Lexi (Clarissa Lovett Book 1)

by Jamie Gray

  Adrians expression beamed with joy as he wrapped his arms around Lexi, spinning with her in his embrace. “Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

  “Oh, com’on. I can’t stay mad at you.” She laughed as he whirled her around.

  When Adrian dropped her, Lexi turned and continued down the hallway, finding a new weightlessness to her steps as she led the group forward. She could feel Adrian and Brooke glaring at each other from behind her. It was all fun and games in the end, but Brookes prank definitely left a bruise on his giant ego.

  “Adrian,” Kadence softly called. Lexi turned back for a moment, seeing Kadence reach into her pocket and hand Adrian one of two flashlights, the other she kept for herself. In the instant Adrian was given the flashlight, he turned it on and began spinning all around, flaring the light into every corner and room they passed by. He looked to be trying to dispel the darkness around them, as if it was going to jump out and attack him at any second. Lexi shook her head and turned back around, looking forward as she saw her and her friends' shadows move and shift with Adrians constant moving light. But something looked off. She heard her friends and sister muttering behind her, but their words turned to mumbles as she counted the shadows. One… two… three… four… fi- there was an extra shadow, on the wall next to the stairs at the end of the hall. She froze. She wasn’t sure if it was of an actual person or not, none of their shadows really looked human-like, but there was something about this silhouette of a figure that made chills run down her spine. The shadow was little more than a tall thin blob, but there was something off putting about it. She couldn’t stop staring at it. No matter where Adrian moved the flashlight, the shadow never moved. It looked frozen, just as she was. It was like she could feel it’s eyes on her, like the silhouette was watching her with as much attentiveness as she watched it.

  Adrians flashlight beamed from behind her and her shadow lengthened down the floor, inching closer to the silhouetted figure. Her friends' shadows grew similarly as they walked up behind her. Before they could say anything, Lexi whispered, “Adrian, pass me your flashlight," as she stuck her hand back. She was adamant on keeping her focus locked on the figure out of fear of it disappearing once she looked away.

  "Oh, look who wants the flashlight now."

  "Adrian," she urged loudly, shaking her extended hand. He quickly handed her the working flashlight, and she lifted it to see ahead. "Hel…" Suddenly, the light turned off, and darkness shrouded over the area ahead, shielding whatever she may have seen. "Damit!” she cursed, shaking and pressing the flashlights on the button furiously. “The battery must have died!" She let out a loud sigh as she re-straightened herself and broke her focus with the shadow. She then turned to ask Kadence for her light but was somewhat surprised to see that Adrian had leapt into her arms, his entire body trembling with fear with his arms wrapped around her neck. "Um… Kadence, could I use your light for a second?" Lexi asked, ignoring the hilarious scene happening before her. She would've said something, but her heart was beating too fast. Her mind was too panicked for her to acknowledge anything besides what she saw at the end of that hallway.

  Kadence cleared her throat and glared at Adrian, clearly waiting for him to get off of her.

  "Oh yeah. Right," he coughed, awkwardly stepping off of her and unwrapping his arms from around her neck as he turned to face Lexi. "Here, I got it!" he insisted confidently, obviously trying to mask his undying embarrassment, and make up for earlier. He promptly reached out his hand for her to give him the dead flashlight. Upon giving it to him, she restlessly watched as he began tossing the flashlight up and around his body, juggling it until he finally tapped the glass covered top, and it re-illuminated.

  Lexi’s expression went from impatiently unamused, to completely bug eyed as she gawked at him. Adrian smirked as he handed it back to her, it’s light brighter than before. All she could say was, “Wow.”

  "That was likereal magic!" Brooke exclaimed, gasping at the slight of the light flashing back on.

  "It's a gift," Adrian replied, arrogantly bowing as if he was in front of a cheering audience.

  Lexi whirled back around and shined the light forward, refocusing on the matter at hand, but nothing was to be seen. "Hello?!" she called, searching all around, as her voice echoed chillingly. As she began to step forward, she made sure to check inside every room and corner for anything suspicious.

