Alexa and the Badboy のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 61 - チャプター 70

Awake at lastCHAPTER FIFTY-SEVENAlexa’s POVEverything felt… heavy.Like I was underwater. Floating just beneath the surface, the world muted and distant. My head throbbed, slow, sharp pulses that beat in time with my heart. My body felt leaden, and my eyelids were thick as stone. Opening them was a struggle. But then again, there were bigger things to worry about. Something wasn’t right.There was cold air brushing against my skin. The faint scent of blood. The sterile, coppery kind that made my stomach lurch. And the silence was extremely creepy, goosebumps spiraling on every inch of my skin. It was too silent. Like the world had stopped breathing around me.A groan slipped from my lips as I finally forced my eyes open.The light stung instantly, and the world blurred into shifting shapes. I blinked, and the ceiling came into view. Cracked paint. A dangling bulb. DustDust, decay and moss. Everywhere all around me. This wasn’t my house. And I had the sense to realize that I wasn

Demie AgainCHAPTER FIFTY-NINEAlexa's POV"Alexa.""Alexa."I stirred awake at the sound of my name, looking through barely opened slits. Maybe it was a dream, I was probably hallucinating, but i was sure Demie was sitting right in front of me. Although her voice was distant, I could clearly see her. She looked much more sane than she was last time, like she was in her right mind. Her eyes, although swolled, puffy and red, looked clearer, as she gazed intently at my face. She looked tidy, like she had taken a shower, and the mud had been scrubbed clean off her face and body. Her hair was quite shorter than I remembered, and other than it being styled properly, it looked like it was in the process of drying up. Half wet, half dry. The dress she wore, mud brown in color, looked like it was the only thing available for her to choose from. Because, knowing Demie she'd never wear that. I turned, intending to go back to sleep. Maybe, this was all a dream, and I'd wake up in my bed. War

Cold Hard TruthCHAPTER SIXTY-ONEDevon’s POVThe sun was just beginning to set when I stepped onto the porch, the sky bruised purple and gold. The air held that eerie stillness, like the world was waiting to exhale. My mind had been running on fumes all day, torn between fielding questions from police and trying to keep Stacey from spiraling into another breakdown. Even after handing that tape to the police, nothing had come from it. As soon as they had played it, a virus had crashed the evidence, and we were back to square one. Every second Alexa wasn’t found carved deeper into me, and yet… I felt like I was suffocating in place.But another package was sitting on my doorstep when I got home. I almost didn’t see it. It was tucked just barely under the front door, a black envelope, pristine, no markings, like it had been placed there with intention. Same as the last one. My stomach knotted instantly.I bent down slowly, as though touching it might make it explode. There was no nam

Found CluesCHAPTER SIXTY-THREEDevon’s POVI was supposed to be sleeping. Everyone said I needed rest, food and patience as well. But the only thing I needed was Alexa back. I needed to see her safe and sound. Secure from danger. Everything else felt like a distraction, like static noise in the background of a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.My hands rifled through the cardboard box marked “Carissa.” I hadn’t touched it in a year, up until recently, and it still smelled faintly like her shampoo. Lavender and sugarplum, her favorite combo. She had always said it smelled like summer afternoons and laughter. And at the moment, all I could remember was the sister I’d failed to protect.The journals were at the bottom. Three of them, spiral-bound with stickers on the covers, each page a burst of Carissa's bubbly, chaotic handwriting. I opened one at random. I don't know how many times I had gone through them the past few days. Today however, there was something new that I hadn't notice

RescueCHAPTER SIXTY-FIVEDevon’s POVThe engine purred low as we sped down the winding road, the forest thickening around us with every passing mile. A haunting fog clung to the windshield, and the GPS showed we were nearing the last location, a remote island on the outskirts of town. The final dot on Ben’s map. The last chance to find Alexa.Harry drove while I sat in the passenger seat, fists clenched so tight my nails were digging into my palms. Every bump in the road, every flash of tree line felt like it was taunting me. The closer we got, the heavier the air felt.My chest felt like it was caving in. We’d already scoured four locations. Four dead ends. And now, only this one remained.Every single one had felt like a punch to the gut, like watching a flame die out just as you reached for it. Every one a dead end, every one stealing more hope from me. But this last one, this remote, eerie island outside town, was our final shot. If Alexa wasn’t here, I didn’t know where else to