Once His [ON BREAK]

Three

"Hands up if you want to live."

The voice breaks the silence of the auditorium, and a few squeaks of rubber shoes on the floor cause a few more seconds of noise. Next is silence. Then a gunshot, as hands fly up into the air. Bryce grips my hand, his warmth spreading into me. I don't even think of sticking my hand up, because I know who it is.

Jacob.

"We'll be doing a DNA scan to find Casey Blue, whom you may know," he says, pushing among the crowd, then standing up on the stage. Bryce finally notices what's happening and pushes me behind him, trying to hide my face. Jacob's comrades shove people up to the stage, where Jacob holds a small disk in his hands. The circle blinks with a spark of light. "This disk will scan over your hands, taking in an image of them, then find out if you've touched her." My eyes widen. Bryce turns to me, just as I think, He's the only one who's touched me.

I try to tell him to not move forward, but he's already gotten in line. The back of my eyes burn, and I hide by the costume rack. I can hear a beeping noise: probably the sound of the scanner. I think of what will happen to Bryce: probably nothing, but many questions until he bursts.

But he won't burst. He'll be fine. Won't he?

I peek out to the room from behind the old rack and look at the many people in line, waiting to be scanned. Some people I don't even know are in the line, but then I realize, just because I'm the one girl that they may not even know, and that I'm the girl they're in that line for, that I may be the one that gets them all killed. I shiver.

I sit behind the costumes, fingering at the lining of an old dress, smoothing it out between my fingers, then crumpling it back up with my thumb and fore-finger. I wish this was how life could go: the smooth fabric your good times, then the crumpled your bad ones; then you can start all over. I wish that was how it worked. But it wasn't. It'd never be.

The room remains silent, not including the beep of the disk running over the palms of the innocent students. Soon I peek back out from my hiding place to see Bryce approach the stage, where Jacob stands tall, holding the disk as though it were a murder weapon. My brother smiles down at Bryce, but doesn't run the scanner over him yet.

"Sup, Layne. How's it going?" he says happily, but Bryce doesn't respond, yet he stares up at Jacob.

"Just get this over with." he mutters under his breath, holding out his palms, flat up. My heart races, and I have to resist the urge to jump from my hiding place and protect my best friend. Jacob takes the pale white disk over Bryce's hands, then runs in over them lightly. All movement in the auditorium has stopped, and people stare at the scene: they knew Bryce and Jacob knew one another, so they were excited to see what would happen.

The disk clicks and spurs, and blinks a shade of maroon. Bryce's throat bobs as he swallows, and he closes his eyes. I look over at Jacob, and I shiver as he sets the disk down with a clank, then grabs Bryce by the collar of his shirt in a swift movement, the line of people behind him backing up quickly. He doesn't fight back and lays limp in Jacob's hands. I want to cry out, but I feel as though my tounge has been pulled out of my mouth.

"Where is she?" Jacob hisses at Bryce, only a few inches from his face. He shakes him violently, "Where?" Bryce only shakes his head, his eyes still closed. Jacob's comrades slowly form a circle around the two, holding small daggers at their waists.

"She's not here," Bryce chokes out, his face almost purple, "She went home sick." he adds, trying to make his lie believable. Jacob doesn't seem to believe it, unfortunately.

"Seriously, Layne? You think you can lie to me?" he laughs out, then motions to one of the surrounding men in his circle. "Cut him up a bit, he'll talk then." The man he talked to, who looked about thirty years old with dirty blonde hair and a lanky build, nodded and pulled a knife from his pocket, its silver tip glinting in the light.