[ xxvi. CHAPTER TWENTY SIX ]
"Alright, listen up! I'm officially putting this school under lockdown." Sheriff Acosta announces throughout the halls.
"Why don't you try to talk to me? Anything at all... just say anything." Ms. Lang begs while Alex Verona sat in her seat in the classroom, in shock. The tears were still flowing across her face.
Alex Verona was completely broken, while she sat there on her seat, she had thought about the memories she's had with her father. How James Verona would read fables and fairytales to the seven year old Alex as she fell fast asleep.
How James Verona created a huge party for his daughter's tenth party, with a bouncing castle and at the end of the party the father and daughter would have so much fun with the castle.
How James Verona would watch horror movies with his twelve year old daughter, because she wasn't scared at all, though she did cover her eyes during the really gory scenes.
How James Verona held her thirteen year old daughter as she was upset from being rejected and humiliated from a lame ass boy who didn't deserve her at all.
How James Verona waved at her daughter as she walks in to her first day of high school.
How James Verona bought his daughter a car as soon as she got her driver's license, the excitement on her face, he enjoyed. Later, having Alex crash her car after she got into an accident which only worried James Verona, thinking how he could've lost his only daughter.
How James Verona tries to comfort her daughter during the october killings, and how months later she revealed that she was dating Jake Fitzgerald.
Had those arguments, without realizing those were the last time the two would ever speak to each other.
Father and daughter, no more.
"It was all my fault, the last conversation I had with my father was an argument and it's all my fault!" the brunette cries out, as she covers her eyes with her hands, not wanting anyone to see what she looks like.
"It's okay, it's okay. It isn't your fault, none of this is your fault." Ms. Lang tells as she reaches for her hand while Alex stares at her teacher.
Emma Duval felt her phone vibrate as she checks her phone for any messages, she realizes that she didn't get any. She opens her bag seeing an iPhone that doesn't belong to her. She furrowed her eyebrows, seeing it belonged to James Verona. Her eyes widen, as she places the phone back in her bag.
"Kieran, can I talk to you for a second?" she asks while she motions him to the books, as she nods following her.
"You okay?" he asks, concerned over his girlfriend. Emma passes him the iPhone, seeing it was belonged to James.
"It's Alex's father's phone." she whispers to her, very anxiously.
"How did you get this?" Kieran asks, as he was examining the phone. "I found it in my bag." she answers, pointing to her backpack. "What the hell?" Kieran mumbles to himself, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I emptied out my bag last night at home and it wasn't in there. So... that means oh my god. Someone at school must've put it in there." Emma explains, almost having an anxiety attack.
"The only person who could've had this..." Kieran drags on as Emma finishes his sentence. "Is the killer, yes."
Kieran scans the crowd of people, searching for Audrey. Finding Audrey, he motions her to the books where Emma is. "Hey." Audrey greets, looking concerned on why exactly she is here.
"How's Alex? Brooke?' Emma asks while sitting down on the ground. "Brooke is wrecked, I haven't seen Alex but Jake is trying to see her but no luck yet. They are putting her in solitary, that's what I've been told. Okay, what is going on?" Audrey questions as she looks at the two Kieran and Emma.
"God." Emma mumbles, as she stood up, passing the phone to Audrey. Seeing it was her friend's father's phone, she looks over at Emma. "How did you...?"
"I don't know, someone planted it in my bag. Now, I have to figure out how to explain that to the cops." Emma mentions as she was leaving but soon was grabbed by Audrey. "No, don't go to the cops." she tells Emma as she furrows her eyebrows.
"What?"
"It might not be James' phone." Audrey argues, trying to convince Emma. "I just need to give this to the sheriff and let him to do his job." Emma tells her nodding.
"All we know is that someone planted it on you, they wanted you to find it. Emma, do you remember the last time we got played? You nearly got killed, along with Jake and Alex's father is already dead! I'm sorry but we know what's going on now. Whoever did this is trying to control us. It may be a game to them but for us, it's life or death." Audrey explains, finally letting everything sink in with Emma as she closes her eyes. "Oh my god."
