Skylar's POV

As if realizing that I was still present here, Blake's gaze fell upon me once again.

"What lies did he feed you, Sky?" He asked me, circling the disk in between his fingers. He seemed like he was enjoying every bit of it.

I wasn't.

"What do you mean?" I whispered, momentarily forgetting that there was still a gun pressed onto my forehead.

"Well, let me guess." He said before passing Caden a knowing smirk. "What did he tell you about our parents?"

I gulped heavily, my eyes darting from Blake to Caden. A feeling of unease washed over me, almost as if I knew what was coming. I just really hoped that it wasn't true--whatever possibilities my head was coming up with at that moment.

"Fire." My voice rose above a whisper, and it was deadly silent around us. "They died in a fire."

There was just silence then, a type of silence that seemed like it was slowly eating me up alive. I could hear the faint sirens growing closer towards the building. And then Blake chuckled out loud, glancing over at Caden, then at me.

"Christ, are you serious?" He asked.

I didn't think I had it in me to nod or agree to him. From the corner of my eye, I could see the way Caden clenched his fists.

"I cannot believe my ears," Blake said, looking around at every single person in here. I saw him taking out something from his back pocket. A small device which I first thought was a cellphone. But it wasn't.

"I mean, I don't want to ruin this perfect thing you two have going on or anything." He glanced over at me as if he understood the various emotions running through me at that moment. "But I think you should've seen the autopsy reports first."

I had already stopped struggling and a part of me still couldn't understand what was happening.

"Autopsy reports of our sweet, old parents." He added, his lips curling in something that seemed like disgust to me. He hated them.

I wanted to look over at Caden but something didn't let me.

"You want me to tell you what was in it?" He asked, looking at me with slightly raised brows. I'm sure he was going to tell me either way.

"The reports state that our beloved parents died from gunshot wounds." He let out an amused laugh before looking behind at the elevator doors. "Not some fire."

I looked over at Caden then and realised that he was already staring at me. I tried searching for any refusal in his eyes. I even waited for him to tell me that none of this was true, that he hadn't lied.

But he did no such thing.

"I mean, the house did burn up." He added. "They might've been in it, sure. But that was a whole different situation."

Caden wasn't even stopping Blake from spewing out all that shit--hurtful shit.

"Let's just keep it simple and easy." Blake continued. "Caden killed them. And he lied to you."

I found myself looking away from Caden. The shock of it all, it just confused me. I knew that Blake was still the bad one here, but whatever he was saying, it hurt. Mainly because I hadn't expected any of that.

Why would Caden lie to me?

"Maybe he just wanted this for himself." Blake answered my thoughts, holding up the metal disk in his hand. "And took advantage of you along the way."

"I would never do that, Sky!" Caden said out loud, interrupting Blake's stupid, painful talk.

I looked back at him--at Caden, blinking furiously. I didn't know how to react. I felt like crying out loud for God's sake. I thought I was done with these lies, but they always found their way to me.

Why always me, though?

I could feel the small lump forming in my throat and I had to force my head out of those thoughts. Caden had lied to me, I could most definitely see that. But I wasn't going to dwell over it, at least not right now.

I needed to keep that metal disk safe and away from Blake. Caden's parents had trusted my parents with this. That's what my parents would want.

"Anyway, it's not like I give two shits about you two," Blake spoke up once again. "My men have already surrounded this place, and your little minions too." He directed the last part at Caden, holding out the small device in his hand. "But, I do have a little surprise for you all."

The sinister grin on his face told me that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

Without contemplating over it for another second, he pressed a button on that device. "Exploding a few cracker bombs sounds fun." He said. "Let's just hope they have evacuated the entire building, though. Wouldn't really want to risk innocent lives along the way."

I zoned back to the strong fingers gripping my left arm and that's exactly when a quick idea kicked in between my messed up thoughts. I realized that if I somehow used my elbow, I might just be able to break free.

And if I don't, then I would just die either way.

I felt adrenaline kicking in the exact second I lunged my right elbow backwards; at the guy's face who was holding me. Caught off guard, the gun fell from his hands and he fell backwards.

I needed to be done with this.

Not waiting for anyone to lunge at me, I ran over towards Blake. And since he, or the others, weren't really expecting it, I shoved him away with all my might before snatching the small disk from his hand.

"What the hell?" I heard him shout behind me as I ran for the stairs.

I didn't know how long I kept on running after that. Whichever way I ran, I heard sounds of footsteps running after me, or sometimes even small, ear-shattering explosions.

It was when I reached the cafeteria, which looked more like a natural resort, that I finally stopped. I could still hear footsteps behind me but they sounded far away. So far away. It felt like I might throw up right then.

An artificial ravine was flowing down the edge. Benches lined along with the place. I still didn't see any people here and I realized that they might really have evacuated this place.

"Sky, this way!" I heard a hiss.

I looked around me but failed to spot anyone. Before I could've pondered over the familiarity of the voice any longer, a hand gripped my arm and pulled me behind a wide pillar.

My eyes widened in response when I saw Alex.

"Alex?" My voice came out in a rasp, almost cracking at the end.

I just felt so exhausted.

He glanced over behind the pillar before looking back at me. It had been so long since I last saw him, and something about finding him here--it just made my chest ache.

