Never

Chapter Three

I never thought we would ever see the hallway once more, and I never thought I would rather want to stay in that horrid world than walk through the dreaded hallway once more. I trudged through the hallway with Mevia leading the charge, the colours of the portals reflecting off the polished floor. I sighed quietly to myself as I followed her, lowering my head, focusing on my steps. One two three four, one two three four, one two three four, over and over...

"This one!" Mevia exclaimed with pride. I looked up as she pointed to a wooden-rimmed portal glowing a dark, rusty orange. No doubt the one we were aiming for. "Come on!" Mevia grabbed my wrist and started to drag me towards the portal. I tugged her, wanting to retrieve my arm once more, but she had an iron grip on me.

"Hadrian, stop being a wimp!" Mevia exclaimed. "Do you want to kill her or not?" I hesitated. I... I didn't know. Back at The Games, I would've done it without another thought, without mercy, however this world had no re-spawn command within it. I hated her, I hated her with a passion, but was it right to commit murder for the reasons we had? After she stopped us, I finally realised all the damaged we had caused. I was honestly surprised she didn't murder us as soon as she could...

"Hadrian, helllooo?" Mevia whined. "Hey, I know you're think all technical right now, but look; we don't need a strategy, we need weaponry and our raw strength. We'll jump her!" I looked up at Mevia with a blank expression. This was something I never expected to come out of Mevia's own mouth. Yes, she certainly got carried away with killing competitors back at The Games, but she knows they won't re-spawn this time, right? Does she even care? Is she really willing to take someone's life permanently? That feels like overkill, literally...

"Hadrian, are you even listening?!" Mevia snapped.

"Y-Yes!" I managed to stammer. "I'm just not sure we can jump her very easily with the others around her"

"We'll be fine!" Mevia said, pushing me lightly. "Now come on, let's get going." She laughed. "This is going to be so much fun!" I only nodded in response, but deep down I was disgusted by her behaviour.

What had happened to Mevia? Why-

"Stop!" I exclaimed with anger. "I've heard enough!" Hadrian slumped down, guilt still plastered on his face, however I was blinded with anger at this point

"Jesse... I-"

"You are not sorry mister!" I shouted, my anger taking control. "You and your buddy escaped your imprisonment and made it to this world just to attack me? Kill me?! And what were you going to do next, harm everyone else? Lukas, Petra, Axel, Olivia, Radar, Ivor and even Harper?! Here I thought that maybe, just maybe you were here for another reason, possibly lost or that maybe you had turned over a new leaf, but no! You crumbled it up in your own hand and let fly away with the wind you sick bastard! First The Games, now this! What is wrong with you, you... You...!" I stopped. Hadrian looked horrified, hurt by my words. He was even tearing up slightly. He avoided my eyes and buried his head into his pillow as best as he could. I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my stomach; Guilt. I silently thought over everything I had just blurted out, but as I did, the guilt only built up more, as everything I had said I believed in. I forgot how much I hated Hadrian at The Games, how much I hated him for tricking me and my friends, for outright murdering them, stealing from me and manipulating me, but at the same time, the Hadrian in front of me now seemed to show regret for this. From what he had just told me, it seemed like it was Mevia's plan to commit homicide, and he himself was having second thoughts on the situation, but could I really believe every word he said when he seemed so 'victimised' in the story he gave me? When Mevia seemed like the true 'villain'? With all these conflicting thoughts in my head, I felt myself tearing up slightly, both from the guilt and stress. However what really got to me was Hadrian's soft sobs that had slowly become audible as I pondered.