The Program

Chapter Sixteen

The program is dying.

Every hour since Riley's own death I can see this computer program getting darker, gloomier. The look of it makes my stomach turn, nausea taking over as the thought of causing this enters my mind again. I did it, all of it.

Even Riley's death was my fault. 

Riley. My mind keeps going back to her. Thinking of the first time I met her, pretending to be cautious of our situation, faking. And also how she had been there that day, when Jack almost died at the lake. Perhaps Reid made her sacrifice herself, as some way to save Jack from the beast. 

Little things like that were the things that kept showing me how true Riley's words probably were, Reid did all to protect his family.

And Reid was so sure about Jack's safety when Riley had taken me, and Luke had hurt Jack. Reid knew Jack was okay because he was saving his son. But he wanted me dead.

Why, i'll never know. Just like i'll probably never know why disrupting is something Reid fears, or why in the world the test has a significance to human survival. I guess some things are better left unsaid.

What shouldn't go unsaid, though, is who Reid's boss is. Riley said I hated this woman, and that this woman knew it.

But I prefer not to think about it, hoping my suspicions aren't true. Hoping that this 'she' isn't who I think it is.

So instead I lay down on the ground, beside the picture I once drew of Jack in the dirt, under the memory wipe tree, and I try to fall asleep and forget about my problems for the moment.

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My eyes shot open, only for me to see that I was lying on a wooden floor, unlike the very white one from the dream i've been having. But my clothes were white, me now in a thin dress that hung on me, seeming even more baggy as I lifted myself from the ground and heard a creak from the next room over.

I found myself going forward, reaching for the handle and entering. I saw a table, a man and a woman sitting at it and eating. Moments later, a little boy with a smile plastered on his face, one that was contagious and found its way to me as well, went to the table. He had black hair that matched the older woman.

"Mommy, can I have ice cream now?" He asked her, flashing a bigger grin. She did a quick laugh, as did the man.

She then asked, "Have you finished your dinner?" Her voice was soft and instantly comforting, the tone any mother would posses.

"No." He answered matter a factly, pulling his plate toward him and quickly hiding it under the table.

"Well," She chuckled again. "At least I raised an honest kid."

"Finish your food, son. Then we'll talk about dessert, alright?" The man finally piped up. The boy was left to nod and do as he was told, eventually finishing. When the ice cream was being scooped, the man again, asking, "How does chocolate sound?" gesturing to his son.

"Oh no, not chocolate."  The boy put his hands up in mock defence. "Anything but chocolate. Don't you know that no little boy in their right mind would want chocolate?"

The man leaned near the woman and said, "Okay, fine. Maybe we raised an honest kid but who knew we were raising a sarcastic smart alec?"

"Beats me." She responded. "But he get's it from your side of the family."

"Oh really?" He said back, forgetting about dessert for the time being. "And why wouldn't it be from your side?"

"Because all he got from me is my marvelous looks, dear. Those gorgeous genes had to come from somewhere."

"Yo, kid down here dying from lack of sugary treat." The boy spoke up and crossed his arms. The two adults only smiled at each other and then continued the get the ice cream before the scene changed before my eyes and the whole room was in flames, turning the happy moment into a depressing sight.

An old woman, gray hair and all laying motionless on the floor, the flames eating away at her flesh until it was charred. The blood near her head, which was bashed in, was everywhere and sounded a bit like it was sizzling from the heat.

But that wasn't the thing that frightened me. There was screaming on the other side of the door, and crying, but I didn't dare open and go through this time, my feet glued to the spot they were in.

But soon those noises died down and I only heard whimpers, and a conversation as the flames continued to take over.

"Ben Harrow, we're in need of your assistance." A new voice, not like the two parents before, said. And the voice was feminine, and a bit familiar.

"And if I don't want to assist you?" I heard the man snap.

"You don't always get what you want."

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I woke in a cold sweat, the beads of perspiration all over my body and making me feel sick and sticky. I should have known trying to sleep was a mistake. In here there was always a catch when it came to my dreams. But Reid allowing me to see the fire Jack was in was wrong.

And those words, they kept ringing in my head now.

You don't always get what you want. You don't always get what you want.

You don't always get what you want.

Though the voice speaking them wasn't Reid's, it didn't matter, they still chilled my bones.

"Do you think this is funny?" I screamed, hoping Reid was listening. "Is this you idea of torture? What happened to using bears that do physical harm, or maybe your stupid freaking monsters? Seriously, bring it on."

