Alex's (POV)

"Anything to get you back." Polly finishes, fear in her eyes.

We just stand there, each of us lost in thought.

I shouldn't of done that.

I shouldn't of done that.

The same words keep repeating over, and over in my head. Echoing in my ears, like a delicate whisper.

I feel myself start to get worked up.

My breathing turns slightly labored, hands still shaking. Mouth dry, sweat falling down the back of my neck.

I-I shouldn't of done that.

I'm broken from my thoughts as Mack speaks up. "Well, it's only three o'clock, which means we still have awhile until the Browns pick us up." He shrugs, his dread being replaced with determination.

"But this shouldn't stop us from having fun." He looks over at Polly who has a thoughtful look on her face.

"He won't attempt to do anything with all these people around. So we'll be fine." He squares his shoulders.

"Alright, lets do this." Polly agrees, her old self coming back.

She gives us a slightly hesitant smile, then starts heading back out towards the crowd.

Mack leans in close to me, eyebrows scrunching up in concern. "Alex, are you okay?" He questions.

I glance over towards Polly, checking to see if she's far enough away.

Seeing that she is indeed a good distance away, I take a deep breath.

Bending over, I place my shaking hands on my knees, taking some deep shuddering breaths as I try to control the tightness in my chest.

"Give m-me a second." I gasp out.

I squeeze my eyes shut, the panic not disappearing like I had hoped. My lungs feeling like someone's squeezing them as hard a possible.

Stupid panic attacks.

It takes everything in me not to flinch as I feel someone lightly touch my arm. Opening my eyes back up, I see it's Mack.

"Do you want me to ask the Browns to come pick us up?" He starts patting his pockets in search of his phone.

I shake my head.

No, I'll be fine.

Probably.

Taking one last big breath, I straightened up. Ignoring the sudden assault of dizziness that hits me, I give Mack a nod to lead on. He gives me a uncertain glance, but starts walking anyways.

I follow behind him, slouching a bit as I find it still painful to breath properly.

Thankfully, by the time we find Polly I just have a slight tremble in my hands. Taking care of that by stuffing them deep inside my pockets.

She's holding a cotton-candy stick - half of it already eaten, watching intently as someone uses a large hammer to pitch a tent.

Mack stops beside her, glancing over at the person with the hammer. "You know this isn't part of the entertainment, right?" He questions, looking back at her. "It's just someone putting a tent up." He states.

She peals a piece of cotton-candy off the stick, popping it into her mouth. "I know, I just thought it was interesting." She says without taking her eyes off the person.

Mack shakes his head, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "Your one strange person, Polly Quinn." He cracks a smile.

Polly gives a small smile in return. "Oh I know, but it's good to be a bit strange.....to be different." She points out, and I see her peek over at me.

Is she talking about me?

I stare at the side of her face.

Polly continues. "Everyone always tries to be the same.....Tries to match each other perfectly." She goes back to looking at the hammer man. "When in fact, we're all unique." Polly glances back at me. "We were made to be different from one another. It's just whether we choose to except that or not." She finishes.

Me and Mack stare at her. Astonishment clearly on our faces.

Polly's face goes beet red.

"Thank you, for that bit of....wisdom there. But let's get moving shall we?" Mack walks away.

Polly looks over at me, a smile lighting up her face.

I'm still a little shocked from what she said, and I'm sure I won't be forgetting it anytime soon.

She holds out the cotton-candy stick, offering me some.

"No thanks." I tell her.

Polly shrugs her shoulders. "Suit yourself." She takes a step forward to follow Mack, but then looks back at me. "Well, come on." She says, another smile on her face.

So I aimlessly follow them around for another hour and a half, my mind not really focusing on anything fun. Then somehow, we end up back at that deserted spot next to the river.

Mack carefully sits himself down, practically right next to the water. Polly joining him, stretching herself out on the ground.

I hear my heart thumping in my ears, my lungs back to feeling like they're being squeezed.

"I'm done!" Mack complains, rubbing his broken leg through the cast.

Mack looks at his phone, and with a groan, he throws it down beside him. "It's only five thirty. I don't want to call them only to complain that we want to leave." He rubs his face.

I stay back fifteen feet, looking everywhere but at the water.

Polly seems to suddenly notice I'm actually a good distance away from them. Sitting up, she turns her head over towards me.

"Come on Alex, take a load off." She pats the ground beside her.

I shake my head. "No, I'm good." I say, a little too quickly.

She frowns, that thoughtful expression spreading back across her face. She looks from my tense posture, back towards the water.

Her eyes light up with realization.

Great.

She looks back over at me, mouth opening to say something. But her eyes suddenly widen, landing on something behind me. "Crap." She whispers under her breath.

Dread hits my chest.

She reaches over, shaking Mack. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm resting here, woman." Mack grumbles, lazily waving her away.

