Deception #YourStoryIndia

Fear

Luke P.O.V.

Alex was a good brawler. Emphasis on the was.

He put too much pressure on his left side. He always left his right torso defenseless. But, miraculously, he managed himself quite well. Although today I sensed something... off about him. He seemed distracted while fighting with me.

"Hey, what's the matter? Something up?" I asked him after finishing our round and motioned him to come sit at the edge of the field.

"Nah, I'm alright." He replied with little enthusiasm, wiping the sweat off his brow with his T-shirt.

I sighed. This boy used to be like my elder brother before... before she left us. He used to be there for me, ask me about my problems, try to solve them. After her, I don't know what happened but he just... drifted. He stopped talking to anyone, smiled rarely and hardly ate. The only thing he ever did was train. Day in and day out he was either out on the combat field, or in the weapons room or in the gym. Sometimes he even created fire and stared at the burning flame for hours on end, just thinking. I guess the flame within him was washed away by the icy destructiveness brought forth by her love, and he was just waiting to rekindle that flame. Waiting for her to rekindle his flame.

"It's her, isn't it?" I whispered, looking at him.

At first, he tensed up considerably. His jaw was clenched so hard I was afraid it might snap, and his fists were balled tightly. Then suddenly, he slumped his shoulders in defeat. He unclenched his jaw and placed both his hands on his lap. He looked at the sun just rising to its peak and sighed. Anyone who saw this sight would say the same thing that I thought- Alex looked like a broken warrior, shattered into unfixable pieces by the horrors of his past.

"I loved her, you know," he spoke suudenly, makimg me snap my head in his direction. "How could she do this to me... to us? I thought she loved me too."

I stayed silent, afraid he'd close off again. He let me in after a long time, and I wasn't backing out until I got my brother back.

However, the next words he spoke shocked me to my core.

"We were about to get married." He said softly, smiling fondly at the ring on his finger.

I mentally smacked myself for not realising it before. The ring that Alex freaking Windham wore on his left ring finger was his engagement ring. Now that I think of it, it was kinda obvious, though. About a month before Natalie left the bunker, they started acting all secretive and even more crazy-in-love than they already were. I at first thought it was the side effects of settling into a certain age, but now I know that it was just excitement of getting married. I clenched my fists in anger.

"I sometimes think it was my fault, Luke," Alec said, but his expression was fazed as if he didn't realise what he was saying. "Maybe if I loved her more, maybe if I ..."

"No. Stop." I interrupted him angrily. "What are you doing, Windham? This is not you. You can't let that... that stuck up bitch spoil your life! Yes, you loved her, but that's in the past tense, Al! Get. Over. Her. She betrayed all of us, not only you. Shit happens, man. Now you gonna waste your future over some girl who didn't even realise what an amazing guy she had?" I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Then softly, I almost whispered, my voice cracking at the end, "She's not worth it, man. She's not worth you."

Alex seemed shocked at my sudden outburst. He had never heard me speak so violently about Natalie, and that was true. I never spoke about my sister-ex sister, if that made any sense- outrageously, but she did leave us. She did break Alex's heart. She did make everyone in the Bunker feel untrustworthy toward anyone. And for what? For her own selfish needs. People like her don't deserve sympathy. Heck, they don't even deserve hate. The only thing they deserve is to be left alone in some deep dark corner of the earth, for the moths and worms to suck the life out of them.