Good vs. Evil

Chapter 20

FYI, this is probably going to be the longest chapter of the entire book!

OKAY GUYS, IT'S HERE. IT'S THE END OF GOOD VS. EVIL AND, HONESTLY, I WAS CRYING WHEN I WAS WRITING KNOWING THAT THIS IS THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THIS BOOK. OF COURSE, WELL ALWAYS HAVE THE SEQUEL, BUT IT WON'T BE THE SAME. ANYWAY, ENOUGH WITH ALL THAT SENTIMENTAL STUFF. HERE'S THE CHAPTER!

CHASE:

I wait a moment before moving my hand to reveal the verdict that is Bree and I's fate. Would I stay? Or would Bree be the one to stay? She'd be happy with Marcus, true, but what about my happiness? I want to be happy too. But I guess life just won't allow that.

"Wait, before I show what the coin says, I have to ask something," I say. The man nods and I take a deep breath. "Will I be able to say goodbye to everyone?"

"I-" He looks hesitant. "Yes, Chase, you can say goodbye to everyone. But are you sure you want to say goodbye to Bree? I know you loved her--"

"That's the problem!" I hiss. "I still love her! After everything she's put me through, I still love her! I shouldn't, I know that, but I do! And it kills me."

"So is that a yes? You want to say goodbye?"

I nod, and he nods. He motions to the coin and I open my hand.

Tails.

I stare at the coin in sadness. I collapse onto the floor and stay there, motionless. I'm staying, Bree's leaving. I hear the man kneel down next to me and place a hand on my shoulder.

"Chase, I don't know which verdict you wanted, but at least you can say goodbye to your old family. I know it will be hard to trust us at first, but I can assure you that you'll love your new family just as much-if not more-as your old one.

"I'll leave you a moment alone for you to collect yourself, but please don't think of this as a punishment, it's not. Not intentionally, anyway." He removes his hand from my shoulder and has his hand on the doorknob but I stop him.

"Will you heal him?"

"Who?"

"Leo. Will you heal Leo?"

"What happened to Leo? Leo, Adam, Tasha, and Donald were never supposed to be hurt. In fact, you were supposed to be alone in the house when we kidnapped you, so I have to ask why you weren't alone." He removes his hand from the knob and comes back to his place next to me.

"Tasha and Mr. Davenport offered to take Adam and Leo to go and look at Chemistry 9-the lowest level of chemistry-text books and that they would take me to get a Chemistry 0 text book when school started up once more. Because chemistry is something to do with school, they declined quickly. That's why they were in the house. Are you telling me that Leo and Adam weren't meant to be there?"

The man looks at me gravelly. "They were supposed to be shopping for video games. Something we were sure that they couldn't turn down. Something is off. How did Leo get hurt?"

"The elevator, I think. I think someone blew up the elevator." That explains the loud boom I had heard.

"The elevator?" He fiddles with his pockets for a moment, searching for something. When he's done, he has a a small black walkie-talkie. He holds it to his mouth and shouts, "Davis! Bring me Marcus now!" He slams the walkie down and sighs. "Look, Leo and Adam weren't meant to be there."

"Yeah, I got the feeling," I say sarcastically. "But why do you suspect Marcus did it?"

"Classified."