Change of Heart

Chapter 53

Why...? Why is is that I feel so worthless right now.. Honestly, I don't even get why it's bothering me so much. Could it be because he could trust Jake with it and not me? The fact that it's about me, shouldn't I have the right to know?

What should I even do now? I'm just dead weight to Alex at this point. Now that I think about it...I still haven't told him about what Jake saw. Should I...? Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and swallowed my feelings. Despite the way he's acting, he deserves to know about Zander..
Walking out of the room, I could slightly hear Alex and Jake talk from the living room. "-ell her?" That was Jake's voice. I peered a little closer to the edge against the wall. Eavesdropping wasn't my thing, but, in this case I just couldn't help myself.

"Because I can't, alright? I already told you the reason, now stop pestering me about it." Alex snapped back at him. "Besides, why are you even still here?"

Jake snorted. "I was asked to stay until you got back, but looks like I don't need to be here anymore." I could hear footsteps pound into the ground. Jake's voice grew quieter. "I'll let Serine tell you what happened. It would probably be easier to understand her reaction if she told you herself. Even now, I still don't understand why that picture made her so scared."

"Picture?" Alex asked, his tone dying down.

"It was some drawing." Just hearing it made me sink down to the floor. On second thought, I really didn't want to talk about it. "Like I said, ask her about it. And don't worry, your secret is safe with me." The door slammed shut, and my heart pounded in my chest. Secret..must be what he told him earlier. But, what secret could there be about me?

It was silent. I couldn't tell how Alex was reacting. Resting my head against the wall, I stared up at the ceiling and closed my eyes for a bit. When I opened them back up, Alex hovered over me. I screeched pushing myself tighter against the wall. "Alex...you-"

"What drawing was he talking about?" Crouching down, he put both of his arms to my sides, pushing against the wall, caging me in.

Swallowing hard, I looked into his eyes. They weren't the same eyes I looked into last night. The red gleam was gone, just an empty, colorless shade of red. I stared into his eyes for a while before giving my answer. "It was one of my drawings...of Zander..." My lips began to quiver. "Jake said that he saw a monster in Caden's room. It was what destroyed his room, not Jake. And that monster...he said it looked identical to the one in the drawing." Alex's eyes shot open and he back away a bit.

Standing to his feet, he stumbled. "That can't be him. I killed him, struck him down with my own two hands." He seemed even more agitated than before. "He can't be..." He was in denial just like me. Of course there's no proof, but it is Zander after all.. Punching the wall, Alex shouted out. "DAMMIT!" Alex spoke to himself, a whisper under his breath. "Could that be why..."

"Why what?" I got up off the floor and asked him. "Alex, what is it?" Was he talking about his secret with Jake? He shook his head and walked away. I hesitated but took a hold of his arm. "Talk to me!"

Alex lashed out swinging his arm back. "Dammit, Serine! Would you just drop it already!?" At the moment, it felt like he didn't even realize what he just did until afterwards. His expression changed, filled with regret and pain. Taking a step back, I looked away. My heart was crushed. Speaking again, his voice was soft, and he reached out his hand. "Serine, I-"

"Don't..." I took another step back, regretting it this time. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Obviously, you can't tell me anything, so I won't bother anymore."

"Serine, that's not-" Cutting him off again, I started walking past him.

"I'm going out. Feel free to come find me when you've cooled down a bit." I shut my eyes swallowing hard. I bit my lip trying to hold back my tears. Walking away, Alex didn't even bother trying to stop me. How did things suddenly turn out this way?