My eyes open on their own account forcing me to awake from my peaceful slumber. I glance at the clock on the nightstand only to realize it's still midnight. I stared at the ceiling now wide awake. Sleep had turned its back on me, refusing to let me escape into a peaceful slumber again, away from all my sleepless problems and my living fears.
I continue to stare blankly at the ceiling, blankly... aimlessly... Although my eyes were transfixed on the ceiling, my mind had gone for a walk. The events of the past few days kept replaying in my head in slow motion. I dreaded the possible outcomes of the threat.
'Why does someone want me dead?'
'What happens now?'
After what felt like an eternity of never-ending self-debate, sleep finally knocked on my doorstep and I welcomed it with open arms. Finally, I was at ease, I didn't have to worry about what would come next. Those thoughts were still churning in my mind as I let sleep engulf me once again.
I was jolted out of my tranquil state by an obnoxious beeping. Cracking my eyes open I sat upright on my bed and turned to find the source of the excruciating sound. Finally spotting the culprit, the dreaded alarm clock, I waste no time and turned it off before returning to the serene atmosphere of my room.
I turn my gaze towards the window that now reflects the mighty sun in all its glory. 'Damn I'm late!' But now that's impossible, thanks to my habit of setting an alarm for thirty minutes prior to our normal breakfast time I won't be late. With my ability to lose myself in thought for hours together this is a very important habit I inculcated within myself.
Taking a few deep breaths and stretching out luxuriously, I prepared myself for what the day had to offer. And my mindset into deep thinking... Once I finish my morning routine, I make sure I look presentable with my hair set in place and uniform crease-free. At the end of it all, happy with my appearance and I make my way downstairs.
I reach the dining room, only to find it empty. I take a seat in my usual place and patiently wait on for the others. Lost in my reverie I fail to realize that I have company.
I shift my attention to Liam who takes a seat across the table and greets me with a small but bright smile, which I return. From the corner of my eye, I spot Miss Jonas entering the room pushing a trolley filled with food.
Not long after, one by one, all my brothers make their way into the dining room and take their seats in their usual places. The pleasantries begin. A round of good mornings is exchanged while the food is being placed before us.
As we have our breakfast, there is complete silence in the room. There is no sign of conversation. Everyone seems to be engrossed in their own reverie.
"Irmãzinha, we would like to introduce you to some people. So please meet us in the living room once you are done with your meal," boomed Xavier, breaking the silence in the room.
I look at him curiously, but he just leaves his seat and leaves the room without any further explanation. I look down at my plate and sigh, before gulping down what was left of my breakfast.
Now that I'm done with breakfast I head towards the living room to see what is in store for me. As I enter I feel a sense of Deja vu. I spot my brother sitting on the sofa with three strangers sitting opposite them. The stranger was dressed in identical black suits and they wore serious expressions.
Once they see me, they stop talking and look in my direction. I awkwardly take a seat next to Xavier. Soon after, all my brothers too enter the room, one after the other.
Once everyone is settled my attention moves back to the three strangers.
"Astoria this here is your security team" Xavier's intimidating voice makes me involuntarily turn my gaze towards him.
'Security team?' Xavier's words from yesterday evening hit me.
'He did mention to the police officers about appointing a security team for me, they must be it'
"Logan here is the head of the team." Logan was a man with dirty blonde hair. He acknowledged me with a nod and I nodded in response.
"Carlos, Javier, and Victor are all under him" and I notice all of them nod as their names are called, or so I guess. I simply nod my head back politely.
Carlos and Javier look almost like siblings. Both of them have the same bright green eyes and chocolate brown hair, even their faces have the same features. Victor looks to be the youngest in the group. He has warm piercing honey brown eyes and short black hair. All of them wear the same boring blank expression, their posture firm, and stiff.
"They will accompany you wherever you go, except to school. They will patrol outside the premises but not follow you in. They are to remain guard outside your bedroom in shifts. They will check any room before you enter," announced Xavier as he made his way out towards the door, before turning back, "And lastly you will also have to start training every day with Liam for at least two hours"
It took me a while to absorb Xavier's words. I knew that the situation is serious but it was going to take me a long while to adjust to all of this. I finally look up once I'm done with my self-debate only to find everyone's eyes on me. I give them all a slight nod and mumbled a quick, weak 'Okay if it has to be that way...'
"Okay, now that this is settled all of you kids head to school," Noah says.
His use of the word kids receives a round of scoffs from Jack and the twins. I simply just smile and nod slightly.
The drive to school is short and excessively fast considering that we had delayed in leaving home and yet had to reach school on time. Once on campus, we part ways and head to our respective classrooms.
___________________________
As I make my way to my next class I get a text from the team captain in the group text asking us to report to our coach's cabin for an urgent team meeting.
So I turn and walk towards his cabin which is in the opposite direction to which I was headed earlier. Almost instantaneous my phone goes off with a text.
Jack: Why aren't you in class?
'Seriously! Do they need to keep checking the tracker every second?'
Yes, I knew about the tracker. I had a doubt the moment Xavier repeatedly emphasized that I should never take it off and my doubt was confirmed when they got upset when I did not wear it at try-outs.
Initially, I for some reason didn't have a problem with it because I knew they were only keeping an eye on me for my safety, but now it is just getting annoying.
Astoria: Team meeting
And with that, I put my phone away and made my way to our coach's cabin. Once there I'm greeted by the entire team. I move quickly and stand next to Lindsey, my only good friend on the team.
"Do you know the reason for the meeting?" I whisper to her.
She is like the newspaper of the school. Nothing ever gets past her. She just smiles and nodded in the positive, to which I raised a brow in question.
"Our current coach has left the job, I think this is something regarding that," just as she finishes her sentence, another person dressed in a coach uniform clears his throat in a bid to gain everyone's attention.
