Chapter Twenty

Waking Up

Is this a dream...? Yeah... must be. Why else would I be seeing this? Why else would I be sitting around my old homes table, a roast dinner in the middle of us. Me and my parents. Mom... dad... yeah, this is definitely a dream. In reality, I'd be out of the house by now. No shared dinners. Nothing. Wait... roast dinner? Is this that day? Raining outside, the tap is leaking... it is that day. Why would I dream of that day of all days? That isn't right... There I am, fighting up the courage to say it. To confess. To say what I know my parents never want to hear in a million years. My seventeen year old mouth opens, but I can't hear the words.

I don't need to hear the words.

I know exactly what those words are. Oddly enough, they aren't the important words. It's the words that I know comes next. First, my mother, her hands clenched into fists over her knife and fork. Silence first. Silence... constant silence. I remember at that point I was concentrating solely on my parents reaction... what would they think?

Then, the first words from my mother to me after my revelation... Barely a whisper. "...Devil child...!"

Devil child, huh. That's what I get, I suppose. That's what I get to confessing to my pro-religious family. So religious that they hang crosses practically everywhere. I watch my younger self turn to my father, I see that I'm about to cry. I remember that feeling. I want to seek solace in my father, I want him to accept me. Hah... no use in hoping that one. If mom didn't accept me, dad never will. He stands up tall, glaring down at me from under his glasses. He raises one shaky hand towards the door and utters those words, and coincidentally the last words I have ever heard from him.

"Get out!"

XXX

Alexander Randall's eyes suddenly opened and he found himself looking straight into the blue eyes of a red-headed female. The female blinked, before suddenly letting out an excited squeal. Alexander blinked once more, his ears catching fuzzy words.

"He's awake! Doctor, he's awake!"

Doctor? Who's the doctor?

"When did he wake up?"

"Just now. I was watching him."

"Okay, excuse me." Alexander watched as an older man with greying hair bent over him. He looked through some sort of scope into his eyes. "Hmm... Alexander? Alexander, can you hear me?"

Alexander blinked slowly for the final time, glancing left and then right. He registered the small room, a hospital room, white and sterile. A window showed very murky and rainy weather outside, while a half-ripped bag was on a seat in the corner. The red-headed girl was looking nervously at him, her hands wringed.

"Alexander, do you see me?"

Alexander nodded. He could see him perfectly fine. If he was standing further away, he'd need his glasses, but...

"Good. Can you move your hands? Legs?"

Once again, Alexander nodded.

"Show me."

Urgh... Alexander complied, wriggling his arms and legs.

"Now, do you remember anything about the accident? The collapse of that bridge?"

Collapse of the...

Like a ton of bricks, it hit him. Alexander jolted fully awake, his eyes wide and alert. He remembered it clearly, driving a few cars in front of a coach, on the bridge when some guy started yelling something. Then the bridge collapsed and his car was sent headfirst into his water. He remembered his seatbelt breaking and his head hitting the windshield. After that... nothing.

Alexander carefully felt around his scalp, and felt a long wound evidently stitched up.

"Don't touch that, Alexander. We don't want you to break it." The doctor carefully lowered Alexander's hand. "Do you want a drink? Some water? We've been feeding you through a tube, so you may feel slightly uncomfortable drinking normally."

"F-Feeding through a tube?" Alexander asked groggily, looking confused. "Why?" A sudden thought hit him. "How long have I been out?"

"You've been unconscious for four days, Alexander."

Four days? Alexander gulped, looking to his hands. Four days? That was long time to be unconscious... it could've been worse, he could have been in a coma or... well, that wasn't important. The ifs weren't important. He was awake now.

"Can... can we have a moment alone, please." Alexander asked, rubbing his head. "You can come in fifteen minutes or so, but I'd like some time alone with..." He motioned towards the girl.

The doctor frowned slightly, but nevertheless left Alexander alone. He was showing positive signs, talking and moving with ease. Fifteen minutes shouldn't be too bad. Closing the door behind him, the doctor left.

