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T h e   H o l l o w s   I n
O U R  F R E E D O M
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A L E X I

I stood by the door watching him for a few moments—like a creep. I saw as he pushed back the curtains to reveal the night sky. Stars hung by strings of gold, connected to the half moon, which clung onto the sapphire clouds.

He turned, shaking his jacket off. When he saw me, he started. "Jesus, Lex." He exhaled, pressing his hand to his chest.

I smiled, entering the room and shutting the door behind me. "You like the stars?" I asked, nodding in the direction of the window.

Jace appeared puzzled as he glanced between me and the window. When he understood what I meant, he ducked his head. "Yes, though it's a small obsession, I promise."

I bit my lip, walking over to him. Instead of stopping before him, I brushed past him to stand by the window, pulling the curtains back to gaze at the aforementioned view up close.

"No, I get it. The night sky is beautiful—I like it too." I turned to see Jace beaming over at me, and then he joined my side to observe the night sky.

"You know what else I like?" I asked, blinking for longer than I needed to before turning around to face him. I watched him raise an eyebrow at me.

I inhaled. Shit. "You."

I watched him stare at me. No, really—shit.

"I like you too." He said, smiling.

I shook my head. "No, I like you." I watched as Jace watched me, not showing any signs of agreement or disagreement. "Like, sometimes I kinda wanna get into bed with you."

Jace stared at me.

"Sometimes I want to get into bed with you, too."

Well shit.

"That is a very vulgar notion, Jackson Clarke, you'll need to be purified." He laughed, and it was loud and vibrant.

Once he had sobered, he simply watched me. For a moment, I thought I saw his eyes flicker down to my lips, but perhaps it was a trick of the light.

"What?" I asked him after he continued to stare at me for a few more moments. "What is it, Jace?" I questioned again, feeling my heart begin to race in my chest.

Suddenly, he reached out, placed his palms to either side of my face, and pressed his lips against mine.

Holy–

That was about as far as my thought process went when he held me like this, kissed me like this. When people say they danced, and they danced, and they danced all night—well, we kissed, and we kissed, and we kissed. All night. At least, that's how time passed in my head as he was kissing me.

In reality, we broke away after half an hour, and I was only somewhat disoriented when I found us on top of the bed.

He consumed me wholly, so much so that I forgot about anything and everything else that was happening.

I pulled away abruptly, surprising Jace. "Toby gave me some leads on some loose ends earlier," I said, eyes floating around the room until I found the pack of papers.

"Why are you choosing to think about Toby during our moment?" Jace asked, and I turned to see him mocking hurt.

"Fun fact," I said, leaning over to reach for the papers, "I love you, not him," I watched Jace stare at me, the ice freezing over me in sudden shock. "Oh, too soon for those three words?"

I watched him closely, but I'd only be able to know what he was thinking if he told me. "No, it's never too soon, and...I love you, too."

I felt as a smile started to creep onto my face, feeling a surge of joy within me. "Really, who cares about the papers?" I asked, discarding them and falling onto Jace, who caught me in his embrace. And then we started kissing again.

"I think we all do," Jace said, breaking out of the kiss momentarily.

"I've liked you for a good four months, let me have just a minute." Then I pressed my lips back against his.

The kiss.

"Okay, seriously," Jace said, pulling back and laughing.

"'Seriously'." I echoed, mimicking Jace before reaching out for the papers once more.

I think Jace was laughing at my imitation, but I was too fixated on the words printed on the first page to pay attention to him.

Jace soon noticed that something was wrong, "what is it?" He asked, "what's wrong, Lex?"

I swallowed. "Jace, did you have any idea that–"

A blood-curdling screech reverberated down the corridor suddenly, piercing my eardrums and sending me into a frantic shock. I wasn't frozen for long, though. I scrambled to my feet, jumping off the bed, seeing the papers go flying behind me. I sprinted down the corridor to where I could still hear the screams.

That's the moment that I found everyone as they stood outside of Jameson and Sky's room, eyes entranced on the wall opposite.

When the surrounding group saw me, they parted, allowing me to see Avery in tears, who was being held by Sky. Elle and Jameson exchanged looks, peered at me, and then glanced over at the wall in front of me.

I turned, my eyes finding the wall, and something else.

I let out a scream, though clamped my hands over my mouth quickly.

It was red paint. Or blood. And it had been thrown across the lengths of the cream coloured walls in devilish handwriting.

It was still fresh; the droplets were beginning to dry at the bottom of the wall.

I stepped forward, taking my hands away from my mouth.

"Alexi," Elle said, trying to halt me before I took any more steps forward. She reluctantly dropped her arm, though, when she realised that I couldn't be restained. Richard stepped forward, embracing his partner as they tried to comprehend the dimensions of the message.

I was trying to comprehend it too; I let my eyes scan over the writing five more times before I reached out to the wall. Everyone started to whisper as I touched the red substance. I brought it up to my nose and sniffed at it.

I cleared my throat, pulling a tissue from a spare packet in my pocket to wipe away the residue. "It's paint," I announced, hearing sighs of relief in response.

But we shouldn't have been relieved. Because the message was a threat. I gulped, reading it one more time.

"Freedom comes at a cost."

It wasn't the message, though, that seemed to shock everyone. It wasn't the message that shocked—no, terrified—me.

It was the list underneath. I let my eyes read it once more.

"Bert. X
Angela. X
Carter. X
Zac. X
Sapphire. X
Elle.
Alexi.
Jimmy.
Toby.
Avery.
Bria.
Cassie.
Richard.
Jackson.
Kathleen.
Any other accomplices.
Sky."

A list. A list of the names of most of our group, with X's next to the names of those we had lost during the fight for freedom.

I heard as everyone consoled each other, and I knew why. It was a list of those in our group that the monsters planned to kill. In order.

And if the list is right, Elle is next. Then me.

Someone embraced me suddenly, trying to pull me away from the wall, away from the spot in the ground that I had drilled my feet into. But it was no use—I was too in shock, too frozen.

I had only had my life threatened when protecting Sky; I had never been put in harm's way by those monsters on any other occasion.

But I think, at that moment, I understood the fear, panic and just how unfair it all was. How could anyone have that kind of power over me? To dangle my own life in front of me as though it were only a toy?

But I was not angry. I was powerless, defeated.

There was a list. A death list.

Elle was next. And then, me.

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all these subordinate clauses remind me of thank u, next

which, if you were a serial killer (like these people obvs are) you would say as you crossed off the names of the people you killed

Bert. X
thank u, next
Angela. X
thank u, next

you know what

that's enough Wattpad for today

-cereal killer

FABULOUS SONGS

Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Cola - Lana Del Rey
True Disaster - Tove Lo
Secrets and Lies - Ruelle
Hustler - Zayde Wølf
Back To You - Selena Gomez
Half Light - BANNERS
Ocean - Lauren Aquilina
Bury - Unions
Unravel Me - Sabrina Claudio

END OF FABULOUS SONGS

Date written:
20/05/18 (posting soon 😬 – 20/05/18)

(omg exactly ten months ago)

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Next update: Friday
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CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE SPOILER:

With the ground still shaking beneath them, the team have to decide on a new plan.

Perhaps, though, two of our characters should have made plans much, much earlier.