  "Wait. You saw someone?" Kadence gasped in a harsh tone. Lexi knew she’d never hear the end of this from Kadence. Sure, maybe someone was in here with them, but she figured that if this person wanted to hurt them in some way, they probably would have done it already. With her initial fear having passed, all Lexi felt now was curiosity. She wanted to know what that was. Why it was there. If it was her imagination, or some homeless person spying on them.

  “We need to leave,” Kadence hissed behind her, but Lexi ignored her. This was the most thrill she had ever felt on one of their explorations.

  She could feel the tension thickening in the air, making it harder for her to breathe. The area fell into an eerie silence. It was like each of them were waiting for something to happen.

  Lexi's heart spiked as a loud pounding began to sound above them, as if someone was stumbling up the stairs and then across the second floor in a bumbling hurry. "Hey!" she shouted as she sped down the hallway and charged up the stairs, chasing after the sound.

  "Lexi!" Brooke screamed, racing after her sister.

  "Brooke!" Kadence called after her.

  “Guys!” Adrian shrieked.

  Lexi raced up the stairs, looking only up and ahead of her as she held her pendant firmly in her hand. She rushed faster and faster up the stairs, experiencing no sense of worry or tiredness as she ran further and further up the stairs. She stopped thinking and ran on pure instinct and emotional drive.

  Upon reaching the top floor, Lexi froze, practically sliding across the floor on her muddy white running shoes, hand still tightly gripped around her white pendant necklace. The pounding footsteps had ceased, and all she could hear was the rapid drumming of her heart against her chest as she scanned the area.

  The top-level was a large room filled with giant windows that completely covered two of the walls. There were no hallways or small rooms to hide in. She had entered an entirely empty space. There were a few small pieces of broken furniture, but none large enough to hide behind. There was no place to hide on this floor, and there's no way someone could have made it onto the roof without her hearing them. She was dumbfounded. How did this person get away? She was sure that whoever it was had to be in there, but she couldn't see anyone.

  The room was illuminated by the setting sun, but shadows lurked all around the room. Lexi felt her heart racing faster and faster as she gripped her pendant tighter, still scanning back and forth along with the room. She jumped as she heard Brooke rush up behind her.

  Brooke was breathing heavily, her face red and small droplets of sweat had begun to form on her forehead. "Where are they?" she asked between breaths, straightening up and looking around the empty room as she moved to stand next to Lexi.

  "I think that whoever that was… they're gone," she explained in a slightly bitter tone, releasing her circular white pendant from her tight grasp. She was so frustrated that she’d lost whoever… or whatever it was. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt so strongly about any of this, or what drove her to chase whatever it was.

  Kadence and Adrian finally made it to the top of the spiral staircase, and naturally, they looked around for any sign of a person. Yet, like Lexi and Brooke, saw nothing more than empty shadows and broken furniture. Kadence and Adrian stood behind them. Brooke's turned to greet them, but Lexi kept her gaze forward, her back to them. "They're gone."

  "Who's they?" Kadence questioned, speaking just above a whisper.

  Lexi didn’t answer. In all honesty, she couldn’t quite believe it herself, nevermind had the confidence to try and convince someone else of it.

  "Girl, wha
t'd you see?" Adrian urgently asked, speaking far louder than Kadence as he stepped forward to stand in front of Lexi.

  She glanced up at Adrian, nodding as she turned back to face them all. "I saw a figure, a shadow, I think of a person… but when I got up here, they just seemed to disappear into thin air," she explained, her voice audibly calmer, but also drained of her typical energized emotion. She desperately wanted to move on from the conversation. Usually she would have no problem speaking her opinion on the situation, but in this circumstance, she wanted to leave her personal feelings out of it, feeling a strangely personal connection to this strange occurrence. Lexi watched as Adrian looked to Kadence, and in her peripheral vision, she could see her staring back, as Kadence now stood on the other side of Brooke. She could feel the intensity in their eyes, but she simply didn’t have the energy or driving desire to intervene or question it as she usually would.

  Suddenly, the dim-lit room was illuminated with red and blue lights coming from outside. "Shit!" Lexi gasped, reawakening from her drained state. She had completely forgotten about the giant windows that covered two of the walls.

