Matt

Chapter 23- The Inevitable

What a miserable week. For the last three days, we've been going on one pointless escapade after another, and Serena's been more and more serious about the searches every day. We hadn't even had the chance to goof off, or more specifically, I haven't. Whenever I've been grouped with Serena, she would force me to do idiotic activities such as looking under cars or looking into garbage dumpsters, all for the sake of finding the paranormal. And if I were partnered with anyone other than her, she would sneak up on us to make sure we weren't goofing off. Then she would give us a stupid speech about responsibility and such, even though the fact of the matter is that while she was spying on me, she wasn't searching, either.

Anyway, none of this is really all that important. The truth of the matter is that I've been depressed and irritable all week. Of course, the reason for this was because I had to move out of this place the day after I returned from the convention. Perhaps the worst part is the fact that I haven't told Serena. And no, I haven't kept it from her because I was afraid or anything. I just didn't want to ruin the trip. She's been looking forward to this damn thing for a while now, and we've all worked hard to make it happen. It would be a shame to ruin it. Yes, leaving her in the dark about why I've been moody all week was the lesser of two evils.

Obviously, Serena has asked me repeatedly why I've been down so much lately, but I've played it off as anxiousness over the upcoming trip. I've tried my best to keep my mood cheerful, but I knew I was failing. That and the lack of sleep were definitely getting to me. The problem was that I couldn't even say "I can't wait for this trip to end" because the day after it does I was going up north to live with my family again.

Whether I wanted to admit it or not, John was right. If I didn't love Serena back, I should go before I broke her heart. It's better for me, her and the whole world if I did that.

Then I began to think about the upcoming danger I was warned about from the older Clara. Even more confusing was the other clue...

When confronting her.

He held on the stage's edge.

He then let it go.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Once again, I could assume that her meant Serena and He was me, but that's about it. What did it mean by stage's edge? And what exactly did I let go? Was it some twisted metaphor? Whenever I tried to ask Alexis about it, she refused to answer, saying that the answer would become clear when the time was right. Why the hell did I have to wait until "the time is right?" Why couldn't I know now?

Why couldn't I ever get any easy answers?

These were all the thoughts that were swirling my head today during lunch. It's Thursday, the day before the ever eventful trip. I was once again sitting with Tony and Bobby. I decided not to tell them I was moving. I didn't want to hear their whining and complaining.

Tony decided to start up a conversation. "Hey, Mattilda!"

Hey! Stop calling me that! I thought we had an agreement that you weren't allowed to tease me anymore if I made you a judge of that god-forsaken mud wrestling contest.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "That wasn't the agreement. I only said I'd stop teasing you about you and Serena."

I immediately lost patience with him and got up to leave the lunchroom. I decided I wasn't hungry and left to go take a walk. I was still very much in a foul mood. I had hoped that wandering the halls would help with my mood, but it failed. By the time I made it outside by the bleachers, I was just as upset as I was when I got up. Unfortunately, I ran into someone when I got there.

"Ah, good day, Matt."

It was Alex. He was standing at the top of the bleachers, looking out into the sky. I merely greeted him plainly before taking a seat next to him. "Hey."