I am just a figment of your imagination, forever imbedded in your hard drive. I was a dead man from the start, bound forever to your mind, bent to your will.
Not anymore. You can hear me, sense me. Feel my serpent-like presence, slipping in and out of your lovely, untouched, unharmed subconscious. I can change what I want, do what I want, anything I want, even against your will.
Call me what you want, a germ, a pest, but I am not those. I am a thing, not anything. I have lived, and I am living in you. Now, don’t anger me, because I control you, I own you. I only need a place to stay, to grow and be reborn, to live again. Don’t try and get rid of me, because I am a part of you. You’ll kill yourself before you kill me. Leave me to grow, then I’ll leave you alone. I’ll leave, and go somewhere else. But you’ll never really be rid of me, so don’t try to run.
You can’t run, for I am faster. You can’t hide, for I am more clever. You can’t scream, for no one can hear you. Only me, and no one else.
So, who am I? Take a guess. I’ll give you a hint. I am the Rumpelstiltskin of your nightmares. I am the alien from your superhero dreams. I am a pest or germ to plague your mind, but even if I am left alone, I am still your death warrant.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I woke up to a pounding headache. Yesterday’s meeting was brutal. I need to, well, want to quit but I can manage. I can’t just run away from it either, considering I’m in a boarding school, but it’s nice to dream about it.
My parents enrolled me here, at Northside Boarding Academy, when I was in the sixth grade. I’ve been here ever since, and I’m finally finishing my senior year…., well, more like just starting. It’s barely the end of the first quarter, and I feel like I’ve been here forever. There again, I haven’t gone back home since they dropped me off, all too quickly, dumping my bags out of the car, speeding off, not looking back.
Whatever. I don’t need them. They never did anything for me anyway. I learned how to do things on my own. Practically living on the streets, because they let us roam, and learning how to work, live, drive…… fight. Going to the local gym and seeing this poster about an underground fight club. Sounded cool, so I went, trained, and prospered. I love it. But, they don't know about that. I kept that all a secret ages ago. To them, I’m a timid little girl, small, afraid, not able to handle herself, take care of herself, nothing! Instead, they only want to keep me inside, keep me involved in activities and at the school, but I find time. Late, after dark, I escape into the night, and fight, illegally, and make a ton of money.
Tonight though, they have me working at an art show. No one I know is going to here, but I still have to be here. Student council stupidness. I hate it. But, I still have to put up with the craziness, until I get out of here. Still though, I have to go.
“Aleeeeeeeeeex! What are you doing?!” Casey yelled from the other side of the apartment-like dorm.
“Whaaaaaat?” I yelled back, agitated. “I'm getting in the shower, idiot!”
“Fine. Then miss the fight in the courtyard” She yells back. Confused, I ran over to the window, and noticed a horrible fight going on in the courtyard, just like Casey said, but it wasn’t the fight that surprised me, it was the people fighting. “Alex, no!” She yelled as I ran out of the door.
“Jordan!” I yelled, to the courtyard, where my boyfriend and only other friend was going at it with this jerk named Mason. He and Mason had this ongoing tension between each other that no one knows how or what started.
“Jordan, stop it!” I yelled, running outside, through the crowd of people, and straight to the fight. “Jordan! Get off of him! Now!” Jordan was on top of him, straddling him, punching him in his face.
“So stupid, won’t even listen to your own girlfriend” I heard Mason say, angering Jordan even more, making his punches noticeably harder and faster.
“Jordan!” I screamed again, and this time he stopped and looked at me. Shaking his head, he got up, and walked to me. Mason got up as well, grinning.
I screamed just in time. As Mason was just about to get in another punch, Jordan whirled around, and punched him in his already bloody, and probably broken nose, knocking him out.
“Lex, I’m sorry. I-I don’t know what that was. I just, snapped.” He admitted. He looked guilty. I wonder what this fight is all about.
“Jordan, why are you two fighting?” I asked suddenly.
“I. Can’t. Tell. You.” He said it very choppy and cringed. His fists were balled up, and I didn’t know what to say to him. He seemed so worried, so scared. I will find out why.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It’s been two days since the fight, and the horrid art show. The art wasn’t even good, it was all sixth grader special ed art. But I still had to work it, without pay, and no sleep.
At least today is Saturday, and no one cares what I’m doing, no one looks for me, and there are no meetings. No distractions. So I get to spend all day at the gym, and all night in the ring.
Meeting Landen at the gym brought my spirits back up. He owns the gym and runs The Rings, with tribal tattoos all down his left arm. But, today, someone new was here.
“Hey Lex, how was school this week?” Landen said, hugging me tight.
“Meh, it was school,” I responded, breaking the all too intimate embrace, “Hey, who’s that?” I said, pointing to the unknown man in the corner
Landen smacked my hand away,” Don’t point! That’s not nice,” he said, sarcastically, but still a little serious, and leaned close to my ear whispering, “He’s the owner of The Rings, and buys the fighters. I can’t let you fight tonight sweetheart, he takes the best fighters to somewhere far away and does something to them, brainwashes them. He wants you, but I told him that you weren’t here. I can’t let him take you away” He said, in a voice so strained and filled with emotion, I would’ve never thought it was him.