  The sound of sirens filled the entire area as the police pulled up along the dirt road on the other side of the fence. All four of them immediately rushed to the sidewall, staying low and out of the sight of the windows.

  "Great, what do we do now?" Brooke whispered, flattening her back against the brick wall as she looked to Lexi. "Dude, if we get caught, we'll be in so much trouble. Mom and dad already hate it when we explore like this. If they find out we did it again, we'll be grounded for life. We won't be allowed to even step outside the house," she exclaimed, shaking all over as she began to hyperventilate.

  Brooke had never had a run in with the police before, since Lexi always refused to bring her along on any of the more risky explorations, and so she expected nothing less from her, but Kadence, Adrian and her had been faced with similar situations as this in the past. And they were no stranger to getting out of trouble with the police. Needless to say, they'd been through this routine enough times for them to know what they needed to do.

  "Brooke, everything will be okay," Lexi reassured as she took her sister's shoulder. She then turned her head to face Adrian, who was crouching close beside her. "Adrian."

  He nodded, flashing a devilishly confident smirk before scooting his way across the room, towards the door leading back to the stairs.

  Brooke watched him with an open jaw. "But…"

  "Relax. Adrian does this all the time," Lexi whispered, a warm smile across her face. She glanced over at Kadence, who’s expression consisted of pure terror and anxiety as she pressed herself flat against the wall, her head shaking and her gaze glued to the floor.

  Lexi watched as Adrian slipped outside, sneaking back down the stairs and rushing through the unguarded back door. He swiftly hopped over the giant fence, snuck around the treeline, and rushed onto the dirt road. He’d done this plenty of times, but every time was an entirely different experience. It was obviously a thrill for him, and Adrian always had a good laugh about it afterwards.

  Lexi made sure to duck most of her face below the window, allowing only her forehead and eyes to venture above it. She saw Adrian as he casually began walking back into the open. Now that he was about twenty feet from the two officers, he waited for them to step out of their car that they had parked in front of the fence. Lexi narrowed her gaze, focusing on the officers. One was a regularly built young man with chestnut skin and dark brown hair, and the other was a much taller woman with ghostly white coloured skin and pure black hair tied into a bun at the back of her head. She had a noticeably bigger build than the man, and was at least a full foot taller. The woman also wore a pair of black sunglasses, which was noticeably off putting, as the sun was setting, and it was already beginning to get dark. Regardless, Adrian put his plan into motion as he suddenly began speeding towards them in a loud panic, yelling and flailing his arms as he began screaming for help.

  He caught their attention immediately as the man stuck out his hand to stop Adrian in his tracks. "What's wrong, son?" he asked with a narrowed expression. Lexi was grateful for the fact that she could hear what they were saying. It gave her comfort to know exactly how things were going.

  "Please help," Adrian cried, purposefully breathing heavily as if he had just finished a twenty-mile run. "There are some very reckless children back there," he began, pointing down the dirt road behind him. "I was just on my daily nightly jog, and I spotted these miscreants! I'm certain they were drinking. There in the middle of a brutal fight, and they must be stopped," Adrian lied, speaking loudly between forced and overdramatic breaths, as he shook his balled fists angrily.

  "Alright, son, but you'll just have to give us a moment. We got a tip that some idiot kids were trespassing onto this property." The man explained, ignoring Adrian as he turned away, and redirected his concentration back on the abandoned warehouse.

  Adrian stepped in front of the man, trying to get his attention back on him. "Well, the kids brawling back there definitely came from this area. And I'm pretty much certain that they were carrying some very suspicious-looking spray paint," Adrian lied again, emphasizing his words to increase the severity of his made-up situation.

  “Get out of my face, kid,” the male officer ordered, stepping around Adrian to get a better look at the warehouse.

  “Wha-” Adrian was stopped when the female officer stepped in front of him, looming over him like a towering skyscraper. The woman looked him up and down before meeting his gaze. She then shifted her gaze up at the warehouse, causing Lexi to throw herself down out of sight. She laid there for what felt like hours of endless waiting. The longer she waited, the longer she worried something may have gone wrong. Finally she heard Adrian speak again.

