Briar Preparatory Academy

Dark Truth

Celeste POV

           

I bolt up the stairs and down the corridors and passageways holding Jasper's gun in my hand with only two thoughts: I will find him. I will kill him.

I turn around and glance behind me to see that I am alone and Joe is no longer following me. In a way, I'm grateful for this.  I don't want anyone getting hurt in my confrontation with Jasper. I have to do this alone. I walk down the darkened hallway and I stumble over something.  I gasp and steady myself against the wall. I reach down to see what I tripped over.

My fingers wrapped around a warm, sticky arm.

I gasp quickly, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming. As soon as my eyes adjust to the light I finally see that the whole hallway is littered with blood and bodies; the bodies of my classmates. My friends. My stomach turns and twists and heaves.

I see a light flick on inside an empty room at the end of the hallway. It is a vacant classroom that has nothing inside of it. As the light switches on, I see a shadow against the wall. I see the figure put a cigarette in his mouth and lean against the wall, the smoke dancing up from his mouth like a snake. All I can see is the shadow but I know exactly who it is.

Jasper.

As I walk down the hallway, his voice cuts through the silence like a knife. "Here to finish me off, Darling?"

His voice brings back memories of dark rooms and bloodstained floors.  I feel my heart twist inside my chest, commanding me to run the opposite direction, to give this up.  I shake this though from my mind.

I walk down the hallway holding his gun tightly in my hand. I turn and enter the room to see him leaning against one of the walls casually, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. I hold up my gun, aiming it at him carefully and doing my best to hide the shaking of my hands. I see the pistol he holds in his hands and I take a deep breath. I am not the girl he held at his base. I am not weak and injured and afraid. I am strong.

I keep my gun pointed straight at him, unmoving. He watches me with amused eyes. "Children shouldn't play with guns." He tells me, a grin spreading his lips apart.

"Who said I was playing?" I snap back at him, my words as cold as ice.

Jasper laughs. "And you plan to kill me with my own weapon? That's very poetic." He replies to me, pushing himself off the wall and taking the cigarette out of his mouth. He drops it onto the floor and crushes it under his boot. He shifts the weight of his gun back and forth in his hand, but keeps it down by his side.  He isn't afraid of me.

"Don't underestimate me. Too many people have made that mistake before." I spit the words at him.

He looks straight at me with hard eyes. "Your mother used to say phrases like that.  You remind me of her." He tells me with a laugh. "You have that same fighting spirit."

"How did you know my mother?" I ask him, my guard rising. He walks towards me and starts circling around me.

"Not my place to tell you those things.  Leave it to actual family members." He says with a smirk on his face. He knows more than I do and he relishes in it.

"I don't have any family left." I say.  Jasper raises an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" He says, "Celeste, you see... Eventually everything connects.  My daughter died in an explosion fifteen years ago.  Your parents died in car accident when you were three.  Your little redheaded friend died in a fire.  Just take all the facts and put it into one. It shouldn't be so hard for someone so smart like you." He says, cocking his head to the side.  I hear a sound behind me but I ignore it. I need to focus completely on Jasper.