North Way High

Chapter 12

"Jamie! Shouldn't you be at home trying to cover for your dear brother, Alex?" Jackson asks in a calm, snickering voice.
"No. I'm not leaving this school until I get him back. And if you don't let him go right now, you and your family will all be dead by morning." I say, very flustered. He laughs.
"Awe, you poor little thing. You just want your big brother back. Tell you what: I'll let your brother go home safely . . . for a price. If you come and surrender to me, I'll let him go. But you will work for my dad and I until we take over the world. And if you don't, your brother will be dead in less then five minutes. Your choice." He says. I look at Chase, he looks angry. This is going to drive Chase completely bonkers, but I know my answer.
"What time do you want me there and where are you?" I ask. I hear something in the backround. It sounds like a cry of pain. Alex.
"What are you doing to him?!" I ask, panicked.
"Your brother is refusing our snacks." he says. I can imagine his evil smiling face.
"Jamie? Jamie! Don't come here! Please stay there! They're going to--" he gets hit with something and screams. That's all I hear from him.
"Alex is quite the rebel. We told him the consiquences of not listening to instructions. He should wake up in about 30 minutes, don't worry." He says with no stress.
"Just tell me where you are!" I yell, annoyed and panicked.
"Don't blow my eardrum out, sweetie. We are in the small warehouse about a mile walk from the left side of the school. Be quick, you want to be the first one Alex sees when he gains consinceness!" He laughs and hangs up. I'm so upset right now that I feel like I'm going to explode. Chase realizes this.
"Jamie, no. You can't. I won't let you. You can't just give your life up for your brother! It's unreasonable!" He says, getting crazy.
"Chase, love doesn't require reason." I say, simply.
"Jamie," he looks at me hard. "You heard your brother -- he said to stay here. Where it's safe. You should listen to him." He says.
"And then they knocked him unconscious! I'm not going to stay, Chase. We went over this." I say, frustrated. We look at each other for a moment. He's trying to hypnotize me. I'm desperate to listen to him and just stay because I have so many reasons to all of the sudden. It's not safe, maybe I do really love Chase, and Alex was never the nicest brother anyways . . . I'm in his trance pretty strong until the confuser gas grabs hold of me and pulls me back to reality.
"Alright, let's get going. I want to be the first one Alex sees when he wakes up. Just like your brother said." I say, hard. I'm mad that Chase keeps trying to influence me, but I know I would do the same thing if I was in this situation, so I try not to let it get to me. I start walking, but I stop. I feel the same pull back to Chase as I did last week. Not again. I think.
"Jamie, don't leave. You know you actually would rather stay here where it's safe. Where it's warm." He says in his softest, hypnotic, relaxing, smooth voice . . . don't let him do this, you're stronger than this . . .
"Chase, please don't do this again. You need to let me be with you, where I'm happiest." I say. I meant to say the exact opposite. Im desperately trying to dig out of his endless hipnotic pull, but I'm too far in his trance already.
"Chase . . . please stop . . . " I trail off. He's taking over. It's like I know what I really need to do, but I just can't do it.
"Jamie, please, please, please don't go." He begs, very smooth and childish at the same time. He slowly starts walking towards me.
"Chase . . . please . . . " I say, these words are coming from the confuser gas. You can do this. Come on. Don't let him control you. You're better than . . . he gives me the most gentle, sweet, warm embrace I've ever had since my mom died over five years ago. Now he's done it. I think. The confuser gas is thankfully taking hold of me. Chase can read my mind, so he knows that I'm coming back to reality.
"Jamie, please don't go. Jamie . . . Jamie . . . " he says gently. He weakens me each time he says my name like that. But it's too late. I'm out of his nasty trance. And I'm not letting him take me in again.
"Chase, why do you you want me to stay so badly that you do evil things?" I ask, still pretty relaxed.
"Because I know what they're going to do to you. They do it to every single human that they find. They will torture you. They will hypnotize you. And then they will put you on a seat. They will lock your hands up in metal bars on the seat. Then a screen comes out. They show you the horrible things you've done while in their trance. Then they will inject a shot into you while your watching the video, and the shot makes it seem enjoyable to watch people suffer. Then you'll work for them, desperately. And then, when your work is done, they'll kill you. Slowly. I've seen it a million times. And I can't watch it happen again. Not to you." He says.
"I'll do it if that's what it takes for my brother to be free." I say. Then I see a tear drip from his left eye.
"But he won't be free. They will lock you up, saying they will let him go, but then they keep him. Then they will do the process again. But you get to watch your brother die. They make you watch. Don't you see? They're evil! They're monsters! They do horrible things to innocent humans! And I have to watch it. Human after human after human! And I'm done! I can't watch it happen again! Especially not to the person I love." He says, in a horrified tone.
"Then what do you suggest I do, Chase? Know my brother is dying when I knew it should've been me?!" I ask, mimicking his voice. He sighs. "Chase, please. This isn't what you want, but it's what I need to do." I say. He thinks for a moment.
"Fne. Let's go." He forces himself to say. So we walk the mile from the school, to where I will most likely die, or watch my brother die. Or both. And wait for what's in store for us.