So I hated how the book portrayed Sarah being the bad guy in the The Power of Six so I decided to tell what really happened ;) I loved Sarah in the first book so I'm mad that the authors did this:( Also, please check out my other story is you're a John/Sarah or Sam/Six fan(:
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Lorien Legacies. All dialogue and events belong to the authors of the Lorien Legacies series.
I pull on my tank top and apply some lotion to my face before flicking off my bathroom light. I walk into my room and stare at my window from my door. If only John could just jump in right now and hold me once more, kiss me once more… that's all I'd need to wait a year for him. But I know that's not possible. He's off somewhere with Sam and Six searching for the others. Six. She's gorgeous and Lorien. How am I supposed to compete with that? John says he loves me, but how can I be sure?
I rub my arms and turn my light off. I walk to my bed and plug my phone into my charger, but just then, it buzzes. Who would be texting me this late? I slide the lock open on my phone and see it's from an unknown number.
I promised I'd come back. U up? Tears well up in my eyes just because I know it's probably some asshole that got my number from someone at school. Kids are so cruel. Thirty seconds after I close it, my phone buzzes again.
I love you. I'm here. I have half a mind to reply, but instead I leave it. Maybe they'll stop since I'm not answering. But after thirty seconds, it buzzes again. Now with anger pulsing through my veins I get ready to respond, but I lose my breath when I see what it says.
Bernie Kosar misses you. My mouth drops open and I run over to my light just to make sure I'm not hallucinating. Only John or Sam would know that.
Is it really you? You're in Paradise? I respond as fast as my fingers can touch the screen. I don't believe what's happening right now.
I'm outside. Meet me at the playground in 5? My heart pounds faster than ever before as I reply.
I'll be there. :) Quickly, I run to my drawer and pull on a pair of dark jeans. I don't even bother to change my shirt so I just pull on my black fleece jacket. Knowing that it's cold outside, I grab my white hat with the flaps that go over my ears and strings hanging off the ends. I pull it on and quietly sneak downstairs. Careful not to step on the third step from the bottom because of its squeak, I gently make my way down the steps and out the door.
The air is harsh against my skin, but I can barely feel it. There's too much adrenaline flowing through my veins. I feel my phone buzz again and a smile grows on my face, but it drops as soon as I read it.
Is Smith back? Who were you just texting? My left hands balls up in a fist as I read the words. Anger boils inside of me as I reply to the FBI who tagged my damn phone.
No. Just another damn kid pretending. Now stop texting me so I can get some sleep, okay? You guys are annoying as hell. I smirk as I continue to walk down the sidewalk. The playground finally comes into view and I find myself walking even faster.
Fine. But we're still going to be monitoring your phone. I send them a sentence with a few colorful words in it and finally they stop texting me.
I take a step onto the concrete and look around for John, but he's nowhere in sight. I know it was John who texted me because no one else knows that name besides him. I turn my head once more, but sigh and walk to the swing. I sit down and it creaks under my weight as I sway back and forth. I start spinning clockwise until the ropes become too tight to spin anymore. Slowly, I let the ropes unravel as the tips of my shoes scrape against the concrete. I close my eyes as I spin around, but when I open them, I don't believe what I'm seeing.
"John?" I ask as my shoes plant themselves on the ground.
"Hey beautiful," John says. His voice is deeper and rougher than I remember, but to me it's the best sound in the world. His smile looks exactly the same and I can barely breathe. I cover my mouth and nose with my hands as he walks towards me. I try to get up, but the ropes are too stiff for me to get out. John instantly catches the ropes and twists me towards him. He lifts me up and as soon as our lips meet, I melt into him.
"Sarah," he says into my ear sending shivers through my body, "I've missed you so, so, so much."
"I can't believe you're here. This can't be real," I whisper. John kisses me again and this time, a whole new feeling spreads through me. We continue to kiss and kiss as he spins us both around until the ropes release me. I push off the seat and jump into his arms burying my face in his shoulder. I feel his lips on my cheeks, my neck, and my head. I run my fingers through his hair which I notice has gotten quite short.
He sets me down and I say, "Somebody got a haircut."
"Yeah, it's my whole tough-guy-on-the-run look. What do you think? You into it?" John asks me. I grin and press my palms into his chest.
