The Monsters In Our Town

19 // BRANDED

I woke up in a start and looked around. I was in my bedroom, but I don't remember coming in here and going to sleep.

I sighed and crawled out.

I would have gone to see Lincoln, but she was more than likely still with Orlando. Which annoyed me. I walked out into the kitchen after getting changed and my father was leaving for work. He worked with my uncle in the town hall.

"Are you hungry Alexander?" My mother asked as she cracked an egg into the pan.

"No, thanks anyway," I shrugged and sat down on the couch. "Have you seen Jones?"

"Yeah, he went to Gregory County this morning," she told me.

"On his own?" I frowned.

"He went with a girl," she answered, "one of the new kids."

"A girl?" I scoffed. It was probably one of the twins. Marigold had been forcing him to take her to the cinemas once a week. I wish I could go and watch a movie too, but I was stuck in Northrun for the rest of my life.

"Are you doing anything today?" My mother asked as she scrambled the egg.

"I don't think so," I said. I left out the part that all my friends and family are too busy for me. 

"What?" She gasped. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Very funny Mum," I rolled my eyes. She laughed and I headed into the living room. We had a case full of movies, but they were all in black and white. They were the only type of movie you could find in Northrun. The most recent one was Manhattan, which came out after color did but was still in black and white.

It's how I know that Northrun is messing with me.

I put Manhattan in, because it was the best movie we have.

***

My mother had left to go to her book club after I'd put Sabrina in the player. I was home alone with no one to talk to.

I sighed and turned everything off. I wanted to go on an adventure. But Harley was right, I put myself in dangerous situations. If I didn't leave the house, then I couldn't find trouble.

Fool proof.

I went back to my room and laid on my bed. Northrun was the most boring place on earth, and now I couldn't leave it.

I buried my hands under my pillow and frowned. There was something under it. I pulled it out to look at it and tilted my head. It was Blue's journal.

"Great," I muttered and tossed it onto the floor. I rolled over so that I was facing the window and huffed. I didn't want to read Blue calling me  annoying or stupid or reckless. I didn't want to read anything that Blue wrote.

Ghost Alex must have put the journal under there before I got my body back.

There was a knock on my door and without thinking I squeezed my eyes shut. The door opened and my room filled with the smell of cologne and rain.

Blue.

"Alexander," he said. I ignored him and pretended to be asleep. There was a perfectly normal reason why I was doing this, mainly because I was embarrassed. The bed dipped with his weight and he sighed.

He touched my forehead lightly and started whispering something. It sounded an awful lot like Latin.

I smacked his hand away from me and his eyes widened a little.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded.

"I thought you were asleep," he tried.

"Because that makes it better?" I scoffed and sat up properly. Blue was looking paler than normal, and his hair was wet from the rain.