Unchained

Chapter Thirty Five

To be honest, I missed shopping with my mom.

When I wandered the aisles of the clothe store, I wasn't sure what to get. What dresses to try on. Or what size to wear, for that matter. It took me a good hour to find the right size, and another half an hour to find the right dress.

Sean breezed through the doors, taking off his sunglasses and looking around for me. When he saw me holding the dress up to my body in front of a mirror, he grinned and headed over to me. "Whatcha find?" he asked, and his eyes dropped down to the dress.

"I know, it took forever," I said. "But this one is perfect! Right?"

Sean stared at it. "It's... So..." he let out a breath and looked at me. "Avaley, can I be honest with you?"

Please, by all means do. "Of course."

"The reason I want to take you to my prom is not because, well, I want to be romantic or anything, because that would be weird." What? "The reason I wanted to take you is because I want to be open with you, Avaley. I want to be a good friend, and since you're going through a tough phase right now I just want to treat you, you know? And plus, my friends are literally killing me to get me to introduce you to them, so that's a plus." he grinned sheepishly. "And with that, let me just say that that dress is completely horrid."

"What?" I squeaked.

And then he burst out laughing. "I'm joking, Avaley!" he said. "That dress is drop dead gorgeous. I'm sure you'll look great in it. Now, are you ready to go?"

I let out a breath. "Yup."

I paid for the dress (I'm sorry, I can't disclose the price... My mom might be lurking around, who knows? Hi, mom) and then Sean and I went to a nearby juice shop for a quick refreshment. As we stood in line, I couldn't help but feel bad over what Sean said. Okay, so he basically just told me he was taking me to his prom not because he was in love with me, but because he felt bad for me. And that made me feel really pathetic, let me just tell you straight up. That's nice that he feels bad for me, but why does he have to take me to his prom? Not that I care - a prom, beautiful gowns and a dude like Sean in a tux? Count me in!

"I hope you're okay with this," Sean said, as we moved up a few inches. "I mean, I know it may seem kind of odd, but I couldn't think of anything fun to do with you... That was also sheep." I laughed. Well, it only seemed right. He was saving up for future use of his money, so why spend it on his little tutor like me? I still didn't get why he insisted on hanging out with me. I wasn't even that cool. 

"It's totally fine," I said. "In fact, I was kind of hoping that - "

A loud shatter behind me made me stop cold. A female scream shrieked through the air and Sean and I turned to see a man who had shattered a case full of prizes for a sweepstake drawing that was going on. I watched as he stuffed the electronics into a bag and another man pulled out a gun at the young cashier.

"Give us all the cash in there, pronto!" he roared angrily, and waved the gun at all of the customers. "Nobody moves or bullets will be flyin'!"

Sean grabbed my hand, strangely, and I felt his body stiffen. But I totally kept my cools. I mean, come on. I had super powers. These two men were nothing. I could stop them with my...

Whoah, whoah, wait. I had powers, right? I could stop these men. Whoah.

The cashier didn't seem intent on giving the man any money. He began to stutter. "I... I... We... We... We'll c-call the p-p-police." he stammered.

The man waved the gun around. "Yeah, sure, now the money!" and he pointed the gun at the cashier, who began to rifle through the cash register.

A woman next to me dropped her cellphone on the ground.

"Watch it, missy!" the man with the gun barked and fired off a round. We all screamed but the bullet went through the ceiling, and the woman sobbed loudly into her drink. The man glared at all of us. "Like I said, don't try anything or more bullets go flying!"

I started to inch towards the man rooting through the electronics.

"Avaley," Sean whispered harshly. "What are you doing?"

"Shh!" I hissed back, but it was too loud. That caught the attention of the man with the gun, who looked at me.

"What do we have here?" he asked loudly, taking a step towards me. "Back in line, little girl!" he pointed the gun at me.

I stayed where I was.

"I said, BACK IN LINE!" he roared, waving the gun around.

I felt myself smile. "No."

"Avaley," Sean said in a pleading voice. "Do what he says."

"Yeah, listen to your brother," the man sneered. "He knows best." That did it.

I jumped forward and slammed my fist into the man's face. I took a step back as he roared in anger. "What the?" he cried, his nose bleeding. He glared at me and pointed the gun at me. "All right, bullets a-flyin'!" he roared and before I could think, WAIT, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DODGE FREAKING BULLETS WHAT DO I DO he fired.

It was a loud noise.

I watched as the bullet barreled towards me, and watched people's mouths around me drop open. I wanted to move but my feet stayed planted where they were, as if standing there was where I should be. But then someone yelled in my ear, "MOVE!" and it was Sean, and I saw him moving towards me but then I saw something else.

The beautiful woman. The one from the hospital. With her billowing clothes to her perfect face, she was standing in front of me, smiling. I wanted to smile too, but I was frozen in the moment.

"You won't die, Avaley," she said in a soothing voice, and then...

I was back in the present.

And I threw myself to the right, just as the bullet whizzed past me and smashed into the wall. As I regained my senses, the man fired the gun again - and this time, I dodged it again, and it went flying into the trashcan. Everyone around me gasped as the man did, too. 

Sean took this time to attack the man. He threw himself at him, but the man was too strong for Sean and shoved him to the ground. "Say goodbye, boy!" he roared and pointed the gun at Sean. Sean, Sean, that Sean.

"NO!" I found myself screaming. I couldn't let Sean die.

I held out my hand.

And the gun flew into it.

Sean and the man both looked at me, and I had to react quickly. Prom or no prom, that didn't matter. 

I ran towards the man who had the gun and barreled my fist into his face. Down he went and I charged for the other man who was trying to run away with the stolen electronics. He was closing in on the door so I grabbed the nearest chair my hand could reach and threw it at him

... And with a loud clang, it hit his head and down he went.

I heard police sirens nearing.

I looked at Sean, who was staring at me, his mouth gaping open, and then I didn't know what I had to do. Should I escape? Or stick around, and hope that maybe Sean and I would make it on time?

No, I couldn't. This was no place for me to be.

And with that, I turned and fled the scene. 

Looks like it was no prom for me.