Alexander turned his head expectantly to the red-headed girl. "Can I ask who you are? Why were you watching over me?"

"Oh, uh, I was making sure you were okay. You were making some weird sounds." The girls cheeks turned slightly pink. "My names Josie, by the way. Josie Graham."

"Alexander, but just call me Alex." Alex turned his head to left and right. "Have you seen my glasses?"

"Um, they were broken." Josie sat down on a chair next to the bed. "They threw them away."

"Oh..." Alex rubbed his forehead again. He needed his glasses to see things further away, and felt almost naked without them.

"You can borrow mine, though!" Josie beamed, smiling wide. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a pair of glasses. "I don't use them much anymore, since I got contacts, but I like to keep them in those 'just in case' situations."

"Hm..." Alex took the glasses gingerly and placed them on his face. There were just like his usual glasses. It was comforting. "Thank you, but you don't have to do that."

"Don't worry, it's fine. As I said, I don't particularly need them." Josie waved it off.

"You didn't answer, though, why are you here, Josie Graham?"

"Well," Josie started when the door opened. Carrying a tray with a sandwich and two drinks, Jay walked in.

"I got what you wanted, Josie." Jay said, going to put the tray down when he realised Alex was awake. "Oh, you're awake."

"This guy!" Josie said enthusiastically, pulling a slightly surprised Jay towards her with an arm over his shoulders. "This guy's your hero. He went and dived in to save you."

"I'm not a hero..." Jay pursed his lips and looked away. "I did what anyone else would do."

"Yeah, but no-one else did! You did."

"You... saved my life?" Alex asked carefully, looking over Jay. He was actually quite handsome under his blonde hair.

"He did! You would'a died otherwise!" Josie continued with her bright voice.

"Josie," Jay said lowly, but was surprised when Alex grabbed his hand.

"So you saved my life?" Alex managed a smile, which was hard for him. He wasn't exactly the most social person in the world. However, Josie's brightness was way to catching. "Then I owe that to you."

"You don't owe me anything."

"I can at least give you a reward."

"No, don't worry. I'm fine." Jay shook his head. "I don't need to be paid or rewarded or anything."

Alex sighed. He hated not paying his debts. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Jay smiled. "Your thanks is reward enough."

"Well, I'll thank you again. If you need anything, well, I guess you'll find me here. I doubt the doctors are going to let me go. By the way, my names Alexander Randall." Alex managed another smile, although this one wasn't out of his usual nervousness of meeting new people. This was something completely a different, a completely different feeling...

XXX

"Heh..." Sipping from a can of cola, the man with the faces of comedy and tragedy on his shirt smiled. "Little brother, it looks as if all the players are now playing this game."

Miles looked up from his juice carton, which he was drinking through a straw. "Alexander Randall. I almost forgot about him."

"It's easy to forget about those who are doing nothing. But things are picking up now." The man stood up and stretched. "I mean, we've had two deaths already. Sneakers and Jake."

"Minor players." Miles said.

"Minor players?" The man repeated. "Woah there, they aren't 'minor players'. They're just as important as Dorothy and Jason in the long scheme of things." Shaking his head, he threw the can into the nearby river, watching with a smile as it was practically ripped apart in the air. "Anywho, we have those two dead now. Tyson is probably going to get extra depressed. Too bad he won't be able to kill himself." The man crouched down and reached into a backpack, pulling another can of coke out. "Becca is with Riley now, so that's a romance blossoming."

"Romance?" Miles looked up to his brother. "I don't think that counts as romance."

"Come off it, of course it does." The man waved his younger brother away. "Riding away on a motorbike? It's romance. Well, its actually tragedy, but... yeah." Shrugging, the man sat back down. "Then we have this new meeting of Alexander, Josie and Jay, and once more I call romance."

"Love triangle."

"Exactly." The man nodded down to Miles. "Chloe is still the mystery, but at least she's getting on with Jeremy again."

"You sound pleased."

"I am pleased. Even I have a heart, y'know. A good kid like Jeremy doesn't deserve a loved ones death."

