My APOCALYPSE

Chapter 15

We haven't been alone since the pool.

My brothers have been unnaturally clingy, and Luke let it slip to me that they knew what was going on. They were worried that they would no longer have my undivided attention.

One night I extricated myself from Luke's little hands, making my way to the beach. Alec was standing on the shore, trying to skip stones across the messy waves. Nervousness hit me like a train, but bravely I staggered down the dune towards him.

"Are we going to talk at all?" I asked tentatively.

He ignored me, whipping a stone across the water.

"Ok, I'll guess I'll talk at you then," Poisonous butterflies began to hover in my stomach. "Well, you might have guessed, you might not have... But I really like you and-"

"I guessed," He interrupted harshly. "On top of everything, Matt tried to have a talk with me."

I stifled a smile. I could just imagine. Alec's next sentence, however, wiped the smile straight off.

"I'm not getting into something that can hurt me again, Lyla. I've been hurt too much, I don't know what will happen if I'm hurt again."

I stood in silence, trying to pretend I wasn't crumbling inside.

This was not how I pictured it would be.

"So that's it?" I asked quietly. "Because you can't be hurt again, you're going to stand there and tear me down?"

Silence.

"Wow," I whispered. I could feel the tears coming. "This hurts."

Silence.

Alec bent to pick up another stone. I snatched it out of his hand and threw it into the waves.

"For God's sake, Alec, talk to me! Don't just leave it like this," The tears were streaming now. "I can't... You just..."

He stood immobile. I could've been yelling at a tree.

Rage filled me. He just stood there, blankly, listening to my tirade. I backhanded him across the face, before storming up the beach. As I got to the top of the dune I turned.

He was still standing there.

Ice cold.