The Great War

Chapter 10

Luke, that's your handwriting." Has he thought that I trusted him enough to really believe that he didn't write that. Joel walked in front of us. He probably wants to break us up.

"Hey, Taylor. We'll worry about this when we get back. Okay? Let's not let Luke ruin this for us." The look in his eyes and his soothing voice calmed me down. I don't even think I'd care if Joel was pretending to be my friend. He's too good at pretending if that's what he's doing. It's working. He's just too nice.

I nodded my head to Joel. Luke looked frightened. Joel left the room, and Luke grabbed my arm. "Luke, let go of me!" I screeched. He pulled me into him, which I actually liked. "I have to go. I can't do this right now."

"I love you, Taylor."

He loves....me? But he wanted to kill me at the start. I mean I had to admit, ever since he almost kissed me on the bench, helped me remember the words to my song, and sent me something personal he wrote, he's been on my mind. Every lyric I put into a song these days, it's always him. I loved him, but I couldn't. He's dangerous, full of secrets, and deceptive. He's got to be lying.

I couldn't help myself. I leaned in to kiss Luke. His eyes were filled with concern. I could feel his heart racing. Was he being genuine? I got a grasp on myself, I took a step back. I nodded my head and left the room. I knew when the time came, I wasn't gonna be able to remember anything. Even if Luke did want to show up, he wouldn't be allowed to help me.

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰'𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒖𝒕 

I couldn't have written anything more accurate. I'm denying the fact that I might love Luke, and that he's a good person for me. But anytime before, if I were to trust him, he'd always take advantage. I can't let him take over my heart, I couldn't.

I got into the car, and stared off into the distance. I glanced at the Smallbone house. Luke was there. Either he was happy that I'm gonna die today, or he was scared somebody was gonna get me. I glanced at Joel, who was driving the car. If Joel wasn't true, he would turn off the maps, and drive me somewhere that wasn't regionals. But he didn't.

I started having regrets. Luke's warned me before. What if I really am blind? What could I do now? I'm already driving in the car with Joel. He could kill me right now if he wanted to. Just pull out a gun and shoot. But that would be stupid considering everybody saw me leave with Joel and he would have blood on the seats. Which they could detect as my blood.

I sighed, and Joel looked over. "What's wrong?"

"It's Luke. He's messing with my brain. Making me think things that aren't true. But really I'm fine. Really." But I wasn't. But I couldn't ruin Joel's spirit. Unless I got out of the car....

I pulled out my phone to listen to music. It calmed me down. But it was either an "I LOVE YOU" or "I HATE YOU" kind of song. Which seemed to make my mind wander even more. But I kept my earbuds in, otherwise Joel would for sure get suspicious.

We arrived at the place where regionals were held. I unbuckled my seatbelt, and I got out of the car. I looked around. There were hundreds of people, probably even thousands. There were men in black dotted around the area, but I ignored them. Because we all were black at one phase in our lives.

It was our turn to go to the back of the stage and rehearse. I was putting my in-ears on, and I heard something go through them. "3, 2, 1, DUCK." So I ducked and a bullet flew over my head. "You have to get out of there, Taylor. They're gonna kill you. Try anyway." Was that Luke's voice? Was he the one guiding me through my in-ears?

"Was that a gunshot?!" Joel exclaimed. He was scared out of his mind. I leaned into him for comfort, and Joel tightly held into me. We could hear everybody outside frightened. "Get away from him Taylor, it's a trap." The voice told me.

But I couldn't. Joel was holding on too tight. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒑. That had to be the point. I tried to step away from Joel. Luke appeared in the room. As I looked at him, I noticed that he had a gun in his right hand. "Let her go, Joel."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" I glanced at Joel. Luke was right.... Joel does want to kill me. Luke was suddenly still, and then he shot at one of those men in black. He shot them right in the heart.

"You know I have an aim." Luke bragged.

"Yeah, well-" I kicked Joel in the stomach using all my force. I knocked him to the ground, and a gun flew into the ground. I should've trusted Luke, I can't believe this. Tears began to flood my eyes and Luke used a bat from in the room to knock out Joel. Luke grabbed my arm, and we started running.

We stopped when Luke had us in a pretty open area. But there were many people. We were mixed in the worried crowd. "Are you okay?" He asked, his hands on my face. I didn't know if I felt comfortable with the hands of a murderer on my face, but Luke's eyes were making me calm down.

"Not really." I shouted. People were starting to make it to their cars, so the area was clearing out.

"Come on, I have Ronnie waiting for us."

"Who's-" Luke started pulling me to his car, but he shot somebody else in the process. Luke shoved the both of us in the backseat. So Ronnie was the getaway driver.

"Taylor, this Ronnie. If you mess with him, he'll kill you, got it?"