All I Want (Chapters 1 - 11)

Subtly is a necessity for the innocence of everyone involved. But she is pushed to a line, and everything begins falling apart. The truth isn't such a pleasant thing here.

CHAPTER 1: The Secrets of a Teenage Girl

 

She had a perfect hourglass figure, seemingly varnished dark skin, and an angelic voice. It was almost too fitting that her name was Beyoncé; and that was her real name too. Being the new girl, Heather quickly learned of the admiration and sometimes envy that surrounded “Bee” on a regular basis. She was the girl every girl in Grey Mountain High wanted to be, and if that didn't fuel Beyoncé’s ego, what did?

Heather boldly sat in the empty seat next to her and for a second couldn't stop staring at Beyoncé’s long curvy legs. 'I swear to God I don't know what Lily sees in you,' Beyoncé was saying without even glancing Heather's way, 'what is it with you two, anyway?'

'That's between me and her, Beyoncé,' Heather replied, trying to sound as cool and collected as Beyoncé did.

'I'm about to hand an ambassador's underage daughter a pass into an adult's club, I might as well know what I'm getting myself into.'

'Trust me, Bee, you'd rather not know.'

'Yeah, whatever,' she said, handing a thick gold-plated square to Heather, and then leaving the auditorium. Heather watched her go before turning her attention to the play rehearsals before her; Hamlet or something. As she stared at the VIP card in her hand, she lamented her decision to help Lily out. Still, even though this is what it took to get what she wanted, she would do it in a heartbeat.

 

As soon as darkness fell in the town of Bethany, Heather, as always, managed to sneak out of the Mexican embassy residence and make her way to Lilacc; perhaps the most teenage infested over twenty one club in the world. As became somewhat customary, she turned a multitude of heads, and she thrived in the attention, but was careful not to make anything of it. Of all the illegal things Heather did, soliciting with an adult wasn't something she was willing to add to her repertoire

'It's about time,' Lily said when Heather came over to one of the more secluded booths. The club was dimly lit, as all clubs are, and thanks to the dark colored lights, it was impossible to make out exactly what color dress Lily was in. all Heather noticed was that it was rather glittery and very short; it was probably meant to be a dress-top.

'I swear to God, Lily, if you are messing with me...' Heather began before she was cut short. 'Don't worry, Heather,' Lily was saying, 'I will get you in.'

'You better,' Heather replied, and for the first time Lily actually felt threatened by her.

'Whatever,' Lily said, trying to sound like she wasn't at all intimidated by her, 'just give me the stuff.'

The next few seconds were tense and felt almost silent, even though the music was blasting through the walls. Both sets of eyes were intensely locked on each other during that time, and not for the first time, Lily was dying to tell Heather how pretty her eyes were. Slowly, Heather reached into the alligator-skin purse and pulled out a small white box, which she handed to Lily. The latter didn't glance at it for more than a split second prior to stuffing it into a large white purse and walking away without another word.

Even though she was doing the exact same thing, Heather couldn't help but feel a little used. As she watched Lily's back disappear into the crowd, something heavy and warm landed abruptly onto her shoulder. 'Ma'am,' the soothingly deep voice came, 'may I see your ID?'

Heather froze, but also wanted to laugh. A bouncer had come for her and there were about a thousand other underage kids here? Then, it hit her that this wasn't a bouncer. That voice was too familiar and too awesome to be some random bouncer's. Now she did smile, and she turned around saying, 'You know you almost sounded convincing there?'

Dennis smiled back, revealing an almost perfect set of teeth, and Heather felt her soul melting. This here; Dennis Crawly, was the perfect example of her dream-man. He had everything she wanted: good looking, funny, charismatic, and on top of that, he was the most humble guy she had ever met. The only problem was that every other girl in school thought the exact thing Heather did about Dennis, and they wanted him as much as she did, if not more.

Then he said, 'Have you seen Lily?' and that absolutely killed her spirit. Her smile dropped and her soul froze again. Yes, one more aspect she didn't like about him was that he was taken. 'No,' she replied almost convincingly, and then smiled again. 'It's a school-night, why are you here?' she added.

'I could ask you the same thing.'

'Touché,' she replied, and began brushing past him. Suddenly, Heather felt Dennis' warm grasp around her arm and she submissively turned around, meeting his gaze. Now not only was her soul melting, but everything else as well, but she was always very good at masking her real emotions. She fought hard but ultimately was able to hold back a smile.

But, to her disappointment, Dennis was not about to relieve her of her urges. 'The guys will warm up to you, don't fret about it,' he said.

Up until then, she had forgotten everything about her “miserable” life in this new town. She was fitting in well with everybody except the people she wanted to fit in with. Heather had this thing about her that she hated dearly, but also somehow loved it. All her life, wherever she went, she was always a member of the so-called “cool kids”, and she got so used to it that she constantly craved more and more popularity. Unfortunately for her, in Bethany; and particularly Grey Mountain High, the cool kids weren't exactly the most popular. As a matter of fact, the kids that considered themselves “cool” were actually the least popular; simply because they had planet-sized egos.

So far, Heather was proving to be an exception to the rule. All the guys in school loved her because she was unbelievably pretty, and the girls liked her but no one knew why. Everyone enjoyed her company except Dennis' friends. Dennis was something of a friend, Lily just used her, Beyoncé and her best friend, Athena, hated her, and Chris and John were almost non-existent in her life.

'I'm not,' she lied, 'I'm fine.'

'Even after last Saturday night?'

'Especially after last Saturday night.'

'Okay,' he said, letting go of her, 'see you tomorrow, then.'

'Yeah,' she smiled back and then left the club.

 

The door creaked open really slowly, and through a tiny crack, Lily crept into the house. She had just shut the door and locked it in pin-drop silence when the light suddenly came on with a soft click. There, at the foot of the staircase, was her mother in pajamas; fuming. 'Where the hell were you?' she demanded, arms folded by her chest and her scowl rather intimidating.

'Out,' Lily said boldly, but she immediately regretted her choice of words. She had just walked away from the door and was now inching closer and closer to her mother with the intention of brushing past her and heading to her room. Almost like Lily had expected it, her mother dished out an ear-splitting slap that was sure to leave a bruise on her cheek for the next week or so.

'Watch your tongue with me, young lady!' she shouted with another slap to her daughter's cheek.

Lily's face burned and she could feel the tears streaming from her eyes and meet her skin like water in a hot pan. As always, she fought hard not to let loose some profanity at her mother, and she fought even harder not to cry. This was a woman who took advantage of weakness in anyone.

'What's in the bag?' her mother demanded.

