CONSTANT CHANGE

Chapter Five

"WHAT?! IS HE TRYING TO KILL US?" Jace screamed while on skype. See, I was trying to explain that we need super shields to protect ourselves from The Four later on. 

"I'm sorry. I did't know they were coming over" I said scratching my head. "Or you guys could just cancel today's plan" I sighed. 

"No, I already told my dad to pick me up at your house, and I'm leaving in a while" Elise said.

"Marie, can you just tell your brother not to murder us?" Tricia blurted, obviously scared. 

"Alright! I'm going to try and convince him, okay?" I assured them. I put my laptop aside and went to my brother's bedroom. He was at his desk typing something on his computer, so I slowly sat on his bed. I wasn't sure how I would start asking him. I can feel my knees tremble. Could you guys not assassinate us?  No. Sounds so homicidal. Alex, I love you so much, can you have a little sympathy to the lives of other people and keep us alive? Ugh. No! Please not slay us?! Damnit. Whatever. 

"Alex-" I started

"I know" He said. "Don't worry we're not going to do anything bad to you guys" 

"H-how did you know I was gonna ask for that?" I asked. 

"You really have a bad habit of saying your thoughts out loud, and it's pretty obvious." He said still staring at his computer monitor. 

"What?!" I gasped. 

"We are not going to assassinate you, Marie. We're just gonna hang out, okay? Like what you're going to do. Oh, and I love you too" He smiled. 

"B-but, how are you sure?" I asked. 

"I just know"

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because I am your brother." He looked at me in the eye, trying to justify his words. 

"Are you?" I looked a little longer, trying to contain myself. Everyone knows how The Four took my brother away from me, and now I'm not sure who he is right now. He looked down, and leisurely continued typing. I sat for a while and then stormed out of the room. What is this I'm feeling? Why am I crying? Stop this, Marie! Swallow your soul! Gasping for air didn't use to be so hard. I stood there for a while, crying about a brother that I used to have. How can someone so loving be so cold? I went downstairs to check if Elise already came. I hope she did, I think she left early, and I just want someone to hug right now. The front door closed, I tensed. 

"Max!" I quickly wiped my tears. 

"Are you crying?" He laughed and went closer. 

"Come closer and I'll kill you" I swore. 

"Not if I do that first" He smirked, still went closer. I can tell we are only centimeters apart. It felt like my feet were cemented on that ground, I couldn't move. "Tell me, who made you cry? Hmm?" He looked into my eyes, tracing my face. 

"None of your business" 

"Max!" I heard Jace's voice across the room. Max closed his eyes and gave us a little laugh. Tricia was with him, and she looked terrified.

"Oh boy, was that close" Max snapped his fingers, then laughed at him. "Don't be repulsive, boy, it won't do you any good." He laughed. "Pathetic" 

"What's your problem?" Jace strongly exclaimed.

"You! You are my problem?" He chuckled. "You know, Mr. Ellison, you're a pretentious son of a bitch! You think you're smart, you think you're strong, but you're just as scared as a whining baby. Are you even a man?!" He shouted. I saw a fist fly in the air and everything went dreadful. This is not a delightful scene, I was shaking and I wasn't thinking straight, and I can see the fright in Tricia's eyes. She looked at me as if she just wanted to end it. 

"Stop it!" I said. I charged myself in between them so I could separate them, but they were too strong. I could feel the heat and their raging anger. Grunts everywhere. I can't handle this. Tricia tried to hustle with Max but she was shoved to the floor. 

"Alex!!" I screamed. As soon as I called his name, I heard footsteps on the stairs. 

"HEY!" Alex came in. "Stop it!" He said stopping both of them. He pushed them away from each other. Jace gave Max a death glare, like shooting him with knives with his eyes, Max did the same though. I can say it was very intense, my heart rate definitely reached a negative because it was shut down the whole time. Max wiped his face, but still there was blood. I rushed to Jace and touched his face. "Are you okay?" I asked. He just nodded. They moved away, Alex took a moment to glance at Tricia and then went straight to his room. 

"Let me get you both some ice" I said walking towards the fridge.  

"Y-you don't have to." Tricia said as she stood up. "I mean, for me at least." 

"Are you sure?" I asked her. 

"Yup. Besides, both of them weirdos need all the ice they can get" She reassured. 

"All right then" I said grabbing a cloth and dumping ice in there. 

"I'm sorry, Jace." I exhaled.

"It's okay, it's not your fault" He smiled. 

"You are still our guardian angel" I affirmed him. 

"Yes, that is right." Tricia said giving him a hug.

"Where is Elise anyway?" I asked. 

"Here! Sorry I was late, I had a small talk with my mom before leaving, aka summoning me- WHAT THE HECK?!" She blurted, obviously noticing the bloody cloth.

"Like we didn't see it coming" Jace said. 

"Are you crazy?! What have you done? What did they do?" She dropped her bag and attacked us with sermons, and we explained everything that happened. 

"It's nothing, really. Just a burst of emotions, calm down" He explained. 

"Calm down?! You're asking me to calm down over that motherfucker?!" She said. "If only I had the strength to come up to him, I will, but if my life depended on it, I'd rather not." 

"It happened, okay? Let's just forget about it" Jace requested. Elise sighed deeply and then agreed. 

"Shouldn't you give Max ice too?" Tricia said. 

"Don't" Elise said 

"Just give that human a little kindness" Tricia smiled, I forgot that he's human too. I looked at Jace and he seemed fine about it. I prepared him a few ice and dumped in the cloth. 

"Go straight to my bedroom before the others come. Now." I commanded. 

I knocked a few times and there was no answer. I knocked again. 

"Come in" I heard Max say. I opened it slowly. 

"W-where's Alex?" I stuttered. 

"In the bathroom" He said, his voice a bit off. 

"Uhm, I got you some ice," I said "so you can, uh, clean yourself" I said putting the small bowl on the desk. I'm prepared to leave but he grab my wrist and stopped me. 

"Don't expect me to say sorry to him" He said. I let go of his hand. 

"I don't expect anything, Max, especially from you" I said.