THE PLAYGROUND

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Dave watched, horrified as his sister drove the dagger into her own heart. Everyone in the room was shocked, even Josie seemed shocked at first but then she suddenly held her chest like she was having a heart attack. No one knew what to do because they were all oblivious of what was happening.

As Josie fell to the ground, Dave noticed the air in the room had changed. Her cult members seemed less bold and the ones assigned to guard he and his family crumbled to dust like they were nothing. He ran to his sister's side and the rest of the family followed. Almost immediately, the room was filled with cops, almost like they had been waiting for the right time to come in.

They rounded up the rest of Josie's members and requested for an ambulance. They unchained Gale and he wobbled over to Alexa's side. The dagger was still implanted in her chest to reduce the amount of blood that she would loose. He placed two fingers at the side of her neck but he couldn't feel her pulse. "No." He pulled out the dagger and blood gushed out. Covering the wound with his palm and listened for her heartbeat, still nothing. "No no no, you can't leave me. I won't let you." His voice was shaky as he spoke and tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"Gale," Dave placed a hand on his shoulder but he wasn't ready to be calmed. "She'll be fine. The ambulance will be here soon, they'll take care of her." He turned to face their mother who was crying uncontrollably. "She's going to be okay, Lexi's a really strong girl, she'll overcome it."

"Dave, she's cold." Chris said, he sounded close to tears.

Dave knelt by his sister and held her hand, it was very cold and her skin was pale. "The ambulance will be here soon, she's going to be fine." Deep down, Dave wasn't so sure himself he was scared for his sister's life. She had lost so much blood, more than the previous time and he feared the worse.

Finally, the ambulance arrived and the paramedics hurried to Alexa. Their mother was shaking, and he couldn't blame her. Who would see their daughter in a state like this and not be scared. They placed her on the trolley and took her to the ambulance, her parents volunteered to go with them so Chris and Dave would stay with Gale.

"She's going to be fine." Dave pat his brother on the back as they watched the ambulance speed off.

They were able to arrest the rest of Josie's cult, including zeta and Larry. Josie's body was taken, along with the man she had killed earlier.

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Emily jolted awake fear in her eyes, she had fallen asleep again. She began chanting again, hoping Alexa and her family were okay. The loud buzz of her phone distracted her, flipping the device over she hurriedly answered. "Chris?,"

"Hey Em," His voice was very sad and it made Emily wonder if something bad had happened.

"Are you okay?, Is it Alexa?"

"Alexa's in the hospital, I don't know if she's going to make it Em." He burst into tears and it broke Emily's heart, she hated whenever he was sad. "She lost so much blood, it was too much."

"She's going to be fine, you know how tough Alexa is, nothing is going to happen to her." She hoped she sounded convincing enough. "I'll be there soon okay?"

"Okay." He hung up and Emily ran to get dressed. She didn't even bother to shower and apply her make up. She didn't have a car and she didn't have the patience to wait for a bus so she just boarded a taxi.

When she got to the hospital, she saw Chris pacing impatiently. "Hi." She said as she got to him.

"Hey." He didn't look at her, he didn't even stop pacing. Emily didn't know what she could say to make him calm, his entire body was shaking and his eyes were red. She got in front of him and pulled him close. "It's going to be okay."

He hugged her tight and buried his face in her hair, desperately trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. Seconds passed and they just stood there, comforting each other. Emily noticed that his nerves had calmed a bit and he wasn't crying anymore.

Slowly, they let go of each other and stared into each other's eyes. "Thank you."She nodded in response and they both took a seat next to Dave who had been sitting very still and quietly. She placed a hand on his, trying to reassure him. "She's going to be okay."

He smiled and pat her hands. "I know."

Minutes passed and they just sat there, waiting for the outcome of the surgery. After an excruciating long hour, the surgeon finally came out.

They all got up in anticipation of the news but she didn't say anything. "Well?" Gale asked as he moved closer to them, Emily didn't know if he was already there before or he just arrived.

"We tried everything we could but, I'm sorry we lost her." She said simply and walked away.

Her mother fell to her knees, she was shedding tears uncontrollably. Her husband was trying to calm her but it wasn't difficult to comfort someone when you needed comforting also.

Alexa's body was brought out and that only added fuel to the fire. Her mother was thrashing around violently, not caring that she might hurt herself. "No, no. Tom, my daughter, my poor baby!" Her husband didn't know what to do so he just knelt by her side.

Her body was very pale, looking almost white and her lips had lost all it's colors. Gale looked like he was about to pass out when he saw her, he couldn't stop himself from crying. He brought out a gold ring from his pocket and put it on her ring finger, then he kissed it and kissed her forehead before covering her back up.

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"Where am I?" She got up and walked around the dark room she found herself in.

"Are you satisfied now?" A voice spoke from the shadows. "I told you to join me. We could have been so powerful together, we could have ruled the world, but you were soo stubborn. Now look at yourself."

"Am I dead?"

"Death would have been better. We're both stuck here till the gods decide on what to do to us." The older woman paused in front of her. "Unless you decide to do something about it."

"What can I do?"

"You can take us back, send us back into our bodies."

"....but, that means you'll go back to your evil ways. I can't let you hurt anyone ever again."

"So you prefer death?" She didn't answer and Josie knew she was considering her offer. "Don't you want to see your family again?, Your boyfriend?"

"I do."

"Then all you have to do is to cast this spell, but you have to be quick."

"Why?"

"You have to cast the spell before our bodies are buried or it won't work."

Alexa pondered the offer for a moment before she slowly asked. "What spell do I have to cast?"