Change of Heart

Chapter 29

**

After hours spent cleaning, Alek and I finally finished. "Man, that sure was a workout. I wonder if Alex is still sleeping or not."

Nodding, I agreed. "Yea. Also, I'm curious if he was able to cool down or not."

"In any case, tell Alex bye for me. I've gotta go for now." He set his hand on my head beginning to grin. "Thanks for your help."

Returning a smile, I nodded. "You're welcome."

"Well, be seeing you." He disappeared and I flew back on the couch. Today was pretty exhausting. Still...I do wonder if Alex is alright. I don't want to barge in on him if he is sleeping it off. For now, I'll just take a nap here for a little while. Falling to my side, I brought my hands up and laid my head on top of them. Closing my eyes, the world around me turned black, and for a while, I escaped from the world.

**

"Serine." I heard Alex's voice call my name. It was faint, but I recognized it. "Serine." His voice got clearer, a little closer. Looking up, I saw him hovering over me. "So you're awake, I see." He smiled and took my hand.

Alex jerked me up a little too hard causing me to wince. "That hurt!"

"Sorry. Come on, I want to show you some thing." Alex's smile never wavered, and he pulled me out the door.

"Wait, where are-" The second he pulled me out the door, we were suddenly standing on a bridge. The sound of a waterfall roared in the distance. The aroma was mixed between oak and pine. So peaceful and beautiful. I was speechless.

I was embraced from behind. Alex held me close to him as I smiled. "This is...beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it." What is this? That wasn't Alex's voice. It sounds familiar, but who...

Bringing my head back, I widened my eyes. Nikolas!? But how? I quickly pulled myself away from his arms falling to the ground. "What's wrong, Serine? I thought you liked being in my arms."

"What the hell are you doing here? And how did we even get here?" I turned over holding myself up with my arms. This isn't possible!

"Come on Serine, there's not need to be angry or upset. Right now, Alex means nothing in the least."

My heart dropped. "H-How do you know Alex's name? I never told you his name, so how!?" This isn't possible...why is this happening?

"Really?" Nikolas gave a wide smirk as he stepped over me. My body trembled, and I became frozen with fear. "Well, I guess there's no helping it. I practically blew my own cover. What a shame." Nikolas grabbed my wrists and brought them over my head pinning me down to the ground.

Cover? What does he mean by that? My arms twitched as I tried pulling them down. It was no use, they were plastered to the ground. "Who-"

He covered my mouth with one hand while the other maneuvered itself to keep a hold on both of my wrists. "Don't tell me you've already forgotten me?" Forgotten? Who could I be forgetting? "My my, I'm a little hurt. And after all this trouble I went through to finally get to you...my, sweet."

My sweet. Those two words struck me like lightning. How could I have been so blind? I began to scream, only sounding out as a mere mumble as I tried forcing my way out.

"I see you remember me." Nik...Zander...began to laugh mercilessly, and brought his head down next to mine. I closed my eyes and turned my head. This time, when he spoke, it's was Zander's voice that burned my ears. "Though this is only a dream for you, I am surely real. See how easy it was for me to crawl inside your head?" My cries for help grew louder and his grip ever so tighter. "I'll warn you...a single word about this to Alex, and I'll make damn sure you'll never be able to sputter so much as a single word again."

**

My body flew up feeling weightless. The sound of my scream even pierced through my own ears, I ended up covering them up. I felt hands wrap around my wrists pulling them away from my head. "Serine!" Alex's voice overpowered my own sound, and my scream stopped. It was suddenly hard for me to breath, and I stared blankly at Alex.

Placing his hands on my cheeks, he held my head in line with his. Alex's eyes locked with mine, his voice playing a part again. "Serine, calm down, it was just a dream." No! It wasn't a dream...not even a nightmare...but reality.

I shook my head pushing my lips together. At the corner of my lips, I felt something cold, wet. I hadn't even realized I resorted into tears. The thought of telling Alex came to the tip of my tongue, but Zander's warning kept them at bay. I couldn't tell him anything...not if Zander was so close, watching me from the sidelines. How was it so easy for him to infiltrate my dreams? I can't take it!

Alex wrapped his arms around me when I buried my face in my hands. I couldn't stop crying, my stomach began to ache, my head was poisoned, my body felt petrified...Zander has penetrated my world once again. I thought it was over, that he was gone for good. How could I have been so easily fooled believing it was easy as all that? Dammit!

"I'm here." Alex whispered in my ear holding me tighter. "I'm not going anywhere." Pulling my hands from my face, I slid my arms around his back burying my face again, this time on his shoulder. Thank goodness I'm not alone, that I have Alex.