Chapter 1

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"I can't believe she would do that! How dare she?" I chuckled as Claire ranted on about what some girl did to her at her track practice earlier as she ate a bag of chips.

I didn't do any sports; I was usually in the library all afternoon and if I wasn't, I was with my friends because they didn't have any type of practice or lecture at the moment. It wasn't that I hated sports or anything... it was that I was probably physically incapable of running even fifteen meters without tripping over my own feet. But hey, I was still pretty healthy and fit because my roommate always dragged me to the gym with him saying he needed a spotter. As long as there was no running involved, I was good.

"That looks heavy." I shot a glare at Shiloh when he joined us while we were walking across the clearing towards the parking lot. Being the kind of friend he was – and obviously Claire as well – he didn't bother offering any help aside from his comment.

"Yeah? I didn't notice." I muttered sarcastically as I moved my arm around the books in my arms trying, unsuccessfully, to make it easier to carry.

My backpack was already filled so there was no extra room for these books, but I was hell bent on only making one trip to the car.

"You have heard of the internet, haven’t you?" Shiloh kept poking at me.

"I prefer more reliable means of study then celebrity pictures captioned with fake quotes from historical figures." I replied. He chuckled as Claire laughed.

"You're coming to James' tonight, right?" He asked.

"No, I have an assignment to finish." I said.

"When is it due, Alex?" he gave me a flat look. I gave him a tight, guilty smile in response. Let's just say I didn't have to finish it today, but I preferred getting things done as soon as possible, "Come on, Man, even the girls are coming. You never take a night off!" he said.

"I'll take nights off when I graduate." I shrugged.

"Yes, two years from now, amazing. No wonder you can't find a guy." I shot him a glare.

"He's right, you know." Claire waved a chip at me. "How is anyone supposed to fall for your adorable face when they never even see you?"

"Adorable? Really? You couldn't find a better word?" I frowned at her before I rolled my eyes. "I don't need anyone." I said.

"Ha." Claire began laughing. "Shiloh, tell him." She looked at Shiloh.

"Man, you need to get laid. Everyone can see that. You practically fricking radiating stress and obviously that stress is not academic or financial." Shiloh said running his eyes over me.

I felt my face burn as both my best friends stared at me waiting for my reply.

"Uh... I'll- I'll see you guys on Monday. Tell AJ I send my regards, Claire." I said talking about the guy she was currently seeing.

They both groaned. "See, you can't even speak like a normal person anymore! You have no social skills!" Claire cried out.

"Alex, help us, help you." Shiloh said taking my shoulders and looking at me seriously. I laughed twisting out of his grip.

"See you guys later," I said seeing my roommate waiting for me at his car.

"Wait, let's see something –" Shiloh ran over to my roommate, Jordan's car, "Hey, J. Quick question. What will you be doing tonight?" he asked as they fist-bumped.

"Party at James'” Jordan said as he fist-bumped my hand after I placed the books on the backseat before hugging Claire. Shiloh turned to me giving me a pointed look at the answer and Jordan laughed, "Another night in? You cannot be serious, Alexander!" He said to me. I rolled my eyes at the use of my entire name because they rarely called me that.

"You're wasting your life!" Shiloh cried.

"By not getting drunk and grinding against random people I don't know before heading to a random room, well, if we're lucky enough for it to be a room, to do-the-dirty and possibly – no, actually, probably – get an STI I haven't even heard of?" I asked.

“'Do-the-dirty'?” Jordan stared at me like I was some type of alien before he turned away from me, "Are you guys sure he's male? Are you sure he's even human? Because I'm not." He said to our friends.

"Neither are we." Claire shook her head. She didn't sound like she was joking.

"And we're highly starting to doubt it." I kissed my teeth frowning at my friends, "See you later, Jordan. Enjoy your weekend of solitude, Alex." Shiloh patted my back before Claire hugged me saying her goodbye. I waved at them climbing into the car before Jordan and I began to make our way home.

