42nd Country Road

Bookstore

I found myself tied to a chair. The floor started to move and crawl up my legs. I tried to get out of it but the ropes around my hands were tight. The floor was up to my chest. I screamed for help. Suddenly I was pulled through the floor. The chair was gone and I was free falling. I tried to grasp for something, but I was drowned in a dark color of black. My body hit the floor. I breathed out pulling myself off the ground. I saw myself standing across from me. I had black eyes.

"You're not me!" I screamed

"I am always you," I replied to myself, "And there's no way you can get away from me,"

I woke up with a jolt. I pulled air in and out of my lungs. I was in a cold sweat. I looked around for Mark, Jack, and Jake. I saw them and I let out a breathe. I looked around. I was sleeping outside, in the bed of the truck. I got up and crawled to the roof of the truck and looked at the stars. Mark must have noticed I was gone because he started to panic when he didn't feel me beside him. He saw me and crawled up next to me. He put his arm around me. I laid my head on his shoulder.

"When we were at the clinic, how long was I asleep?" I asked

"Two days," he replied

"What did they do to me?" I asked

"They took your blood and fixed your veins in your shoulder," He said

"They didn't send us to the psych ward this time," I said

"No, They didn't," Mark said. We sat there in silence, the cold air surrounding us. I started to shiver. He pulled off his jean jacket and put it around me.

"What were your dreams before this all happened?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"I didn't know, I wanted to be a little of everything. My mom always said that'd I end up working at a bookstore, I should have listened to her. A bookstore would have been better than this. What about you?" I said

" I wanted to be an engineer. Trying to make the world a better place was my thing," He said to me. I closed my eyes. Breathing in the air around me. I heard a motor behind me. I jumped down and grabbed the gun through the open window. I saw the headlights in the distance. I held the gun off safety.

"Who could that be?" Mark asked hopping down and standing next to me. The car pulled up, the headlights blaring into my eyes. Two men came out.

"Hello, We are the Reunion," He said

"Back the hell up," I said. I felt an electric shock hit my neck. I tried to scream, but I couldn't. My muscles tensed and fell to the ground. The ringing in my ears was deafening. I heard faint gunshots. Mark grabbed my body off the ground and put me in the bed of the truck. He laid sat next to me. I felt the lurch of the truck. We were moving again