THE PLAYGROUND

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

ALEXA.

I laid there on the hard ground, crying silently, waiting for death to come. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed my family looking sorrowful. My mom was on her knees, crying, trying to come to me even though she was restricted. Nobody tried to comfort each other, they just stood there, grief written all over their faces.

Gale didn't take his eyes off me, tears streaming down his face. I closed my eyes. ' I'm sorry guys, I don't think I can make it this time.'  Succumbing to the darkness, I waited to be swept away by death.

"Lexi?,"

"Jenny?"  She smiled at me and I ran into her arms. "I'm so happy to see you."

"I'm happy to see you too Lexi."

"Jenny, I don't want to leave you again. I want us to be together forever."

She smiled so tenderly at me, then she held my hands. "Then let's go. We can leave now and never look back."

"Really?"

"Yes."

I smiled for a moment before my smile disappeared. "But, I'll never see mom and dad again, and my brothers....and Gale."

"Yes, but you'll be with me." She smiled, then added. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"It was but..."

"Lexi, I understand how you feel. I'm sorry I left you, it was never my intention, but you know...no matter where I am, I'll always be with you. It doesn't matter if we don't see each other, as long as I'm in your heart, we're together." She paused for a moment before she continued. "Josie is out there now and If you don't stop her, she's going to kill all the people you love."

"Noo!."

"You love them, right?" I could only nod in response. "Then you have to fight for them. Fight for what you love, don't let Josie have the last laugh."

"But what if.... what if I'm not strong enough?"

"You are. I believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself."

I opened my eyes and saw Josie standing triumphantly over me, she was laughing hysterically feeling happy about the current situation of things. Forcing myself to stand up, I silently chanted the protection spell Emily and I had used earlier. Josie frowned when she saw me on my feet. "Why won't you just stay dead?"

"Because you're still alive." I don't know why but I felt stronger, maybe it was the anger in me or the hatred I had towards Josie that made me stronger but I just knew I felt stronger. I could hear Emily's voice in my head chanting so I joined her.

I slowly made my way to Josie, still chanting. I stopped in my track staring Josie dead in the eye. "You have done so many evil to me, my family and this innocent city, and you have to be punished for it."

Josie burst into laughter and her cohorts joined in. "And who's going to punish me, you?"

She was right. With my current state, there was very little I could do, and even with the protection spell, my life was still in danger. I was still bleeding, my shirt was soaked, it was a miracle I was still standing.

I remembered a binding spell I had come across online, and I decided to try it out. It was a spell used to bind two people together so whatever pain one felt, the other would feel it too.

I closed my eyes and prayed to the gods. "Ex hoc tibi devincio te mihi dolorem meum cum me sentire." I chanted slowly and silently, hoping she wouldn't hear me. I went down on my knees, still chanting. Remembering that I had to dip her belonging in my blood and made sure it touched her for the spell to work, I brought out the cross pendant I had taken from Gale's office and pressed it to my wound and repeated the spell.

I could hear Josie snort at me. " I thought you wanted to punish me. Stand up." I could hear the mockery in her voice.

I ignored her and continued chanting, she kept talking but I focused my energy on the spell. I closed my eyes and summoned every last bit of energy in me, my voice got louder in my head and it felt like someone was chanting with me. The surrounding became cold and windy and my heart was pounding hard in my chest.

"What are you doing?!" Josie demanded, sounding agitated. "Stop it!!." She yelled but I didn't pay any attention to her. She grabbed my hair and yanked me off the ground. Using it as an opportunity, I stabbed her in the shoulder with the pendant, making sure my blood touched hers. "Arrgh!!." She pushed me away and pressed her hand to the wound to stop the bleeding.

I didn't feel any pain in my shoulder so I wasn't convinced the spell actually worked. I quickly closed the distance between us and I stabbed her in the waist. "Ouch!." The pain was sharp, like I had just been stabbed, it worked.

I wore the pendant around my neck and tucked it in my shirt to prevent Josie from getting to it. She still wasn't aware of what I had done. "There's still hope for you Josie, you can still stop this."

"You don't want to punish me anymore?"

"Please Josie, we can still make things right. Just stop this, we can go back to the way we were." With every word I said, I took a step closer to her. "Don't you want to live a normal life?, You have a son and soon you'll be a grandma. Why do you want to ruin it with this...lust for power?"

"You see, this is why we are so different. You crave a normal life, while I want so much more. There's more to this life than family, and love. It does nothing but to hold you down."

"See that's where you're wrong Josie. Love doesn't make me weak, it's actually my greatest source of strength." I held out the dagger I had managed to retrieve while her guard was down. "I'm going to end this now."  Josie watched me with no expression on her face as I drove the dagger into my chest. She only became aware of what I had done when she felt the pain of the stab.

She looked horrified as she held her chest and fell to the ground. "You little--"her expression changed and she suddenly looked scared. I smiled, feeling satisfied that I had finally ended Josie's evil terror.