Tic Toc

Thirteen

Note: pay attention to the time stamps.
Warning: this first part might sting. Hold your breath and count to ten.

Alex
Kansas/Colorado Border
2:35pm

*For the billionth time he wiped at my cheek with his thumb.

"It's gonna be alright, sweetheart." He lied to me.
If it were true, he wouldn't be sending me away.

"Daddy..." I whined.
The iron over my heart had rusted away and I couldn't keep up the little sister charade at the moment.
He pulled me into his arms as he started to cry too.

"I know, baby. I know it's not fair." He said as I cried into his shoulder. "Just listen to me, okay. Are you listening?"

I nodded, unable to speak.

"Remember I love you so much. You're my whole world, baby girl. No matter what Sebastian or anyone else tells you, you're always gonna be my little girl no matter how you happened."

He kissed my face and wiped more tears away.

"And no matter where you are or what you're doing I'm always gonna be with you. I love you so damn much, Alexandra."*

That's what he told me, and I haven't stopped crying since. Nor have I stopped replaying it in my head. The majority of the people that I followed onto this bus seen what happened, so nobody asked what was wrong.
In two days, my father would be dead. There would be no one left. Sure, Stephanie would try to help.
But Remington was her favorite child. She won't be any better off than me.
I knew he was behind me somewhere. No, not a couple car lengths. More like a couple hundred miles. Many times I thought Bout getting off the bus to wait for him to catch up. Almost did once.
But he would get so mad at me. He didn't want me to watch him die. And to be honest I didn't want to watch either.
So I decided I wasn't moving from this seat. If I did I'd go through with my stupid plan.
I stared out at the window as we waited in line to go through to the border. I watched the row next to us.
Off to the side was a Humvee. On the other side of it were two people. The car was so tall i couldn't see who they were, just their feet. Suddenly one hit the ground and started having some kind of attack.
I looked away, sure that his watch had stopped ticking.
More tears came as I played with the bracelet Remington gave me ages ago.
Why did it have to be like this?

Ricky
Colorado/Kansas Border
2:37pm

Two days. That's all my friend had left. And here I was wasting his precious time.
I sat on the runner board of the SUV. Pain writhed through my body so that I had no clue where it started. Never before have I had an attack like this during the day. I hadn't fallen asleep in the car, nor was I even weary.
We were stopped to show the border agents our passports. It came on all of a sudden and I couldn't stand to sit in the car.

"Ricky, do you need to see a doctor?" Chris asked as he knelt next to me. "The agents told me they can call an ambulance."

Unlike every time before, I wasn't quick to say no. It's never hurt like this before. It was a struggle to even breathe.
A sharp stab in my temple had me crying out in pain. Before j knew what was happening, I was on the ground. I opened my eyes, unaware that I had closed them.

*I found myself standing in front of a door. Startled, I turned and looked around. I was in a bedroom. Whether it belonged to a boy or girl I couldn't tell; there were so many band posters and it was decorated in black. But it definitely belonged to a teenager. A clothes rack was tipped over on the floor. A pink bandanna stood out, the only indication that this room.might belong to a girl.

Muffled crying made me turn back to the door.
I turned the knob without knocking. I found an equally black bathroom. The stained glass shower door was black with red swirls, seemingly hand painted. The shag rug on the floor was black. Even the toothbrush on the counter was black.
A young girl curled into herself in the corner.
She cried into her knees and her bare toes curled up as though she were trying to gain any type of control. She looked up at me. Her long black hair fell back, revealing a gorgeous, hurt face. Bug brown eyes bore into mine.

"You don't have to pretend, Ricky." She told me in a broken voice.

"I'm not pretending." My response was automatic as thought I was reading from a script.

"You're lying." She cried.

I knelt by her and reached out to touch her face.

"I'm not lying, Gorgeous. I wouldn't do that to you."*

"Ricky? Can you hear me?"

A bright light obscured Chris' face from my view. People were scurrying about and there was a loud beeping noise.
So annoying.

"What happened?" I asked as I tried to sit up.
Chris pushed me back down.

"You had a seizure. We're at the hospital."

His words processed differently than I would have thought.

"You have to go, Chris! You're wasting too much time!"

He opened his mouth to argue with me.

"No, I'll be fine. You have to go." I said.

"Promise you'll get better?" I knew he was really saying I love you, just in case.

"I promise. Now go."

With one last look at me, he turned and walked out the door.
I barely noticed the nurses and doctors fussing around me. All I could think about was that girl.
Where did she come from? What did she think I was pretending about? Who was she?

But I already knew that didn't I?
Deep down I've always known. There was a reason I couldn't remember my match's face.
Because she was never really mine, was she?

Hello my baby NightCrawlers!
What do you think is up with Ricky? What's gonna happen to Alex?
Many questions! But the most important one, ya gonna vote for me right?
I've entered the wattys and I know there's no hope for Tic Toc to win but drop your vote anyway. It's much appreciated!