Sword With no Point

Chapter 4: Trouble at its Best

Chapter 4

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Trouble at its Best

Alex awoke to the calming feeling of air brushing the tops of her hands. Her raven hair fluffed up from the force of the fan, strands of it getting in front of her face. The sharp noise of papers flapping on the ground made her realize that she was late for school. She yanked herself from the couch and trudged over to her room, changing her clothes and lazily combing her hair. However, she knew she was going to be late anyways, so why even try?

Her ice blue eyes met with the ones in the mirror. Alex examined herself, noticing that something was different. She looked several times, noticing that nothing was currently changing. This frustrated her, because waiting and not knowing what was going on made her tolerance go down. She was still the skinny, tomboyish, normal voiced teen that she had always been. Her black makeup had been caked on layer by layer, but still making it look natural. Her eyes traced her body once again, trying to spot the difference. Finally, she noticed something; poking out from the corner of her shirt in dark red was part of a shape.

She folded down the cloth of her shirt near the neckline to reveal an inverted pentagram that seemed to be carved into her skin. Blood ran down her neck and stained her shirt red. Alex's mouth hung open in shock. Did John do this? she wondered, wiping off the blood with a towel. It was beyond scary to know that somebody was willing to do something like that. The question was, how?

Even though she was ashamed for what she had allowed to happen, Alex covered it up and went back to the kitchen, swiped up an apple, and headed out to school. Perhaps she would have a thorough explanation by John.

* * *

"Alex, I swear! Since when did I carve demonic symbols onto people's necks? What do you take me for?" John asked, his eyes growing wide. His blonde hair was perfectly put up and sleek, not a dust fragment to be found on his porcelain skin or a change of tone in his brown eyes. His perfection made it hard to believe that he would do something like that, but who else had been at her house other than him? He was a complete suspect.

She pinned him harder against the wall, her black nails digging into his plaid shirt. "Ouch, stop that! This is getting ridiculous!" he squeaked. He tried to forcefully pull away, but it was a disadvantage since he was shorter than Alex. She finally let go of him, feeling the mark upon her neck. "Why?" she shamefully said. John placed his hand upon it, bringing a new and terrifying feeling to her soul. She had a sudden change of mind about him, and felt as if he was ultimately innocent. "Thank you for forgiving me," he said, walking away from her and smiling. What the heck just happened? Alex thought to herself. She felt her neck again, tracing the pattern along it.

She went back to class, noticing that a bathroom break would take a little less time than her interrogation. She sat down in the back where she normally sat, doing her language arts worksheet. However, she found it hard to hide the inverted pentagram that stung her flesh. She was still majorly suspicious about John Abblt, wondering what the blonde nerd was hiding. She wanted to trust him, she wanted to know if he was worthy of being a friend. Her strength in the argument had left her plummeting to unanswerable questions. Alex's head spun from the questions that threatened to burst out of her mind. Just until the end of class, then I can ask John, she reminded herself, trying to stay calm.

Her neck ached from the previous encounter with John's hand, but that didn't stop her from finishing up her class work. She checked the clock; 2:45 o'clock. Alex groaned in frustration, her anxiety building up. Then, to her surprise, the bell wrung. It was an early bell, but it still counted as a transition. Tossing her folders and textbooks in her bag messily, Alex sped out the door, her black hair flailing behind her. She spotted John Abblt just a yard in front of her, carrying his books beside him. He ran a bit faster than usual, but he didn't seem to notice Alex catching up behind him, slowly reaching for his arm. They both went around the school several times, Alex not too far behind him.

What is he doing? Shouldn't he be in class by now? she wondered, almost giving up on catching him. He made an abrupt turn into the bathroom, not even choosing a stall. However, John pulled out his phone, going through his contacts. "Um, hey, Elric? Oh, hello! Sorry, the network isn't as good as down there and it's hard to hear you," he said, not minding how loud he talked on the phone since everybody was already in class. Alex put her ear to the bathroom door as he continued to talk, "Anyways, I found one. She's strong and trustworthy, plus she looks willing. Don't worry; I haven't told her anything about it. She won't see it coming! She almost beat me at my own game by pinning me to a wall, but she's not as strong as me. I used the symbol against her."

The conversation went on and on about somebody being 'strong' and 'worthy'. Even though he never said a name, Alex could obviously see how he was referring to her. "She's perfect for the job."

Then, the person who John was talking to handed the phone to somebody else. John giggled a bit, signaling that he must have liked talking to the person. "Hello, my love! How's Emalder? Is he still obsessing over those northern cities? Oh, thank goodness! Anyways, I can't wait to be home with you guys. Love you, Gordys," he said, lovestruck. Who the heck is Emalder and Gordys? Alex thought, slightly mouthing it. At that point, she felt a surge of burning lava flow throughout her emotions, scorching and demolishing all of the niceness. Not only was John using her, but he was also in love with somebody else. Even though Alex wasn't considered his girlfriend, she still had feelings for him. Then, she charged into the bathroom, throwing John to the ground.

"What was that?! Who is this 'Elric' guy?!" she yelled, throwing her hands up in anger. His eyes shot open in suprise, butterflies gathering in his stomach. "You heard that?" John asked, dumbfounded. He held onto her foot, begging for forgiveness.

"Yes, I heard that! You lying, cheating, fake, idiotic, poor excuse for a friend! Now tell me who that was or I'm reporting you to the police! That counts as stalking," she screamed at him, tears now leaking from her icy eyes. "I never asked to be stalked! I never wanted this! You don't deserve to do that!" Alex continued, her words drifting off into a hurried mumble.

"Alexandria, please, this isn't as bad as it seems. You're a friend! I completely trust you, and that means I'm trustworthy also! I'm there for you."

"N-no you're not. You took me for a fool, you lied to me. Why would somebody even think of doing that to somebody else? You seemed sweet, John, but apparently I was wrong!"

"Calm down, it's okay."

"No, no, it's not!"

"Alex."

"What?!"

Everything stopped, Alexandria's breathing and crying coming to an abrupt halt. She stared deep into his soul, her eyes burning a hole into his own. "You must listen to me," he whispered, his accent changing, "There are people out there that you just don't need to fear. I'm not here to harm you in any way, Alex, so don't treat me like I am. You don't know who you're dealing with." With that, he reached up and places his fingers along the pentagram again. John whispered in strange languages and watched as the star spun inside the circle, his fingers molding the shape deep into her skin. It felt as is somebody had burnt metal wires onto her flesh, each pinprick and loose end digging into her veins. Then, as John let go of her neck and stopped speaking the language of aliens, she felt her neck. The inverted pentagram was gone.

Alex gasped, her black hair standing on end. "H-h-how did you d-do that?" she questioned, doubting the mystic use of witchcraft. However, witchcraft didn't exist, right?

He smiled at her, bringing her beautiful lips closer to his. They kissed once more, trying to let the trust sink in. However, she just couldn't bring herself to letting the beast past her gates. She was a solid wall of distrust and hatred.

Yanking away, Alex pushed John into the wall. "Monster." He sighed, showing a fake smile to calm her down. Without warning, he pushed back onto her and forced his arms around her neck. "Demon."

Then, he sped off into the hallways, only looking back to reveal his brown eyes glaring back at Alex. She was sick of the suspense.