'Nothing,' Lily said as she tried equalizing the pain in her cheek with her palm. Her mother grabbed the handbag and stretched it open; almost like she wanted to tear it at the seams. When she fished inside, all she saw were books and stationary, a phone and the box Heather handed Lily. Lily knew her mother wouldn't bother looking inside it because it was marked in bold: O.B. She threw the bag back at Lily saying, 'To your room, young lady! This conversation will continue tomorrow.'

Lily held the bag tight and climbed the stairs and slammed the door to her room, locking it. As she threw herself on the bed, she finally let her tears out, but only for a few seconds. She wasn't worried about tomorrow because she knew her mother would either be too drunk or missing-in-action to punish or hit her some more. And, knowing what was coming next, she emptied the contents of her bag onto the bed, opened the box, took out all five white pills that were in it, and tossed them into her mouth.

Deep inside her underwear drawer was a bottles of Jack Daniels. With the pills still weighing on her tongue, Lily took out the bottle and took a long hard gulp, placed it back in its place, then threw herself onto the bed. A few seconds later she was hit with a terrible migraine, nausea, blurred vision, and finally she passed out.

 

In the unheard of hours of the night, while Lily was still knocked out cold, there was a click on her bedroom door. Sure enough, it was unlocked, and in came a slight draft. The draft disappeared suddenly as the door shut again and locked.

From far away in her induced slumber, Lily could vaguely smell cigarette smoke and peppermint and all sorts of alcohol. Gradually the smell grew stronger and stronger, and a slight rough warmness brushed over her skin. Still somewhat unconscious, Lily felt her body get colder and colder from the bust down.

When she awoke she would find herself naked, battered and bruised in a locked bedroom. The drugs and alcohol became the only way she could take being raped every other night by her mother's alcoholic and junkie boyfriend. When morning came she would feel everything, and smell and taste that horrible man all over her, but thanks to the drugs, she would at least not recall the event. She would cry as she washed herself thoroughly in the shower, applied as much make-up as she possibly could, and wore clothes that would cover up her bruised body.

Maybe one day she would wake up and all this would just be one long nightmare.

 

CHAPTER 2: End of the Dream

 

Why she didn’t just say something, she wondered each day. Lily knew that she could just speak the cops and al this would be gone. Hell, why didn’t she speak to her mother about it? Kara Kelly may have been a drunk and a failed excuse for a mother, but she was the only mother Lily had, so why didn’t she tell her of her abuser? But, after wondering the same thing every day, the apparently obvious answer would hit her. Not only was Kara the most unreliable person in the world, Don had so much dirt on Lily that the latter had no choice but to shut up. One piece of information that would start an undesirable chain of events was the fact that Lily was a junkie.

Well, she wasn’t a junkie of her own choosing; it was the only way she could live with herself given the family life she was thrown into. Had Don decided to tell the authorities that Lily was an abuser, word would have got out that Heather Cruz was her supplier, and among other things, that would have tarnished the name of the Mexican ambassador. So, out of what she considered common sense, Lily kept quiet, came down for breakfast like nothing had happened, and since her stoned mother and her psychotic boyfriend were nowhere to be seen, she rushed out of the door with nothing more than an apple.

In school all everyone saw was this pretty girl, who was mostly rather quiet, girlfriend to the most charming guy in the world, and who had equally amazing friends. Even her supposed closest friends knew nothing of the secrets Lily had, and she was determined to keep it that way.

As soon as she spotted Dennis in the hallway, she put on that ever so perfect fake smile and hugged him tightly. She could have fooled even the most observant of her friends with her masking emotions and supposed happy life. Unlike all other couples in school, Dennis and Lily refrained from kissing in public. It was Lily’s idea. Dennis never really understood the explanation she gave, but anyway, only she knew the real reason why.

‘Where were you last night?’ Dennis asked, Lily’s lanky body still pressed firmly against his.

‘Oh,’ she said like it slipped her mind, ‘I’m sorry, I got caught up.’

‘With what?’

‘My mum,’ Lily replied, pulling away from her boyfriend, who decided to dismiss the topic. Dennis had never really met Kara, and wasn’t intent on doing so any time soon, since really explained that she was super-strict.

Arm in arm, Dennis and Lily began walking along the corridor to class. As they passed the multitude of students in the hallway, they attracted their fair number of eyes, but none of them were quite ogling like they would on a regular basis. As she leaned on her locker, Beyoncé watched as her two friends walked past her and Athena like they weren’t even real. Even through that, neither was willing to address that issue. When Athena was certain that Dennis and Lily were out of ear-shot, she said to Beyoncé, ‘Was it just me or does Lily look like she’s at a funeral?’

‘Oh, you know Lily,’ Beyoncé replied, unwilling to speculate too much on what she saw, ‘she’s a goth and goths always have that kind of look.’

‘I know, Bee, but sadness is sadness, and it looks the same on everyone.’

‘God, don’t you watch a lot of Lie to Me?!’ Beyoncé replied with a grin and a slam of her locker. She and Athena began heading to class when she said, ‘Lill’s fine, Athena, she always says she is anyway, doesn’t she?’

Athena thought about it, and realized that Beyoncé actually had a point. Regardless of the situation, no matter how it looked like she was suffering, Lily would always say that she was fine. So, basically, if the victim doesn’t fret about it, then Athena figured she shouldn’t bother.

 

In the auditorium, while she sat alone in the rather small audience, Heather realized that the play wasn’t Hamlet at all, but one created totally from scratch by the teacher. From what she understood, it was called Of Stone, but that was about as much as she understood about it. From the complex storyline, to the characters speaking in Ye Olde English, it was no wonder she got nothing from it. Still, watching the rehearsals beat doing some constructive work, and anyway, regardless of the language barrier, she was dying for a part in the play. If only that not-so-pretty princess just caught a nasty case of small pox or something, Heather thought…

The teacher cum writer cum director cum producer called a recess of sorts where the actors could freshen up a bit, and Heather saw this as her chance of sneaking into the play. Backstage was just as hectic as onstage, but at least here there were no rules. Still, the only reason she got in was because she was Heather Cruz, the hot new girl from Mexico. Sometimes popularity did pay off.

She was traversing and observing the landscape without much purpose when she came face to face with the sophomore playing Calantha, the supposedly beautiful princess. Heather smiled at her, trying not to judge those less blessed than she was. Well, not exactly. She was pretty, with impossibly black hair, incredibly long legs, and chocolaty, tender and oiled skin. In many ways, she was a Beyoncé-lite, Heather thought. ‘Hi,’ she said kindly, ‘I’m Heather.’

‘Christina,’ the girl replied with a smile. Of course she knew her name. There were few in the school that didn’t. ‘Are you in the play?’ she continued.

Heather shook her head no. ‘I wish,’ she said, ‘I’m not so good with English as it is, but the one used in the play… seriously, whose idea was that?’

