Like Minds II - Once we'll be united

Chapter three - Almost nine months after release

Nigel:

The train stopped at the platform at 7 o’clock, 10 minutes late. It was a busy day for the train-conductor, it was very crowded. As people were pushing and wringing to get to the train, a young men stepped casually out of the train. He had something mysterious over him, though no one seemed to notice at the moment. He walked away from the train and looked quite emotionless through his green eyes, his messy blond hair waving slightly in the wind.

Suddenly, behind him in the train, a high-pitched yell of a woman filled the station and put the passing people to shock. The boy didn’t look around as most people did, instead he just walked away and pulled a red-stained knife from his pocket. He wiped the blood off the blade with a handkerchief and put both the knife and handkerchief back in his pocket afterwards to hide it from curious eyes. A smirk crossed his face.

---- The following day, nine months (minus one week) after Alex got released.

A jolt went through Alex body, waking him. He found himself in a different room than the one he's know for almost all his life. The desk and closet were gone, making place for a whole new interior. It seemed more like a typical French hotel room. He want to sleep in York, and now found himself in Paris. On opening the newspaper on the table, he found it had been at least three days after he went to sleep. These three days, they were merely gaps of darkness. How did he get here?

Alex:

Nine months (minus one week) ago I got released from jail. I finally proved my innocence so the charge got pulled back. I was a free man again, left with nothing. I told Sally Rowe almost everything which had proved my innocence after a long time. Everything had suddenly fallen into the right pieces what had gave me my release. I had told her the whole story, except some personal things between Nigel and me.

The previous months had gone odd and hard. After a horrible trip back to "home" I had arrived at school where suspicious glanced had burned my skin. Everyone had known it, about the charge, the death of Nigel. My father had been known as the father of a psychopathic murderer, even after they had released me he had kept that title - or at least it was changed to "Mr. Forbes, father of a suspicious smart-ass little rich kid which got charged for three murders" now. Those had been hard times. Not only because my father carried a bad title and I got seen as the creep of the school now, but also because I had no one left anymore. I barely spoke to anyone since Nigel died. I got stubborn, but withdrawn. I practicably drowned in my own thoughts - though my grades got up again, which was a good thing. I had nothing left to do but studying. That was my salvation at those times.

Now Nigel was dead, everything had changed more than ever. I got overwhelmed by loneliness and sadness I had never felt before, and it was like I had ended in one big never ending nightmare. The old Alex was gone, yes, but Jack hadn't replaced him either. I had no idea who I was. I had no idea where to go.

In my eyes, I thought it was over. The whole Templars thing, the bound between Nigel and me. In my eyes, I already had forsaken him. But I knew I could never forget him, especially not because. He kept haunting me in my dreams, in my head. I often heard his voice. I often felt his presence. Though it became less in time, I still felt him near me. Like we weren't finished yet. Like this was just the beginning. Of course it was not what I wanted. Nigel had set the whole thing up to make the others think I had killed him, like I had done all those things. It was enough now, I had made myself clear as I had left the police office. I was about to start a fresh new line whenever I would get away from school and get myself a home in a crowed place like London so I could blend myself perfectly in the mankind so I could start a new life. At least, that thought never came true. Nigel had haunted me often, like I said. He told me to be patient, to wait. I always had to wait. He would come back for me whenever the time would be there, but I didn't believe him. I truly wanted this all to stop, the hallucinations. But somehow, they had brought me this insanity what made me sometimes lose my control over my body, like he controlled me, Nigel.

I woke up today, somewhere completely different than expected. I thought I was about to see my familiar grey bedroom again, from the Saint Barnabus College - the Boarding school. But this time there were no grey walls around me. And the old empty desk wasn't placed in front of the window, nor the closet filled the spaces of the room. No. This room was nicely decorated in the neat French Riviera style. I thought I had fallen asleep in York?

My eyes investigated the room as I stood up from the large bed. Apparently I was located in a hotel room of a French hotel in Paris - something I couldn't remember me I went to. I walked towards one of the tables and grabbed the newspaper from there, noticing it was the local newspaper of Paris, from three days ago. I swallowed and chocked my head, parting my lips as my fingers made their way over the grey smelly paper of the newspaper. How did I end up in here?

My hand went towards my hair to rub through it, pulling softly at the roots as I looked around - something Nigel had always done at me. I had this odd feeling, one that I couldn't place, that I wasn’t alone. Perhaps it was true...

Nigel:

Though there was the ever lasting feeling you were not alone.. There was no voice to welcome you, to explain things. Sometimes Nigel simply didn't show.. Like he needed certain circumstances to speak to you.

There was also nothing in the room to indicate how you got here. Just furniture and several old-fashioned paintings. On passing the only mirror in the room, something strange happened though. It began with the feeling of being watched, and that sensation of seeing a figure from the corner of your eye. As Alex turned to the mirror he was surprised not by his own reflection, but by that of a rather pale boy with dark hair and bright blue eyes. He smirked back at Alex and then, within the time of an eye blink, he was gone again.. And all Alex was staring at was himself. It seemed to be an illusion only, and yet it had been so vivid. The boy in the mirror, there was no questioning who it was. It was Nigel.

Alex:

My feet shoved over the ground as I stumbled through the hotel room. I couldn't remind me a thing of the things that happened yesterday, or the day before that one. I didn't know the meaning about visiting Paris. It was like I had light effects of amnesia.

My shoulders were lowered as I investigated every corner of the room. There was nothing that could explain me some about my visit. No note, no letter. Nothing. Only old typical French furniture like the Rivera Manson style.

As I passed an old big mirror, I looked at my own weak attitude. I looked skinny and exhausted. But then, it was something other that caught my eye. It was a boy. Pale, skinny and shorter than me, standing behind me as he stared at me with his bright blue eyes, his hair covering some of their parts. The boy smirked, what made me feel dizzy for a moment. My mind was vague. I wasn't able to recognize the boy immediately. Only when I blinked and realized the appearance was suddenly gone, I noticed who it was. It had to be. He could be the only one... It was Nigel.

I opposite my leg and tilted my head, swallowing as I waited for the appearance to come back. But he didn't. Of course he didn't.

'And look where he is now...' I mumbled to myself, pointing out at the French furniture around me. This was the place where I was about to start my new life.