"Get up Mack, we shouldn't of come over here." Polly hastily mumbles, urgency in her voice.

Already knowing what's going to be behind me, I slowly turn around.

Noah and five other kids are fanned out around us, specifically positioned so we can't make a run for it. Angry teenager at our front, a large river behind us.

Not that Mack can run.

And Noah does not look happy.

He's in the middle, facing me. His face pulled into a nasty frown, nostrils flaring in anger.

What? All I did was beat him in a game.....Okay, so maybe I majorly beat him in it while embarrassing him in front of his so called friends.

But I know to him it was more than that.

With me being new around here, he was trying to show me my place in this small town he practically runs. And that was his nice way.

  And sadly I have a feeling that he isn't going to allow anymore 'nice' ways.

I swallow, my throat going dry.

Mack finally looks over, his eyes filling with shock. He carefully stands up, Polly following.

They walk so they're standing next to me.

"What do you want?" Polly asks Noah.

By now Noah has his emotions masked, his normal smirk on his lips.

He walks slowly closer. "What do I want?" He repeats the question, bringing a finger up to his chin.

"Oh I know!" He loudly says, still walking closer.

"I want to get even here for, Sparky." He motions towards me. "Embarrassing me in front of my friends." He calmly states.

Sparky?

My heart gives a painful lurch, the only plausible explanation circling around in my mind.

The fireworks.

But how does he even know about that?

Noah notices my reaction, his eyes lighting up. "So Sparky, you're being fostered by the Browns, huh?" He questions, his voice teasing.

I look down at the ground, for some reason feeling ashamed.

"So tell me, how does it feel not to be wanted by anyone?" Noah continues, raising an eyebrow.

My breath catches, his words striking something deep inside me.

"Shut up!" Mack yells, already walking towards Noah. "Yeah, none of that is your business, Noah." Polly glares at him.

Suddenly, two of the teenagers grab Mack. His crutches falling to the ground as a person grabs onto each one of his arms.

Restraining him.

"Hey, quit it!" Polly shouts as two more grab onto her the same way they did to Mack.

"Stop it! Just leave him alone. He-he won't do anything." Mack tries talking Noah out of it.

Noah swings his enraged gaze over towards Mack. "He won't do anything you say." He looks back over at me, a wild look in his eyes. "He's already done plenty!!" He shouts.

I feel myself automatically shrink up, unconsciously preparing myself for the punishment.

Suddenly, I feel something hard hit me on both shoulders, my swollen one twisting with fresh pain. Surprised, I fall to the grassy ground, landing with a thump.

"Stop it!" Mack shouts with concern, struggling to get loose. But with having one leg in a cast, and with the two goons who are restraining him being both taller and more muscular. It doesn't work.

I look up from my position on the ground, only to see a smirking Noah in the place I'd just been standing.

He pushed me.

"Your nothing but a wimp." Noah says down to me, practically spitting the words out.

Deciding I'm not going to take this sitting down, I slowly stand up, my eyes never leaving Noah.

He raises an eyebrow, another big smirk on his face.

"Cole, JW. Don't let Noah do this." Polly tries begging the two holding her.

They just look at her, ugly smiles on their faces. "He deserves it." The one on the right says.

"No he doesn't you idiots!" Polly practically shouts. Probably trying to get anyone's attention over at the noisy fair.

Noah snaps his gaze over toward her, obviously realizing what she's trying to do. "Shut her up." He demands.

Polly's eyes widen.

Quickly, someone places their hand over her mouth. She struggles, her head whipping around as she tries to get away.

I feel anger began to bubble up.

Noah looks back over at me, his gaze locking onto my now trembling hands. "A coward." He continues, shoving my right shoulder.

I wince as the shove irritates my still swollen shoulder, pain running down my back.

He shoves me again, forcing me to take a step back. "Unwanted." I wince.

"A failure." I flinch as he shoves me harder this time, more steal filling his words as he realizes they're getting to me. I take another step backwards.

All the anger that had been in me, seeming to of evaporated in a instant.

"Alex, don't listen to him! He's just making things up-" Mack tries to reassure me before someone cuts him off by placing a hand over his mouth too.

But the thing is.

Everything he's saying, is true.

"No good." Flinching, he shoves me again, and I take yet another step back.

My breathing has picked up again, heart hammering in my chest.

"Messed up." He shoves me harder this time, his anger showing through. The force from his shove sending me back to the ground again. The ground that's now sand....

He looks down at me.

"Pathetic." He swings out, kicking me hard in the leg.

I hold in a gasp as pain flashes through my knee, my body freezing with panic.

He suddenly stops all movements, breathing hard as he looks down at me. He looks behind me, his eyes lighting up with renewed aggressiveness.

My lungs squeeze.

No.

"Hey guys! You think Sparky here is afraid of water too?" He questions back to all his minions.

I look over at everyone else.

Mack continues to struggle, eyes wide. Polly also continues to struggle, glasses falling off in the process.