Audrey pulls her into a hug as Emma continues to sob.
"Just let me see her! I know she wants to see me! She needs someone with her!" Alex hears Jake yelling outside of the classroom, she bite her bottom lip down as she tries not to cry.
Ms. Lang sighs as she looks out of the classroom's window and then looks back at Alex. "Would you like Jake in?" she asks the brunette as she nods slowly. As soon as the door opens, Jake runs to Alex as the two hug.
Alex sobs in his arms while Jake strokes her head, telling her everything is going to be okay but in reality, it's only the beginning.
Sheriff Acosta had arrived in the classroom to ask the brunette a few questions as they all sat down. "When was the last time you saw your father?" he begins, while Jake wraps his arm around her.
"Tuesday night. We had an argument." she answers blankly, staring at the desk in front of her.
"What kind of argument?" he asks, while Alex gulps still looking down at the desk. "Over my boyfriend... once I told him I was dating Jake, he wasn't quite happy about that." Alex replies while she stares at the Sheriff, now actually look at people.
"Anything else you want to tell me about that argument?" he inquires as he wrote everything down.
While Alex glances over at Jake, the two looking at each other, wondering if they should tell the Sheriff about Jake's deal with her deceased father.
"I'll tell him." Jake told her as she nods, Jake looks over at Sheriff Acosta as he began to tell him the story. "I wanted approval from Alex's father, so he made a deal with me."
"What kind of deal?" the Sheriff asks, with a concerned look on his face.
"If I burned down one of his developments, he would approve the relationship. No more sneaking out, I wanted to go public with my relationship with Alex." Jake explains while the sheriff wrote everything down.
"That's how you got that cast huh?" he points to Jake's foot as he nods in response.
"This person almost killed Jake, and now killed my father." Alex mutters to herself.
"Who do you think is capable of this?" the sheriff hearing what she had said, turns his head towards her as she looks up.
"I don't know... whoever this person is. They are finishing what Piper started." Alex told him, straight in the eye, making everyone nervous at the thought of a possible accomplice.
"I want to go see my father." she orders, while the sheriff nods. Alex stands up, with Jake following her. "Alone, please. I just want to be alone just for a moment." she whispers to Jake, as he nods understanding.
Sheriff Acosta lead her the way to the theatre.
Alex Verona saw Maggie Duval, crying. "My dad, he was a very beautiful man. Inside and out." she told her, while Maggie turns around shocked. "You scared me."
"How long has he been like this?" Alex asks walking closer to the body bag.
"I can't comment on an open case and these are initial findings-" Maggie was soon cut off by the brunette.
"Maggie! Please... he's my father. I have the right to know." she whispers, with tears in her eyes.
"I'd say two or three days." she told her, while Alex closes her eyes shut, letting the tears fall upon her face.
Alex walks over to the body bag, zipping down to see her father's face. She cries out, her lips trembling, covering her mouth. "Why are his eyes open?"
"I'm so sorry." Maggie apologizes while trying to hug her, while Alex had tears in her eyes. "Can I be alone with his for one second?" she asks Maggie while she nods, walking off the stage.
Alex sobs, while she closes her father's eyes. "May we meet again." she whispers, as she began to cry, her body drops on the floor, her knees up to her face. She covers her face as she continued to cry, alone in the entire room.
Until she heard foot steps, she looks up seeing Brooke in a cheerleader uniform with flip flops. She sat beside Alex as she pulls her into a hug. She sobs even more, now being comforted by Brooke Maddox.
"I have no mom, no dad. I have no family." she pulls away from Brooke and cries out to the blonde, while Brooke had started crying also. Seeing her best friend completely broken over the loss of her father's death, just broke her. She will never be the same again, she thought as she comforts Alex Verona.
"You still have lots of people who care about you. You have your friends, me, Jake..." Brooke mentions, as she more tears forms.
