Alessandra Faye

33

I stare into the deep hallway nervously. My fingers are sore from rubbing them up and down my knife sheath. Come on, let's get this over with. The hallway is eerily quiet except for our breathing. I tap my foot on the floor, roll my shoulders back, and rub the strap some more. A couple of shapes enter my vision. First the shapes are small then they grow into a normal shaped human. Then 3 more enter the image. Something in the corner catches my attention. In the hands of a shape is a small fire glowing. The fire illuminating the hallway. I look back at Isabelle.
"There's somebody for you to fight."
She pops her fingers and her neck. "I got this."
I nod my head at her. That's my girl! In the left corner my eyes land on a ball of what I think is electricity floating in midair before a person. I look at Dylan, "There's your target." I gave him that target hoping he can heal before he gets hit.
Beside me Ethan's grip around his sword tightens. His knuckles becoming white. "I'll stay with you."
"I thought so." I'm glad he's choosing to fight with me.
"Allie, you just confuse them all. Try to distract them by talking to them in their minds. Ethan and I will take them down before they can touch you."
"What if you guys don't get there in time?"
"Then you better use those fighting skills I taught you."
She balls her hands into fists. "Yes, mam."
My heart swells up with pride. I taught my girls good. Maybe we can win this fight. I bring my attention back to the approaching shapes. They're a lot closer and look a lot more intimidating. Before long they're on top of us. The one in the front is a girl about my age with blond hair and blue eyes. Her outfit is like Dylan's but with no mark on her shoulder. Thank goodness!
"Hello, may we help you?" I ask them.
"Come with us and there will be no harm." She declares, her hand on her sword.
"I don't think so." I tell her, reaching for my swords.
"Mam, please do what we say."
I take out one of my swords and tap it on the ground. "You see, little girl, you're not in charge here."
"Whatever. I don't have time to deal with this." She takes out her sword. "Get them," she declares, a determined look on her face.
I tighten my grip on my sword and bring the other one out. Her guards come at us with full speed. I close my eyes and focus on the ability of my swords. Opening my eyes, I see the swords floating in front of my eyes. Nice! I throw a glance at one of the guards approaching Allie and will my right sword to plunge itself into their chest. On my command it flies towards the guard, plunging itself right through the chest. It goes in the front side and out the back side, the blade glazed with red shiny blood. Nice, again! The guard's eyes go wide before his body collapses under him. His face slams hard against the cold floor. Allie looks at me with wide eyes.
"I've been working on my abilities."
"Nice." She turns back to face the next guard.
I look around me to see how it's going. Dylan has the person with the electricity ball unconscious on the floor and is fighting with another person in hand to hand combat. The person keeps disappearing and then reappearing before Dylan can deliver a punch. I take one glance at the guy and the sword goes flying towards the guy. The guy has just enough time to look at the sword before the knife plunges itself into his chest. It comes to a stop in front of me dripping with blood. Dylan looks at me, he's breathing hard.
"Thanks." He mouths to me.
"Welcome." I mouth back to him.
He goes back to fighting. I look at Isabelle, she's got her arm ablaze and is working on burning right through a person. The person with the small fire lying face flat on the ground. I have no idea if their dead or just unconscious. I glance behind me to see Ethan fighting some dude before he can reach Allie. My eyes land on the girl who acted like the leader. Her eyes meet mine and they turn red. Before I know it I'm on the ground clutching at my throat desperately. My lungs are about to explode if I don't get air soon. I glance helplessly at Ethan trying to get his attention. Nothing comes out of my throat when I try to yell. Thankfully Ethan's attention lands on me for just a second but it's long enough to register what's happening. He shoves the guy he was fighting to the side. The guy slams his head on the wall and sinks to the floor dead. I thought he would become unconscious but I don't think that happened. Ethan lunges at me, slamming hard into my side. I fall to the left and a rush of air explodes into my lungs. I open my mouth and take in a deep breath.
"Thanks." My voice raspy.
"No problem." He offers me his hand. I allow him to jerk me to the ground. I wipe my hands on my jeans.
"I hate that girl so much already."
"Trust me, you're not the only one."
"Looks like we have this under wraps." I say, proudly.
