Lost Game Notes (Novel)

Chapter 21: Lit

Author's Note: If you want the full experience, listen to Lit by Lay whiles you read this! :)

*****

 It was one of those times Alex wished he had a car. If he knew how to drive he would have taken Lawrence's car without a second thought, but fate would have most likely led him into a ditch. But he wasn't thinking about that right now. Adrenaline coursed through his veins with every heartbeat, fury seared the tips of his fingers until he thought they were burning. Scenery zipped past in a colorless blur; he couldn't run any faster.

Everything inside him tumbled with the movement, and his heart did double leaps, slamming against his chest. He reached for his pistol's holster several times to make sure it was still there. Like a raging bull, all his mind was set to do was see Jude crumple.

It didn't take long before the lumbering oaks that surrounded the park came to view, black shadows so large and sprawling they could intimidate even night gaurds. Alex swung past the gate, dying to a halt like the engine of a vehicle. He willed himself to calm down. He couldn't let his emotions show like this. He had to be calm and deceptive, clever and quick. Just like Lawrence.

Drying his sweaty palms down the thighs of his jeans, Alex gulped in several deep breaths of the rose-scented air, trimmed with the distant promise of coming rain. He began down the path into the park, feeling like a malfunctioning robot. His mind said to calm down, his heart said to reach for his gun, his limbs moved like metal poles.

"Focus," Alex muttered to himself, sweeping his eyes over the expanse, the glinting blades of grass, an abandoned bicycle. No one. A sudden shiver crawled up his spine then, prompting Alex to turn. He spun around, eyes locking on the figure that stood a few feet away.

"You came." The deep, husky voice couldn't be mistaken. Jude.

"Where is she?" Alex said, his voice a combinations of staccatos and short breaths. He eased his hands into fists.

Even in the near darkness Alex could just see the smirk on Jude's face. "You brought the money." It was a statement, not a question.

Alex felt himself undoing fast. He drew in a stomach of air and bellowed, "Where is she?"

A moment of painful silence followed. An undisturbed owl hooted overhead.

A deep chuckle came forth Jude. "Give me the money first."

In a different situation, Alex might had asked why on earth Jude wanted his money. He was the mayors son after all. He probably used his change as a handkerchief. Instead, Alex dug his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and threw the stack at Jude, worthless in the light of getting his sister back. "Now, where is Dawn?"

Jude stooped to pick the bundle, never taking his eyes off Alex. "Poor Alex," he crooned. "I always knew you were stupid, but I never expected this. You see, she's not here. And as for how I knew about this money in the first place, Sky, come forward, please."

Alex felt his heart stop, blood freeze in his veins. He stared open-mouthed as another figure slunk forward, out from behind a tree.

Sky stopped beside Jude, head hanging, his once snow-white hair gray and dirty.

"Sky?" Alex whispered, as a wave of understanding washed over him. His suspicions, which seemed so far off the mark a little while back, were true. Sky didn't want to be Alex's friend. He wanted to be with Jude. With a crushed spirit, Alex's voice was weak and ineffective when he spoke. "What does Sky have to do with the money?" Even as he said the words, a possibility dawned so strong it almost had him falling over.

Rays of moonlight peeked out from behind the cloud now. Even the moon was curious to see what was about to transpire.

"I suppose you're getting a little confused," Jude smirked. "If you want me to explain, stay there and listen good, although I can't assure you won't need ambulance."

Alex felt everything in him revolt against this terrible creature, but he placed a lid on his feelings and firmly stood his ground, lifting his chin. "Go on."

Jude slid his hands into his pockets, watching Alex, in wait of signs of some emotion. "Well, ever since you bumped into me behind my house that day, I grew suspicious of you. Honestly I thought you were a spy, trying to infiltrate the Shadow Haunters."

"Wrong," Alex spat, the venom lacing his voice causing Jude to raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not done here."

Alex levelled a poisonous stare at him.

Jude went on. "You were an idiot to turn down the offer to join my gang, I must say. But Sky here wasn't. In fact, he has been the general technologist for a while now, quite the handy man to plan our invasions and so on, in exchange for a few dollars. So who better to ask to spy on you than your best friend?"

