by Jamie Gray
“No, it’s okay,” she called back. “It’s not like I own these stairs,” she chuckled softly.
He knew who she was. He knew what she meant to Lexi, and here she was, all alone, crying. If she really wanted him to stay, then he would, for Lexi. Besides, Mara surely wouldn’t be back out for a little while, and she looked like she could use some company…. a friend even. He forced himself to grin, as he slowly made his way to stand on the stairs with her, the cold air pressing against his face as he walked.
“You’re that guy Lexi ran into, right?... on the street, and at the cafe?”
He nodded.
“So what, are you two dating or something?”
“You mean like a couple?-No-no.” His cheeks flushed bright pink as he shook his head. “I barely know her.”
“Oh, sorry.” She hung her head again.
“It’s okay.” He tried to laugh it off, but as the conversation fell, he thought it best to change the subject. "So, what has you sitting out here all alone?" He had his assumptions, but he really didn’t know her.
"Oh, um-I'm kind of fighting with my sister," she replied, dropping her shoulders as her gaze wandered along the concrete.
He let out a silent chuckle. It was ironic that she would say such a phrase to him, as he wasn’t exactly on the same terms as his sister either at the moment. He hesitated, not too sure how to respond as he glanced up to the midnight sky. When he looked back down at her, he shrugged. "Well, I suppose that’s something we have in common." A trembling smile tugged at his lips.
"Really?" she blurted, shooting her head back up.
He nodded, finding himself to feel abnormally comfortable talking to her. "Absolutely. Family can be an infectious plague worse than illness at times.” His voice quieted, speaking low as expression fell sad. “A plague I fear I've become dependent on." He looked down at the concrete, his face red with embarrassment.
"Oh. I'm sorry."
He rested his hands inside the pockets of his black leather jacket. "It's okay. It's just a part of who I am," he replied, looking back at her with a warm smile. He wanted to show her that she didn't have to feel uncomfortable. It was true. He didn’t love the dynamic he had with his family, but in truth he didn’t know much better. What else could he really expect? He understood the toxicity between them sometimes, but that’s how it had always been.
She slowly raised her head to meet his gaze again, her eyes revealing the same interest to know more that he had seen in Lexi so many times. "Is it something you-want to change?" she quietly asked, hesitating mid sentence as she stepped closer to him, as if to make their conversation more private.
He thought for a moment. His mind quickly spun into conflict with itself, throwing him back and forth with his thoughts. But instead of dwelling on either side, he decided to settle for the honest middle ground. “Sometimes," he admitted, his voice barely exceeding the volume of the whistling wind. His expression grew still as he realized that this was the first time he'd spoken such words aloud to someone. It felt good to tell her. It felt good to tell someone who wouldn’t judge him. Who didn’t know who his family was. Although, that isn’t how it had to be for her. She was no fighter, that much was clear. Which meant she had the chance to so much else with her life. Sure, his life was different than most, but he had come to terms with that a long time ago. "But it doesn't have to be who you are,” he told her softly, looking her in the eye as he went on. “You have the chance to be your own person." he wanted to help guide her in a better direction, for a better life.
The two shared a simple smile before Brooke opened her mouth to speak again, but suddenly collapsed to the ground, her entire body paralyzed. As she screamed out in agony, he stumbled back, shocked to see Mara revealed to be standing behind her. She looked down at him, her gaze like a burning laser that pierced through him. He could feel the boiling mix of anger and anxiety build up within him. "What are you doing?" he shrieked breathlessly. "I thought we…" he began but was suddenly cut off when she brutally smashed her fist against his skull, causing his vision to go black as he fell unconscious.
∞∞∞
An ear-piercing scream shook the entire exterior of the gymnasium, cutting the music as everyone froze in place. Fear and panic tearing through the room. Lanie watched as Adrian still stood at the snack station. It was as if no one was truly sure what it was they had heard and were looking to confirm their suspicions.
