The Program [Book Two of The Test]

*Alternate Chapter Forty Ending*

This is an alternate version of how the story could have ended. It's right after Mary points the gun at Lexi. Please know that this is mainly for my enjoyment and is more of a joke than anything.

THIS IS NOT HOW I EVER PLANNED ON ENDING IT. I JUST THOUGHT THIS ENDING WOULD BE FUN TO SHARE :)

The Program

Alternate Chapter Forty

I sprang to life, my whole body shooting forward in my bed.

The sweat covering the whole entirety of myself only made me feel worse. And the amount of shaking taking place wasn't exactly comforting either.

My head was pounding and my heart was beating so fast I could hear its thumping in my ears. It was deafening and my breathing was fast, yet I felt completely out of air.

Up to that moment, I hadn't noticed Maddie beside me, running a soothing hand over my hair and keeping me sitting up with the other.

"It was just a bad dream," She whispered, me burying my head in her shoulder, tears soaking her hair and a gross array of snot and slobber coming from me as I continued to lack the ability to get a hold of myself. Within the mix, there was a name, right at the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't utter it even when my mouth was moving and I could sense it coming out. I couldn't hear it, and it hurt too much to think.

When I let up a bit, my head foggy but me now able to take in short intakes of oxygen, she pushed the hair out of me eyes and said she was going to get my mom.

I don't even remember her leaving, just that I became a lump on my bed the second there was no longer a weight helping to keep me steady. My blankets felt like fire against me and my pillows like stone.

And yet, I was frantic and I couldn't place why. There was something I had to take care of and I couldn't remember what it was. It was important, life or death.

Hands were placed on either side of my face, my mothers touch calming my nerves slightly and then Marcus was beside me, picking me up and instructing Maddie to get a cool rag asap.

I was delirious, my mind not being able to stick to one thing and for reasons I didn't know, I became fixated on my shorts.

They had neon cupcakes on them that at that moment both excited me and seemed too bright to handle.

Bringing a hand to my forehead, I slumped against Marcus as the world continued to blur around me. I was shaking again, him setting me down on the couch in the living room and saying words I viewed as all around nothingness in my incoherent state.

And then, the world became distorted again and the couch seemed to be sticking to my skin in a way I couldn't handle. My neck felt stiff and my head, numb.

"I-I don't know what happened to her." Maddie was blubbering as she handed the rag to Marcus, soon after digging her nails into her scalp and having her own crisis. "She was thrashing and wailing, and I just, I couldn't help her."

The cloth was damp, I was processing that much. But I didn't feel the liquid as it was placed on my forehead, only left to wonder why this was all taking so long when to me the world had sped up so fast.

"We might need to take her to the hospital. Quick! Maddie, grab a blanket from the closet." I was aware someone was talking that sounded feminine but my mind went directly to Marcus, my head bending back. He was holding me again, the feel of the couch still en-printed on me and the cloth now feeling like sandpaper.

There were blotches of bright whites and purples where my vision was supposed to be, blocking any view of my brother as they grew larger.

My mouth was dry and my hands felt clammy, and my neck was still sore and my head just went farther back until there was a hand holding it up.

"She was just mumbling the same thing over and over before I came and got you." Someone that I think was Maddie said. "It was like pack or back. Ack?"

Marcus put me in the back seat, Maddie getting in after me. Her words were filling my mind, none making sense until it flooded back and I was staring at the roof of the car forming the word even when I couldn't feel my tongue.

"Jack."

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Pretty much, this ending is supposed to be saying that the whole thing was a dream. If this were the ending, then Lexi dreamed up the test and everyone in it. This would have led to a few more chapters of her trying to piece together what was real and what wasn't, her trying not to view Mary as an evil test making bad guy, and her having to endure the fact that Jack might not actually be real and that if he was, he probably wasn't the Jack she fell in love with. But yeah, I was never going to do this ending so no one freak out alright...this is just a gag chapter because I saw a few of you guys freak out in the comments one time saying how awful it would be if it were all a dream...so yeah...