looked up into the branches, searching for some kind of signs of life. I could see barely anything due to how dark it was. "Hello...Is...Is anybody there?"
"Here." I gasped again as I could hear someone whisper. It came from the same area where I heard something drop down.
"H-hello?"
"Come. Over. Here." it repeated. It didn't sound like anybody I knew. It obviously wasn't Alexander or Adrian, I knew their voices quite well and the voice I heard just now sounded nothing like them. This voice sounded tired...and deep, but not too deep. It was a raspy voice that I assumed came from a male. "I won't hurt you, but you can't see me. I wish only to help you..." I slowly began to walk towards it. I extended out my hand and tilted my head.
"W-who are you?" I gasped quietly as I could feel something grip my wrist and pull me forward, causing me to stumble.
"How big are you now huh?" the voice chuckled and loosened its grip on me. "What are you, nine or ten now?"
"I'm eleven."
"You don't sound like an eleven year old." the voice chuckled again. "I remember when you were just a baby..."
"W-who are you..." I asked again before starting to back away. "What do you want with me?" I could hear the voice grunt as tree branches shook. It seemed that whomever was up there was climbing, trying to get closer towards me.
"Stop moving." I obeyed and stayed still.
"What do you want?" there was then silence. I didn't know what to say or do, what was the logical thing to do? The logical thing to do was run. The logical thing to do was to run and get as far away from here as I possibly could. But I wasn't here for any logical reason...I was here to achieve one goal and one goal only. To save my stupid best friend's ass before he got himself killed.
"I want to help you, but I cannot help you too much..."
"Why not?"
"I dropped a flashlight down to where you are. The batteries are fully charged but only use it when you need to, the battery will run out before you know it." I slowly walked towards the spot where something had dropped before. I leaned down to find a flashlight, just like the voice said there would be...I turned it on and turned it towards the branches.
"Don't shine it at me!" I shined the light exactly where the voice was to see a boy. I turned it off quickly, hoping to not irritate him. From what I had seen the boy had brown hair and wore a black hoodie. I made a mental note before replying.
"My apologizes...Why do you have to hide from me?" I walked closer to where I saw the boy. Yet once I got close, he moved.
"I can't tell you...I have already shared too much information. Please, forget about me. I'm not important." I could hear branches shake and leaves drop again as he seemed to move away from me. He seemed to be my only hope despite him saying that he wasn't important. I quickly followed his movements and headed in the same direction.
"Wait! I have a question! C-come back!" there was silence again. I sighed and spoke up, deciding that there would be no harm in trying. "If you meet a boy named Alexander, tell him that I'm here and I'm looking for him."
"...And how would you know that I'm not already aware of his presence?" I smirked and folded my arms.
"Actually, I was hoping that you would say that..."
"...Noted." I smiled a little as I could hear him move away and disappear. I didn't know who the voice or the man was, but I was for some reason hopeful that he could find Alexander before I could. The man seemed to know a lot more about the woods than I did...I turned and began to walk again before I could suddenly hear someone walking behind me. I stopped in my tracks.
"Long time, no see." I gasped loudly as I could feel Adrian wrap his arm around my throat, beginning to choke me as I desperately tried to pry his arm away from me. I began to thrash for a few moments before biting his arm. He growled out loudly before letting go of me. I dropped the flashlight and began to run for my life.
ACT FIVE: ANTI-TRUST
Alexander's Perspective
"Maybe this time things will be different. I can only dream."
When I awoke the first thing I could hear was a voice. A voice singing to me, soothing me. I didn't recognize the voice but it seemed to be the voice of a girl. I felt her hands comb through my hair and touch my face. I smiled, thinking it was Andrea. Goosebumps began to form on my skin. I had the most lovely dream and the idea that she had found me made me feel beyond at peace. I could just imagine her voice calling out to me, searching for me before finally finding me. I smiled a little more as I opened my eyes.
Yet when I opened my eyes I saw Elle. She stared over me, her blonde hair dangling above my face. I immediately screamed and sat up.
"W-what the hell?" I began to panic. I crawled away backwards as she stood and walked towards me. I could barely see her as it was still dark outside, yet the sun was slowly rising and starting to provide some light. "Wh-What are you doing? Why were you touching me, h-how did you find us!?" she put her hands in front of her and began to speak quickly. She seemed to act as if she had a valuable point to make yet I now had a lack of empathy for her. I felt that she had tricked me into believing that she was Andrea. Or at least, she had given me a false hope.
"Lex, please don't be upset. I wasn't doing anything wrong I swear! Just--" she gasped and stopped as we could both hear someone approaching. I looked around for Ashley to see she was gone...Maybe it was Ashley coming closer. I hoped that was the case as I looked to Elle again. I quickly got up off the ground.
"Where is Ashley? How did you find us and what are you doing here?" she seemed to remain focused on whatever was coming closer.
"Lex, we don't have time to talk about this..."
"No, what's going on? Elle just tell me. Hell, are you alright? You really just scared the heck out of me--"
"Lex--"
"What is it? What are you so worried about?" Elle then gasped and covered her mouth. As I turned around, I gasped also. It wasn't Ashley that was coming towards us. It was Adrian. He had blood all over his face, hair, and shirt. He grabbed onto me by my neck and smirked.
"Tag. You're next."