Anger To Love; Theo Raeken [1]

06|Nightmares

Since that night on the roof fighting the berserkers, Ava hasn't been able to sleep properly. Every time she closes her eyes she sees a berserker hurting someone she cares about.

Ava was lay in her bed one night when she heard the sound of the printer she has in her room.

She looked up in confusion and saw paper dropping from the printer.

Ava got out of bed and went over to her printer to see what it was. It was multiple copies of the list of names for the dead pool. Ava tried to turn her printer off but the lists kept printing. Ava pulled the plug of the printer out the wall and the paper finally stopped falling on her bedroom floor.

The next morning when Ava walked through the school doors she felt as though everyone's eyes were on her.

She avoided everyone's eyes as she walked through the corridor.

"Ava!" A voice exclaimed.

Ava jumped in surprise but she relaxed a bit when she saw it was just Mason.

"Hey. Am I gonna see you at the bonfire tonight?" Mason asked.

"Uh... I'm thinking about skipping it." Ava said.

"You're not skipping." Mason tells her.

"Why not?"

"Because you're on the lacrosse team. Don't you have to go?"

"I don't, Uh..." Ava looked around nervously and she felt terrified when she saw a berserker down the corridor but she knew it was only her fears. "I... I don't think I can make it."

"You're coming." Mason tells her boldly. "And we're gonna find you a nice boy or girl that you can embarrass yourself in front of and find me a lacrosse player. Because statistically speaking, someone on your team has gotta be on my team. All right? Ava?"

"Okay. I'll be there." Ava said then walked away.

Ava was sat on one of the stairways on her own messing with her lacrosse stick. All she can think about is the berserkers. She's really afraid.

Scott finds her on the stairs and he sits by her. "Hey." He said softly as he held her shoulder. "You okay?"

"Hey." Scott said again when she didn't reply.

"Last night my printer went off by itself. I couldn't turn it off. I hit the cancel button. But it just kept printing." Ava told him.

"Printing what?"

Ava took one of the papers out of her bag and gave it to Scott to look at.

"What the hell is this!!" Coach Finstock was heard shouting.

Ava and Scott ran to where they heard their coach, they found him by a printer that was spewing paper just as Ava's was the previous night.

Scott picked up one of the pieces of paper off the floor and looked at it.

"You see the difference?" Ava asked as Scott looked at the two copies of the list.

"Derek's not on the list anymore." Scott said.

"And I'm not worth three million. It's 18 now." Ava said. "$18 million."

•••

Ava was sat on a table outside at the bonfire with Mason. The music was blasting but she wasn't really in a party mood. Ava tipped the vodka she took from her mum into her drink and tipped it all down her throat quickly.

"Not gonna tell me to slow down?" Ava asks her best friend.

"Actually, I was gonna say keep drinking. I think you should get drunk. And I mean stumbling down, fall on your ass, passed out with your face in a toilet drunk." Mason said cheerfully.