Hybrid

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

   "You found me." I say and smile at Chris. Did he really go half way across the globe because of me?

   Without another word, Chris walks towards me quickly and wraps his strong arms around my shoulders. "I'm sorry, Jessica."

   I frown, pushing him away from me slightly. It is just now that I am noticing that there is something terribly wrong. "What is it?" I ask hastily, meeting his sad, blue eyes.

   Chris shakes his head, "Come see for yourself." He takes my hand and leads me down many twists and turns until we finally reach a small hospital room. The window blinds are pulled closed and everything is painted white. Then I spot Courtney and my heart stops.

   Her face is pale-white and her once rosy lips are now a dull colour. "I'm sorry, she's gone." Chris' voice comes from behind me, but I can hardly hear him. I suddenly feel dizzy and sick to my stomach and my vision starts to blur.

   "No." I gasp, my voice comes out strangled. I grab my hair and feel like pulling it out of its roots, "No!" I shout. My voice echoes around the whole hospital, but I don't care. This isn't happening. I turn and push Chris out of my way with more force than I thought I could gather. I can feel him calling after me, but I don't care, I run as fast as I can from Courtney's motionless body as a memory causes another stab to my heart:

   I stand in front of my new family with my carry-on luggage clutched tightly in my hands. There is a woman, a man and a smaller girl that can't be more than seven years old. Her innocent, chocolate brown eyes twinkle in eagerness as she assess my every feature and sends me a beaming smile.

   She approaches me, her dimpled baby-face lit up, and she sticks her hand out for me to shake, "Welcome to the family, big-sis." I clasp my shaking hands with hers and force a smile upon my face. Her milky brown eyes seem to get even wider as she continues speaking, "My name's Courtney, what's yours?"

  I can't bear to remember more, I don't think there is any more pieces of my heart left to break.

   ***

   Richard Wilson, the leader of the worldwide organization AIO smiled happily to himself. He really was a great man, all those nasty teenagers were like game pieces in his complicated mind game. It was quite entertaining, really, and he was sure that soon, very soon, he would have experiment G67W in his clasps. It was only a matter of time.

   Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Jared shook his head, "How did this happen?" He asked, reffering to Courtney's motionless body.

   Chris sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, still trying to comprehend if this was really happening or not, "I went for a walk around Milan and when I got back, she was on the motel room floor, extremely close to death." Chris shook his head, trying to bite back tears, "She died before I could get here."

   Jared, ignored Chris' emotions and asked the prize winning question, "Who would have done it?"

   Chris reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. With shaking hands, he handed it to Jared. "It's the note Courtney left me this morning."

    Jared looked closely at the piece of paper and looked back up at Chris, frowning, "What about it?"

   "Look closer." He said.

   It only took Jared a few seconds to find it. In extremely small writing were the words, 'Property of the AIO.' The words were indented into the page and the colour of the font matched the white background of the paper. "They wouldn't be this careless," Jared said, "They want us to find them."

   Suddenly, his eyes--which were hidden behind thick sunglasses--flicked up, "Where's Jessica, we need to find her, now."