Nine Lives

Chapter Four

A/N Ok, I know that the last few chapters have been about death hunting Lexa.. So I thought I’d give you a nice surprise; Death has taken a break this chapter, this one is more about her and Hayden, happy reading!

I stared at him in pure shock, my mouth dropped wide open, did he really think I was desperate enough to try and take my own life just because Death was?

Maybe, but I haven’t, so that has got to mean something…

Right? Wrong.

“Hayden, I’m happy because I have you. Why would I want to kill myself if a. I’m happy and b. I have the greatest guy in the world?”

“I don’t know Lexa, if you were happy you wouldn’t have scars on your arm…” he muttered, unable to look me in the eye

“Hayden… I was born with them…”

His eyes shot up to my face “What?”

I half smiled nervously “the scars… I was born with them…”

“Cut the crap, I know you weren’t born with the scars because if you were I would have seen them before today, we’ve been together six years Lexa! What do you think I am? Stupid?!” I could hear the anger rising in his voice

“Of course not…” my voice trembled with tears “… I love you…”

He scoffed before turning his face away from me “I’m not sure I love you anymore…”

My face turned red with anger “How can you be not sure if you love someone or not? Either you do or you don’t Hayden.. it cant be one or the other!”

Relationships are filled with three possible days. Up days, down days and in between ones mostly, you never know what day you will be in until something happens, whoever said they were easy needed to look beyond the happy outlook some relationships withhold, I always found these relationships were in denial, that’s why they needed the fake mask to hide all the imperfections.

It also made me laugh how one day someone could go from loving you deeply to not loving you at all and vice versa.

“What do you want me to say, Lexa? ‘Don’t worry baby, let’s forget you ever cut yourself and we can go back to being hunky dorey’?” Hayden’s eyes were filled with hurt and disbelief but his voice was strong and determined

“…. Yes…. Because I didn’t cut myself…”

He scoffed “So, what? You just slipped shaving then I guess?”

I could feel the tears brimming in my eyes “Why are you being like this? Don’t you love me anymore?” I sniffled

Hayden sighed before pulling me into a warm embrace, confusing me slightly, before he whispered softly into my ear “How could I not love you? Of course I love you; I love you more than anything in this entire world Lexa… But the thought of losing you scares me, and I can’t-” He pulled me tighter, as he nuzzled his face deep into the crevice of my neck, trembling slightly. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it…”

My hands flew up to get lost in his hair “…I know… Me too”

I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised, but when Hayden and I fight it’s always a traumatic time, perhaps it’s because he’s a Scorpio and I’m a Leo.

I closed my eyes slowly, resting my head against Hayden’s shoulder

It was a hot summer’s day, the wind teased the branches that hung off the tree’s as I ran through the coveted woodland, trying to contain my laughter as the wind swept my hair off my shoulders.

Snap!

I froze, hearing a twig break as someone stepped on it, giggling some more before continuing to run, the leaves on the forest floor crunched below my feet

Thud!

I was whisked through the air and grunted as I landed on my back with my ‘chaser’ on top of me.

“I found you, Lexa!” He laughed, poking my nose playfully

“Yeah, but did you have to pounce on me like that? Seriously Hayden you’ll end up hurting me….”

Hayden looked at me apologetically “Sorry Lexa… I was trying to stop you from getting away..” before childishly poking his tongue out as he got to his feet, holding out his hand to help me up.

“I wouldn’t have gotten far anyway..” I grinned back at him, gratefully accepting his hand, once on my feet I dusted myself off.

“What?” He said, either clearly confused or extremely guilty

“Well you’re faster than I am… so you would’ve caught up with me eventually” I laughed aloud

He nodded before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box, placing it into my small hands “Happy birthday Lexa… I know it’s not much but… I want you to have this”

“You remembered?” I asked, eyeing the box in my grasp

He shrugged “Well… Leon does have a big mouth for an eight year old..”

“Yeah, well… He loves gossip and if he can get his grubby hands on any good material you can bet it won’t remain with him for long” I grinned

“Lexa… You’re so beautiful… How is it you’re still single?”

I was thrown off track by his sudden request “I guess I haven’t found the right person that I want to commit to yet”

“Or maybe you have, you just don’t know it yet…” he mused, making me laugh

“You’re so cynical all of a sudden, what’s wrong?” I tried to find any hint of a clue in his face and failed; instead I tried a different approach, I made a grab for his mobile and took off with it, giggling manically

“That’s real mature, Lexa!” he yelled after me, before chasing after me laughing

“Coming from you? That’s rich!” I called back, running into the depths of the forest with Hayden not far behind

“Lexa? Do you remember that game we used to play with your brother?” Hayden’s voice brought me back to the present again.

“What, ‘Scissor Sweep’?” I asked,

Hayden nodded, “Yeah, he was so annoyed you kept beating him at the game he invented”

‘Scissor Sweep’ was a game my brother invented three years ago which was basically the knife game but with a pair of closed scissors instead

“I used to be champion at the knife game; I’ll have you know… So ‘Scissor Sweep’ would have been no problem anyway…”

“Yeah, I know… But didn’t you have a song for when you would play against Leon just to put him off?”

I nodded “I can’t believe you remembered that…”

“Sing it for me?”

I smiled “I don’t know if I remember it all.. But I’ll try” as I took a deep breath and recalled the song I had sung only three years before;

“I have all my fingers,

The blades go snip, snip, snip,

But if I slip

Even the slightest bit

My fingers could come off”

“And if I lost my fingers

That would be so lame

And the blood would really put me off

Ever playing this silly little game”