He did hear me, I could tell by the sudden shift in the air that he had. Or at least that someone had. So I lifted myself up, dusting my hands on my pants and watched as more cracks were forming in the exterior of the test.

And then, flying overhead, was the creature that Reid used to send me to another locked space in my mind that one time. And again, its goal seemed to be taking me down, it coming right for me.

So I did what I knew how, sinking to my knees. And I reached into my thoughts, looking for the right one that would trigger my emotions properly and disrupt the thing.

It didn't have to be done though, instead me suddenly hearing a loud boom from somewhere and a shriek from it resulting in me popping my eyelids open. And what sight was I met with?

"Hey, princess. You miss me?" He asked, and all I did was sit there, my breathing hitched. He lowered the gun he somehow had and came in my direction but stopped when I put up my hands. "What, no hug? Not even a hello? Let me guess, I went overboard when I called you princess, didn't I?"

You probably think this person is Jack, right? Ha, wrong.

"What are you doing here, John?"

"Like I said, you need some work on your greeting skills. No wonder you're probably some friendless loner." John said.

"Hey, that is not true." I would have hit him had he been closer. "I have Jack, and there's Annie and also Danny. Not to mention Caleb and Luke. That, and I had friends before the test too."

"Ah yes, that's correct. The daddy issues boyfriend, the crazy lunatic random chick, two other friends that wouldn't remember you, and a dead guy who recently betrayed you. You sure have great taste in friends." Even from this distance I could see him roll his eyes. "And aren't you currently lying to the friends before the test, that doesn't exactly count as awesome friend keeping skills."

I huffed. "Just tell me why you're here instead of distracting me again. Or more importantly, how you got here?"

"Wow, still no hello. You would think you would do something besides for question why i'm here when me being here saved your butt from that monster a minute ago."

So through gritted teeth, I surrendered to the stupid idiot so he would shut up about it. "Hello, John. Wonderful freaking weather we're having, isn't it?"

"Eh, a little gloomy in here but i'm not gonna complain."

"Just shut up now and tell me why you're here. And how in the heck you have a gun." But then I noticed the gun was gone. "I mean, had a gun."

"Figures, leave it to Natalie to take a life saving weapon away from what she calls a reckless teen." He shook his head.

"So you're here because of Natalie then?" I asked, realizing it was possible.

"Nah, I sweetly walked up to Reid and said, 'hey, let me enter the test so I can save Lexi's life', and he suddenly had a change of heart and let me in without thinking maybe he should just let you go." He smirked.

"I'm seriously having a hard time believing you and Jack aren't at least a little bit related based on the intense amounts of sarcasm that flows from your guys' mouths." I told him.

"Yeah, well, let's discuss that later. Right now we have bigger things to worry about." He explained. I made a motion with my hands when he didn't continued, urging his to do so. "Your plan is working great. Reid has been brought in for questioning by some kind of government people, not to mention he's continuously being yelled at by Jack for sending you back, and like last time, you're using disrupting without even realizing it and slowly killing the test more. Soon it will be nothing, and Reid won't have any power against us and hopefully we can move on to taking the boss down."

"Okay. I'm confused, why should we be worried about that? It sounds like great news."

"Because," he paused, taking a deep breath. "we don't know how, but the test is slowly killing you while you're killing it. If you don't wake up soon...." He trailed off.

"I die." I finished for him. He nodded. "Then why did you come in the test and not Jack?"

"Does it matter?" I glared when he finished speaking. "Alright. He doesn't know you're dying. It's just in between the police taking him into custody until they sort out the whole mess because they think since Reid is involved and Jack is his son-"

"Wait." I cut in. "Jack is in jail?" He nodded again. 

"But Natalie has a plan to help your plan and save you. It involves me, so here I am. Not exactly the knight in shining armor you were expecting is it?" He joked.

"But if you're in here, won't the test dying effect you too?"

He just continued to laugh. "Yeah," he said. "It will. So never say I didn't risk my life for you, Lexi."

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Hey people, sorry for not updating when I was supposed to. I had something going on last weekend and I had another stupid migraine for days on end.

But that doesn't matter now. I hope you like this chapter. And thanks to those who commented Jaxi baby suggestions last chapter, they were great and will definitely help an........idea I have.

I actually don't like this chapter as well as the others i've written, it just didn't seem right. But I hope you, my marvelous readers, enjoy it. :)

Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to Persephone2931 because I like dedicating my chapters to different readers on occasion. I mean, seriously, where would I be without ya'll?

But, um, bye now.....

(by the way, this is not edited and has barely been proofread. will do so later)