Living on Blue Time

Chapter Seven

In one second our picnic is lit up with the light of one hundred suns, police officers are swarming the beach and before I knew it, I'm being yanked away from AJ.

"No! Stop! I love him!" I yell as three police officers drag me through the sand. I scream as the rest of the crowd of policemen surround AJ and hold him at gunpoint.

AJ yells at the men holding me back. "Don't hurt her! Don't hurt her!"

"AJ!" I scream his name as I'm being pushed to the sand.

I can't see anything anymore, just a boot and sand. But I can hear AJ yelling for me.

"What have you done with her? We weren't doing anything wrong!" He shouts at the top of his lungs. I struggle to stand up and run for him but there's a weight on my back.

How did they know we were here?

How did they even know we weren't Matched?

I hear struggling and then a harsh voice saying, "Handcuff him. He's going to Pearl's View."

I wiggle some more.

Pearl's View is the harshest boarding school in the country. He can't be sent there. That school is reserved for the worst youth in America. He'd be destroyed. His soul would shatter without me.

"Ray. Stop struggling. You're making the situation worse," I feel a voice by my ear. I grit my teeth. Of course it was him. I tell him everything!

"Let him go, Eric! Pearl's View isn't going to do him any good!" I wheeze into the sand.

I hear my brother sigh, "Let her up. She needs to see what's happening."

The heavy boot on my back leaves after hesitating for a second. The tight grasp on my arms lessens as they lift me off the ground.

I gasp at the sight before me.

Our McDonalds picnic has been ground into the sand by heavy boots. There are spotlights set in a circle surrounding the mess. There are at least fifty policemen in the surrounding area and most of them are armed. I shudder at AJ. He's been handcuffed and is currently being shoved into the back of a police car.

Tears stream down my face as I scream, "Ajax!! NO! You can't take him!"

I try to wiggle out of the hands holding me but their hold tightens.

Then Eric steps into my view.

He places his hands on my shoulders.

"He's going somewhere safe, Ray."

I scream in his face.

He did this to me!

To us!

My brother sighs again and nods to the guys behind me.

I feel a slight pinch and the world around me fades away.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

I wake up the next morning with 0002d 11h 08m 13s left on my timer.

I roll over and try to go back to my dream.

My dream where I'm still on the beach with AJ.

In my dreams we are allowed to kiss.

And hold hands.

And hug.

And be a normal couple.

I try about 30 times to fall asleep but I can't seem to get his face out of my head. It's like he's been plastered to the back of my eyelids. I will never escape him.

But I don't want to.

I turn my face into my tear-soaked pillow and scream for the 200th time.

I don't think I can Meet anyone now.

Maybe my Match can wait?

But he can't.

It's physically impossible.

Even if I don't get out of the house that morning, an invisible rope that is bound to our soul mate pulls me to my destiny.

My future.

The future without AJ.

I don't think I can live anymore.

Would my Match care if his timer stops at 0002d 10h 57m 45s?

Would anyone care?

I don't.

My life means nothing without AJ.

I had found the sunshine on a cloudy day.

But the clouds had to come back and take him away.