We lived in a two-bedroom apartment not that far from our college. Jordan worked in sales most weekends and when he had days off from school to pay his half of the rent, even though his father offered to pay it for him (Jordan would always say something about being 'independent') while I used the money I had inherited from my parents after they passed. I would work but I wanted to focus solely on school.

The ride home consisted of him relaying stories about basketball practice and trying, unsuccessfully, to convince me to join them at James' later.

When we got home, I went straight to my room and threw most of my clothes off leaving me in just my boxers before I walked back down to the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge along with the last bag of cheese puffs from the cupboard and then I walked out and jogged my way upstairs towards Jordan's room.

"How do I look?" I shook my head before I ran my eyes over him. He was a little bit bulkier than I was; his blue and black stripped shirt clung to him slightly. He wore a black jean and high-top sneakers that looked like they had never seen the sidewalk before, but most of his shoes did despite him having worn them outside.

"Honestly? The same as always." I admitted.

"Alex." He frowned at me. I chuckled.

"Woman won't be able to keep their clothes on when they look at you." I almost rolled my eyes as I said that.

"That doesn't help, I know they won't no matter what I wear." He said. We laughed as he grabbed his car keys, "Don't have too much fun." He gave me a blank stare, his voice laced in sarcasm.

"I'll try not to." I grinned. He sighed throwing his eyes toward the ceiling before he looked back at me.

"Alex, you really ought to get out more. I'm serious, I'm worried about you." He looked concerned, it only lasted for a second before he added, "Don't expect me back tonight." He smirked as he winked and left.

I turned and made my way back to the kitchen finishing what was left of the puffs in the bag. I was still starving so I tossed the packet into the bin and I looked through the cupboards cursing silently at the fact that Jordan and I had been too busy, and lazy, to actually buy any groceries. I knew I would be too lazy to cook right now anyway.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after five and figured I would just order something in a few minutes. With that, I went upstairs and sorted my books out before deciding to just read over the assignment I had gotten earlier. What I thought would be a few minutes of reading later resulted in being a few hours of research, and the only reason I stopped doing work was because my head was starting to ache because of my hunger.

It was almost eight when I gave in to my hunger and dropped my pen on my book with a groan. I considered ordering food again but figured a walk would do me some good as I had been sitting for the past few hours and all day in school before that. I got dressed into what I had been wearing earlier and pulled a jacket over my long sleeved t-shirt because it looked windy outside.

The store was a fifteen minute walk away from my apartment and it closed at nine. I left shoving my phone into my pocket as I walked along the side walk. I pulled the box of cigarettes from my pocket and lit one. It was a bad habit I picked up after my parents died and I began stealing cigarettes from our gardener because it relieved me a little at the time. According to my friends I had quit smoking a while ago. I only had one now and then so it wasn't that bad of an addiction. I would actually stop… sometime.

Jordan and I lived in a pretty middle-class neighbourhood. The houses weren't that big but most were taken care of so it looked quite clean. The paving, amongst other things, needed to be re-done but it was good enough to still look good from a distance and it was safe to walk on.

There were not many cars moving around so I watched as one car drove by me, it was a white van. Looked like a delivery truck with its windows painted the same colour as the rest of the car. What was a delivery truck doing at night passing through the middle of a city? That made no sense because there was an easier way past this part of the city without as many turns and stops... Well, it had no logo so maybe it was not a company vehicle. I promptly forgot about it when it disappeared around a corner, focusing on getting out of the wind as I walked by the park and a few more houses before I reached the store.

I bought the stuff I wanted along with a few things I knew Jordan liked eating before I left to make my way back home. I had just reached the park when my eyes fell on a fluffy little white thing scurrying around not that far from me.

"Sammy?" I called. The dog immediately looked at once she heard her name and barked happily as she ran over to me. I chuckled kneeling down to give her a pat, the tag on her neck proved it was Sammy, our neighbour's dog. I chuckled guessing that that the small dog had snuck under the fence gain. Our elderly neighbour, Mrs Davids hated when she did that. "Bad girl." I mumbled with a smile as she kept jumping against me trying to get on my lap.

