A New World #Wattys2016

Chapter 23

"Well, what was that fuss about this morning?" Janine asks, annoyingly.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "Do I really have to repeat the story? That was Zach."

"That was Zach! Wow, he's a hottie. Can't imagine him ever leaving someone."

I feel my cheeks burn up. "No, he's not a 'hottie,' he is a jerk."

"Oh Alex, I was just kidding..."

"Alexia!"

"Ok, geez, calm down... Alexia."

Janine looks at me with a sad look. I probably just hurt her feelings.

"Just..." I hesitate. "I don't wanna talk about..."

"And did you see Alex beat Zach up? It was awesome. Boss had to separate them. Alex almost got fired. Then he disappeared, and I had to manage the shop BY MYSELF."

"Haha, sorry about that, though."

Janine pouts. "It's fine." She says sarcastically.

We walk for a while until Janine stops abruptly.

"I think Alex has a thang for you, Alexia."

"Haha," I laugh awkward/nervously. "No, I don't think so."

"Mmmmmm hmmmmm, definitely."

I sigh.

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Janine and I decide to have a sleepover. I know, seriously, we are adults now, and we are having sleepovers? It seems so childish. But we do it anyway. We were having a sleepover over Janine's house, that always made me uncomfortable. I like sleeping in my own bed. But you should assume I would be ok with sleeping in other beds since I had to be in the hospital for so long. But that's just how I am I guess.

I likes Janine's house though. It smelled like peppermint, gingerbread, and chocolate. She was a baker, so that explains why. Every time I would come over, she would have some kind of baked good she made on her counter, waiting to be eaten. By me.

Today she made brownies with peppermints stuffed in them. I grabbed one of the counter and popped it into my mouth. The creaminess exploded into my mouth.

I grabbed another one, and it was getting very close to my mouth. Until...

"What are you doing?" Janine asked.

I stopped, with the brownie in midair, inches from my mouth.

"We have to save those for the movie!"

"Oh." I plopped the brownie down on the plate.

We grab our phones and sit on the couch. I start to scroll through Pinterest.

"Dude, look at this meme." I say, showing the screen to Janine.

"Lol." She says, scrolling a bit, until turning her screen around for me to see. "Look at this gif."

"Omg." I say, like we are texting.

We do this for a while until it gets dark and we can start our movie.

We start scrolling on demand for popular movies. All of the movies look interesting.

"What are we looking for?" Janine starts. "Adventure, action, romance, comedy, horror,"

I think of my recent gloomy mood that I need to improve. "Comedy." I reply.

"We search through the comedy movies until we find a good one. Janine grabs the brownies from the counter and heats up a bowl of popcorn. We grab some pillows, blankets, and turn out the lights.

Janine fell asleep about halfway through the movie. I stayed awake though, watching the whole thing. When the movie was over, I decided to watch another movie. I picked on horror, I know Janine wouldn't approve.

The movie starts out in a dark playground. The metal parts are all rusted, and everything is fallen apart. The camera focuses on a young girl on a swing set, swinging slowly and low to the ground. She has two black ponytails, black clothes, pale skin, and black eyes.

A tear falls from her cheek. "Mommy." She mutters out. It echoes through the abandoned night. She sees a shadow approaching her. She gets hopeful, but that shadow isn't her mommy.

********************************

I fall asleep not long before the movie ends. I wake up, cursing myself, for not being able to stay awake the whole way through.

I remember the dream I had, though.

I stand in the abandoned park from the movie. I see both Alex and Zach approach from the darkness, facing me. My palms start to sweat, wondering what is going on. Then, I see a shadow appear behind both of them.

"Choose." Both shadows chant.

Now my face starts to sweat. I can't feel my face anymore, I can't feel my whole body.

"Choose... Choose... Choose." The shadows don't stop. Tears start to fall off my cheeks.

"Stop!" I demand.

I realize I have to choose, before it's too late.

I start to run forward, between both Alex and Zach. The shadows start to pull them away. Just in time, I grab Alex. Zach gets pulled into the dark.

I bury my face into Alex's chest and cry into it. It soaks his shirt, but I don't care right now.

"Shh baby, it's ok."

Alex looks up at my with sympathy in his eyes. He starts to lean in to kiss me, and I do too. But before our lips touch, I feel an unbearable pain in my side. I open my eyes, and see a knife sticking out of me. Blood is pooling out of the wound. Alex has stabbed me.

I start to scream and cry, and as I do, Alex says something.

"Sorry baby, you're just not worth it."

That's when I woke up in a pool of my own sweat. Usually the first thing I would care about would be, what if the sweat ruined her couch! But right now, I am too concerned about Alex leaving me like Zach did.