"I'm losing everyone I care about, I want it to stop." she sniffles, as she wipes away her own tears.
Sheriff Acosta walks over to the two best friends. "Alex, let's bring you back to Ms. Lang." while Alex shook her head.
"I can't be in solitary, I want to see my other friends. The more I'm alone the more I think about my father... I can't do this right now." the brunette told him as he nods. "I understand. Deputy, bring Alex to the learning centre, Brooke your father is here to see you." Sheriff Acosta orders, while Alex walks towards the library.
Everyone had their eyes on Alex Verona, seeing her eyes were all red, her hair is a complete mess while she completely ignores the stares and comments and walks over to her friends until she hears her name being called out. She turns around seeing it was Zoe Vaughn. "I'm so sorry what happened, if you ever want to talk... I'm here." Zoe reassures the brunette, while Alex nods, as she faked smile.
"That would be great, thank you Zoe." Alex finishes as she sat down by the far corner with the group of her hands. Nobody didn't want to surround her with a bunch of questions, so they let her be and told her she isn't alone on this.
Jake walks over to Alex, wrapping his arms around her, kissing her temple which had earned looks from none other then Stavo Acosta.
"Look, at times like this, you have to be careful who you trust." Alex heard Eli said to Emma. Stavo glances over at Alex, while she caught him staring at her.
With Alex zoning out she didn't realize that Emma had confronted Haley. Her eyes widen as she walks towards them. "Emma!" she calls out.
"Hey, you have something you want to say to me? Look, I know that you're scared. We are all scared. But we should not be scared of each other. Okay? And please do not be scared of me." Emma tells Haley, while her mouth was shut the entire time.
"But I am scared of you. Everyone who comes around you dies. And your friends should be scared too, because they are all going to die." Haley spat as she looks at every single one of Emma's friends.
"You have know idea what I went through." Emma tells her, as she tries to remain calm.
"You went through? Piper butchered eight people, but magically didn't touch a hair on your head." Haley comments while Emma was taken back. "That is not true."
"You shot her in the face, so we only got your side of the story." Haley adds while Alex scoffs, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"That's enough, Haley. Leave her alone." Audrey spats, as she pulls Emma away from her.
"Her whole family is crazy, aren't they? I mean, every time there's a killer loose, somehow there's always a crazy Duval left standing!" Haley exclaims, while Emma was in complete shock.
Emma let go of Audrey, and slapped Haley across the face with all her mighty. The crowd gasps, while Alex smiled at Emma defending herself.
"You dumb bitch!" Haley screams tackling Emma, and then Alex's smile faded as she tries to get Haley off of Emma.
Audrey and Alex try to get Haley off of Emma. "Get the fuck off her!" Alex yells, as she finally got off of Emma. "You have no say in this orphan." Haley spat at the brunette.
"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Alex questions as she walks closer to Haley, everyone had stopped when Haley had yelled at Alex.
Eli's eyes widen at the fact that he knows, shit is about to go down.
"Yes, you are an orphan now. Thanks to your dear friend, Emma." Haley spits out, while Alex cocked her head to the side. Jake noticed that his girlfriend is pissed, especially when she started to laugh that's when you know Alex is going to do something.
Alex laughs in disbeliefs, and then out of nowhere, Alex punches Haley, right in the nose.
"Guess I'm an orphan who can kick your fucking ass." Alex spat walking away and then felt herself being pushed, turning around seeing it was Haley. She dodges Haley's punch as she elbows her in the stomach.
"You bitch!" she screams, as she groans, holding on to her stomach as she was about to attack Alex until police arrived, breaking it off.
"Haley... hun, unlike you. I can actually defend myself." Alex mocks, purposely making Haley more pissed off then ever.
Ms. Lang had grabbed Emma, seeing she was still in shock and bringing her out to another room.
Alex sat back down, sitting with Jake, Zoe, Eli and Stavo as they were all doing their own thing. "What are you reading?" Alex whispers to Eli, trying to get her mind of things.
