Living our past

Chapter five

THE DREAMS HAD STARTED A WHILE AGO BUT THEY WHERE NEVER THIS INTENSE.

Late in the morning, he called Amy to tell her everything. He always told her about his dreams and she always listened carefully, trying hard not to miss anything. Later that day, they met up in their favorite coffee shop and discussed it together. Amy was in awe. "He had never told you he loved you!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"It's just a dream."

"Yes, but it feels real. Doesn't it?"

"I want it to be real. I don't want it to feel real. It's even more torturous." He paused. "In my dreams, we are together. In reality, we're not even close to a couple."

"Tell him you like him more than a friend."

"Amy!" Alex never liked the idea. "You know I wouldn't do that."

"You'll have to, eventually."

"Who said so?"

"I say so," she responded curtly.

"It's already difficult for me to tell a girl I like her. Now you want me to tell the only guy I have a crush on that I like him? Impossible."

"Nothing is impossible."

"Well, it's very unlikely then."

"You never know!" She always preferred the short answers to the long ones.

It was a beautiful day.

"What are we doing today?" Alex asked.

"Let's go shopping with Jason."

"Not a bad idea," he agreed. "We can even watch a movie. There is Man of Steel in theaters."

"Yeah, that sounds fun."

"Great. I'll pick you up at five p.m. That's three hours from now. Be ready."

ALEX SENT A TEXT MESSAGE TO JASON, ASKING HIM IF HE WANTED TO HANG OUT WITH AMY AND himself. Jason responded several minutes later and accepted the invitation enthusiastically.

Alex picked up Jason first; they both were now driving to Amy's place to pick her up. All three of them had their own cars but one car sufficed when it came to hanging out together.

Downtown Toulouse was always busy and finding a place to park your car was quite challenging.

When Alex and Jason arrived in front of Amy's building in their Ford Fiesta, it didn't take much for Amy to descend. She had already seen the car as she was looking out from the window.

"Hi guys," she said pulling the car's door close after she sat in the backseats.

"Where are we heading to?" asked Alex.

Amy thought for a little while. "Let's go to H&M first."

WHEN IT CAME TO CLOTHES, AMY AND ALEX NEVER HESITATED. THEY WERE ABLE TO SPEND A LOT of money. However, the same couldn't be said to Jason; he liked clothes but cared more about the comfort of the outfit and less about fashion.

They carefully explored each and every shop: Pull & Bear, Topman, Zara, Celio, H&M and many others.

After buying everything they needed, Alex, Amy and Jason deposited their bags in the car and went back to watch the Man of Steel around 8.45 p.m.

Alex barely controlled himself. He was trying hard not to succumb to Jason's charm. In Alex's eyes, Jason became more and more handsome every time he saw him.

THE MAN FOLLOWED THEM EVERYWHERE. HE HAD SAT WAITING IN FRONT OF ALEX'S BUILDING night. He had finally decided to actually go somewhere. He was surprised and content when he saw Alex leave the building.

Alex had then picked up a man and a dark-skinned woman and came here in downtown.

He always tried to be discreet and until now it all turned out well: none of them had noticed his presence.

They had now decided to watch a movie because he saw them gazing at the posters displayed on the theater's building.

He had simply seen Alex and his friends together all the time. He hated it when people were happy and Alex and his friends were fully enjoying their lives – at least, that's was what he had deducted.

Killing people was an amusement to him; just like he'd killed the homosexual couple.

He was homophobic and he couldn't stand them. They disgusted him. He purely hated them. It had come to a point where he was amused when he eradicated their happiness by extinguishing them.

Killing was fun for him. Why not kill homosexuals instead of killing normal people. Plus, he had already murdered enough of the other people. The two students from Mirail were his first homosexual toys. Before, he hadn't cared much about their sexual preference. He may have unconsciously murdered LGBT people.

THEY HAD DECIDED TO WATCH Man of Steel 2. THEY ENTERED THE BUILDING BOUGHT THE tickets and moved into the wide-screened room.

After two hours and fifteen minutes, the movie was over. It was a long one.

"I love it," Alex confessed.

"Are you sure it's the movie you love?" Amy asked, wanting to tease him.

"Hmm, I think he wanted to say was: 'I love him', meaning Henry Cavill," Jason continued. "He's hot and fierce and sexy and attractive. Of course I love him." They continued walking to get out of the movie theater.

When the first movie – Man of Steel – came out, Alex was possessed by Henry Cavill's sexiness and good-looking. He had kept talking about Henry with Jason, who was completely okay with it because he knew Alex was gay and he himself couldn't deny Cavill's sexiness.

By now, they were walking in downtown Toulouse. Half of the streets were deserted. There was no trace of humans even if antique buildings illustrated the streets. Someone must live in the buildings, Alex thought.

Suddenly all three of them heard some wheel scratches on the rough cement of the streets. A black SUV car was driving fast in their direction. Startled, they didn't know what to do or think. They just watched with their mouths open.

They finally understood.

The target was them.

"Everybody, run!" Jason shouted. He unconsciously grabbed Alex's hand and pulled him.

They were now running like wild animals.

"Help!!" cried Amy out of breath, hoping someone would come to their help.

The car had finally stopped but it wasn't far from them.

Alex suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck. The world around him got blurry in a matter of seconds and he fell to the ground.

Neither Amy, nor Jason could react to what had happened to Alex because a few seconds later, they found themselves in the same situation.

Seconds later, all three of them lay on the floor, unconscious.