As another scream erupted, echoing from a further distance this time, the entire room spun into a panic. Everyone rushed to the comfort of their friends. A few girls began to cry while other students started to demand answers.
The scream was that of a child, a child screaming as if it was all they could do. Lanie’s heart dropped as panic numbed her to the bone. She searched the entire room, sprinting through circles of groups in search for either Lexi or Brooke, but nothing. They weren’t in the gymnasium.
As she recentered her sights on Adrian, she saw that he hadn’t moved from before. She dashed up to him, crying out, "I can't find Lexi or Brooke anywhere!" Her hands were still shaking wildly as she held them down at her sides.
Adrian looked at her bug-eyed, appearing unable to respond as he stood slack-jawed. It was like he was completely frozen in place, a traumatized statue that was powerless to move past their terror.
Lanie let out a sharp breath, shaking her head as she grabbed his hand and pulled him forward, cueing him to run out with her. She knew the scream had to be related to Lexi and Brooke. Something was going down, and they were just standing inside. They needed to help. Adrian followed along. She figured it would take him a moment to stimulate his mind as he followed close behind.
The entire gym broke out into a panic as everyone rushed out the door after Lanie and Adrian, following them to the front of the school in search of the source of the screams. However, nothing of interest could be seen aside from the giant blob of anxious teenagers that now covered the property. For most, the circumstances would only puzzle them, but this only made Lanie's gut ache as her ribs tightened roughly around her core. Her throat ran dry as sand as the scream sounded again, in an echo… and again. It was further this time.
Lanie felt her muscles cramp together as her heart smashed harder against her chest, speeding with every passing moment that Brooke and Lexi weren’t standing by her side, safe. How could she have been so stupid? Her and Adrian never should have left her. She could barely move as her mind raced. All she could think to do was look to Adrian, her mind refusing to think rationally.
Adrian shook his head. “Don’t look at me,” he shrieked, throwing his hands up. “I’m just the guy who shoots lightning from his fingers. Not much of a help in tracking someone.”
Lanie groaned loudly, throwing her head back as she screamed up at the sky. If Kadence was there, perhaps she could have done something to reach them both through her mind connecting abilities. Still, if she came, with her injury, it would be more of a shot in the dark than anything. Her skull was pulsing, making her body vibrate as she pressured herself to find the answer. Lexi and Brooke's lives were on the line, and she knew she would never forgive herself if she couldn't figure out how to rescue them. Adrian and Lanie were both visibly panicking, both of them shouting out questions to one another, as they feared the worst.
Eventually, they both fell quiet, their hopelessness beginning to weigh down on them. Lanie thought through every possibility. Was there something she could do? No. She can't, not without Lexi. Her face burned red. She'd never felt anger build up inside her so aggressively before. She had never cared for someone like she cared for Brooke and Lexi. Brooke was her first ever friend in this place. She was the first person to accept her for who she is, and Lexi was there for her, a true friend who took the time to get to know her. She had spent so much time focusing on other people, that she never understood what it would be like for someone to look at her with the same curiosity and interest. She hated herself for letting this happen. She hated the uni
verse for allowing this to happen to people as amazing as them. She didn't care what it took. She wasn't going to lose Brooke or Lexi, not to someone like Mara. She wouldn't let her mistake get them both killed.
Lanie's body vibrated and shook as she felt filled with beaming energy and adrenalin. She had to do this. She was going to do this. If she didn’t, her friends were going to die. Saving their lives was the only thing running through her mind. She felt an energy and strength like nothing she’d ever felt before building up inside her. As she dropped to her knee, and slammed the palm of her hand down against the cold grass and hard dirt that they all stood on. She pressed her eyes shut as she felt her mind merge with the earth. She felt the weight of the school relentlessly crushing the soil below it. She pressed harder. Her mind ran along the cement sidewalk and roads, feeling the pressure of massive buildings and racing cars until she felt the steady rumbles of Maras heavy boots, along with the sharp scraping of heels. She pushed a little further. They were on their street. She felt a burning heat all around them, and it was growing dangerously fast. She couldn’t hold it any longer. As her consciousness rushed back to the freezing grass and stone-cold dirt beneath her hand as her eyes shot open as she gasped for breath.