  “Um… are you gonna go investigate?” he asked.

  Lexi peaked one eye out the window, seeing as the woman looked down at him, a soft smile across her face as she replied, “Yes, of course. Get home safe young man, it isn’t safe out here.” The woman spoke in a lightly toned voice as she waved her partner back to the car. As the two officers drove off, Lexi and Adrian watched. Something about that whole exchange made her feel as though her bones had frozen solid. It was safe to say that no officer had ever acted so strange around Adrian. Although, in the end, he was still able to convince them to leave. Adrian pivoted to face the abandoned building, signalling for his friends to come out. "All clear!"

  Lexi, Kadence, and Brooke quickly came down and hopped over the fence, meeting Adrian on the dirt road. The sky was quickly draining of light, as the sun descended below the horizon, and the cold dark night was beginning to loom over. Lexi and the rest knew they didn't have long before the police officers returned, so without a second thought, they all rushed down the long dirt road. They ran for several minutes before they came upon Adrian's car. It was a small orange car that could comfortably sit four people, with an extra seat in the back with a broken seat belt and a juice stained cushion. No one sat on the stained seat, it was brown and sticky, and it smelt of rotten fruit. Adrian was able to drive them to the outskirts of town, but let Lexi and Brooke off early. Kadence and Adrian surely would have taken them in their car, but if they all returned home in the same car, it would only make them look more suspicious. Lexi could not get in trouble for exploring again. Last time was a full month of lectures and surveillance from her parents. And so, Lexi and Brooke would have to walk home.

  ∞∞∞

  Lexi sprinted down the sidewalk with Brooke following close behind her, quickly maneuvering through the odd groups of walkers here and there. The sky had turned black by now. The only light that allowed them to see the sidewalk in front of them was the street lights along both sides of the road, along with the full moon hovering above them. A couple of fast food stops had their lights on, but it didn't really do much except remind them they hadn't eaten since lunch. They couldn't stop. It was two minutes until their curfew, and they were still bl
ocks away from their house. Usually, they'd drive, since Lexi had her licence, but their parents were using both cars that day, and she wasn't able to get her hands on either one of them. They'd both forgotten how far their house really was. The worst thing about the whole situation, was the fact that Kadence and Adrian were literally their neighbours. Not only did they have a car, but they were going to the same place. It ripped at Lexi’s brain, frustrating her, but she was quick to remind herself that she would much rather walk home than be grounded for a month.

  As Lexi began picking up her pace, she looked back to make sure Brooke had been keeping up when she suddenly slammed into something. This sent an instant shock of pain throughout her entire body. It was a pain like nothing she had ever felt before, shaking her deep into her core. Though it had vanished instantaneously, as she stumbled back and crashed onto the hard sidewalk, barely catching herself before her head smashed down against the concrete. Her skull vibrating wildly, she looked up to see what she had so stupidly bumped into while running, but she didn't see a sturdy metal pole as she had imagined. Instead, she peered up at a boy, not much older than her, staring down just as bewildered.

  He was dressed in all black, wearing loose ripped jeans and an undone leather jacket with a t-shirt underneath. He was visibly much taller than her, possibly taller than Adrian, who was a hair away from six-foot. The boy had pure black, fringed down hair that seemed to blend with the dark sky. Lexi felt herself locked in a desirable trance as his white, pale skin glowed in the early moonlight. He couldn't have been more than a year older than her. He was so young looking, but he was built in such a way that made him appear more manly than anyone she'd known to be her own age. His giant arms and biceps could be noticed even beneath his leather jacket. His thighs were huge, and his chest and stomach were rock solid from what she felt when she bumped into him. She felt lost in a hypnotic state as his grey eyes reflected her own. She felt herself fill with wonder beyond anything she could comprehend. Although noticing his almost goth-like attire and hairstyle, the thing Lexi couldn't stand to avert her gaze from was the boys' scar that stretched over his nose and forehead. It was both terrifying to look at, and intriguing. She could only imagine what could’ve caused such a devastating mark across his face, of all things. The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, neither bringing themselves to speak a word to one another.