"Well, you might want to say that when we're done." He points behind me. I whip my head around to see what he's pointing at. Behind us are 5 guards heading towards us with their lasers pointed at us.
"Just great. When I think I have a break someone always has to say otherwise." I throw up my hands in frustration.
Ethan takes my chin and points it towards him. My eyes land on his. He looks at me intently, "We have to try one more time."
I shake my head. "No, it's not worth it."
"Why? Are you afraid to be in pain again?"
"I can't do it Ethan. We don't even know if it'll work or what it does."
"Has that stopped anyone of us from doing what's right?" he leans in closer to me and places his lips on mine. My body goes limp in his arms. Closing my eyes, I lean in for more. The whole world around us seems to freeze. Everyone is in mid-lunge or mid-punch around us. Something inside me starts to bloom. It's not painful but more like a soothing warm feeling inside of me. I open one of my eyes a little. Around us is a bright glow of warm light. Then both eyes are opened wide. Woah! It's marvelous, the warm glow lighting up the whole hallway. Ethan pulls away and I expect it the hallway to go back dark but it doesn't. The warm glow still filling up the hallway. He takes my hands. I look down at our hands intertwined in the warm glow. Taking my chin, he pushes my head back up towards him. My eyes follow his lead and come to a rest on his warm brown eyes.
"You can do this. I believe in you."
I'm a loss for words and all I can do is nod.
"Just focus on me. Nothing else."
"Okay." I force out of my mouth.
The glow around us turns brighter until it's blinding. Heats blows all around us. Then the pain starts. A faint tear into my skull and then a full-blown gaping hole in my skull. I can feel a scream start to form in my throat. Looking desperately into his eyes, I tell myself not to panic. It's just pain and it will disappear soon.
"You can do this. Just a few more seconds."
I shake my head fiercely. The scream that was resting in my throat explodes out of my mouth. All my emotions going with it. Then everything goes quiet. The hallway goes back into the dark and I collapse into Ethan's arms exhausted. The pain slowly fading in my skull. Sweat is resting on my forehead and my lungs feel like they just exploded. Ethan gently rubs my head. Leaning down he plant a soft kiss on my head not even paying attention to the sweat.
"I knew you could do it," he whispers.
"Thanks." The words come out raspy. My throat is so dry.
"Did it even work?" I try to lift my head a little to see but my head just remains a big rock.
He looks around. "Yeah, it worked. Everyone but our groups are collapsed onto the ground. I don't know if they're dead or not."
"What about that girl?"
"Um," he squints his eyes a little. "I don't see her. She must have escaped before it happened."
"What?" I force my head up this time. Around me is a bunch of unconscious people lying in all sorts of forms. I search the pile of people for the girl. She's not here! I start to panic. Why isn't she here? I force myself onto my feet. I look around widely for the girl. Surveying every face, I can get but find no girl. Ethan watches me calmly as I panic. I run to one of the guards hoping it's her. When I turn the person over gray eyes meet mine.
"So, the blast killed them instead of knocking them unconscious." Ethan says, standing over my shoulder.
"Yep."
I look at the boy who looked about our age with his brown spiked up hair and a start of a mustache. His gray eyes seem to stare into my soul.
"Isaac." Ethan says, no tone in his voice.
I turn around to face him. "What?"
"His name is Isaac."
I look back at the boy and then face Ethan again. "How do you know that?"
"He was in my combat class. I didn't get to talk to him much but the times I did he seemed like a good kid. I guess not." He casts his eyes down to the ground.
"You don't know that he wasn't a good kid."
"Anyone who can even think of working for my dad is a bad person."
"Maybe he was forced."
"Maybe."
"What in the world just happened?" Dylan yells.
I turn to face him. His eyes are surveying the bodies.
"I can't explain it," I tell him.
"Um, okay."
Isabelle comes up behind him also looking at the bodies. "These people are still alive, right?"
I look at Ethan nervously. "Well, this one is kind of dead." I poke the body with my toe.
"How can he be kind of dead? They're either dead or not dead." Isabelle comes up to us and stares down at the boy.
"Yeah he is definitely dead." She shoves the boy with her foot.
"Sorry. I had no idea we could do that." I tell her sympathetically.
"Did you see what happened?" Ethan asks her from behind.