"Even though it'll happen."

The man laughed. "You are such a downer, Miles, geez. He's lost a foot, let up on the guy, will you?"

"Well, half a foot."

"Half a foot, a foot, it's the same." Shaking his head, the man let out another chortle."Then we have the 'main eventers'. Dorothy, David, Jason and Jennifer chasing after Tyson." The man groaned. "Why do these people have to be so stupid? I mean, can't they see Tyson isn't next?"

"The clues did lead to him."

"Yeah, but they also led to Jake and look what happened. Nobody was there to save him and-" The man clapped his hands together. "Bam! Crushed like a melon. I just wish that one of them could realise whose next. It's so obvious it makes my head hurt!"

"Obvious to you and me, perhaps. To anyone else? Not quite." Mile stood up, brushing dirt from his knees. "Both Dorothy and Jason have not had their visions yet about whose next."

"See, that's the thing I hate. We know whose next." The man sighed, throwing a stone into the water. "We know exactly whose next. Why the hell can't we do anything about it? Why shouldn't we do anything about it?"

"It's not our right!" Mile growled, surprisingly angry for such a small boy. "Being influenced by an outer party is not in the rules!"

"Rules, shmules." The man waved it away. "Come on, Miles, if he hated outside interference, he would never have let me save Josie from those thugs. He wouldn't have let Becca see us, see you. I'm starting to think after all these years, he's just scared."

"Scared...?" Miles stopped, looking up to his brother.

"Yeah. Scared. Scared of us. Scared because we know about him, and we're alive, and he can't do jack about it."

"So what are you saying?"

"What am I saying?" The man laughed loudly. "I'll tell you what I'm saying. I, Joshua Valentine, say right now that we break off. You and me, Miles, we can beat the stupid game!" Joshua's smile faded into a serious face. "We can do what Bludworth couldn't do. He didn't know the rules, we know the rules, Miles! It's quite simple, really, it is. We know he can't touch us."

"What do you propose. You know I'll keep on following you."

"What do I propose? Well, first things first. We need to gather up the survivors. We gotta group them together; we gotta tell them the truth. I can't believe it took me this long to realise. Why are we just watching?

"I swear, if you get me killed..." Miles groaned.

"Ha, like that could happen." Joshua rolled his eyes. "If anyone's going to get killed, it's going to be me." Laughing once more, Joshua started to walk, picking up his backpack. "Right then, I reckon we ought to introduce ourselves to the next person, and then go find the others."

"I still think this is a bad idea, but hey, let's go." Miles replied, following closely behind his brother.

"Stend Vniz! Stay right where you are!"

Joshua and Miles turned to see none other than the man they were looking for, Lukas Solveig.

"Ah, perfect-" Joshua beamed, but was cut off by Lukas reaching into his jacket and pulling out a small, snub-nosed pistol. Joshua narrowed his eyes. Clearly Lukas wasn't used to a gun, perhaps even scared of it since his hand was shaking. "Why have you got that?"

Lukas didn't reply, merely reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his mobile. "I-I got them. I said I got them!" Lukas growled into the phone. "So I have to wait until you're here? No, that wasn't-" Lukas' eyes grew wide. "Don't you dare harm them, you hear me!" Even over the rain, there was a clear pop on the other end of the receiver. A gunshot. Lukas jumped, his ear brushing against the buttons and accidently activated voice-speaker.

A sinister voice was heard saying, "...that was her foot. Now, you continue to do as we say or we'll shoot the other one. Keep Joshua and Miles Valentine there, we'll be arranging a pick-up. You can be back with her if you just comply, Lukas Solveig."

A/N: Uh-oh! Haven't had a good cliffhanger in a while.

Thanks to Bookreader2010, Gabe's-Girl-Forever, Patts9009 and {Guest} for the review! {} means anonymous reviewers, by the way.

Get ready for an action packed scene with Lukas, Miles, Joshua and the mystery people on the phone next chapter! Ooh, I'm all excited! 'Till then!