Alex's lungs contracted, struggling to squeeze in air. There had to be more. He knew how Jude was, always twisting the truth. There had to be a reason. It was all he could do from pulling his pistol on Sky instead.

"Up till this day I still don't know whatever you were doing at my house, but one thing I did find out—well, not exactly I. That would be taking all the credit for myself, isn't it, Skyler?"

Sky remained motionless, head angled at the ground. Alex tore his eyes away from the traitor.

Jude let out a delighted rumble of laughter. "What Sky found out was that you won eight thousand dollars at Cosmos. Pretty good. That selfish little brat thought if he told me, I would get you to give me the money, and I would give half of it to him."

Sky's head whipped up, and Alex almost wheezed at the purple and blue bruised that bloomed on his cheek. He demanded in a voice sharper than Alex ever heard, "But you will?"

Jude's lip curled and he sneered at Sky. "For all those brains you've got, you're an idiot to think so."

Sky's face paled, then he lunged at Jude and screamed, "You promised! You promised you wouldn't let her die!"

Sky was not match for Jude, who batted him away with the strike of his fist. "I didn't promise not to break the promise, did I? Now get out of here. Go protect your precious mother before I call Elmo and tell him to take action. And don't think of coming back to me. You're done. I hope it teaches you not to be selfish."

Sky's eyes widened and froze. Jude slapped him across the cheek, the bruised one. Sky let out a howl of pain, but Jude didn't care. Sky didn't dare lift his eyes to Alex to plead for help, he had been reduced to that little. He spun around and stumbled into the darkness of the trees, sobbing as though someone had sliced right through his heart.

Alex felt the same way. No, he was so numb he didn't feel anything at all. However, as Jude turned back, reality slammed into Alex like a cargo train. He grabbed his pistol, aimed, then pulled the trigger. An explosion that sounded like a crack of thunder in the night, then smoke fogged his vision.

Alex took a step back, heart thrumming like unending reverberation. I killed him, he thought. His body went numb. He felt his pistol brush against his fingers and thump into the grass. Suddenly, arms clasped around him, and his face careened towards the ground.

"You beast! You tried to kill me!" Jude roared, all his weight crushing Alex's ribs against the ground. For a moment Alex was breathing in grass and soil, the next sneezing out warm, salty blood.

Inside of him a flame lit, fueled by raging emotions and gushing down his veins as adrenaline. With almost no effort, Alex rolled rolled and lashed out, knuckles cracking against Jude's jaw.

Jude's head snapped to the side and he drew in a ragged breath. The night echoed with silence for a split second, and then Alex caught the glint of metal whizzing towards him.

He scrambled to roll away, but it was too late. The blade plunged into his side, causing an eruption of pain so severe hot white spots invaded Alex's vision. In the distance, he heard an ear-splitting sound that forced his eyes to squeeze shut. The burning of his vocal chords told him that had been his own scream.

Every inch of his body throbbed with pain. He teetered at the brink of an endless, black abyss, and suddenly, all he wanted was to die.

The crunch of dry grass was but a faint sound, his mind already marking it as unimportant. Someone called his name, but the pounding in his head was greater. A sudden cold rush of air stung his skin, and Alex groaned, beginning to curl into himself to escape the chill.

For a moment, he felt himself being dragged off the ground, but he was hurting too much, too weak to open his eyes and defend himself.

The thing he heard before his last finger popped off the edge of consciousness, was a broken, shrill voice wail:

"I'm so sorry, Alex."

Author's Note: Hey guys! It's been a while. A couple more chapters till the ending! Any speculations? Anyone still with Team Sky? I know you're all totally Anti Jude right now. That's okay, I'm too. Let's hope the best for Alex, though. ;)

If you're enjoying the story, consider commenting/voting/sharing. And thank you to every one who's stuck with my story so far!

PS: I have some major reconstruction to do with the remaining chapters, so updates might be a little slow. Sorry :(