Fracted (Book #2)

Chapter 21: Went To Nowhere

"You helped me, why?" I asked again, like word-vomit.
"Stop asking stupid questions and just come with me." He grabs my arm and started pulling me towards the door. I pushed his hand away from my fake arm.
"Why?" I asked. I didn't care if he was like me. He might as well just be a bait so he could lure me back to Mr. André. But he just beat that clone to death, on the other hand. Once again, what is happening?
"I think I left out a tiny detail about me." Jason said.
"You think? I don't even know if you're lying or not." I try not to step on the bloodstains all over the floor. The staff would've spent an entire cleaning and sanitizing the restroom. Might even cause the whole place to shut down. So much cleaning. So much.
"I'm one of the people who helped Zach and Alice hunt down doppelgangers. I knew I recognized you somewhere--was it that time when you fell off the academy building and--"
"Yes, that's me." I cut him off fast.
"If you really helped my friends," I said, "then prove your worth to us."
"You wanna see?"
"Uh...yeah. Of course I do. I wouldn't join you if you weren't reliable."
He knelt down on the huge puddle of red pus and set his hands fully down to soak them. It truly detested me.
"That's gross, dude."
"Wait for it..." I raise an eyebrow, following a small frown. What is this guy doing?
Like a popped bubble, he was a goner. And so was the puddle of blood. Nothing was left but the small drops of blood on the walls, except for the light green smoke that devoured both the blood and Jason. Where could they have been? So I waited.
Cold fingers touch the back of my neck. It grabbed and reached for head. I wasn't pulled back, up, or down or anything. But I was just... gone. Nowhere to be found.

My eyes open. Gray is the first color I see. Attributes? Misty. I could swear I felt myself floating. My feet touched something hard and solid, feels like metal. I was swaying back and forth as if I was about to fall. It was windy, but misty, but kind of humid. Could be a cloud I was standing right infront of. But one more thing, am I dead?
I sure wasn't dead because I could still feel the wet, sticky blood slowly dripping down my elbow. This is so random, I thought. The same hand tapped me on the shoulder blade. I turned to see and I almost saw my horrible death occur. The hem of my shirt was pulled back and I saw the massive waters hitting the rocks way below I was standing. It was so high, that I almost hurled.
"That would have been messy," Jason said. "You okay, Jess?" he asked.
"Almost...died." I said between shallow breaths.
He yanked my shirt and wrapped his longest fingers around behind my neck to steady me. And then he hugged me tight, like Robert's comforting hug on my first day at Capricorn Academy. I eventually broke into tears, missing what has been taken from me and all of us. We hugged each other. He was laughing and I was crying.
"It's okay," he chuckles, "you'll live, you'll live."
"The school..." I whispered in his black leather jacket. My tears drench his timberwolf shirt.
"Huh? That's what you're crying about?"
"I miss the school." I said clearly as I let him go.
"I know, Jess, me too. We all do--I even heard Alice crying in her sleep."
"Really? Alice cried?" I wiped my eyes and cheeks with my slightly bloody shirt.
"I know right? I thought she was this heartless vulture who's easily capable of murder. But I was wrong." I laughed when he said 'heartless vulture'.
"Do you know why we're here?" he finally asked.
"No, why? Why are we here?"
"To show you that I can be relied upon. Trust me, we've all been through the I-don't-want-anyone-to-get-away-from-me feeling. Like, when everybody seemed to have wronged you."
"Yeah, my life has been like that until I got into that school."
"Wanna see something cool?"
"Please." I said excitedly.
"It's all a bridge. We're standing on top of a bridge. Like, we're on the very top. Amazing, isn't it?"
"I can't, I ca--" I stuttered so much, more tears flowed. "I have to see it."
"No prob..."
We disappeared again and a sudden fright came over me that shut my eyes. And then reappeared somewhere else where I thought was...better. I slowly open my eyes, and it was spectacular. I could just scream all day, "I am alive! This is so much better than being satisfied! I am unstoppable!"
"So? How is it?" he asked.
"So, so, so, so, so much better! I love it!"
"You can jump if you want." he kidded, but I was taking it seriously.
I arched my back and leaned forward.
"Just kidding, bro. You don't have to. I mean, you can never ever jump. Things will go wrong, I promise." Now he sounded worried.
I am extraordinary.
I am different in the best way.
I am powerful.
"Fine," I decided to step back. "I won't jump."
"Good boy."
I stare at the distant ocean that looked a lot like an unwrinkled, waving carpet. I hear the howling of the fresh wind hitting us on our faces. Jason's black clipper-cut hair was getting tousled, he didn't mind if it was messy. His light bronze skin matched the oceanic view and the setting sun. I sat and looked right below us. Cars drive by past us and we were unseen, it was a great advantage to relax for a while.
That moment made me feel like that us, Innates, can get tired like normal people. Maybe we're just not that different after all that's happened.