I decided to take her home but as I reached to pick her up, she went running into the road.

"Sammy –" I jogged after her following her into the park. "Sammy, come back here –" I stopped as I found myself in front of a foam factory as she ran in past the gate. I tried to call for the dog but I was cut off by the sound of screeching tyres.

I dropped my groceries as I jumped to the side just as the white van from earlier came speeding out of the factory. It had slowed for a second when its lights had landed on me and swerved. I cried out as loud shots went off before the van swerved and fell onto its side. I stood frozen for a few seconds watching as its door fell open letting brown bags fall out into the street, some broke as they hit the ground and sent a puff of white smoke all over the road. I was completely shocked by the scene in front of me, but I was jerked out of my shocked trance when I heard shouting.

I quickly moved to hide behind a tree and held my breath praying that no one had seen me, but I knew the driver of the van probably had. I had not seen him get out though, so I was okay for the moment.

"Make one move. I dare you." My heart pretty much stopped as a voice came from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see a guy standing with a gun in his hand pointing it right at my forehead.

I lifted me hands shaking my head as I looked back in front of me. I didn't trust my voice but I felt the need to speak, "I-I- " I cried out as his gun met my temple.

"Shut up. Move." He shoved me making me step out from behind the tree into the view of the white van.

I watched as someone tried to climb out of the van only to get shot in his head, his body flinging back and hitting the side of the car. I felt myself shaking while I watched as he slid back into the car leaving bright red streaks of blood on the white pain before more shots were fired at it.

I covered my ears, jumping as the man behind me fired a shot and it hit one of the people that had shot the truck. I heard curses and yelling around me and I glanced behind me contemplating running. He was distracted by them, but if I ran; chances are I would get shot in the back.

"You're fucking dead!" I heard someone shout from behind the factory walls.

"I'll kill your friend!" The man behind me shouted. He thought I was with them!

"I-I'm not –" I cried out as he slammed his gun into the back of my head.

"Shut up!" No. There was no way I was dying. Not after everything I had been through. Not yet.

"You're dead either way, Rick." A shot fired and I took advantage of the temporary distraction when he fired back.

I turned and shoved his arm further out of my line before I kicked him in his gut. I grabbed the his hands as he fell over and stepped on his wrist so he let the gun go before I turned to point it at him as I stumbled to back away.

"Stay – stay where you are –" My voice cracked, hands shaking so badly as I held the warm metal that I could see gun point moving off target.

I wasn't going to shoot him; I just needed to scare him so I could run. I just needed him to stay still long enough for me to get away.

"Wait – wait – I'll let you go." He looked at me holding his hands up as he got to his feet slowly. We were still hidden from the factory walls behind the tree.

I held the gun tighter trying to stop my shaking. "Stay! Don’t move!" I shouted. The sound of sirens made me tense up and I saw his hand move to his side and grip another gun.

I shut my eyes as an ear-piercing shot went off that sent a harsh jolt through my arms into the rest of my body and I felt warm liquid spray onto my face. I let out a croak as I the gun dropped from my trembling hands before I brought them to my face seeing him on the ground. I shot him. I shot him! Oh god. No. No. What did I do?! There were more of them – and the police. I needed to get away before I was spotted.

I turned and began running only to get speared into the grass of the park from behind making me fall face-first onto the ground painfully. I felt him kick into my side causing me to roll over before he knelt on my chest while I groaned and tried to breathe beneath him, "Who do you work for?!"

"N- No one! No one! I-I – I don't know – I didn't see anything, please – I-I promise I won't tell anyone –" I let out a panicked sob shutting my eyes as I felt a gun against my forehead. "Please – please –"

"Clyde, kill him! We need to move." I heard a car hoot loudly.

I was certain I was dead, but he did not immediately shoot me and I swallowed as I opened my eyes to look at the man above me. My breath caught in my throat as I saw his face. I had seen him before, just outside of my school... He smirked running his eyes over my face and I realised he recognised me as well. "He might actually be useful though." He muttered.

Before I could begin to think about what that meant by that, he lifted his gun to smash it into my head.

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