Lanie stumbled to her feet, her entire body feeling wobbly and weak. "I know where they are!" she shouted, stumbling towards the parking lot as she tried to keep her legs from giving out. Adrian sped after her, throwing her on his back as he sprinted to the car.
Chapter 24
Lexi's eyes burned as she blinked them open. Her face was hot and covered in boiling sweat. The ground was steaming against her bare back. With her vision still blurry, she bent her elbows beneath her, but cried out as a crippling pain shot up her arm and she collapsed back down on the concrete. Mara. She had attacked her. She did this to her arm. As her vision began to clear, she could make out the clouded dark afternoon sky. Realizing she wasn't at school anymore, she turned onto her good arm, but her sight was suddenly blinded by a hoard of violent orange flames that worked together to create a growing black cloud in the sky. Another wave of heat burned against her face, threatening to melt her skin right off the bone. Once her eyesight refocused, she felt her heart stop as tears began to stream down her cheeks. It was a house that was up in flames… her house. "No," Lexi wept, her tears mixing in with her dripping sweat as her face boiled. The place her and Brooke had grown up in was up in a sea of flames. She rushed to push herself up to her feet, using her one good arm. Her dress had been wholly stained with her own blood, soaking as it pressed against her legs and dripped onto her feet. She held her crippled arm in her hand as it still hurt immensely from Mara's claw-like nails. She could still see the black holes where her nails had dug deep into her flesh like knives. She gasped for breath, her limbs starting to shake.
"Mom! Dad!" Lexi screamed, straining her dry throat as she spun anxiously, searching everywhere she could for her parents. She cried out for them again and again, praying to find them standing on the street waiting for her, but they were nowhere in sight. Her heart dropped as she spotted Kadence lying motionless on the street. “Kadence!” she shrieked. No answer. She wanted to rush over, hold her close, but her feet would not move. Her legs were barely holding her up as her entire body shook.
As neighbours rushed out of their homes one by one, some came in hopes of helping, while others simply ran from the raging flames. Stephanie and Joseph threw their door open and gasped upon seeing Kadence lying unconscious on the hot pavement. They sprinted down their porch steps and kneeled down in front of their adopted daughter, they held her tight in their arms, calling her name as they tried to shake her awake. A firetruck hadn't even arrived yet, causing fear and panic to run loose across her street, and Lexi stood in the center of it all, frozen in place. Terror filled her expression as she spun back to her house of raging flame and her attention rose to the roof.
At the top of her burning house stood Mara with Brooke's paralyzed body within her firm grasp. She flashed a smile like a serpent, knowing fully well that she held Lexi at her mercy. She was in control. She held all the cards. "Finally, the great survivor returns!" she hollered mockingly. An audience of neighbors had gathered thanks to the fire show, but she looked more than willing to give them all a performance that they would never forget.
Lexi's heart was smashing against her chest as she peered up at her paralyzed sister. She was so scared, and could hardly breathe. "Mara!" she screamed through the flames, her anger burning just as furiously as the fire between them. "Don't you dare hurt her!" she cried, sounding more desperate than she intended. "If you touch even one hair on her head…"
"You'll do what?" she shouted back, ripping off a few hairs off Brookes' head, making her sister cry in pain before tossing them into the fire, like trash. She paused, challenging her statement as she waited for her to react, but Lexi did nothing. She couldn’t do anything. Her face expressed all kinds of shock and stress, but she had lost too much blood. Her energy had dissipated too significantly. It was a wonder that she was standing up straight. Thus, she couldn't do anything the least bit exciting, much to Mara's pitiful disappointment.
