♥; The Game

Chapter 6

That's when it hit me.

Everyone that knew about us, the house, and Him, got killed. Well, except for Jay. I guess he got a warning.

I ran out of the building in tears, closely followed by Jay and Courtney.

"Jade!" Jay screamed. "Jade!"

I kept storming through the parking lot.

"Jade, what's wrong?!"

"Do you not see what is going on?" I said, wiping tears from under my eyes. "Every person that we told about the house thing is dying. All because of us. That guy is killing them. He wants all of the people that we love and care about scared, and or dead."

"We don't exactly know Jailene is-"

"Oh, come on, Jay. Think. Why would she just disappear like that?! She meets all of her friends here almost every day after school, and she was here before! I see them all the time! Why would he have left this note? He wanted us to catch on. Now that we have, we can't tell anyone else what happens."

"Wait, you told me. I'm not dead."

"Did you just get strangled in the hallway a few hours ago this morning or did you not?"

"Good point," he said, grasping his neck.

I glanced down at the note card, staring it down with hate and evil in my eyes. Something made me feel like it was almost staring back at me. I flip it over. I shake my head from side to side, almost as if I'm saying no. There is a heart, crisply drawn with blood; fresh from Jailene, I'm guessing. Flash backs start to flood my head, making me feel like I was drowning in them; I practically was. They were horrible images. Images of Hillary dead. Images of the heart drawn with dark blood staining her abdomen. I glance back at the note card; the hearts appearing to be ideally identical. Another image pops into my head. It was my room, with Jay and I in it. The room was filled with laughter and joy, and the flashback was precise, like a movie, projecting in my head with surround sound speakers. We were laughing because I had just noticed a heart sticker on Jay's neck. We had guessed he had gone the whole day without him noticing it there. How embarrassing. I clamp my eyes shut to get rid of the memory itching film.

"What are you thinking, Jade..?" Courtney asked, hesitantly.

"Hearts," I reply, staring into the distance, which wasn't really so appealing. We lived over on a city side. But there I remained, looking at the grey, rainy sky, filled with smoke clouds and raindrops.

Courtney and Jay shot me confused looks, sending me the message that I'd be better off explaining myself. I held up the note card with an irritated-to-hell-and-back look on my pale, slim face. Courtney's jaw finally dropped. Jay still looked a tad lost.

"The hearts, Jay!" I shouted, afterwards thinking that I might have gone with a louder tone than actually needed. "The heart sticker stuck to your neck, the heart on this card, the heart on Hillary's stomach! Hearts! They're all the same. Are you seriously this lost, Jay?!"

He shot me his cute, baby look, filled with sweet, hot boy mercy. He always gave me this look. It's usually used in one of the two following scenarios. When he wants something, or when I was being meaner than I should. That's this case.

"Sorry," I whispered. "I could've been nicer."

"It's okay," Jay said, patting my head, walking me over to the nearest sidewalk bench.

I sat down, and I rubbed my eyes. They were red and puffy. Two of the many reasons why I hate crying and rarely ever do it. Jay sat with his arm around me, and Courtney plopped down on my other side.