"I was fighting this girl when a blinding light practically blinded both of us and I started stumbling until I fell onto the floor. Then just as quick as it came it was gone." She looks at intently.
"Did you feel anything?" I ask her, concerned.
"Nope." She shakes her head.
"The glow was kind of warm to me." Dylan announces.
I watch him step over bodies carefully.
"It was hot to me." I tell him.
"Well, of course. The heat was coming from you all."
I furrow my eyebrows at him, confused. The heat was around us not coming from us. I would've felt it if it came from me.
"Don't ask me how I know I just do." He must have known I was confused.
"Okay. I believe you," I tell him, nodding my head.
"I think we should get out of here before more people come," Allie declares.
"Yeah, we should," I say, surveying the damage Ethan and I had done. So many people we killed and many were probably innocent but I doubt it.
We step over the bodies, making our way down the hallway. I grab for Ethan's shoulder for balance as I begin to step over a huge person. Not like fat huge but bulky and muscular huge. I'm not mean, at least I don't think I am. Ethan grabs my hand and helps me over the guy. I look at him, giving him a faint smile. A piece of my hair falls into my face.
"Thank you." I tuck the fallen hair behind my right ear.
He doesn't release my hand once I'm across the guy. I look at our hands and then him.
"You can let go of my hand."
He looks at me a small chuckle comes out of his mouth. "I don't think I want to."
I step closer to him until I can feel his breath on my lips He's at least an inch taller than me. I look up into his milky brown eyes.
"Why don't you want to?" I flirt with him. Flirting is not my forte but it seems to flow right out of my mouth with ease.
His face leans in closer to mine until our lips are touching. "I just don't want to." He whispers, the warmth of his breath heating my lips. Then he places his lips on mine. We stand there for what seems like forever and then he interrupts us.
"Excuse me," Dylan's voice interrupts our moment.
I groan, placing my head on Ethan's chest. I just want 5 minutes of no interruptions. Can I not get that?
"Yes, Dylan?" Ethan's chin is resting on my head. When he talks his chin moves up and down on my head.
"I don't want to interrupt your all's moment but we're kind of in a hurry."
"We know, Dylan." Ethan's voice has an edge to it.
"Oh, okay then." Dylan's voice goes quiet.
Ethan lifts my head by my chin with his index finger. My eyes bask in his warm brown eyes. "I think we should get a move on," he whispers to me.
I nod my head. Still keeping ahold of his hand, I turn around to face the others. They all look at me with an intent expression. Why do they look so creepy? My eyes land on Dylan. His shoulders are hunched and he's looking down at the ground.
"Next time mind your own business." I say with an edge in my voice. Dragging Ethan with me I stomp past Dylan making sure to keep my eyes before me. His stare follows me burning a hole in my shoulder.
I keep walking occasionally listening for the shuffling feet behind me. Ethan repositions his hand to where we're walking side by side.
"Are you okay?" He asks me with a concerned voice. I look at him, his concerned face making something inside me snap.
"I'm fine," I tell him.
"No, you are not."
I start to walk faster, breaking our hands apart. Ethan strides up beside me with no struggle at all. I just can't shake this guy off.
"Don't walk away from me!"
He grabs my hand and jerks me to a stop. The others skid to a stop behind us. I roll my eyes at him. I can't deal with all this arguing anymore.
"What do you want, Ethan?" I say, tiredly.
"I want you to be serious for once. No, you look at me," he pushes my head back in front of him, forcing my eyes to look at him. "Listen. Are you listening?"
"Yes!" I yell to him. "I'm listening, alright. All I do is listen!"
"Stop acting like a spoiled brat for once!" he yells at me.
I fling my arms at him. "A spoiled brat." I nod my head. "Look you've never seen me be a spoiled brat."
"I've never," he laughs hysterically, "I've never seen you act like a spoiled brat? That has got to be the biggest pile of crap that has ever came out of your mouth."
"Why does everybody think that I'm lying?" I ask him still yelling.
"I never said I thought you were lying."
I look at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You just accused me of lying. Did I not hear the words 'that has got to be the biggest pile of crap that has ever came out of your mouth' come out of your mouth just then?"
"I did say that but the words 'you lied' never came out of my mouth."
