Change of Heart

Chapter 54

**

Reaching my house, I ran straight up to my room and flung myself on my bed. I laid there in anguish, so broken. It hasn't even been a day and everything already seems to be falling apart so suddenly. My heart is pounding so hard I feel like it's going to burst from the inside out! It hurts.

Wrapping my arms around my pillow, I gripped it holding it tightly against my chest.

My eyes slowly peered open, a tall figure hovering over me. What is it? As my eyes widened, my vision began to focus. It was, Alex. Pushing my lips together, I slowly sat up. "Hey, sorry about earlier." He started taking a seat next to me. "I didn't mean for it to turn out like that." Taking a hold of my hand, he locked his fingers with mine. Shutting my eyes, I saw myself pull away. I don't know why, but it was there. In reality though, I only locked my fingers tighter.

"I brought it on myself." I shook my head. "I should be the one to apologize. I...was only thinking of myself, I felt so desperate and I-" Covering my mouth, he placed his forehead against mine. His eyes were so empty...

"Don't apologize. It's already hard enough as it is." Narrowing my eyes, he pulled completely away, even releasing my hand. "You should just stay away from me from now on."

As my heart crashed, my hands began to shake. "What are you saying? You can't expect me to just-"

"I'm not expecting you to, I'm telling you to." He turned away from me, hiding his face. "I'm sorry, but it has to be this way." Why is he suddenly saying this?

Jumping up, I thrusted myself toward him. "But wh-" As I reached out, my arm was gripped tightly causing a slight pain. I winced a bit and he pulled me close to him. Alex stared down at me.

"I told you. Stay away from me from now on." He forcefully pushed me back. Losing my footing, I fell to the ground as he released my hand. "It's over."

"Alex, wait!" As I reached my hand out, he was gone. In an instant, my whole world crumbled...for the second time. My arm dropped and I just stared blankly at the floor, motionless. As my tears fell from my eyes, flashbacks appeared to when I first met Alex. I ran behind the school, Alex came for me. Back then, I was scared of him. Up until that time he cornered me in the janitors closet, stealing a kiss...he terrified me. After that one kiss though, everything changed, and somehow, he was the one I fell in love with. Before he showed up, I never thought it was even possible, and now..

"I will never betray you." His words came back in an echo. Was that true Alex? Or was it all just a lie?

**

My eyes finally dried up. They ached as if I had splashed soap straight into them. I lost track of time. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like days, maybe even weeks. My back was pushed up against my bed. I heard my phone begin to ring. My heart skipped a beat, and I swallowed hard. I forgot we had a home phone. "We..." That's right, it's just me now.

Another ring sounded. I looked over at the phone sitting on my desk. It was probably just one of those toll free calls that called twenty times a week. I didn't bother getting up, only leaning my head back against my bed. Ringing a few more times, it went to voicemail.

"Uh, hey...Serine. It's Jake. I'm not sure if you're there or not." How did he even get my number? "Anyways, if you're there, just a heads up I'm stopping by for a quick visit, though if you were there you'd probably answer...well, maybe not. I realized I left my wallet there. So, yea...well, bye." A click and the phone shut off. So Jake's coming over then, huh?

**

The door swung open, and Jake came dashing in. He quickly stopped when our eyes met. "So you are here." I looked away, hiding my face. I didn't want him to see me this way. But I guess it was already to late for that. "Why didn't you answer then?" I didn't give a response. He sighed taking a seat next to me. "What happened? Where's Alex?"

Shaking my head, I shut my eyes. As dried out as my tears were, they managed to push through my eyes. "He's gone." My voice broke. For some reason, saying it out loud almost made it less unreal, yet the pain in my heart only grew.

"Gone? As in-"

"Just gone, ok? I don't think I can handle talking about it right now." Placing my hand over my mouth, I tried holding in the sobs. Jake rested his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect him to go so far." He stopped for a moment, swallowing hard. "Look, I know I swore I wouldn't say anything, and normally I would, but for some reason I just feel that I have to tell you." Jake removed his hand from my shoulder. Even without turning my head, I could tell he had an uneasy look on his face. "He told me he had some kind of dream."

My head shot up and I turned my head. A dream? Could it be Juliana again? "A dream? What kind of dream?"

"That sure got your attention."

I turned my body toward him. "Tell me."

He held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright." Bringing them back down, he continued. "When he told me about the dream, I told him it was only just a dream, that dreams aren't real. That's when he said that his were, and...you had a similar ability. The drawing that I had, right?" My body tightened and I looked away. "That was..."

"That was a drawing I made when I was younger. I always had these images, kind of like dreams but not quite." Just thinking about it made my skin crawl. I brought my hand up to my neck. "What you saw in the picture...he was real. I was terrified when you told me what you saw looked identical, because...I watched Alex killed him with his own two hands."

Jake was silent. Having no reaction, he didn't seem surprised at all. Alex must've told him that much too then. "Yea, I could understand why that would scare you now." He stood to his feet and sat back down on the bed. "Back to the dream." Hesitating for a moment, I stood to my feet as well but didn't take a seat. "The first thing Alex said about his dream was that after it, he was scared to face you. In a way, he was glad you left before he woke up because then you didn't have to see what a mess he was."

He was scared to face me? But, why? "What do you mean? What was the dream that he had?" His silence only made my nerves grow. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know anymore at this point if it even made Alex afraid.

He looked down to the floor letting out a deep sigh. "In his dream, he attacked you of his own free will."