"Stephen King's, It. Real creepy." Eli comments, turning his head towards the brunette. "I love his work, there's not one book I didn't like. You should read The Shining." she suggests to him as he nods. "I'll look into that, I've been told the book is better than the movie." Eli adds as he continues to read the book.
"Yeah, it is. Especially the ending." Alex finishes, then Audrey walks over to Stavo and asks him. "Yo! Stavo! What are you drawing?"
"Don't worry about it." Stavo tells her, as he stops drawing. "Come on, you're staring at us all the time. I'd love to see what we inspire in you." Audrey comments as she looks over what he had drawn and takes his iPad.
"Hey! Give that back!" Stavo yells, walking towards Audrey.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Audrey questions as she continues to look at the drawings and she shows one of Alex to the brunette. Alex furrows her eyebrows seeing a drawing of her drenched in blood, glances over at Alex.
"Don't look at that." Stavo tells her as he continues to follow Audrey with his iPad. "Why do you have these drawings of me?" Alex asks in quiet tone.
"What is she doing?" Jake asks, watching Audrey walking around the room with Stavo's iPad. "She was going to ask him what he was drawing." Noah answers as they watched the encounter between the two.
Audrey continues to look at the drawings while the jocks were pushing Stavo away. "Give it back! It's not! Look- It's not!" Stavo stutters as he tries to explain himself.
"What is it not? You want me to show everybody what you think is not? What's wrong with you?' Audrey questions as she puts the iPad put in the air, showing everyone his drawings.
"Oh my god you sicko!" Haley comments, disgusted over his drawings.
"They're just drawings! Just give it back!" Stavo tells them as he was yet again pushed.
"You know what? It looks like it's more! A lot more!" Audrey exclaims showing drawings of Alex's dead father and the Brandon James masked killed, while Alex covers her mouth. Stavo notices her reaction, of the drawings, knowing well he's screwed.
"It's not what you think! It's not what you think!" Stavo defends himself, with his arms out. "You know who does that? Serial Killers!" Haley exclaims while other agree with the ignorant girl.
"Wait, wait, wait! Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Stavo tries to calm everyone down until a soup was being thrown at him, he ducks.
"That's so messed up man! That's gross!" Jeffrey exclaims, while no one was listening to Stavo trying to explain himself.
Noah and Alex exchange looks with one another.
"It's just a comic book! Alright? It's a fantasy! It's not real life! Be careful with that!" Stavo exclaims while a jock grabs the iPad from Audrey and throws it, Audrey picks it up seeing it was all cracked as she tries to turn it on.
"Get him!" Jeffrey yells as a bunch of jocks jump Stavo, kicking, punching and yelling at him.
"Guys stop!" Jake pulls Jeffrey away from Stavo, one of his one team members. "What is wrong with you guys?" Kieran questions, pulling the people away from Stavo.
"What did you do?" Noah asks Audrey while he got no response from her.
Then Sheriff Acosta appears, breaking up the fight, seeing his own son on the ground with a bloody nose. Disappointed seeing his son, being beat up from a bunch of jocks and others, he picks up his son, seeing if he's alright.
Noah turns around, seeing a bloody Emma Duval. "Emma?" everyone looks over the entry seeing.
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"You want me to stay over tonight?" Jake asks while Alex parks by her driveway.
"Definitely, don't want to stay alone in this house tonight." Alex tells him, as she glances over to him.
"I saw what you did to Haley, you haven't showed that side of you in a long time." Jake mentions while Alex huffs, remembering what her father had said.
"You never know when you need to protect yourself, the only person who can truly save you is yourself."
"I'm doing being a victim, I'm going to catch the son of a bitch and I'm going kill him."
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NOTES: literally i took so many breaks from writing this chapter because i cried so much writing this chapter, i feel bad for alex and i cried so much gn
but ay bad ass alex coming ur way
#protectalexveronaatallcosts