Chapter two!

Sorry everyone, about not posting in forever. I feel super duper bad. BUT I finally did all the major re-writes on Chapter two of Titanium, and I'm posting it! So... YAY! I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2- J

Beginnings and Endings

I roll over and groan. I open my eyes then I remember, once again, just like every other morning in my life for the past few years, that I’m in an alleyway. I could never get used to sleeping on the rough ground, or waking up on concrete, even after so long. I sit up and survey my surroundings. After grabbing my few belongings, I slowly get up and creep to where the alley meets the street. No one there. I look up at the rising sun in the sky and say a short prayer to whatever force of the universe is listening. I reach into my pocket and pull out a red gem a little bigger than my palm. I see my deep vortex purple eyes in it’s uncut surface, and my messed up black hair gleaming like silk.

“J.” I say. I look deep into the vortex of red. “I am J.” I slip the gem back in my pocket and start on my way. I style my thin, oily, black hair back to a mostly tame style in a store window reflection. I sweat over the meeting. If this doesn’t goes well,I could be gone. RIght now they just think I’m a homeless person. Alright, J. I think. Remember, you have style. You ooze style. You are swagger. You define swagger. You- Suddenly, I bump into a girl with red hair. It’s in a messy ponytail, and her smooth green eyes look worried. Her eyes, like pools of green water, more beautiful than any eyes I’ve ever seen. Like an Ocean. I think. Blue and green, mottled together, white waves along the shore. All of a sudden, I realize I’m staring into her eyes. I take a deep breath.

“Hi. “ I say. She franticly picks up her bag and phone, which she dropped when I bumped into her, shaking and looking more terrified. I decide the least I can do is trying and cheer this girl up.

“What? Never been to Arret?” I sweep my hand around to indicate this place, Arret that is drowning in evil. The girl looks horrified.

“Where the Heck is Arret?” She screams. I take a sharp breath in through the mouth.

“You mean you’ve never been here before?” I ask slowly, confused. She screams and practically flings herself onto a bench, starting to cry.

“I have no idea how I got here.” She manages to get out. I have no idea what to do. She starts mumbling “Where are you dad? Where are you?” over and over. Finally I say,

“Listen, I have a meeting to get to, but if you need help, I can meet you here after it. It’ll be done in about… an hour and a half. What’s your name?” he looks up at me.

“Tara.” She hurls the word at me like an insult.

“I’m J.” I say, trying to keep my temper. “Nice to meet you, Tara.”

I smile at her and walk away. I know it wasn’t nice, but I don’t know what else I could have done. Right now, tell myself, you need to focus on this meeting. Yet, I knew, as I walked away, that I should be helping the girl.

I sit in the cushioned chair in the waiting room, bouncing my knee so fast, it’s throbbing. A tall woman in heels comes out. She seems unimpressed by me. I stand up and shake her hand.

“I’m here about the man- The one who said the, um, government of Arret wanted to- um, talk to me?.” She nods quickly and curtly. “I’m J.” She raises an eyebrow.

“Your given name is J?” I shake my head, surprised, but not that surprised at her bluntness.

“My actual name um, is Jahleel, but I go by J, normally. But if…” She holds her hand up.

“What’s your last name?” I take in a quick, deep breath.

“Um, I- I don’t know.” She frowns.

“Lying will not do you good.” I nod.

“Yes mam, I know.” I say shakily. I tap my sweaty hands on the side of the chair.

“I need your birth certificate.”

“I-I-” I begin.She whirls around.

“You may go now.” She says, her voice way more level than I expected. “ I think we have exactly what we need.”

“I-” I take a deep breath. “Are you sure?” She nods, and I slowly walk towards the door.

“Scold yourself all you want just remember not to do it again.” I tell myself for the umpteenth time. I walk over to the park bench and see that the girl-Tara-isn’t there.

So much for helping that girl. My annoying Brain Monkey tells me.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” I say into the wind. “I know… the world is wrong unless I do exactly what you say.” I hear a little cough and a shaky breath .I turn around and standing there- Tara.

“I...” I say, starting to explain. She doesn’t say anything, just walks past me and towards the café on the corner. I open my mouth and close it again. When she’s farther away, I curse to the wind behind me. Then I run towards her, hoping I can fix this. Suddenly, the sky turns from bright blue… to a terrifying deep red.

“No!” I yell. “Not now!” But the sky rudely continues to cloud for another Taking. I scream, frustrated, and run towards the crying girl I barely know. She’s standing on the edge of the curb, staring at the sky. I try not to think about how beautiful she is and drag her away as she screams at me some not very nice things. I try to ignore her. Finally, we’re inside the Café and I put the kicking and screaming woman on the couch. She looks terrified and I can’t help but think what she’s thinking right now. We sit in the screaming science until I say;

“Look, I-“

“No!” She screams. “I thought…” She wipes her eyes, taking a deep breath, and starts again. “I needed help… but... you don’t care.” I sit there, not saying anything, for a long time until Tara screams so loud my ears ring.  She screams at me with what must be the last of her strength these words-

“MY FATHER COULD BE DEAD AND YOU DON’T CARE!!!” She screams and slaps me on the cheek and rushes out of the room, into a lounge area. I want to feel mad, but don’t know if I am even capable right now. All I can do is sit there and mutter,

“I saved your life. I did.” I reach into my pocket and touch them rough cold surface of my gem. “J Clark saved your life.” But how could I tell her? How could I tell her anything? Where to start where to end…

I was born into the traitorous house. I don’t know the details exactly, and hopefully never will, but both of my parents were arrested before I was 10. I did not legally exist until I was put into an orphanage. I ran away 2 months after that, but not before burning all the documents they had on me. When I turned 12, they discovered me. They are an organization to track down people who have escaped the “law”. The law was created by a man named Joseph Lexton. They discovered I existed and tried to fix that. I escaped them, and have been living on my own for three years, hiding in alleys and eating food people leave behind, and getting food from stores whenever possible. In that time, Lexton moved up the totem pole, became what they called the “Scientist”, which means pretty much no one knows he exists, and he puts on “experiments” on innocent people. In all the time he was being pampered and changing the world to be his own, I was dying. Three times a week, Lexton would execute what’s called a Taking. At a taking, one man and one woman would be taken to his spaceship in the sky and tested and probed and finally, if they lived through that, killed. I don’t know for sure, but I think that this revolting process is what happened to my parents. My parents. I never really got to know them, they were gone so much as I was a child, and now I’ll never get to. I wanted to make a difference to someone. I thought that that someone would be this girl, Tara. I see her now, out of the corner of my eye, crying and unsure. I don’t know anything about her, just that she is very lost. And that she is missing someone she loves, her father. Should I go after her, or leave her alone and try to move on with life? Maybe the answer will reveal itself. I think hopefully. But I know full well that this is decision I have to make on my own. No “Force of the universe” is going to come and tell me what I should do.

“No lucky breaks this time.” I whisper. Then, I hear Tara in the other room, whispering to herself. 

And I hear her whisper,

“No kidding yourself this time, Tara.” She’s holding her necklace, clutching it like some sort of life force. “There will be no lucky breaks.” And right there, I make my decision.

Hope you enjoyed! PLEASE tell me what you thought, and have a great weekend!