"I am," I say, "but you could be bald for all I care." He leans back and I feel him studying my face, but I take the opportunity to do the same. His face is smeared with mud as well as most of his body and his short hair is tussled. His eyes are the same piercing blue that I remember and he still has the face of a god. I almost want to ask if he's been fighting due to the sweat and mud, but I realize that I don't want to know.
"I've thought about you every single day, Sarah Hart."
"I promise I've thought about you twice as much," I reply. He lowers his head until out foreheads touch and we stand like this with the same stupid grins on our faces until he speaks.
"How are you? What are things like for you around here right now?" he asks.
"Better now." He takes my fingers in his hands and begins kissing them.
"It's so hard being away from you. I'm constantly thinking about what it feels like to touch you and hear your voice. I've come close to calling you every single night." I cup his chin in my hands and rub my thumbs over his lips softly.
"I've sat in my dad's car so many times just wondering where you are. All I needed to know was which direction and I would've started to drive," I say softly.
"I'm right here. Right in front of you," John whispers. I drop my hands and look at him with pleading eyes.
"I want to come with you, John. I don't care. I can't go on like this," I say.
"It's way too dangerous. We just finished battling fifty Mogs over at Sam's place. That's what life is like with me right now. I can't put you in the middle of all this," John explains. My shoulders start to shake and tears start forming against my will.
"I can't stay here, John. Not with you out there and me not knowing if you're dead or alive."
"Look at me, Sarah," John says. I look up at his worried expression. "There's no way I'm going to die. Knowing that you're here waiting for me, it's like a force field. We're going to be together. Soon." My bottom lip quivers realizing that "soon" means "later".
"It's so hard. Everything is awful right now, John," I say.
"Everything's awful? What do you mean?"
"People are jerks. Everyone's saying hateful things about you, and they say a lot of things about me, too."
"Like what?" John presses.
"That you're a terrorist and a murderer and you hate the United States. Guys at school call you names like Bomb Smith. My parents say you're dangerous and I'm never supposed to talk to you again no matter what; and as an added bonus, there's a reward on your head, so people always talk about shooting you." I look at the ground remembering that asshole, Eric, who I broke his nose.
"I can't believe you have to put up with all that, Sarah," John says. "At least you know the truth."
"I've lost almost every friend I had," I continue. "Plus I'm at a new school where everyone just thinks I'm this weirdo." John's silent for a moment.
"Things won't always be this way," John whispers. At last my tears fall because I can't hold them back anymore.
"I love you so much, John. But I can't imagine how we're going to get out of this mess. Maybe you should just turn yourself in," I say. I don't know why I said it. The words just kind of fell out of my mouth without thinking and it was a stupid thing to say, but John answers regardless.
"I'm not turning myself in, Sarah. I just can't. We'll get out of it. Of course we will. My one and only love, Sarah. I promise, if you wait for me, things will get better." That's not what I want to hear though. My tears continue to fall down my face as I speak in shaky breaths.
"How long do I wait, though? And what happens when things do get better? Will you go back to Lorien?" I question him.
"I don't know," John says. "Paradise is the only place I want to be right now, and you're the only person I want to be with in the future. But if we're able to somehow defeat the Mogadorians, then yes, I have to go back to Lorien. But I don't know when that will be." My phone buzzes again and I pull it out of my pocket halfway with a bad feeling in my stomach. It's a text from the FBI, but I don't even bother to check what it says.
"Who's texting you so late?" John asks me. I feel guilty having to lie, but I can't tell him. Not yet.
"Just Emily. Maybe you should just turn yourself in and tell them you're not a terrorist. I don't want to lose you over and over, John." I don't know what's happening to me! The FBI would never believe him! If he showed them, he would be experimented on and I'd probably never see him. Pull it together, Sarah! But, maybe, just maybe, it could work. He could get out of it.
"Listen to me, Sarah. I can't turn myself in. I can't sit in a police station and try to explain how an entire school was destroyed and how five people were killed. How am I supposed to explain Henri? Those documents they found in our house? I can't get arrested. I mean, Six would absolutely kill me right now if she knew I was here talking to you," John says. Something snaps inside of me as soon as he brings up Six. Why did he have to do it now? Why can't we just be happy right now, in this moment?
I sniff and wipe my tears away with the backs of my hands. "Why would Six kill you if she knew you were here?" I ask quietly.
