The Past Is A Dark Place

Days Missing: 15       11:40:01 PM

 

Zane

All of us stare at him, bodies tense. His eyes dart from one of us to another, twitching nervously. I get up off the floor and push Saxon out of my way as I stride over to Knox. Anger filling me up, I grab a fistful of his shirt and tug him towards me.

"Where the f**k are they?" I growl, voice low, rumbling deep inside my chest, vibrating my bones.

He looks down at me, fear filling his puppy eyes. "Roan is keeping them in a warehouse." He says warily.

My grip tightens and I bare my teeth as I wait for him to continue. Saxon appears right beside me, glaring up at the boy.

"Are they hurt?" he demands, the look of desperation still in his eyes.

Knox looks at the floor, shifting his feet.  “Dmitri caught Iris. She was trying to run away.  Roan told us to.” His sentences are choppy, like a child who was caught by his mother for doing something naughty. “She kept struggling. Wouldn’t keep quiet. Braxton hit her with something hard.”

 He didn't have a chance to continue. Saxon decked him across the face, and Knox lies on the floor, spitting out blood. Saxon crouches over him, grabbing a fistful of his dark hair. The boy whimpers. I squat down on his other side, worry filling my eyes. "Is..." I stutter. "Is Alexandria alive?" I ask. No, beg.

Knox turns his head to me.

"Yes."

My next question is more painful.

"Did he hurt her?"

"Yes."

My heart sinks. I rise off my haunches and begin to pace the room.

 Channing steps up. "Why is he doing this?"

I walk back over to Knox lying on the floor. I push Saxon off of him, and grip Knox's arm, tugging him to his feet. I reach into my pocket and pull out my knife, popping it open. Knox flinches, taking a step back. I grip the rope around his wrists, holding him still. I snap the rope with my knife, and it falls to the floor. He rubs his wrists.

"Revenge" he says as he spits out blood.

"Revenge on Zane."

I stare at the ground.

I was right.

The others look at him, still confused. The only person who knows about any of this is Saxon.

Knox lifts his head, looking at the confused faces.

"For the death of Chandler."

I shouldn’t be shocked. I knew this.

So I don’t understand why I suddenly go dizzy, my body swaying. I think I know why. It’s because Knox has confirmed my worst fears. Up until now it was just a hunch. Just thoughts swimming through my mind. Knox has turned these thoughts into words, and they slice through my body. I’d hoped I was wrong. Because Roan isn’t one to easily forgive. When someone crosses paths with him, someone always ends up losing their life.

S**t.

Channing cuts through my thoughts. “What the f**k are you talking about?” he hisses.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to breathe. I’ve dreaded this moment. I’d hoped they’d never have to know. Never in a million years had I figured that Alexandria had to pay for my mistakes.

 This happened years ago.

“Zane.” My brother’s voice floats into my ear. He’s speaking softly, like he used to when I was little, and I’d just had a nightmare and couldn’t go back to sleep.

“You need to tell them.”

My breath catches, like someone punched me in the chest. I know he’s right. I raise my head, and face the others, a roomful of eyes staring back at me.

 

“It happened a long time ago…”

 

 

Days Missing: 15       11:40:01 PM

 

Alexandria

“Stop squirming.” Iris flinches as I try to tend to her wound. I don’t have much to work with. Lennox had ripped a piece of his shirt for her, and I’m trying to make a tourniquet out of it. The wound is dirty, and I’m afraid if we don’t get help soon, it’ll get infected.

The gash is deep. The rim of it is turning a sickening red and it’s becoming swollen. I don’t say anything, but I’m afraid if it’s not taken care of soon, Iris might lose her arm. I wanted to tend to her as soon as possible, but Roan decided he wanted another go at me. I guess he thought I’d be emotionally vulnerable after what I’d just learned about Zane. He’d grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room. I needed to be there when Iris woke up. Instead, she had to wake up to three strangers, frightened to death. Roan didn’t return me until late, and when I finally got to Iris, her wound was festering.

“Iris please.” I beg, my fingers working furiously.

“It hurts!” she hisses.

“I know, I know it does. But I have to tie it before it gets any worse.” I say, with the voice of a mother, panic prickling the edges of it. I grip the ends of the cloth, tightening it.

Iris cries out, and I wince for her pain. Beads of sweat have broken across her forehead, and she looks pale. The knife she was cut with was probably infected. My hand raises to her forehead.

She’s burning up.

“S**t.” I mutter under my breath. I look up at Aiden, who’s hovered over her.

“We have to get out of here.” I say.

He looks at me, sadness coating his eyes. He knows as well as I do that that’s not possible.

I’ve done the best I can for her, so I cuddle up next to her, my back against the wall. She lays her head on my chest, eyes getting heavy.

“Iris, don’t fall asleep.” I say firmly. I’m afraid that if she falls asleep, she won’t wake up.

Aiden sits down in front of me, cross-legged. Lex crawls over on all fours and sits next to him. Aiden looks at him, and Lex gives him a little reassuring smile. They seem to be talking through their thoughts.

I find myself hoping they make it out of here.

God, I want more than anything for them to make it out of here.

I tilt my head back, letting it tap against the wall.

I’m trying to sink in what I just learned. Zane had never told me anything about this. I find myself wondering if any of the other guys knew this. Zane was always so gentle, he wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less kill anyone. He’s always so kind, taking care of everyone else.

My mind slips into the past, when I first saw Zane.

My sister and I were living off of scraps, sleeping in a different place every night. We were constantly on the run. We learned to fight.

We were growing weak. It was becoming harder to dig up scraps. It’d been three days since we’d had a proper meal. And by proper, I mean a meager loaf of bread.