‘Who do you think, Heather?’ Christina asked, reaching for a bottle of water that was on a counter adjacent to Heather. ‘You want to be in the play?’

‘Isn’t it too late for auditioning?’

‘It’s never too late, sweetheart,’ Christina said through gulps of cool quenching water. ‘This play is the caliber of something from Broadway or Hollywood. It’s really tough but those of us that are determined will get through it.’

‘Those of you that are determined?’

‘Yeah,’ there are people quitting every day. Some parts just get too hard for them.

‘Any princesses that have quit recently?’ asked Heather slightly cunningly.

‘Sorry, only one princess and I am not quitting any time soon.’ It did not show but Heather felt a hint of disappointment run across her body. She loved a fight, but starting one now with Christina for the part of Calantha was pointless, considering the fact that the play was in a couple of weeks, and there just wasn’t enough time to fight it out. ‘You know there’s tons of rumors about you flying all over school,’ Christina continued, ‘But one that people can’t seem to grasp is why a Latin girl is called Heather and not Maria or Soledad.’

‘You know, Christina, I ask myself the same question every day,’ Heather mused. ‘Seriously, though, I’m not fully Mexican. My mother is American, that’s why you see my gorgeous gold locks.’

‘Can you sing?’

‘Talk about a change of topic…’

Christina smiled as she gulped some more water. ‘Yeah, because if you can, there may be a part for you in the play.’

‘What is this, a musical or something?’

‘Or something.’ Christina took her hand and led her to the other side of the backstage area where five dark haired guys were fixing up guitars and guzzling bottles and bottles of water. ‘These are the guys doing all the music in the play, Heather, and they are looking for a female voice to add to their angelic boyish ones. Can you do that?’

‘You want me to sing?’ she asked, almost in disbelief.

‘You want a part in the play, don’t you?’

The guys had stopped what they were doing and were now looking at their leading actor and Heather but mostly the latter. ‘Guys,’ Christina turned to the band and said, ‘I trust you’ve heard of Heather Cruz. She wants a part in the play and you guys have a great spot open, don’t you?’

What Heather assumed was the lead vocalist, a tall buff guy with long spiky hair, face piercings and eyeliner stood up and shook her hand; an action she figured he did just to touch her. ‘Can you sing?’ he asked, almost as if he was emphasizing Christina’s question. Heather found herself staring into his mysterious dark eyes, and almost losing herself in them.

‘Heather?’ the boy said, snapping her back to reality.

‘Yeah,’ she smiled at him, ‘I can sing.’

‘How good are you?’

‘I’m the best damn thing,’ she replied, still staring into his eyes.

 

It was dark and as usual, she wasn’t able to see a thing. As had become customary, the clicking sound came, followed by a smooth draft, and then the clicking sound again. Since she had consumed all her pills last night, Lily was fully awake and could make out the dark figure inching closer and closer to her.

This time, however, she could smell his stench of alcohol and nicotine from a mile away. Her blood pumped faster through her body, but only because she was scared. She was seated on the bed with her legs pressed together and her eyes half shut. The next thing she knew, Don had jerked her at the shoulder and she fell to her back on the bed.

Even in the dark, she knew she was exactly what part of him was directly before her eyes, but it didn’t take long before she shut them so that all she saw was complete darkness.

He hit her, pulled her hair, pressed her hard onto the mattress and choked her. Lily was fully conscious and she felt every single bit of it, and she cried in distress. Her efforts to fight him off were futile at best, and they were even less when he finally got around to forcing himself on her.

To his surprise, a single slap to his face was enough to push him away if only slightly, and then she got to her feet and began dashing to the door. Lily hadn’t moved an inch from the foot of the bed when Don’s rough hand clamped her forearm and drew her back. When she turned around, she was met by a scalding slap, to which Lily let out a loud scream.

Suddenly the light came on, shining brightly in her eyes, but she didn’t care. Finally, cavalry. Whether it was the police, the neighbor or just her mother didn’t matter, Don had been caught in the act, and this would be the end of her torture.

But, a familiar voice came, ‘Lily, are you okay?’

When Lily looked up, she noticed that what had come to her rescue wasn’t really any rescue at all. The Chem. teacher looked startled by her scream, as did the rest of the class. She looked up at the teacher, hand over her nose and mouth, and she began crying. Her nightmare was to continue.

 

Chapter 3: The Untold Story

 

Dennis and the gang had somehow managed to sneak their way into the invitation list for the play’s casts’ camping trip that weekend. Lily’s excuse was that she needed to get away but she never told anyone exactly why. Heather was part of the play now, and as for Dennis, Chris, John, Beyoncé and Athena, they just wanted something fun to do in the weekend.

Rain Island wasn’t exactly an island, but somewhat of a large secluded field in the middle of nowhere. Anyone who knew anything about camping knew this place, and knew how remarkably cheap it was, so basically the whole school could have scrounged a lift if they wanted.

As soon as they arrived, Beyoncé, Athena and Lily managed to secure a cabin, but since it was four per, they reluctantly accepted Heather. Well, Lily was somewhat pleased, but then again, no one really knew what on earth actually pleased her.

They had been at the site for just under an hour when the teacher decided they should all go out and traverse the neighboring forest. It wasn’t dark yet, but the sun wasn’t exactly out. At first Dennis and his posse were together in their first forays of the forest but they decided to split up, with Dennis and Lily predictably walking hand in hand.

When he was sure they had wandered far enough from the company, Dennis said to his girlfriend, ‘I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but you seem a bit… off the pace lately.’

‘Off the pace?’ she managed to smile. ‘What does that even mean?’

‘Honestly, I have no idea but it sounds cool. Seriously though, Lill, are you okay, because of late it doesn't look like you are.’

‘I’m fine, Dennis,’ she replied far from convincingly, and then left it at that.

Usually Dennis wouldn’t question her when she said she was fine but this time he didn’t seem very sure that she was actually fine. Actually, he knew half the time she said she was fine she was lying, but decided to do nothing. ‘Remember the time you fell asleep in class and woke up screaming?’

‘Dennis, why do you have to bring that up?’ she asked. This camp was supposed to help her forget the pains of her daily life, and here Dennis was, bringing up the secretly forbidden topic. ‘Haven’t we already talked about this?’

‘We did talk about it, Lily, and guess what you said: “I’m fine, Dennis, I just felt something running up my leg.”’

‘I did…’

‘Bullshit!’

Silence. They had stopped walking and their fingers untangled with Lily staring up at her boyfriend in shock. She had no idea he had this side to him; the side that would actually call her a liar to her face and hold his stance. And here she thought her boyfriend was spineless.