But both are being held way too.....expertly.

No help from them.

There's a chorus of agreement from all five of his buddies. "Yeah, why don't you see!" The one restraining Polly sneers out.

Polly's eyes widen before they narrow in anger. With renewed strength, she jabs her elbow out, then back in.

Successfully hitting loud mouth in the stomach.

My attention snaps back to Noah as he roughly grabs onto my bicep with both his hands, already dragging me backwards through the sand.

Towards the water.

No.

I thrash around, my hectic mind just wanting to get away as fast as possible. But it doesn't do any good.

He turns me so I face the river, my frantic gaze landing on the water that's only two feet away from me now.

Again, I freeze up. My muscles stiffening to the point it's painful.

Dark

He continues to pull me closer.

Cold

My breathing switches to hyperventilating.

No air

He stands me up, my shaky legs barely able to support me.

He shoves me forward again -

And I land face first in the water.

Cold

       Dark

      Alone

      Afraid

My head comes up out of the water, and I struggle to take a breath, my vision black as I keep my eyes sealed shut.

Can't breath!

I start choking, my lungs not wanting to exhale.

Panic

Nothing around me matters, not even the fact I can't draw in a breath, that I'm slowly suffocating because of it. No, it's just me and this building panic that won't let me go.

Something hits me painfully hard on the back, and my eyes snap open, essentially breaking me from my dark thoughts.

I cough, my lungs beginning to work properly again. Taking some deep raspy breaths, I look up.

Polly's standing next to me in the three foot deep water, staring at me with wide, fearful eyes.

Noah angrily pulls her away. "Noah, he's had enough!" Polly shouts at him as the two that had been restraining her, grab onto her again.

They pull her back up on shore.

My attention snaps back to all the water that's currently surrounding me.

Closing in on me, ready to choke me to death. Like a wall of cold darkness, never letting go.

My chest is too tight!

I bring a dripping wet hand up to my chest, subconsciously trying to rub the tightness away.

Noah roughly grabs the hair on top of my head, angling it down towards the moving water.

I feel tears build up in my eyes.

This is just like before.

Large hands roughly pushing my head down.....down.....down towards the dark water

Without another thought, my mind goes into defensive mode.

In a flash, my right arm goes up in a ark, and I hear it connect with a crack right onto the weak spot that's located on everyone's wrists.

Effectively breaking it. Just like I'd been taught.

Instantly, Noah jerks away with a shout of pain, his hold on my hair disappearing.

Numbly, I look up at him.

He's just standing there, cradling his wrist, a shocked expression on his face as he stares at it in disbelief. Swallowing, he looks down at me, fear clearly written in his eyes.

And yet again, I did something that isn't considered 'normal.'

  "Freak." He spits out at me before turning around. He hurriedly wades to shore, walking up towards his friends who are staring wide eyed between us.

"Are you alright?" Someone asks him.

Noah swings his gaze over towards him, the kid immediately shrinking. "Shut up and lets go." Noah looks between the three of us again. "We're done with these losers.....at least for right now." He announces.

They all fall in behind their leader, leaving.

Coming back to my predicament, I see I'm about four feet away from shore.

      It's not that far.

Trying to keep the memories back that I can feel bubbling up right at the surface of my mind, I shakily get to my feet.

I wade through the water, it feeling like it's trying not to let me go, trying to suck me back in.

As I finally step onto shore, I mentally examine myself.

My whole body is shaking, I'm hyperventilating, mouth trembling, my whole chest feeling like I have an elephant sitting on it.

Polly and Mack are suddenly beside me, concern showing clearly on both their faces.

Where'd they come from?

I stare blankly at them, watching as their mouths move without any voices. Silence.

What's happening?

My head gets cloudy, everything growing darker as a halo of blackness begins to grow around my eyes. Growing narrower, and narrower with each passing second.

I can't feel myself shaking anymore.....can't tell if I'm even breathing!

And before I can even acknowledge it, my body grows slack and I'm falling to the ground.

The last thing I see is Toms' bloody face staring at me from a couple feet away, eyes stone cold like death itself.

Then, everything goes black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N

CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!!......again.🤗......hmm wonder what's gonna happen??

Eh, anyways.

Questions:

1. So just for right now, don't you agree with me that Noah's a little......stinker?

2. Do you feel like Mack, and Polly could of done more to help Alex??

3. Whatcha ya think happened to Alex at the end of this chapter?

4. Do you really like this story? (Sorry I just had to ask) or is it just junk? (As you can tell I'm not very confident in my writing.)😂

Thanks again Guys!!!!!

        Next update: probably Sunday.

    Remember........COMMENT!!!!..........VOTE!!!!!!

I listened to Christmas music the whole time I was writing this.😍😁16 Days till Christmas!!!!!!😆😁😁

Maggy out.

Edited: 6/15/17