"Because she needs me right now and it's dangerous for me to be here." Wrong word choice, again.
"She needs you? She does? I need you, John. I need you here to tell me everything it going to be okay, that all this is worth it." I turn and walk to a bench and sit down on the far end. John sits down next to me and lean his shoulder in so it's touching mine. I lean away and look away. "Six is very pretty."
"She is," John says. "Not as pretty as you, though. You're the prettiest girl I know. You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen." I can't shake the feeling that something is terribly wrong. I feel like he's drifting away from me.
"But you don't have to stay away from Six like you have to with me." I know, it's not fair to say. She's a Number and so is he, but it's still not fair. How do I know that nothing is going on?
"When we go on walks we have to be invisible, Sarah! It's not like we can just hold hands and walk down the street. We have to hide from the entire world. I'm hiding just as much when I'm with her as when I am with you." Anger boils inside of me as I leap up from the bench.
"You go on walks with her? Do you hold her hand when you two walk down the street?" I ask him sternly. John stands and holds his arms open wide.
"We have to. It's the only way I can be invisible." I feel a pang in my heart as he answers. Everything he told me… all the falling in love for life… it was just a lie.
"Have you kissed her?" I ask.
"What?" John asks with a shocked expression his face.
"Answer me," I command him sharply. John shakes his head.
"Sarah, I love you. I don't really know what else to say. I mean, nothing's happened," John says. Why won't he just answer the damn question?
"It was a simple question, John. Have you kissed her?" I press, the anger clearly written all over my face now.
"I haven't kissed Six, Sarah. We haven't kissed. I love you," John says. It doesn't sound like it, though. There's a certain sharpness to his voice that is almost poisonous.
"I see. Why was that question so hard for you to answer, John? My life just keeps getting better and better," I say with the strongest sarcasm in my voice. "Does she like you?"
"It doesn't matter, Sarah. I love you, so Six doesn't matter. No other girls matter!" John tries to explain. I'm too angry to even listen to what he has to say right now.
"I feel like such an idiot," I say and cross my arms tightly.
"Stop, please. Sarah, you're misinterpreting everything."
"Am I, John?" I ask. I turn my head and stare fiercely at him with tears trying to escape again. "I've gone through so much for you." He tries to take my hand, but it's the absolute last thing I want. I pull my hands away as soon as I feel his fingers graze mine. "Don't." I feel my phone buzz again, but I don't bother. Just then, I see something that makes me want to vomit. A man in a navy blue jacket is slowly crawling along the tree line. There are several more hiding in bushes maybe twenty yards away. No, no, no, no, no!
"I want to be with you, Sarah," John pleads not noticing anything. "Nothing I say right now seems to come out right. All I can really say is that I've spent weeks missing you terribly, and there hasn't been a single day that I didn't think about calling you or writing a letter." I turn and see that he, too, is on the verge of tears and his voice is wobbly. I can't stand seeing him like this and all the anger I have towards him melts away in an instant. "I love you. Don't doubt that for a second."
"I love you too," I cry. John closes his eyes trying to digest everything that just happened. I take a few steps back knowing how this is going to end. I'm going to lose him. I'm going to lose my everything. There's a noise to his left and John's head whips around, but none other than Sam pops his head out from behind the Dumpster. "Sam?"
"Hey, Sarah," he whispers. I walk over to him and wrap my arms around him letting a few silent tears fall onto his shoulder. "It's really good to see you," he says into my hair. "But, Sarah, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry and I know you guys haven't seen each other in a long time, but John and I need to go. We're in a lot of danger. You have no idea."
I take a shaky breath knowing that I'm about lose everything that I have left to live for. "I sort of do," I say as I cry harder than I ever have before. In an instant, Sam is tackled and I'm pulled away by strong arms. I can't yell after him because of the hand covering my mouth. I hear an explosion and then the playground is filled with smoke. MY eyes widen and I bite the hand covering my mouth.
"Ahh!" the FBI agent yells.
"John!" I scream, but he covers my mouth again. I close my eyes and realize what I've done. They have him. They have John Smith. He thinks I set him up. I'm a traitor to the man I love and I'm a traitor to the world, the world he's supposed to save. They should've made everything a lot easier and just put me away because honestly, I'm the terrorist.