Hello there! Hope you're having a good day and enjoy the story, aka the dark area in my head that won't stop bothering me until I finish this. However, we are actually getting pretty far! Chapter 17 out of 23?! Sorry, I'm just surprised I stood by this and didn't forget about it like other stories.
Anyway, to the actual story!
Cory took everything surprisingly well. And by that I mean she didn't immediately try to kill me.
"So, Jordan is being targeted by a killer," Cory repeated. We nodded. "You guys are all dead." We nodded. "And that guy who attacked us is a Grim Reaper, who wanted to take you back to the Afterlife and put you in prison." Lena shrugged. "Place of the Broken, but basically."
Cory fanned her hand in front of her face to calm herself down. "This-this doesn't make sense. How could any of this be real? I mean, this isn't possible," Cory said.
"Except for the part where it is," Lena said, crossing her arms. Cory took a deep breath. She pinched herself once, winced, and nodded, as if she accepted this now. I found that weird, but I wasn't going to question her. She still had her trusty hard covered book in her hands, as if ready to swing.
"What can I do to help," she asked. I shook my head. "No."
"I'm not putting someone else in danger," I said. Ann had died because of me. It was my fault. I wasn't letting Cory have the same fate.
She looked at me skeptically. "Alex, I can take care of myself. And if my best friend is going to die, I'm not going to sit around and wait for it to happen." I opened my mouth to argue, but I realized it was pointless. If Cory was anything, she was stubborn. Plus, I couldn't blame her for wanting to help. Jordan was her best friend.
"So Alex," Lena began. "What happened with Ann?"
Cory looked at us. "Wait, Ann's involved?"
I began to fidget with my shirt. "Sort of," I said. Lena and Jordan looked at me confused. "What do you mean sort of," Jordan asked.
I looked down. "I-I wasn't-," I tried, but my voice caught in my throat. If I said it, it made it real. I didn't want to make it real. Hold yourself together, I told myself. But it was becoming more and more difficult.
"I couldn't save her," I admitted. I avoided eye contact with everyone. Jordan hugged me. I just stood there. I felt like I should do or say something, but I didn't know what.
When Jordan let go, she looked at me with a strange look. It was weird. She wasn't angry at me or questioning whether I could protect her. She just tried to be there for me. I had gained a newfound respect for Jordan. Her life was falling apart, and possibly ending. Yet she was worried about me. I didn't understand it, I still don't, but it is quite amazing.
Henry, Will, and Zack had left and were working on their weapon. Cory pointed at them. "What are they doing," she asked. Jordan shook her head with a small smile. "Their weapon."
I had to be honest, with everything happening, I forgot they were making a weapon. Cory went over to them, studying the weapon. They all looked at her. "What's this for," she asked.
"To hurt the killer," Henry said, slightly insecurely. Cory picked it up and looked at it from all angles. We all just stood there, not knowing what she was doing. Then she put it down. "Use aluminum powder." Then she came over to us. "What now?"
I told them all about what happened to Ann, except for the part about Nick. I didn't know how they would react to that. I wasn't even sure how I felt about it.
"I need fresh air," Jordan said. I opened my mouth to protest but she put her finger to my lips to silence me. "I'll be fine," she said. Then she left.
"Now I understand why you're so protective of her," Cory said to me. I shrugged. "I can't let her die. And I can't fail now." Cory looked down and then back at me. "Why do you care so much? I mean, why would you risk everything for someone you don't know?"
I honestly had asked myself that question as well. I could say it was because I could tell she wasn't meant to die, or because I couldn't let another innocent kid die, but that wasn't the truth. It just felt right. I couldn't explain it. Like this was my purpose. That sounds stupid, I know, but there really is no other way I could say it. I couldn't imagine my life without all the people I had met here now. Jordan and Cory and Henry and Will and everyone else, I couldn't imagine a life without having met these people. It felt wrong. I never got to answer Cory's question though.
Now, if you're looking for a happy story, I would suggest to stop. This story is already pretty dark, I'll admit. I mean, dead people, murder, mystery, death, this isn't the kind of story to read a toddler before they go to bed. But this story is about to take a turn. Whether you say it's for better or worse is up to you, but don't say I didn't warn you.
We all heard a scream. Not just a scream, Jordan's scream (don't ask me how we knew, we just did). We all ran outside. The guy who had killed Ann was here. He had Jordan in his grip with a gun to her head. Jordan struggled. She stomped on his feet, but he didn't even flinch. He smirked at us.
I took a step forward. "Another step and she's dead," he said, loading the gun. I put my hands up. I could swear I remembered this voice, but I couldn't tell where I knew it from.
"Listen, please don't do this. You don't have to," Lena said. The man chuckled. "Sweetie, I'm sorry, but killing pays taxes." He turned to all of us. "Let me leave and no one will come to harm. At least, not yet."
I looked at the others. Henry was trying to run towards his sister, but Will and Zack held him back. Henry wasn't giving up though. He screamed, but without words. It was just a scream of pain, sadness. It was the scream of someone who's heart was breaking.
Cory held herself together, but she still looked terrified. Her eyes were glassy. She looked at nothing but Jordan, like nothing else was there but her.
Lena scowled at the man holding Jordan hostage. Her hands were now fists. She was clenching her fists so tight, I could see some blood drip down her palm. She looked at the man as if she had thousands of things to say, but couldn't decide where to start.
I couldn't think. I could barely breathe. My whole body was shutting down. I slowly nodded at the man. What other choice did I have? This was my only choice as to not have Jordan be killed right now. I needed to have hope, I thought. Then the other part of my brain yelled at me "what the hell are you doing? This guy is a murderer!"
The killer was about to run when Zack and Will, in shock, let go of Henry. Henry charged at the killer, knocking his mask off, and we finally got to see his face.
But it made no sense.
It was the Blackout Killer. The man who had pretended to be a policeman to kill me. The man Lena had shot. The man who was supposed to be dead.
We were right. The killer was Lee Parker, or the man who had cheated death.
Then the man ran off. He was so quick that even if we had run after him and hadn't been frozen in place, we would've never caught him. "Come back you coward! Fight me like the killer you are! COWARD," Henry screamed at him. Then his eyes turned to glass, and he cried. Henry cried until there were no tears left inside his body. He wasn't the only one. All of us cried. I had failed to protect her. That murderer had her, and now he was going to kill her. And what could I do?
That's when I realized the real and terrible truth.
I was just a kid.
I was a 12 years old kid who was in way over his head. A kid who had no idea what he was doing or why he was even doing so. A kid who was dumb, impulsive, and as, Nick would've said, an absolute idiot.
A failure.
This story is getting darker than I thought it would. Anyway, how are you feeling with all the reveals? Oh, and don't worry, there are more reveals to come.
I hope you enjoyed! Also, I know I've asked this before but I don't think anyone answered, so I'll try again. Who is your favorite/least favorite character and why?