We found refuge in an alley. We fell asleep there, too exhausted to have one of us stay awake to stand guard. Eneko had found us. He took us back to his place, where the others were.

We didn’t expect so many boys to be living in one house. It frightened us. We’d never been in the same room with so many people who didn’t want to kill us. Lucas had stepped forward, telling us everything was alright. I had taken a step back, pulling Iris behind me. Lucas gave me a kind smile.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

My eyes dart around the room, taking in the faces staring at me. But I noticed something. They were kind faces. Faces that had no traces of evil on them. Lowering my guard slightly, I answer.

“My name is Alexandria, and this is my sister Iris.” I had said.

Someone caught my attention. He was blonde and tall, with a young looking face. He had light blue eyes and was very handsome.

He kept staring at Iris.

Seeing how frail we were, they gave us food right away. Two of the boys had given up their room for us. The boys seemed to enjoy having two girls in the house. They took care of us. They kept tripping over their heels to tend to us, asking if we needed anything else. I’d noticed a dark haired boy staring at me from a distance. When I caught his eye, he quickly found something extremely interesting on the floor. I smiled.

It wasn’t until we’d been there a week when I started having feelings for Zane. He was always taking care of me, more than the others. He would always stare at me, except by now he’d gotten brave, and he would smile when I caught him. That smile.

I remember one night it was just the two of us, sitting on the couch in the living room. It was late and I couldn’t sleep. Zane had found me lying on the couch, and he sat down next to me.

“That’s a pretty necklace.” He had said.

My fingers had automatically gone to my neck, and I played with the little charm.

“Where’d you get it?”

“My mother.” I said, looking up at him.

“It used to be hers. She loved birds. She said they represented freedom. Something we might have someday.”

He looked at me, eyes unwavering. Listening.

“She gave it to me just before she died. She told me that I was in charge now. And that I had to take care of Iris.”

Zane turned his body towards mine.

“The three of us lived off the streets. She took such good care of us. She would always make sure we ate before she ate her own food. Sometimes she wouldn’t eat at all. She’d leave us bundled up somewhere to go look for food, looking for money. Sometimes she wouldn’t come back for the whole night, then she’d return with a wad of cash.”

Zane’s eyes fell to the floor. He understood the lengths people will go to in order to survive.

“She was beautiful.” I said, remembering my mother’s face.

“She had beautiful, long blonde hair, full lips, big blue eyes as deep as the sea, and a laugh that would light up the room.”

Zane smiled, imagining my mother.

“She sounds like a wonderful person.”

“She was.” I said fondly.

“We loved her.” I felt the beautiful memory slipping, being replaced by a terrible one.

“She’d become sick. Really sick. Iris and I did everything we could to save her. But we were too weak. Her last night was the worst. She was in so much pain.” I continued to play with the little charm around my neck, eyes fixed at a something in the distance.

“I’d sent Iris out to find a doctor, to find anyone. My mother had begun to tremble. Her breath was so shallow.” My voice began to break.

“She told me to take care of my sister, and to be strong. At the moment, I didn’t know why she was talking like this. I was sure that she was going to get better.”

Zane didn’t say a word.

“She then gave me her necklace.”

My voice trembled, and I swallow.

“I remember clutching the necklace as her beautiful eyes closed forever. She was gone by the time Iris came back.”

I blinked back the tears, clearing my throat.

“I never take it off.”

 

Snapping out of the memory, my hand flies to my neck.

It’s gone.

Tears begin to form in my eyes. I look down at Iris, who’s trembling lightly in my arms, like my mother was that terrible night. Her breath is shallow. Blood is seeping through the white cloth.

I can’t help but think I’ve let my mother down, that I’ve let Iris down.

My necklace is gone, along with the dream of freedom.

I’m trapped now more than ever.

Reviews

[Alleyway Rover]

“Knox flinches, taking a step back.”

Knox got knocked to the floor, but I don’t see where he got back up.

“So I don’t understand why I suddenly go dizzy, my body swaying. I think I know why. It’s because Knox has confirmed my worst fears. Up until now it was just a hunch..”

What I don’t understand is why he didn’t suspect Roan in the first place. If this man has that kind of motive why didn’t he tell the police? Why didn’t he take matters into his own hands, try and find him and confront him? Zane never even mentioned this hunch, so it doesn’t really work as a big reveal.

“Roan didn’t return me until late, and when I finally got to Iris, her wound was festering.”

You might research the progression of infected wounds. Unless Roan took her away for eight hours or more, I don’t think it would have time to start discharging puss.

‘“Iris, don’t fall asleep.” I say firmly. I’m afraid that if she falls asleep, she won’t wake up.’

I don’t know why she would think this. Hypothermia causes people to fall asleep and not wake up, infections don’t.

Overall:
I like the fact that the stakes are raising. Iris life hangs in the balance, and that makes for a more exiting conflict.

There’s a lot of exposition here. We’re getting deep into Alexandria’s backstory and it seems likely that Zane will have a flashback next. I feel like we already know some of this (How Alexandria and Iris came to be at the house for example), some of it could have been discussed earlier and some can probably wait until after the climax to come out.

I feel like now, more then ever, the story needs to move forward. Tension is building but exposition slows the narrative down to a crawl.

[RainDancer1997]

I really love this:)! I think its thrilling, suspencful, and it even has some romance from flashbacks and such. I love that you showed the first time they met:)

[JordanIsaacSmith]

I sincerely hope you put up the end of this story soon! I hope none of the protagonists die, but I know someone probably has to.

[Amber Daniel]

Thank you so much for all of your feedback, I really appreciate it! I'm glad someone else things I'm talented at writing lol. I will be posting the rest of the story soon, so I look forward to your feedback on the ending. I hope you like it.