Where Are You

Chapter 6

Jared opened the apartment to door to find Emma, Haley and Steph standing in the hallway. They stared at us with fuming eyes and they all had their arms crossed over their chests. I knew that they would be both concerned and furious. Steph took a step towards us and she dropped her arms from her chest so that she could form two fists.

            “Where the hell did you two end up?” Steph asked through gritted teeth.

            “I got a call telling me where Alexis’s mother was,” Jared replied.

            The girls gasped. They didn’t even know that my mother was missing; all they knew was that The Assassins had come to take me away or kill me. In my eyes it was better for them to know as little as possible, it would keep them safer.

            “Lex, we didn’t even know your mum was missing,” Haley said.

            “I’ve been trying to find her but Jared keeps me locked up,” I replied miserably.

            “Did you get her?” Emma asked.

            I shook my head. “They got away.”

            “Who got away?” Steph asked.

            “The Assassins.”

            The silence was worse than the gasps I had expected. Haley had backed away towards the end of the hallway, Emma and Steph had closed the gap between them staring at me with horrified eyes.

            “Aren’t they the people that had broken into the apartment?” Steph asked.

            “Yes,” Jared replied.

            “They have your mum,” Emma repeated.

            “What are they going to do to her?” Haley asked.

            “We don’t know,” Jared replied.

            The girls began murmuring, I couldn’t handle being around them. I was relieved that they were concerned about my mum but they shouldn’t be the way they were, Eliza was my mum not theirs. I walked out onto the balcony and I watched the sun continue its rise over the ocean. Down below people were cleaning up from the fire disaster that had struck the Gold Coast city, people were getting back to their everyday lives and I wished that I could join them.          

            I watched as surfers walked by with brand new surfboards in their hands, the ocean called to them the way music called to me. I watched as people jogged past down below, a few even stopped to help the city council clean up the mess.

            Their lives were simple; they’re parents were probably sitting at home eating breakfast or sleeping whereas mine could be anywhere. I shuddered at the thought of Eliza tied up in a prison. I could imagine the way that The Assassins treated her, whipping her trying to get information of my whereabouts.

            “Alexis,” Jared whispered.

            I looked over my shoulder to see him walking towards me with worried eyes. I turned my head so I could continue looking at the dark blue ocean.

            “What do you want?” I asked.

            “I’m just joining you,” he replied.

            “I take it that you managed to calm the others down,” I muttered.

            “I sent them back to bed; honestly I thought that they’d be more like you. You’re taking this whole situation pretty well considering that your mother could be killed in an instant,” Jared said.

            “They had it better then me,” I whispered.

            Jared came and stood beside me. “What do you mean?”

            “They had a better high school life then me,” I replied.

            “What happened?” Jared pressed.

            “I don’t want to talk about it,” I snapped.

            I did the best I could to block Jared out. I just wanted to be alone, was that too much to ask for?

            My head pounded as a headache became known. With the pain of the headache and the pain in my heart I knew that I was about to break into tiny, unreachable pieces. I felt like I was losing my mind. The concept seemed possible because of the way I’d been feeling. I wasn’t my usual self; my usual self wouldn’t kill someone because they were threatening someone I barely knew.

            Why did The Assassins want to use me against my mum? What did she know? But what if Jared doesn’t know the whole truth? Maybe The Assassins wanted me for something else, but what? If they really wanted me they would have taken me from my house. They probably wouldn’t have set Pacific Fair on fire and they wouldn’t have my mother. They would have me if they simply just took me from my room in the dead of night.

            I didn’t care if they took me right now, as long as Eliza was out of their evil clutches then I’d be happy. I also wanted to get away from Jared, I knew that he was only trying to protect me but it was hard to protect him when he kept on wanting to touch me. Believe me it was hard to push him away when he wanted to help me. It was even harder to push him away when you see the hurt in his eyes. Jared knows that there is something up with me, he may also know that Blake and his friends want to kill him if anything happens between us.

            Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jared lean on the railing so he could see what the rest of the people in the city were doing. His strawberry blonde hair fell into his face and I had the desire to reach out and fix it up. My fingers twitched as they yearned to reach out to him. As I fought against the desire the headache turned into a vicious migraine.

            “Ah,” I groaned before I passed out. 

****

Jared’s P.O.V

            I heard Alexis groan, she must have been in pain. I turned my head to see her pass out, her body slowly titled over the balcony.

            “No!” I yelled.

            I grabbed her and pulled her back over the railing before she could fall to her death. Her dark hair fell in her face as I carried her into the lounge room; I placed her on the couch then went back and closed the balcony door. I went to her bedroom and grabbed the blankets from her bed and came back out and tucked her in, adding my blankets for extra warmth. Alexis looked so peaceful in sleep.

            I sat down on the couch and watched Alexis. I was worried about her. I didn’t know she had a medical condition that made her pass out with too much stress. I brushed her hair away from her face and felt my heart swell with love. Alexis was a very pretty girl and I wished that she would just give me a chance it hurt me to be pushed away. When she snapped at me it hurt but I had to stop and tell myself that there was a reason behind her behaviour.

            I remember Blake leaning towards her. What did he say to her? She was keeping something from me and I would really like to know what it was. If Blake had threatened her then I’d kill every single one of those bastards. I took Alexis’s hand in mine and waited for her to wake up.

****

Alexis’s P.O.V

            My head felt so much better! The headache/migraine had gone leaving my head feeling numb which was better then the pain. I was slightly aware that someone was watching over me. I could feel my hand in someone else’s; I opened my eyes to find Jared watching me. I yanked my hand free and glared at him.

            “Do you want to die?” I demanded.

             I realized a second too late that I had made the biggest error of my life.