Lexi shook her head with pooling tears. She saw no other option as she inevitably dropped to her knees, the scorching hot pavement burning the bare skin of her knees as she interlocked her hands together, begging her to spare her sister. "Mara, please. I'm sorry for whatever I did, okay! I’m so sorry! Please! I'll do anything!" she wept, tears pouring down her cheeks like waterfalls. She felt helpless, exposed, pathetic, but she didn't think twice about it. Brooke was all that mattered to her. She was the only thing holding her back from completely exploding.
Mara's expression was stone cold as her eyes shifted to Lexi, and her grip tightened around Brooke's lifeless arm. "I know," she replied bluntly, dragging her over the edge of the roof and dangling her paralyzed body like a rag doll.
Brookes' face was stained with tears as she looked down at the solid pavement below her. She screamed out again, shrieking wildly as terror filled her powerless body.
The sound of her scream made Lexi's body quake and go utterly numb as she couldn't bring herself to rise from her pleading knees. She felt unable to move, as if she was cursed to be a statue. Only able to watch her petrified sister dangle from atop their burning home. Her throat stung as she cried out for her sister. "Brooke! Brooke! Don't look down there, okay!" She was desperate to take her attention away from the pavement. Brooke quieted her repeated screaming to listen to her big sister. "Just look at me! I'm right here, Brooke! You're going to be okay!" she shouted, doing everything she could to make herself sound calm.
"Lexi, I'm scared!" Brooke sobbed, trembling through the roaring flame.
Lexi's heart shattered at the sound of her sister's crying voice. "No, no! You're going to be fine! I love you so much, Brooke!" she wanted to scream, scream at Mara for doing this, but she needed to hold it together, for Brooke. All she could do was pray for a miracle to save her.
Brooke took a quick breath, trying to hush her tears and find her sister's face through the layers of black smoke. "I love you too!" she cried out, a smile spreading across her lips as her emerald green eyes finally locked with Lexi's.
Brooke's smile dropped as gravity took her, Mara's grip around her arm having released. Lexi suddenly leaped to her feet as she felt the world around her slow. She pressed against the heat and smoke as hard as she could, but the sound of Brooke's body hitting the pavement made her entire body shudder and crumble before her sister's motionless body. She held her sister in her arms, pulling her head tight as her tears spilled into Brooke's olive-coloured hair. Her heart had stopped. Brooke was gone. In that instant, Lexi was overwhelmed with emotion as she let it all take her over entirely. She screamed out, releasing everything inside of her all at once. As her scream sounded, a hurricane of light as bright as the sun exploded from her chest, taking out streetlights, shattering windows and throwing everyone off their feet.
Silence engulf
ed the street. When the light faded, all that was left was Lexi, collapsed on the pavement, burning tears streaming down her red cheeks as she clutched Brooke in her trembling arms. Her sister's body ice cold to the touch, she held her against her chest, as if it would be the last hug they would ever share. She didn't process the echoing sound of heavy footsteps as they approached her, shrouding her in a menacing shadow.
Chapter 25
Adrian and Lanie flew around the corner with the car, following the growing cloud of black smoke. They sped down their street until they reached the blaring police cars, fire trucks and ambulances that surrounded the Danvers residence. Their house had been burnt to a crisp, black all around the interior and exterior. It was haunting to look at and sent chills down both their spines. As Adrian brought the vehicle to a halt, he and Lanie leapt out of the car, scanning the area for Lexi and Brooke. It didn't take long for them to be approached by one of the officers on sight, coming to ask them what business they had there. They explained that they live across the street from this house, and insisted that the officer explain what happened there, but before the officer could get another word out, Adrian spotted Kadences long lavender hair dangling from one of the stretchers. Without a glance at Lanie or the officer, he sprinted over, calling her name. Kadence turned her head on the pillow, greeting him with a smile. He practically leaped onto the stretcher, wrapping her in a hug.
Lanie stayed to speak with the officer as he went on. "Someone must have had a real vendetta against your neighbours. The common story seems to be that a woman dressed completely in black burned the house down and dropped a poor girl off the roof," the man explained compassionately.
