Zone Albrecht

7. Rivals

Extract of Maxence's memoirs

I was lying on the floor in the common room when Julie told me the news. I bolted up right away after that, screaming at Julie's words. 

Angie was ... gone?! And in danger?!

"WHAT?!" I shouted indignantly.

"Yeah. That girl from her class," she pointed to a brunette with mid-long hair. "told me that she had disappeared. Apparently, the pig-tailed girl's looking for her," Julie added.

"And you're telling me this NOW?!"

I was panicked, and my heart was pumping so hard, I thought it might explode. Angie, MY Angie?! In DANGER?! No, no! It couldn't be! I kept thinking of how she might be dead and felt tears come to my eyes, oh I wanted to cry so bad!

I kept walking hurriedly back and forth, until Julie caught my shoulders and forced me to stay still.

"Max, MAX!" she shouted. "Get a hold of yourself!"

"Angie's DEAD! She might be dead right now! How do you want me to get a hold of myself when my best friend might be --"

She slapped me. Not very hard, but still, enough for it to hurt and be noisy. This made me incredibly angry, though.

"What the fuck is your problem?!" I hollered. "What'd you do that for?!"

"MAX! Calm down! First of all, who knows? Maybe Angie's already back safe and sound --"

"If she was back, she'd be HERE!" I pointed out with annoyance.

"Not necessarily. She could be with --"

"Who?! Who could she possibly be with if not us?!"

Julie shot me that skeptic look, the one which means "you are SO retarded".

"Who do you think? Jordan, duh!"

I blinked, baffled. Angie? With Jordan?! 

Pffff! Like she'd be with Rabbito the Dumbass, especially after barely escaping the clutches of death!

"After being almost killed you think she'd go to Jordan instead us?" I sarcastically asked. I'm getting better at this sarcasm thing, all that thanks to Angie, she's the boss when it comes to that sort of stuff.

Well anyways, after arguing a bit more, Julie and I finally reached a compromise. I'd go see the Rodent and check if Angie was with him -HA!- and she'd go see in the halls nearby in case she found her. We promised each other not to separate too much or too long, though. This was the Zone, and anything could happen here. We'd gotten the proof of that way too many times. I didn't want to lose my girlfriend along with my best friend. 

 I perked my head through the door, checking the hallways from right to left. It really was dark, and I was creeped out as Hell. 

I told myself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly, which sort of helped. Following that I carefully started taking a few steps outside. Once that was done, I bolted as quickly as I could in the direction of the nursery, my hair standing up at the back of my head. I was terrified that something might suddenly reach out in between the walls and catch me, kill me, even. 

Upon finally reaching the nursery, I saw a silhouette much further down the halls. It looked like my sister. I froze, stunned, and gazed for a few seconds. It really did seem as if it was...but NO! I didn't have the time for wishful thinking and, besides, I knew that this might be a trap. Fighting back the tears and sobs which came to me at the thought of Margot, I quickly entered the room, and surely there was Rabbito, in his cute little nursery bed and pajamas, peering at me through his nerdy glasses, with his googly blue eyes and all that extra fat he needs to lose.