Chapter 3

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They were up early, at Alli's dorm to get the rest of her stuff moved into the long-stay apartment Charles had rented. Coffee in hand, they made their way towards campus for the second time that morning. Alli was in no hurry to get to class. She felt uneasy, that eerie feeling you get sometimes, when you dream something so vividly that you can't shake it, and the feelings it bought you linger even when you wake. She shivered, even wrapped as she was in her coat and scarf, and Charles put his arm around her, pulling her close. They sat on a bench near the lecture theatre, drinking their coffee and talking about Zoe & Marley back in Florida. Charles sat his Starbucks cup down by a pile of fallen Autumn leaves, and pulled out his phone.

'Look at me, Al - I'm so hipster right now.'

She laughed as he played around with Instagram for a few moments, before showing her the final product.

'Omigosh, Char, you're like…so hipster right now.'

He laughed at her exaggerated drawl, and went to upload it to twitter.

Alli sighed and leant in to give Charles a kiss.

'I betta go babe.'

'Alright.' He looked up at her. 'You're done with classes by 1, right?'

'Yeah, I'll meet after and we can grab lunch or something.'

He nodded, then swore as he dropped his phone on the ground as he stood up.

Alli chuckled, shaking her head, and gave him a final wave as she headed to class.

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She felt like a movie extra. There was a professor at the front of the class teaching, there were students in the desks, learning… everything looked normal, but it sure didn't feel it. The professor didn't seem to be really making an effort to communicate his ideas, and the students – Alli included- didn't seem to be absorbing anything at all.

Everyone's distracted. Alli thought. When the wind changed, you could hear the protestors voices carried over from the Plant, and you were reminded of the drama going on just down the road. It was getting worse day by day- people were actually camping out, and there was police and army personal down there 24/7.

She was frustrated with herself. She loved this school, she loved learning. Why couldn't she just shake it off, focus, get on with the day? She couldn't afford to loose too much time on her studies. Exams were only getting closer. Mentally kicking herself, she made herself look away from the window.

She looked at the clock. 11am. 2 more hours to go.

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Charles was sitting at a café round the corner from the apartment, using the wifi to upload the vlog from yesterday. He was on his second coffee, and was trying to go really slow to avoid bringing on the shakes.

He gazed around the courtyard, people watching. There was a guy in the corner, under the umbrella, who from the back distinctly reminded him of…. Jeff Goldbum. He laughed to himself, reaching for his camera. Suddenly the guy turned around, and Charles realised there was an uncanny resemblance from the front to. He perched the camera discreetly on the table and hit record, filming the guy for a few seconds before turning the camera on himself.

'Oh hey guys, I'm just casually sitting in the same café as Jeff Goldblum… no big deal.' He laughed. 'Just kidding guys, it's not Jeff Goldblum. Sooo, Alli's in class and I'm just sitting here uploading the vee-log… only on my second coffee of the day… and I'm not twitching yet, so that's a good sign!'

He paused to readjust the camera.

'Sorry the vlogs have been a bit slow lately… Alli's had a lot of school stuff on, and I've just been trying to adjust to a new country, new timezone… but don't worry, we've got lots of fun things coming up here in Spain, and we'll be taking you on all our adventures!'

He turned the camera towards his laptop screen, the upload was still only at 8%.

'And sorry the vlog is late, guys… crappy internet is crappy.'

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The last hour had been kind to Alli. Her professor had given them the last half hour of class to work on their assignments, so she had headed to the library to get some books before it was time to meet Charles.

The library was quiet today – not that libraries aren't normally quiet anyway, but there was fewer students than usual amongst the shelves.

Alli had just noticed her classmate, Tally, further down the aisle and was making her way to her in order to ask her something about the assignment, when a faint scream sounded.

Alli stopped, and Tally looked up. Their eyes met for a second as they listened.

Then, came the sound of a gun shot.

Tally's eyes widened, and they both instinctively ducked to the floor.

The librarian's voice sounded.

'Everyone remain calm, stay where you are.'

Alli peered through the shelves and watched as a male student quickly ran to the main doors, locking them before hurring back to his hiding place under a computer desk.

Tally inched closer and whispered to her. 'What's going on?'

Alli shrugged her shoulders, fear apparent in her eyes.

Another gun shot sounded, and Alli winced. It seemed like the shots were getting closer.

She heard a loud gasp, and peered through the shelves. Her heart skipped a beat, and she immediately wished she hadn't looked.

Standing outside the library doors, visible through the glass… was a man in mask.

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It was almost 1, and Charles was making his way towards campus to meet Alli. He sensed something was wrong before he saw it, and immediately his heart picked up pace. There was a police blockade on the road leading to the main entrance to the campus.

Several people were milling around, concerned looks on their faces. But nothing seemed to be happening.

Charles decided to keep walking as if they weren't there. He didn't get far before a policeman stopped him, and said something in Spanish. Charles looked at him innocently and shrugged his shoulders. 'I don't speak Spanish.'

Nonplussed, the policeman repeated himself. 'I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot allow you past this point.' His accent was heavy, but Charles got the point.

'Why? What's going on?'

The policeman paused. 'There have been reports…. of gunshots coming from inside the campus.'

Charles felt his heart drop. 'What?' He asked weakly.

A male around Charles age came up to him. 'That's all I could get out of him.' He said in a thick British accent. 'My sisters in there and they won't let me past…said the whole campus is blocked off.'

Charles rubbed his face in his hand, feeling sick.

'My fiancé's in there…oh my god.'

He suddenly thought of his phone, and whipped it out. I'm outside…can't get in. U ok! He sent the text and found himself desperately hoping, for the second time this week, that Alli would answer.

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Imagine a black screen and the words to be continued... aka anoying cliffhanger on a tv show :D