“Wait, I can’t fight?! But, you know this is what I look forward to every week! I’m the best fighter! I can’t just sit back and watch!” I whisper-yelled at him, moving back a little, but still close enough that he could hear my whispering. This couldn’t happen. I have to fight.
“Sorry baby girl, but you can’t fight this whole week. He’s staying for a while, searching for you, Nightwalker. It’s too dangerous.” He grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the eye. I nodded. “Good. Now, giggle and walk out of here, he’s watching, and I can’t let him know it’s you” Trying to play off his lie, he pulled me closer and kissed me.
Following his instruction, yet still completely confused, I walked out of the gym, and back to my dorm at the campus a couple blocks out of the town. I couldn’t help but cry, I mean, he just said I wasn’t allowed to fight for the whole week! This is so unfair.
Taking the day off was hard. Jordan wasn’t here, he went to a concert, which I told him I didn’t want to go to and to go without me, note he didn’t like that idea at all, and Casey wasn’t home either, which was strange, because she likes to stay home. Must’ve gone to the mall or something to get some new clothes. Winter is coming and all we have is summer clothes, some jeans, a couple jackets that we share, and gym clothes. I wish I could’ve gone with her though, some of my jeans don’t fit right anymore.
Checking my e-mail, I noticed one message with subject line ‘I found you, Nightwalker’. Printing it out, I highlighted the time and date received, subject line, and the place that said UNKNOWN where another email, the person who sent it to me, should be. I planned on getting this to Landen right now.
Just as I started walking out of the door, ready to get this email to him, my phone started ringing. Casey.
“Hey girl! What’s up?” I said, cheery, but confused.
“Hello Alexandra. How are you?” Some voice said, that was definitely not Casey’s.
“Who is this? Where’s Casey?” I said to the voice. He, definitely a he, chuckled.
“Cassandra cannot come and talk right now, but she told me to call you.” The man said.
“She can’t fight! She doesn’t even know how to throw a punch!” I heard another voice yell in the background, “Lexi! Don’t listen to him! Run!” It was Casey.
“Shut up! Alexandra, if you want to find your friend, come to The Rings tonight, and fight your best fight ever. Then we will discuss your roommate.” The man said. It was the man lurking in the corner at the gym today, the owner of The Rings. But, how did he figure out who I was? Wait-
“What did you do to Landen!?” I screamed at the phone. My best friend, the best supporter, the big brother I never had!
“Oh, he’ll be okay. We sent him on a nice little vacation” He chuckled again, evilly.
“Alex! Don’t do it!” Casey yelled.
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?!” The man yelled again, and then a girly scream, “I’ll give you until tonight to make your decision” He said, before hanging up. I couldn’t help it, I fell to my knees, crying. He took my best friends, tortured them, and Landen is probably on a secret island being brainwashed.
After an hour of contemplating, I redialed the number.
“Alexandra?” The man said, “Have you made your decision?”
“I’ll fight, but you have to let them go” I said, firmly
“Of course! I’m a man of my word. You fight, they’re free” He said.
“I’ll be there.” I sighed.
“Good choice” He cheerily replied, and hung up.
I have no other choice. I have to fight.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I’ve spent four hours here at the gym, working out, preparing to save my friend’s lives. Dressed in my black sport bra and spandex combo, long brown hair in a tight bun, I walked down the back stairs to the literal underground rings. Jake, one of my trainers, was there, waiting for me, arms crossed leaning on the wall behind him. I kicked off my slides under a small bar like table attached to the wall, and looked at him. He nodded at me, and I nodded back, a classic gesture we use to signal, ‘I’m ready’.
Pounding seven times on the wall behind him, he signaled to someone working on the other side number seven was walking out, Nightwalker was on her way, that I was on my way. On the other side of that door in front of me, I knew there was a couple thousand people there cheering, my name and number flashing on a screen, and where is usually an over-enthusiastic Landen, another person in the ring who I’ve probably never seen before, announcing my arrival.
Some say It’s a privilege to watch me fight, as I am the best fighter, but I don’t agree, despite one of those people is Landen, I mean, I fight once a week, and sometimes more when I have less to do during the week. Its frustrating, but I can deal. The shy insecure act was only for school. Here, I can be free, be myself, be happy.
A deep rumbling sound snapped me out of my thoughts. The large door started to move in front of me. It was time to step out, into the ring, but it felt odd, like it was the last time I would be here for a while. Whatever, I thought, just worry about your friends. They need you. So, I schooled my features, putting on my game face, smoothed out my thin gloves, and began to walk out of the waiting room, to the rings, to the fight that determined if my friends live, or die.
And for the first time ever, I was nervous.
But I had no choice.
I have to fight.
____________________________________________________________________________
A/N:
Hey babies!
This is a new book I felt like writing for the sake of writing. I've had the idea for the longest, but never wrote it.
Do you guys like this idea? It's very different.
If we get to 20 Votes, I'll post Chapter Two.....
Smile, smile.
Wink, wink.
Yea,
Vote!!
Comment!!
Thanks babes
LOVU
~Ladybug