[18+] BOOK 2.5 (Novella)
A war that destroyed the world. It came and it went, leaving death and chaos in its wake.
In the resulting turmoil England has split into four regions, a safety measure that was 'essential' to ensure that violence would not...
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Zac and Emilia stand in the middle of the street, arguing between one another as the street descends into chaos. I'm frozen in place at the sight, having only popped home to mine and Jace's house to pick up a couple of items of clothing. I missed my favourite jeans.
"Em—"
"What the fuck is going on?" I interrupt Zac, eyes wide as I look between them. Emilia's expression is broken, her eyes haunted as Zac clenches his jaw, clearly torn. My eyes flicker past them to the hordes of Enforcers slamming their batons down on people's backs, raising their riot shields and battering into people. "Why are the Enforcers killing everyone?"
Emilia's face falls before the heartbreaking words spill from her mouth. "They killed Rayden."
The words ooze through my skin, slowly but surely crawling their way to my brain. I stumble backwards the minute they sink in, hand flying up to clutch at my chest. It aches. It clenches. It breaks.
"What?" My voice is hollow. I don't believe it.
"He's dead, Kayla," Emilia tells me. Tears spring to my eyes and I shake my head fiercely. No! He can't be. Rayden. My Rayden. Our Rayden.
My heart splits down the middle, my knees weakening as my old love rival stares me dead in my eyes. Agony coils in my stomach and my lips open, but no sounds comes out.
There's nothing to say.
Rayden is dead. He's dead.
Coming to, I shoot upright, finding myself tangled in my blankets, the fabric sweaty and coiled around my legs. I can't see a thing in the black of the night, but the hair around my forehead is stuck to my face, knotted and wet.
My heart is pounding uncomfortably and I swallow. Rayden's face fills my mind. Rayden's laugh. His smile. I struggle to catch my breath as the nightmare swarms back through my head and squeeze my eyes shut, desperate to make it go away.
It won't.
Emilia's face as she told me he was dead... it stays there... haunting my mind...
"I count to a hundred."
The words slip back into my mind and my eyes fly open. Riley. Yes. Count to a hundred.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
I zone in on the numbers, concentrating my full attention on every single one, letting them increase and dissipate the memory nightmare.
By the time I reach 100, I exhale with a sigh of relief, half of the weight already lifted from my shoulders. My eyes flicker open.
"Go back to the first memory you have with that person."
Rayden and I both moved to Nottingham during the same half term. We were shoved together on the first day of school as the two newbies who didn't have a clue. On our way to Geography class we got lost and ended up at the bottom of the school field, not a classroom in sight. We ended up skipping the entire afternoon and getting to know one another as we shared a packet of Frazzles.