Folding her arms, Lily looked forward and continued trekking. Dennis quickly followed her with an apology but she dismissed it. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘I’m actually glad you said it.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah.’ She stopped again and gazed into his eyes. From time to time she would look away and back, but Lily knew she needed to talk to someone, and who better than they boy she supposedly loved? ‘I haven’t been entirely honest with you,’ Lily admitted.

Dennis took her hands, squeezing them slightly and reassuringly but didn’t say a thing. This was one of those times where he would just stare back at her and wait for her to speak. A tear began forming at the corner of her eye which Dennis quickly wiped away. ‘It’s okay, Lily,’ he said, ‘you can tell me anything.’

                          

It was too dark, dusty and gothic for Heather’s liking but judging by the guys that surrounded her, this was “homely”. At night this little abandoned cabin could probably pass for haunted, but she figured the band members would actually enjoy that.

‘She said she doesn’t want it, man, come on!’  The band leader suddenly said to one of the guys. They had told Heather their names twice before and she forgot, and she didn’t want to ask a third time. For a second there, as she marveled at this tomb-like structure, she had forgotten why they were actually there in the first place.

In addition to the dust and darkness, the air was stained with thick smoke that looked kind of cool, but was just as illegal. Heather had never had a joint before and even she was surprised by this, but she had a limit as to what she would poison herself with, and weed was just about it.

Slowly, she got to her feet and excused herself from the cabin. She wouldn’t go too far, though, just the patio. The forest was dark but from between the many trees ahead of her Heather could see the horizon. The sun had just gone down, the dark clouds were only just visible, and the air reeked of burning grass and twigs.

Something moved on her hip, or so she thought. Heather took out her phone but there was nothing on the home screen but the wallpaper and the time. It had been more than an hour… it had been more than three hours and Lily hadn’t got back to her yet. It was one of the more uncharacteristic things about Lily, but Heather was in no hurry to give her drugs. At least not when Lily was not living up to her end of the bargain anyway.

As she prepared to walk away from the wannabe punk rockers, the cabin door behind her swung open and out came the very tall and very good looking band leader. ‘Hey Heather,’ he said, like they had just met.

‘Hey… you…?’Heather replied awkwardly.

The boy smiled as he inched closer to her. ‘Forgotten my name already?’

‘I didn’t say that,’ she replied. ‘I just… I can’t… yeah, I’ve forgotten, but it’s not my fault, I’m not very good with names…’

‘It’s okay, Heather. My name’s Dan. I thought that would be an easy name to remember.’

‘It’s not the name,’ she admitted, ‘I guess my mind just tells me who to remember and who not to.’

‘Ouch.’

‘No, sorry, it’s not like that.’ Dan replied with nothing but a smile and Heather dismissed the topic altogether. 'Are you and your friends always like this?’ she asked. ‘Do you always look for some secluded place so you can do drugs?’

Dan chuckled, glancing back at the very foggy cabin behind them. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Believe it or not, I’m straight edge.’

‘No you’re not,’ Heather said.

‘Why do you think so? Because my friends drink and smoke?’

‘People tend to attract the same kind of people they are.’

‘That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?’ he asked. However, before Heather could answer, her pocket buzzed again. She took out the phone and saw Lily’s smiling face. ‘Hey,’ she said into it, excusing herself from Dan.

‘Heather,’ a somewhat distressed voice said, ‘where the hell are you?’

‘Calm down, Lily, you’re the one who didn’t call.’ Heather replied hotly.

‘Well I’m calling now, and I need your help.’

At first she just figured this was the way Lily sounded, but after giving it some thought, Heather realized that there was actually some genuine sadness in Lily’s voice. She could almost picture her crying. ‘I’m kind of in the middle of nowhere… twenty minutes?’

‘Hurry,’ Lily said, and then hang up. Heather turned around and was almost surprised to see Dan staring back at her. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked. Since she didn’t have to explain anything to him, Heather shook her head and told him that she needed to head back to camp. Dan quickly obliged, calling up his boys and leaving the smoke infested cabin.

 

The moon had barely risen when Heather and the band were back at the campsite. Dinner was in the works, so Heather decided she had time to excuse herself from the rest of the party and go meet Lily.

Before she walked away to her cabin, Dan took her hand and held it for a second. The action felt a little too intimate for Heather, so she pulled away quickly. However, as she did so, she noticed he had handed her a piece of parchment. She didn’t read it, though. All she did was smile, pocket it and head away to her cabin.

Heather’s fingers had barely touched the aluminum door-knob when she heard her name in a whisper. The call came from the other side of the log cabin, and when she looked over, she saw Lily; crouched next to the wall and even through the darkness Heather could see the sadness in her eyes. Unfortunately for Lily, this was always the expression on her face, so Heather wasn’t about to take any pity on her.

Sneaking to the back of the cabin like she was about to smoke something contraband, she whispered to Lily, ‘What the hell is going on?’

Lily pulled Heather to herself, away from anyone’s vantage point and then quickly shifted to the side. Now Heather noticed the melancholy in her eyes was real. Tears balanced perilously on the lower lids, her lower lip was shaking like a lose leaf in a twister, and she was sniffing like she had just inhaled coke. Heather, now somewhat worried, said, ‘Lily is everything okay?’

‘No, goddammit!’ Lily snapped back, ‘Does everything look okay to you?’

‘Oh, so you called me here to scold me for something I haven’t done?’

‘No, I’m sorry,’ she replied, drying the tears that had begun falling. She swallowed hard then turned to Heather looking even worse than before. ‘I told him,’ Lily said. ‘I told Dennis the truth.’

‘Which is?’ Heather asked, scared that her identity as a drug dealer was about to be revealed.

‘Well, it wasn’t exactly the truth, but it’s as close to it as I can actually tell someone.’

‘Are you going to fill me in, or…?’

‘I told him that I have been overdosing on prescription pills,’ Lily replied.

Well, like she said, it wasn’t the truth, but it wasn’t too close to a lie either. Heather cursed under her breath and almost slapped Lily, but she noticed, due to all the crying, her makeup had ran out, revealing nasty bruises on her cheeks. At first Heather thought her skin was sore from too much crying and drying, but the marks on them were too distinct to miss. On one cheek there was even a huge bruise in the shape of a palm.

‘Did he hit you?’ Heather asked, afraid of what the answer may be. Either way, it was going to be an answer she didn’t like, but she had to know nonetheless.

Somewhat encouragingly, Lily shook her head, but then Heather had to ask why she was crying. Again Lily swallowed hard and met Heather’s gaze with her incredibly lachrymose eyes.

‘What did Dennis do?’

‘No, this has nothing to do with Dennis,’ Lily replied, ‘at least not anymore.’

‘Then what, Lily?’

Lily gazed at Heather some more, wondering whether she was about to do the right thing. But she had called her over to explain something that was clearly bothering her. Brazenly, she took a breath and opened her mouth to speak, but just before she could say anything, a tall hourglass figure waltzed into the scene, inadvertently forming a crowd at the back of the cabin. Lily quickly shut her mouth, shooting Beyoncé a menacing glare.