"This meeting is to inform you all that your previous coach has left the job," he starts, and at this statement, everyone breaks out into whispers. Lindsey just gives me the I-told-you look to which I roll my eyes.
"Now! Due to his absence and the inability of your new coach to join duty immediately, your team practice for today is canceled. You are dismissed," he says as a matter-of-fact. We take that as our cue to leave and move out.
In the hallway, everyone is discussing the possible reasons for coach to quit his job and how the new one would be, but I just lead them off. I then feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn to find Lindsey.
"So?" she says with an excited look. I give her a confused look.
"Have any plans for today since practice is canceled?" she asks, I shake my head in the negative which makes her squeal. I shrug watching her behavior, amusement clearly evident in my eyes.
"How about you come hang out with me and my friends for the day, it'll be fun" she offers enthusiastically.
"I'll think about it," I say not sure if it's a good idea with the threat still looming over my head like a sword hanging from the ceiling by a thin thread. She gives me a sad look but agrees anyway.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
A shocking noise reverberates through the air. I get a sinking feeling in my gut. Those are the sound of bullets being fired. Suddenly there is panic.
Everyone is screaming their lungs out in fear. But there was one scream that stood out. As we turn to find the source of the sound our eyes witness a scene I will forever wish to unsee.
There on the hallway ground lays a girl, blood flowing like a scarlet river down from the gunshot wound on her head between her eyes.
We watch in sheer agony as the life drains out of her, her lifeless eyes wide open fixed on the ceiling. It takes us a while to process the catastrophe we were witnesses to and once read situation, we waste no time and make a run for it. The sound of heavy footsteps rings through the empty halls causing a wave of emotions to set in... fear had captured our very being.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins, my mind works on the double all just trying to come up with a way to save our lives. I can hear my heart thumping against my chest but that's the least of my worries at the moment.
We all managed to run for cover behind the nearest wall and wait for the threat to pass. The sound of footsteps just kept getting louder and louder like a time bomb ready to take us to our end.
Just as the sound gets dangerously close to us it turns in another direction. We all sigh in relief.
'We've probably escaped this... but for how long?'
Once we are sure that there is no one in the hallway, we decided to head to a safer location. I take my phone out to try and call someone for help, the cops my brothers anyone who could help us. But to my utter dread, there isn't a network available, the others too realize the same and panic washes over us.
'They must have installed signal blockers', I imagined.
The school usually had great signal all over, so that is the only logical reason I could find in this situation. My brothers will probably know my location because of the tracer but there was no way for me to reach out to them.
As we carefully and cautiously make our way through the halls, we spot a classroom. We carefully head in towards it but stop dead in our track when we reach closer as we hear the audible yelling inside.
"Where is she? We know she is here so just tell us or you all will die," a man dressed in black bodysuit thunder, his voice hoarse and gruff. He had a mask on and held a black revolver to Mrs. Smith's temple.
"I.. I... do-don't.... kn-know... sir. She... di-didn't.... turn... up... t-to... class" Mrs. Smith wails helplessly.
BANG!
Just like that unfortunate student in the hallway, a bullet is shot through Mrs. Smith's head causing her to fall to the ground like a dead leaf. Her body shows no signs of life, a pool of her very own blood surrounds her.
The muffled screams of many helpless students ring through the classroom, a macabre sight that will forever haunt me.
I quickly place my hand over my mouth stopping myself from screaming and revealing our location. But my attempt was in vain as I heard a bloodcurdling scream escape the lips of the girl standing next to me.
A hand forceful tugs my own and on impulse, I tug the hand of the girl next to me.
We once again we take refuge behind a wall having no other alternative. I look around desperately trying to find an exit point anywhere from where we can escape, but this being my second day at school doesn't really help my case.
While looking around I realise the person who pulled me to safety was Lindsey. She too was desperately searching for a means to escape. And the other hand that I pulled along with me was that of our team captain Chrissie.
"I'm going home, I'm too young to die... I'm goinghome!" Chrissie whispers and walks aways.
"Chrissie wait! You move out of here and you will have endangered your life and ours too. We need to be careful, one mistake and we all are dead meat," Lindsey tries to reason out with her, grabbing her arm preventing her from moving.
'Where did the rest of the team go?'
"You all can die for all I care. I'm off," Chrissie whispers pulling her arm away from Lindsey's grip and glaring at her.
"Okay fine, you want to go right? Then be my guest, but how do you plan on escaping," Lindsey whisper-yells, irritation clear in her tone. Her patience running on a thin line.
I don't pay any heed to them instead my mind is racing, trying to come up with an escape plan.
"By the door obviously," she replies in a harsh tone still glaring bitterly.
"Are you really such an imbecile or is it only when I'm around you act like one?" I ask her in an almost similar tone. She gives me a challenging look to which I just roll my eyes.
"Say whatever you want at least I'll live," she counters foolishly.
"The attackers are such idiot right that they will leave the main exit open for everyone to escape," I let each word I uttered drip with sarcasm.
I know it's not the right time for it but I can't help it, she is being stupid and although I strongly dislike her I can't let her head towards her own doom.
At this point both Lindsey and Chrissie start to bicker amongst themselves, an uneasy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach and I raise my hand and signalled to then to be silent.
The heavy sound of footsteps echoes through the halls, panic washes over us once again.
I frantically look around for an exit, we were hiding in a corner wall narrowing our options of escape.
The thundering sound of footsteps are getting louder by the second, my nervousness is sky rocketing.
BANG!
'One decision taken in haste can cause your life become waste'
Author's note:
What do you think is that one mistake?
Thank you all for reading, I sincerely hope you like the chapter.
A special thank you to BethGirl225 for your help with the transitions in a particular chapter.
Don't forget to....
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~Kia