"They might as well have!"
"See," he waves his arms around me, "this is what I'm talking about. You're so caught up in things that it has blinded you from what's really important."
"Yeah, and what is that?" I stare at him waiting for his response. "Come on, tell me what I have been blinded from!"
"Family, friends," he looks at the other and then points at Dylan then him, "Love."
I raise my eyebrows at him. "Love. I have been blinded from love?" I ask him, confused.
"Yes," he nods his head.
"I love you." I tell him.
"You think you do."
"I do."
"You can't love someone, Alessandra. It's impossible for you."
"What?" I ask him even more confused than before.
"I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to be honest." He looks at me waiting for a response.
I nod my head, "Okay."
"Do you still love Dylan?" he looks at me with sadness in his eyes.
"I can't believe you just asked me that."
He shakes his head at me. "Just answer the question, Alessandra."
My hands become sweaty and I wipe them nervously on my jeans. "Um," I look at Dylan and then Ethan.
"Come on, Alessandra. We don't have all day."
"I guess I still have some feelings for Dylan."
Ethan shakes his head, placing a hand on his hip. With the other hand he rubs his temple. I desperately grab his hand.
"It's nothing, Ethan!" I scream out desperately.
He jerks his hand away from my grasp. "I can't love you when you have feelings for someone else." His sad brown eyes meet mine.
"It's nothing, I promise. Just little feelings here and there but I swear it was nothing big."
He starts to back away. I try desperately to grab his hand to stop him but grasp empty air each time. Stumbling but catching myself I watch him leave the way we came.
"Ethan!" I chase after him, leaving the others staring at us.
I finally get a good grip on his arm. With all my strength I push against his force. He stops struggling against my grip and stands still facing away from me.
"Ethan, it was nothing. Dylan and I were nothing."
"Yeah, I'm sure." He says with no expression in his voice at all.
"Look at me," I demand him.
He slowly turns his head to look at me. His eyes avoid mine for as long as they can. "Look at me, Ethan."
At my words his eyes rise to meet mine. The hurt in his eyes tearing open a hole in my heart.
"I love you Ethan Brown like I have never loved anyone else." I plant my lips firmly against his. When I pull back he's looking at me with a sad smile on his face.
"This still doesn't change things between us."
I look at him with a sad look in my eyes. "I had to try."
"I'm sorry. This doesn't have to be permanent, maybe in a few months we can try again. Until then we can be friends, I hope."
If he's going to do this then he might as well get things over with. It's hard for me to say this but I can't have this happen again. I shake my head at him.
"No," I point at the both of us. "You do this now, it's done. It can't be undone. We're not right for each other." Tears start to creep into my eyes.
He reaches out his hand, trying to take my hand. I jerk my hand away, shaking my head.
"No, we're done."
I turn around and head back to the others before the tears can flow. They look at me with concerned expressions. I wipe my hands across my cheeks, shaking my head at them.
"Alessandra!" Ethan yells at me.
I start to walk faster. "Alessandra, I'm so sorry." Allie's voice sounds sincere.
"It's nothing."
She doesn't argue with me. I shove past Dylan with my shoulder. He grabs my arm and jerks me to a stop. I stare down the hallway ignoring him.
"Alessandra." he says, hurt in his voice.
I slowly turn my head to look at him, the tears falling onto my cheeks. I shake my head at him and collapse into his arms sobbing. He starts rubbing my head. My cries become louder and more frequent. I wipe my hand across my face after I pull back. His shirt is soaked with my tears.
"I'm sorry about your shirt." I choke out, trying to breathe.
He looks down at his shirt. Shrugging his shoulders, he mumbles, "It's fine."
"Thanks."
"No problem. I promised myself that I would be there for you and I have." He looks at me sympathetically.
"You didn't have to." I choke on my words.
"Yes, I did." He gives me a weak smile.
I choke on my tears again. "We should get going." I wipe the back of my hand on my face.
They all nod in agreement. I turn around sharply on my heels and head down the hallway, leaving Ethan behind. How could he do this to me? Also, why does this happen to me so much? I've loved 3 people and they've all failed me. Nathan is dead, Dylan is a traitor, and Ethan is jealous. I think I have bad luck with guys.