She almost shouted, “What do you want?!” but Beyoncé spoke first. ‘What are you two doing all the way out here?’ she asked.

‘What is it, Beyoncé?’ Lily now asked.

‘Looks like the camp fire and marshmallows are on,’ she joked, ‘how about you two lovebirds join the rest of us for dinner?’

Beyoncé was all smiles, but Lily and Heather were far from it. As Heather began walking away, she stared at Lily and could almost read her mind. “I need to talk to you,” Heather figured Lily was thinking, but she walked away nonetheless, somewhat wondering what was really going on.

 

CHAPTER 4: Whispering in the Dark

 

‘I thought you’d never show,’ Dan said as he brought Heather to himself and handed her his big leather jacket. It was chilly and windy and really dark, except for what camp fire that was left, still burning and smoking up the last of the firewood.

She took the jacket a bit too willingly and covered herself, though she wasn’t even that cold. It was approaching three a.m., but it didn’t look any different from three hours ago. ‘You mind telling me why I had to set an alarm for a camping trip, Danny?’ she asked in between yawns. Dan smiled when she yawned. Something about her yawn reminded him of a two month old baby, and if that wasn’t cute, he didn’t know what was.

‘I like to keep a close eye on my band members,’ he replied coolly.

‘Oh so you call the rest of the guys out at three in the morning and give them cool leather jackets?’ she teased.

‘You think my jacket is cool?’

‘I’m sure it’s had its moments.’

Dan chuckled, glancing at her eyes and away over and over again. They were pretty eyes; impossibly white with light grey irises that seemed to glow by themselves, even in the little present moonlight. ‘You have amazing eyes, you know that?’ he said, now rather sincere.

‘Aaw,’ Heather cried with a smile, ‘I’m sure you tell that to all your band members.’

‘Wow, Heather, do all the guys that date you have to work so hard to get you serious for a second?’

‘So this is a date?’

‘Well, given the fact that we are on some remote Lost-like island, and you agreed to meet up, it pretty much measures up as a date, yeah.’

‘You really worked this out, didn’t you?’

‘I work everything out.’

‘I like the sound of that,’ she mused. ‘So where are we going on this… er… date?’

‘Oh, you’ll see,’ Dan replied. ‘Let’s just hope you can stay awake.’

 

There was against-the-rules but ultimately welcome guest in Dennis’ cabin. His was the only cabin that housed only three people, but at the moment, it matched up to all the others. The guest was not too tall nor was she very short. For a teenage girl, she was just right; with the correct measurements, beauty, hair, ego… everything.

However, she wasn’t Dennis’ or Chris’ visitor. John didn’t consider her a visitor but necessary company. Twice Dennis and Chris had left the cabin and returned and on the third time, they were actually relieved that Athena had finally fallen asleep. The problem was that she was out in john’s bed and if the teacher found them the next morning… well, she couldn’t afford to get caught.

But, neither Dennis nor Chris wanted to say anything. The thought of their friends getting caught was an attractive prospect, especially considering none of them ever got caught doing anything. Chris nudged Dennis and suggested they leave the cabin. Maybe the lovebirds would get up and interrupt their sleep again.

‘Where do you suggest we go?’ Dennis asked.

‘I know a cabin with an extra bed,’ Chris said.

‘You’re talking about Athena’s cabin, aren’t you?’ Dennis laughed, looking at Chris like he was crazy. ‘And just who is going to get the bed?’

‘Well, you’re the one with the girlfriend in there, so I guess you’ll have to share.’

‘You go if you like,’ he said. The mention of a girlfriend (Lily) reminded him of the conversation he had with her earlier. Suddenly the amusement in his voice disappeared and he unconsciously sneered. When Lily told him that she popped pills, his first instinct was surprise, but when she asked him to say something, he said nothing. Up to now he had nothing to say. What could he say?

He looked at the time; a little under three thirty. Would it be weird if he woke her to tell her that he was sorry for blowing her off and that he wanted to help her? It certainly wouldn’t help if he waited till morning, and waking her in the middle of the night for an apology wasn’t too good either.

‘Are you serious bro?’ he heard Chris saying. He turned to him and for a moment forgot what was going on, but it came back to him soon enough.

‘Yeah,’ Dennis replied. ‘I’m staying.’

 

They were strolling seemingly aimlessly along the borders of the campsite and the outskirts of the forest. The cold had finally got to Heather, who had closed in on Dan so much it was a wonder she kept walking.

‘It must be fun being an ambassador’s kid, huh?’ Dan was asking.

‘No its not,’ Heather admitted. ‘I hate it when I have to dress up for some pointless dinner, or when I have to meet some random dignitaries like I have anything to do with peace treaties or stuff like that… I just want to live a normal life and that is exactly what I can’t get.’

‘Your life seems pretty normal to me,’ Dan noted, glancing at her from head to toe, like her life story was written all over her body.

‘When I’m not in school or with friends from school I have to be this conservative girl that always wears an expensive dress, says “Daddy” every now and then, smiles at everyone… I really hate it.’

‘I always thought it’d be fun, you know? Getting everything you want, meeting big guns like the president… you know, that kind of thing.’

‘It’s not fun, Danny, trust me.’

He chuckled but this time refrained from glancing at her. ‘You’ve really insisted that my name’s Danny, isn’t it?’

‘Well, you’ve insisted that we’re out on a date,’ Heather retorted, ‘and so far it isn’t living up to its build up.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘When does the fun begin?’

Dan stopped, glancing at her for a few moments, clearly taken by her beauty but strangely enough it was her personality that actually captivated him. He was even convinced that she may have been a troll and he would still have crushed on her. Slowly, he whipped out a black bandana from his pocket, and, dangling it in her face said, ‘Guess what?’

‘What is that for?!’ Heather asked with an intrigued smile on her face. Dan only smiled back, telling her to stand still. He then walked over to her back and gently, tied the bandana somewhat loosely over her eyes. ‘Oh my God, what are you doing, Danny?’

‘Having fun, Heather, what does it look like?’

‘Well, I don’t know exactly what it looks like…’

He came to her front and put a finger to her lip while she was still rumbling. Instinctively, she shut up. Still, she couldn’t help but imagine what was coming next, so she felt the need to whisper, ‘I don’t think we’re allowed to do this.’

‘Don’t over think things, Heather,’ Dan said. ‘Now, whatever you do, do not peek.’

She smiled and promised not to peek, although she was dying to do so more than anything now. The thought of being in the dark, not knowing exactly what he was doing intrigued her. As she considered the possibilities, time went on, and she didn’t even realize that she was walking. Dan was holding her hand and leading her slowly through what she assumed was the forest. This place freaked her out, but since she knew she was with someone she so suddenly trusted, she didn’t care.