"Sky, what are you doing here?" He grasped my shoulders, his eyes clouding over with disbelief and concern. "I told you--why would you deliberately throw yourself in danger?"

My shoulders sagged beneath his grip and I leaned back against the pillar. His eyes trailed down to the thing in my hand, at the metal disk, and he looked back at me. "Sky--"

"Why are you here, Alex?" I asked him, waiting. I wanted him to tell me why. I just wanted to know why. Why did this always happen to me?

He seemed lost for words then, his hands pulling away from my shoulders. And then he shook his head, almost as if my question wasn't important. "It's not just Blake, Sky. Kevin's men are here too."

I just kept silent. Was there anything left to fuck this all up even more?

"He's ordered them to kill you, Sky." And the worry in his eyes reminded me of all those times he had been there for me. Waking me up every morning when I could've missed my classes, driving me to school every single day, making sure to cheer me up whenever I was in a foul mood, helping me with my homework even when he sucked at it himself. He was there for me more than my own parents ever were.

"His men are ruthless." He was almost pleading with me now. "You have to come with me, Sky. I know a way out."

"Does Blake know that you're here?"

His expression fell into a frown. "No. I told you I left his gang. I don't have anything to do with him anymore, I swear."

I didn't know what I would've done next. Maybe I would've actually followed him out. Maybe I might've hugged him hard right then. Or maybe kneeled sideways and thrown up. But a part of me refused to leave without making sure Caden was fine. Anything could happen to him too.

I got to do no such thing, though, when Blake's voice took over the silence around us.

"Skylar!" I almost jumped up in surprise and Alex's eyes widened in alarm. "I swear to God, give me back that fucking disk!"

Alex's eyes found mine and he was once again clasping his hands onto my shoulders, his voice coming out in a hushed whisper, "I'm going to distract him, okay? You need to leave from the emergency exit, it's right beside the elevator."

"How will you--"

"I'll do something." He hushed me. "I really am sorry, Sky."

I didn't say anything to him in response. If I had known what was coming next, I would've told him that it was fine. I would've said something.

Right as I was about to head where he had pointed, I was yanked away from behind.

"There you are--" A deafening gunshot was what told me that it was Alex who had used his gun this time, shooting Blake in the arm.

It was also when Blake shoved me away a bit too harshly. I tried gripping onto the pillar, onto anything, but my footing slipped, making me fall backwards. And instead of hitting my head against the floor, which I probably should've, I felt a stinging harsh pain shooting up my skull when my head hit a nearby rock.

All I could think at that agonizingly painful moment was, who in the fucking hell even decided to place fucking rocks in this fucking cafeteria?

For a whole wide second, all I could see were black dots clouding over my blurry vision. I had to blink rapidly to get my senses back together, a wince escaping my lips when another sharp jab of pain went through the back of my head.

"There she is!" I heard a voice. "Kill her!"

Groggily, I stood up, clutching the metal disk in my hand. They were probably Blake's men, or maybe even Kevin's, and I was not safe. Despite the blurry vision and my racing heartbeat, I stuffed my free hand inside my pocket, looking for the familiar gun. But that thing wasn't in any of my pockets.

Fucking hell.

I saw a guy advancing towards me.

"Wait!" It was Blake this time. "Don't fucking kill her, you bastards! We didn't agree to that! She has the last metal disk!"

I wanted to tell him that killing me would definitely not stop anyone from getting that disk, but I said nothing like that. Besides, none of those big, burly men paid any attention to Blake anyway, and I soon found out why.

One of them, I saw, hissed back at Blake, "Our only order was to kill her."

Alex had been right. And they certainly sounded like Kevin's men.

I wish I knew why this Kevin guy wanted to kill me so badly.

I tried to sidestep even in my dizzy state, but a strong grip on my arm held me from running away. And it was strong enough to leave bruises.

"Let...go!" I shouted, my head throbbing a bit too badly now.

Alex was keeping Blake away from me. He couldn't help me with these people. I was all alone.

"We don't take orders from you, bitch!" The guy growled at my face. I tried pushing him away, I even managed to kick him numerous times, but that shithead was way too strong.

And I was slowly, very slowly, losing consciousness.

All he did was drag me backwards and shove me until I lost my footing, falling into the ravine behind me. Fortunately, it wasn't really a ravine--more like a narrow swimming pool. But unfortunately so, I didn't think an average person like me had the guts to stay underwater for more than a handful of seconds.

Just as the water filled up over my head, I felt the stinging pain at the back of my head increasing tenfold. I think I even saw red then. I was pretty sure I was bleeding.

I tried coming up to the surface, I really tried, but the large hand on the top of my head forced me down. Out of instinct, I started struggling even more.

I couldn't breathe!

I clamped my mouth shut, hating the fact that even my lungs were burning now. I had no oxygen left within me. I even tried grasping for anything to help me get to the surface, but I had no such luck.

I needed air.

My vision started blurring out. All I could see was blue. Clutching the metal disk against my chest, I finally stopped struggling. And it felt both horrifying and calming when I gave in to the water surrounding me.

It was truly a terrible way to die—drowning in water.

For the next few seconds, I was breathing water. And I saw blinding light edging into my vision, almost as if thousands of stars were exploding right in front of me. It was so very scary.

"Skylar!"

I blacked out then.

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Crystal 🌿