When Monday came around Charlie came to my house and walked to school with me. It was really fun. When we got to the school gates, he put his arm over my shoulder and kissed my check. When we got into school Alex was looking at us. Charlie didn't remove his arm and I just started at him, like I was looking right through him. He didn't like it and turned his back on us. We walked over to a table and sat down. We were talking and then Fire and Babe just appeared with no warning. "Go and hide before he sees you. Nick is here." Babe said. I looked at her and took a breath in. Charlie asked what I wanted to do. "I'm not running away." I replied and Fire turned in to a gun. I shook my head and he went back to being an owl. "Only if we have to." I said. He kissed my check and said that Nick had seen us. He was welcomed by loads of his old friends and was making his way over to us. I looked at him and smiled as if nothing happened. He sat down and Alex saw us three. He started to make his way over to us when the bell went. "What tutor are you in?" I asked Nick.
"I'm in the same one as you Reece. I'm enjoying this game a little more now." He answered and followed us. Alex was there already and I took Charlie's hand. He looked at us and hit Charlie. Charlie stumbled back and was up against the wall. Babe was next to me asking if I was Ok. I didn't know what to say. I did what I wouldn't normally do. "Get away from him Alex, now."
"Reece what's wrong with you? Now you started to hang around with Nick, of all the people. And Charlie is letting you do it. After what he did to you." Alex replied. He looked at Charlie and Nick angrily. "What did he do to me then? Go on; tell everyone what he did to me, because I have no idea what you're talking about. Just leave me alone." I shouted at him. He backed away and ran off somewhere. Charlie came over to me and hugged me. No one was going to find out what Nick did to me because then they would know I'm a spirit talker. We went in to our tutor room and people were whispering about what had just happened. I had never shouted like that before, not in school or around a big group of people. Half way through tutor, Alex came in and sat down on the table I was on. He was sitting next to Nick, where Charlie normally sat. He didn't look happy to be sat there. He kept his head down low. He gave me a note.
Please just listen to me for five minutes before next lesson. I don't like fighting with you. Follow me if you want to talk.
That's all the note. I nodded to him and carried on talking to Charlie. I was also talking to him telepathically. He told me to be careful. So after tutor I followed Alex outside and he pulled me to the side. I sat down and waited for him to say something. He was waiting for something to happen too. I was getting bored and I was about to leave when he pointed to the bushes. "Look carefully. Can you see the camera? It's pointed at you. Charlie hired them." Alex said. I looked and I could see a gun but nothing else. I blinked and it was gone. I got up and walked away. "Reece wait, where are you going?" He shouted after me. "I'm going to class. Leave me alone I can handle myself." I said without looking around. I went to class and told Charlie about it. In geography Alex wasn't there. He had gone home feeling sick. And so I went through the rest of the day without him there. Nick didn't bother was us much either. The next day, Alex wasn't in again. Wednesday he wasn't in again. I was starting to get worried about him at this point. Alex very, very rarely got ill. Thursday came and it was the first of December. I was normally really excited for Christmas, but this year I didn't feel like celebrating. Charlie knew something was wrong so he told me to go and see Alex. After school I walked to his house and knocked the door. His parents said that he had gone away for a while. I was walking home and I phoned him. It kept going to voicemail. Had I just lost my best friend forever? A few minutes later Alex phoned me back. "I'm leaving you alone so leave me alone for a while, ok. I just need time." He said and hung up. I told Charlie what had happened and he said to give it time. He would come back and talk to me soon. Until then I had to be strong. I knew I had to be strong but how strong would I have to be? I was walking home, it normally only took me ten or fifth teen minutes to get home from his house. I didn't make it back home that day. I was walking through the graveyard as a short cut. I saw a black van and I just thought that it that someone had left it there whilst they visited a grave. I walked past it. When I got to the gate it was closed and locked. I walked back the other way and that one was closed and locked too. I was getting very confused. There was no one else in the graveyard either. At least that's what I thought until I saw someone come up to me. He had a shirt on and jeans. He came over to me and took my shoulder. I asked what he was doing. "I'm taking you to see a friend of mine and Charlie's. Alex knows him too, I think." He said and injected something into me. I felt my legs give way and I fell to the ground. I don't know what happened after that. I assume I was put in the van and taken to the research facility I woke up in.
When I woke up I was laying on a bed. I tried to find my phone but they took it from me. The door was locked and there were no windows. I was really scared. I sat down on the bed and Babe came and sat next to me. I asked her if she knew where we were and she said no. I curled up in to a ball and started to cry. Babe tried to contact Fire but she couldn't. She put her paw over me and told me to calm down and that it would be alright. I looked at her. I wiped my eyes and a woman came in. She told me to get changed into the clothes she just gave me. It was just a black dress. I put it on and she took my arm and pulled me into a room. There was a man there in a white scientist coat and an eye patch over his left eye. You could see burned pieces of skin under it though. I wanted to run away but I couldn't. I tried to but the just took my hands and held them behind my back. "So your Charlie's new girlfriend. But you look like the one that Alex swore to protect no matter what." He said. He came over to me and lifted up my chin. His eye was grey and cold. It was like he was some kind of assassin. I tried to look away but I couldn't. He moved out of the way and they put me on a chair. They tied me up and I was screaming and kicking. One of them slapped me around the face to shut me up. It stung and I couldn't fight back the hot tears that rolled down my checks. The scientist had got a tablet and was talking to someone on it. He laughed and my phone started to go off. I couldn't get it though. It was Charlie calling. The scientist pointed the tablet at me and I could see who he was talking to. It was Charlie. "Charlie help, please get me out of here. I don't know what to do." I said and Charlie told me it would be ok. He looked at the man with one eye and called him a bastard. "Now, now. Language young man. You know what I want so what time are you coming?" He asked.
"Ten minutes." Charlie replied. They pointed the camera at me again and stabbed me with a knife in my arm. I screamed in pain and Charlie shouted again. I looked at me arm and it was almost covered in blood. They got me back up and dragged me to my room again. They chucked me in and I was left bleeding on the floor. My arm hurt more than anything I had ever felt before. Babe came to me and put her paw on my arm. A pale blue light appeared on my arm and when it went, my arm was healed. Even the pain was gone. I hugged Babe and the scientist came back in. They dragged me to a table and strapped me on it. I couldn't move. They took blood and skin samples. They then took sample of my hair and ran every test that you could run. I was getting weaker and weaker. My eye lids were so heavy and I knew I needed to keep them open. I couldn't though. They moved me to my room again and Babe tried to heal me but I said not to worry. I was in a lot of pain.