As they walked they kept whispering things to each other, although Heather would later admit that she missed half the things Dan said to her.

Finally they stopped.  The wind blew a little more and a little colder here than anywhere else. Yet, even with that, it seemed a friendlier place to be in. The air felt lighter, scented with all types of flora. It tickled her skin, played with her hair; almost like Dan was making it happen.

Suddenly, yet gently, the bandana peeled off her eyes, revealing easily the most stunning landscape she had seen in her life. In the moonlight, long shadows of century-old trees were cast in a near-perfect circle around her and Dan. At first glance the spot they stood in looked like the work of Monet, but Heather chose to accept that this was reality.

All around them the tall trees stood diligently, deflecting just the correct amount of moonlight. The due on the grass reflected what little light came through, and bouncing off the due on the trees, the place seemed to have chandeliers all over. Yet, regardless of all the manipulated light, the darkness around them was still too much to go unnoticed. Something unique about that particular spot, Heather noticed, was that it seemed to have come out of a black and white film shot with I-Max cameras.

Heather absorbed the scene, but when she was finally able to control her amazement, she noticed that Dan was nowhere to be seen. She called his name, but there was no answer. Again she called but nothing.

The wind swept past her again, brushing her skin and hair softly. She closed her eyes so she could make the most of the moment. When she opened them again, Dan was right in front of her, holding a bright red rose that totally contrasted with everything around them. Her smile was wide and beautiful; gleaming in the moonlight as Heather quickly accepted the rose from Dan.

Next thing Dan knew, there was a soft sweet sensation on his lips, and his and Heather’s teeth collided, and without further ado their tongues met. Though she had initiated it, Heather totally lost control of herself and Dan was suddenly dominating the kiss. She had to admit that it felt great, and that he knew exactly what he was doing. It had been a while since she had kissed a boy, but Heather suddenly felt like it was worth the wait. If Dan was this good at making out, then she could have waited a century; and he was.

She was unaware of what she was doing when her hands met the sides of his head and her body pressed hard against his, shoving him backward. After what seemed like a whole year, Dan’s back met a tree, allowing Heather to finally accentuate the kiss. Her body grinded on his, her hands caressed him, her tongue danced on his, and she didn’t want it to ever end. But the moment was interrupted when she heard him whispering something. ‘Ssh,’ she said in between kisses.

There was silence for a microsecond and then he spoke again. ‘Stop talking, Danny,’ she said again, forcing her lips onto his and pressing hard so that he would just shut the hell up. But, as she kept coming onto him, Dan managed to push her gently away from him.

At first Heather was stunned, but then Dan told him to stay silent for a while. ‘Are you kidding me?’ she asked, the playful smile on her face long gone. This didn’t seem to be part of the date, as far as she was concerned.

‘Ssh,’ he whispered to her. ‘Did you hear something?’

‘You mean besides you talking at the worst possible time?’

‘No, I never spoke,’ Dan replied, glancing around the forest. Silence fell between them again with the moment suddenly disappearing. Only now did Heather realize how impossible it was for Dan to have spoken while she was planting kisses all over him. Indeed, when she stopped to listen, she heard them; whispers coming from a deeper part of the forest.

Quickly, she grabbed Dan’s arm, and asked to leave, but Dan was determined to find out exactly who was in the forest with them; especially this far in. slowly, they inched in the general direction of the voices. The closer they got, the less the whispers sounded like whispers and the more they sounded like sobs and cries of pain.

Finally managing to fight their way through dozens of plants, Heather and Dan got to a spot that was similar to the one they had just left, only not quite as immaculate. Heather let go of Dan’s hand when she noticed a foot with the rest of the body hidden behind the tree. Slowly, and rather frightened, she adjusted her angle so she could get a full view of the body.

Not to her surprise, though, she noticed the hair and dragon tattoo at the back of the neck. ‘Lily,’ she cried, rushing to her aid and turning her face up. However, the first thing she noticed when she did so wasn’t her face; it was something much more daunting and Heather let out a blood-curdling scream to match.

 

CHAPTER 5: I Can’t Bear To Face the Truth

 

The camping trip was abruptly cut short much to the dismay of many but Heather (and the teachers). They decided it was better to keep what they knew under wraps so as not to scare or upset the other students. Going home on such short notice was a better option than finding out what just happened.

The ambulance left and was soon followed by the school buses. Somewhere at the back, Heather sat, almost traumatized next to Dan, but that wasn’t her only company. After some time on the road Dennis asked to substitute Dan in his spot and the latter obliged despite Heather’s refusal. She knew what was coming and didn’t want to talk to Dennis; at least not before she could confirm that Lily was okay.

‘Look at me, Heather,’ Dennis insisted not for the first time. Heather glanced, but turned away quickly. She couldn’t help but feel that this was her fault; somehow. Gently, he took her chin, turning her head to his, and surprisingly, Heather didn’t disincline. ‘I know you don’t want to think about it, Heather, but if I could I would be with Lily right now. Please just tell me what happened.’

‘I don’t know what happened, d****t!’ she insisted, and realized that Dennis was only showing concern for the girl he loved. Their eyes met; his showed worry and concern, her were teary and sad. ‘I’m sorry,’ Heather said, blinking copiously, ‘I found her that way, I don’t know exactly what happened, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what happened.’

‘Exactly what is wrong with her?’

‘Honestly, Dennis, that is a question you will have to ask her yourself because for the life of me I couldn’t tell you.’

‘How do you mean?’ Dennis asked, confused. ‘I was asking why she’s in an ambulance.’

‘I know,’ she replied, ‘but the reason she’s in there extends well beyond her injuries.’

‘Mind telling me what these said injuries are, Heather, please?’ He sounded desperate and even more worried than before. Heather could tell all this, but she was content not saying anything. She wasn’t sure Lily would have wanted her to speak. Anyway, she thought, Dennis was bound to find out, so she spilled the beans rather easily.

 

Two days later Lily assumed she was ready to see people, but when she woke, she found she already had that decision made for her by the strange stocky man sitting at her bedside. Her first instinct was to ask just who the hell he was, but that explanation was given before she even opened her mouth.

‘Ah,’ the man said a little too cheery, ‘you’re awake.’

“Duh,” Lily was thinking, but she wasn’t really able to say it. She wanted to ask the man what he wanted, but he beat her to the punch. ‘I’m Kyle Walker,’ he said, stretching out a hand for her to shake, and she only grazed it lazily. ‘You and I are going to be seeing a lot of each other since I am now your shrink,’ he continued, ‘appointed by the hospital, of course.’

