Zone Albrecht

9. The Door

Author's Note: This part is dedicated to ItsAGoodLife, for being awesome and loving ZA so much! You will defo go to wattpad heaven someday. 

Jordan and Angela POV on this one. Enjoy!

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I honestly should have told Angela to get better friends. I think I did, but that's not the main point of all this. We were pretty much busy contemplating each other without a word, the tension almost palpable, one of those times when you think someone's about to reveal something personal or important, you know, just when Maxence came in. He gazed at us with wide eyes and an overly dramatic attitude.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" he exclaimed. "Why are you two so close?!"

I looked at Angela and she returned the gaze. We both rolled our eyes at exactly the same moment, something which deeply amused me. I was waiting for her sarcastic response, before the pig-tailed girl – sorry, Lila, after all, that is her name now, isn't it? Or so Angela says – walked up to us. As I glanced to the back of the room, I noticed that the other ghost kids were now there as well, as in, the dark-haired boy, the blond girl with the short hair, and the tall, brawny one with the brown hair and the unibrow. Lila shot a hard glare at Maxence.

"You," she said. "from now on, I want you to be quiet and stay here. I don't want any useless fighting." The idiot put his hands on his hips in what I suppose passed for him as a "daring" posture.

"And I should care about what you say ... why?" He didn't have the chance to be smug for long because, before Angela and I even had the time to register anything, Lila's hand clutched his neck with force. Maxence choked as both my eyes and Angela's widened in horror; the ghost girl quickly lift him off the ground as he writhed and twisted, his facial complexion slowly changing.

"MAX!" Angela shouted. I didn't say anything but instinctively grabbed her forearm, just in case she had the stupid idea to get up and snap something insulting to the dead girl which, in my opinion, was far from being a good idea. Without even realizing it, I whispered to her to stay where she was and not move forward, and I felt the tension in her slightly loosen, though not entirely, of course. At least she wouldn't get up. Lila brought her face closer to Maxence's freckled, now blue-tainted one.

"I am not your friend, little human boy," she hissed in a deformed voice, one which didn't sound human in the least. I don't think that this voice came from her, more that it was...the Zone, or the "Ones" (I'll tell you about them later on) speaking through her. Because every dead person belongs to the Zone. 

"Do not disrespect me!"

After that, she let him go, and he collapsed to the ground, his hands encircling his neck, breathing heavily. He started weakly sobbing and, though a few tears came, he obviously didn't have the necessary strength to cry. I'd have felt pity for him, really, but I don't like him enough for that. Angela, on the other hand, immediately got up and knelt down at his side, asking him if he was okay, lightly tapping at his back, and reassuring him in a soothing voice. I frowned but didn't comment whatsoever. Why should I, anyway? Lila looked at her fellow dead partners and told them all to go and fetch the others at the dormitories. There was a general assembly, were her exact words. Angela sat down at the edge of my bed as soon as Maxence had started to weakly get back up. He was now approximately breathing normally, not like I cared much anyway.

"You okay, Maxy?" she asked again as I restrained the sudden urge to puke. Maxence finally stopped wheezing and looked up at her.

"Yeah, I'm okay now, thanks. I think I'll live, though if I were to die, I'd like one last shot of coca-cola, if that's possible!" Angela smiled but I just inwardly snorted. Doesn't that guy's sense of humor simply KILL you? Lila came closer once more, staring at us menacingly. It was now daytime, and I noticed that neither her nor the other ghost kids were casting any shadows. It figures, I suppose. Took away any remaining doubts I might have had.