Realm of Fiction

Chapter 2

Alexis put down her phone, not at all surprised that Drew was too busy to help her. It seemed like he was never free when she needed him. That means plan B. He had amazing grades, but there were others that could help. Spinning around on her rolling chair, she powered up her computer. 

She had an old and rickety desktop computer, but it held up. It let her surf the web and video chat, so it was good enough. It took a while to boot up, so in the meantime she plugged in a microphone and a video camera. 

When it finally finished booting, she pulled up the chat program, which took even longer to load. When it finally finished, she saw that, unsurprisingly, Justine was online. She always seemed to be. A click of the mouse later and the girls were video chatting. 

"Hey Lexi, what's up?" 

"Trying to figure out my physics homework." 

Justine sighed, realizing what was going on, "You forgot about it again, didn't you?" 

Alexis tried to look as innocent as possible, "Nah, of course not. I'm just, you know, having trouble with a couple questions, that's all."  

"Just like when you needed help with the entire history project?" Justine smirked, "Alright, which questions do you need?" 

"Um, all of them. I've had a lot on my mind though!"  

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, I'll help." 

"Thanks, and, uh, what exactly is the homework we have?" 

"Alexis, you need to be writing this down, I can't always be giving you the answers and solutions, or you'll never be able to-" 

She was interrupted by a loud crash from the floor above Alexis. It sounded like smashing glass, making both girls jump from surprise. 

"Hold the lecture, I'll be right back after I see what that was." 

"But what if it's robbers or something?" The girl on the computer screen whispered, "That would be bad." 

"Dont worry, it's probably just my mom. Bye," Alexis ended the call, then proceeded to look around for a weapon. Her mom wasn't around, and she was in the house by herself. 

Had been in the house by herself. 

Grabbing a.swimming trophy that was off to the side of her desk, she quietly walked out of her room and into the living room. She could now hear footsteps coming from above her, most likely looking for things to steal.  

Gathering her courage, she decided to walk up the steps and confront the intruder. Every step she took closer, she felt like an extra weight had been attached to her legs. By the time she was halfway up the steps, she was standing in a pool of her own fearful sweat. This was the worst idea she had ever had. Or at least in the list of her top ten worst ideas. 

When she finally got to the top of the stairs,she stood in front of the closed door to her mom's room, debating about whether to go in or not. She hadn't gone inside there for a year, not since her mother died.  

Her mom was named Madeleine Cadaver, a woman who had her life ruined by a man who claimed he loved her, but left when their only child was born. Alexis took her mother's last name, not her fathers. She was proud of it, too, as Madeleine was probably the kindest person who ever lived. 

Madeleine had been laid off at work recently when it happened. She had always had a tendency to sleep walk, and one day she walked right out of the window. It broke the daughter's heart, who had no known other family.  

Not wanting to be taken away, Alexis decided to take on the role of her mother, but only when she had no other choice. Sometimes a teacher would want to schedule a conference, so Alexis would put on some makeup and act as if she was her mother. She was able to do that, but never able to make herself enter the room, which she had to do today. 

Taking a deep breath, Alexis put her hand on the doorknob. She would walk in, knock the thief over the head with a trophy, and then do her homework. That wasn't that hard. One solid smack. She began to slowly turn the door handle. 

Suddenly, the door flew open, surprising both the intruder and the young girl. Thier reactions, however, were very different. Alexis stumbled back, not thinking about what she was doing. The thief, not thinking either, rose his pistol and pulled the trigger.  

The girl collapsed on the floor in a pool of her own blood, faintly hearing the thief cursing and running out of the house. She closed her eyes, unable to think clearly. 

In moments, Alexis was dead.