‘I don’t need a shrink,’ Lily found herself groaning, but Kyle Walker laughed it off.

‘Well, either that or you get thrown in a psychiatric hospital with a straight-jacket and a padded room.’

‘What makes you think I’m crazy?’ Lily asked, groaning with little more energy this time.

Kyle smiled and then sat back again, gazing at this once beautiful innocent teenage girl. ‘You’re not crazy, Lily,’ he assured her, ‘you just have a serious mental issue that needs to be addressed otherwise you will try �" and fail �" to kill yourself again.’

The words marred like hornet-stings in all the wrong areas of her body. Lily looked up at the roof, out the window, at her legs; anything not to meet Kyle Walker’s gaze. It was embarrassing enough that she tried to commit suicide, but that she failed was an even worse humiliation.

She didn’t need to hear it to know what he was thinking: why? Why kill herself; or at least try? What could have been so wrong with the life of one of the most popular teenage girls in town? Why would she want to part with the most amazing and charming boyfriend a girl could ask for? Why was it so important to die? What was so wrong with life that she knew she was better off without it? More importantly, what pushed her to finally crack and slit her wrists?

But, to her surprise and somewhat relief, none of these questions were asked. Kyle leaned forward in his seat, almost too eagerly. Then, gently, he asked, ‘Are you alright, Lily?’

“Of course not, moron!” she wanted to shoot back, but it had been a while since anyone showed any concern for her, genuine or otherwise. The look she gave him, however, confirmed what she was thinking, giving Kyle the okay to lean in even closer and gently place a palm over her wrist. At first Lily wanted to retract, but besides the pain and sudden weight the bandages provided, she felt somewhat comforted. Swallowing hard, she turned away from Kyle and began to cry again.

‘Hey,’ he said comfortingly, ‘Why don’t you talk to me about it?’

Initially Lily was reluctant, given the man next to her was a complete stranger, but then again, her close friends and kin provided her no sense of belonging whatsoever, so strangers were the best family for her. In any case, she knew this man wasn’t going to leave her be any time soon, and in that time, he would be the only person she could truly talk to. So, without looking at him, she said, ‘I went for that camping trip because I wanted to clear my mind up. I wanted to forget… everything. I wanted to just feel safe for one night in my God-forsaken life, but my naivety made me oblivious to the fact that I was only making things worse.’

 

It was the first time Heather was back in school since she saw the traumatic site of Lily bleeding horribly in the forest. As if she wasn’t shaken enough, Athena and her stooge, Beyoncé, were quick to pin as much of the blame as they possibly could on her.

‘This is your fault, b***h, you know that?’ Athena was saying as Heather struggled not to think of Lily when she grabbed her books from her locker. ‘What did you do to her?’

With an immense amount of difficulty, Heather managed to ignore her, even though she wanted to lash out as well. What she told herself, what her father would have told her, was to be the bigger person and let Athena have her fun. But this was no ordinary belittling. Athena and Beyoncé were talking about death; about murder. Why would they think she wanted Lily dead? What did Lily ever do to her?

Then, as she was pondering these questions, it occurred to her that they weren’t talking about Heather killing her, because the suicide attempt was very apparent. It could have been the drugs Heather gave her. Which of course prompted the question; did they know she was a dealer? And, with that question, came the other obvious one; how did they know?

Without a reply, Heather tried to push away from the pair, but this only served to worsen the situation. Athena grabbed her forearm and pulling her back, slammed her back into the lockers. Heather tried shoving her way past them but to no avail. ‘What did you do?’ Athena asked like Heather was supposed to come up with some kind of answer.

‘What do you want from me, Athena?’ Heather asked resignedly.

‘I want to know exactly what happened to Lily, or I swear to God…’

‘What?’ Heather demanded, ‘What do you swear to God? Are you going to slit my wrists too?’

Almost in a split second, Athena lashed at Heather, grabbing her by the throat with a surprising amount of strength. ‘Listen, b***h, you may have everyone fooled with the cute girl aspect but I can see right through you! I don’t know how everyone else can’t see that there is clearly something going on with you and Lily that is taking as much out of her as anything else.’

‘Do you realize how you sound right now, Athena?’

 The stare was long and cold and somewhat intimidating, but Heather did well to look like she was not at all worried by what Athena was saying. Still, somehow, Athena could see right through the act and since she was a self-proclaimed b***h (a fact no one ever disputed), she swung her lanky hand at lightning speed and as it collided with Heather’s face, it stung like hell, but it was worth it, she thought, since Heather was clutching her cheek and balancing tears.

Surprisingly Heather didn’t retaliate, prompting Athena to have the last laugh and leave with everyone’s eyes on her and Beyoncé. Heather fell to the floor, still holding her cheek, fighting hard not to cry. The pain was nothing, but she still wanted to cry. She had no idea why, but the despair was taking over her.

The hall cleared quickly, but Heather wasn’t about to go to class. Even though she wasn’t in the same year as Athena or her other “friends”, she still felt too uncomfortable to be around her classmates right now.

As she walked out of the bathroom, faced flushed, she noticed a sweet scent she was all too familiar with lingering in the corridor. The door to the ladies shut but Heather didn’t walk away from it. Across her she saw Dennis practically waiting for her. Their eyes met, but neither was willing to speak just yet.

Since Heather felt that she couldn’t take any more of the Lily topic, she silently began walking away from the bathroom, but I no particular direction.

‘Heather,’ Dennis’s soothing voice came from behind her. At first she was reluctant, but ultimately she turned around, and only now did he realize how lachrymose she was. Dennis inched closer to her saying, ‘I spoke to Lily.’

‘I thought she wasn’t taking any visitors,’ Heather replied, though she didn’t really care about Lily at the moment.

He shook his head, ‘Not at the hospital,’ Dennis said. ‘Long before that; at the camping trip. Do you know what she told me?’

‘No, but I’m sure you’re about to enlighten me.’

‘Prescription drugs. She told me she’s addicted to them. She said that she takes them in excess every night. She begged me to say something, but I was lost for words. I had no idea what to say. I’ve been meaning to talk to her since but whenever I go to the hospital the nurses tell me she won’t accept visitors.

‘But then I remembered when you told me that she tried to kill herself. Since then, I’ve been asking myself why Lily would want to die so badly. Over and over I quizzed myself but I could think of nothing.’

‘Why are you telling me all this, Dennis?’ Heather asked, puzzled.

Dennis came closer to her, almost looking through her eyes, and for some reason Heather could just not look away. ‘You see, Heather, I have been beating myself every day since, trying to piece together the events of Lily’s life that may or may not have pushed her to suicidal attempts and just when I thought I would get nothing, I found this.’

Heather’s eyes shifted from Dennis’ eyes to his hand. The long slender fingers were ridiculous for a boy but for once she wasn’t admiring how his body was crafted. In between his fingers was something Heather had completely disregarded throughout this whole ordeal. It was something she had not considered when she covered her bases; and what a stupid thing to forget, given it was one of the hardest things to miss. She gulped and looked back up at Dennis wishing she had just ignored him and walked on but it was too late now… time spent wishing and all…

How the hell was she going to talk her way out of this?

 

CHAPTER 6:I Have Nothing Left

 

‘Dennis, I swear…’ Heather began defensively but Dennis was quick to shush her, stating that he wasn’t done yet. Heather was scared that Dennis would find out the truth about her, and it was utterly visible.

Dennis, holding the tiny white plastic container right in front of Heather’s face said, ‘I found this in her bag. Don’t ask why I was looking through Lily’s things because, Heather, that isn’t the point. Do you have any idea what this is?’

‘Prescription pills?’ Heather said stupidly, almost jokingly in fact. This was it, then. Dennis had found the drugs she had been supplying to Lily, and, being Dennis, word that Heather was a drug dealer was sure to reach the principal’s ears. Her eyes were glued onto his like they were pleading with him to keep his damn mouth shut for the good of everyone involved.

He pocketed them again in case someone walked up to them and saw the drugs. Heather was still staring at him in silence, waiting for the bomb to explode on her. Dennis, massaging his nose bridge, backed away slightly, saying, ‘They aren’t just any prescription pills. These are antipsychotics.’

Heather’s first instinct was fear that she had been made, and that her short run was over before it had even began. But, just when she was about to own up, something hit her like a good slap from Athena. ‘What did you say?’ she asked in a state of slight disbelief.

‘They are antipsychotics,’ Dennis repeated. ‘Lily was… or is… overdosing on antipsychotics.’

Well, it was true, and nothing could have pleased Heather more since she knew that she couldn’t have been accused of being a dealer if the pills Lily was found with were antipsychotics. “That’s the idea,” she was thinking. Dennis knew exactly what the drugs were, meaning she was more or less off the hook. ‘I’m not sure I understand you,’ she said if only to play along.

‘I know these pills because they were all over the news some time ago. It’s called Halo, and it was taken off the shelves because its side effects contradict the fact that they are antipsychotics.’

‘O… kay…’

‘They said the medicine caused patients to have massive emotional breakdowns,’ Dennis explained. ‘The patients would either become bipolar, their mental illness may worsen, and they may suddenly become neurotic and go as far as suicidal. Of course these cases were rare, but they were deadly side effects nonetheless. The question is, if this is what pushed Lily over the edge, then how much of it did she take?’

‘Why is that important?’ Heather continued playing dumb.

‘Because it takes a significant dosage to develop such side effects, Heather. As far as I’m concerned, Lily has never been diagnosed with a mental illness, so where the hell did she get the drugs?’

‘Family member maybe?’

‘Maybe. But if she felt she really needed to do drugs, why antipsychotics? And why Halo of all drugs?’ There was a moment’s pause as Dennis’ questions sank in, and as the confusion grew even more; for one of them, at least. ‘What the hell is going on here, Heather?’

Knowing it was a lie, Heather barefacedly replied, ‘I don’t think I’m the person to be talking to about this. I’m just as confused as you are.’

 

‘Let me get this correct,’ Kyle was saying to a very used Lily, ‘you tried killing yourself… and you have no idea what made you do it?’

‘Yes,’ Lily responded, oblivious to how she sounded at the moment. With everything that was going on, she might as well have been mentally challenged than not.

‘Okay, Lily,’ Kyle said, vigorously rubbing his nose bridge and pressing his jaws together, ‘you cannot repeat what you’ve just told me to anyone else; less so the hospital staff.’

‘Why not?’ she asked with a sneer.

‘Because they’ll toss you into a psych facility first chance they get,’ Kyle replied. He leaned forward, eyes firmly fixed on the girl before him, but she didn’t meet them. ‘Listen,’ he continued, ‘I don’t think you are crazy, but you do have some emotional issues you need help sorting out. I don’t think a psych ward will do you any good which is exactly what I’m going to tell the other doctors. Besides someone to talk to, I think what will do you good is some form of rehabilitation.’

‘What!’ Lily exclaimed. ‘Rehab?’

‘Yes, Lily. Remember you told me you felt horribly sad and you cried a lot prior to the fact but you don’t know exactly why. Well, thanks to your slow metabolism, the doctors were able to get something off your blood work.’

Lily gulped, knowing full well that one more of her secrets was out. She thought about it for a second. Besides all the bad things that could come out of Kyle Walker knowing she was an abuser, there was one positive. But that thought didn’t have time to linger when Kyle continued, ‘Prior to your suicide attempt you more or less overdosed on an antipsychotic known as Halo; outlawed all over the world. Ever heard of it?’

She had, but that was beside the point. Quickly, Lily turned to Kyle, brows furrowed, eyes wide, expression of bewilderment. ‘Halo?’ she repeated. ‘I’ve never taken Halo a day in my life. Why would I take an antipsychotic?’

‘Come on, Lily, it is embedded deep in your blood work,’ Kyle said tiredly, ‘from the looks of things, you have been taking the drug for the better part of the past few months. If you ask me, I’d say it’s the side effects of the drug that drove you over the edge and almost claimed your life.’

‘No way,’ she reiterated, ‘I’m telling you, I have never taken the stuff a day in my life.’ For a moment Lily was sure of herself, but the look on Kyle’s face could not have been more telling; he knew what he was saying. Only now did she begin to doubt herself. Her eyes darted from Kyle to the roof, the adjacent wall, the floor… just about every surface of the room. This can’t have been right. This had to be a dream, didn’t it? If it was, it was better than her usual dreams, but a horrible one nonetheless. ‘I’ll admit, I have been doing drugs,’ she said softly, apparently in more doubt than she had ever been her entire life, ‘but that was morphine. It knocks me out like only morphine can. It isn’t Halo.’

‘Halo contains morphine, Lily,’ Kyle said like he was actually proud of himself. ‘Just think about it, Lily. When was the last time you were actually happy? When was the last time you didn’t have a bad dream? When was the last time you actually felt secure?’

There was no answer to that question. Lily covered her mouth and tired balancing her tears but ineffectively. Kyle was right when Lily actually thought about it.

‘Lily,’ he said, taking her hand gingerly again, ‘where did you get the drugs?’

Heather, of course, she wanted to reply. But that wouldn’t be correct, would it? As far as Lily was concerned, Heather was her friend, and friends didn’t poison other friends. But, she knew of no other supplier; at least not anymore. During these past few months, her one and only dealer had been Heather, and Heather would never do this to her. She just wouldn’t.

‘Lily?’

She remained tight-lipped, though she didn’t know why. The obvious answer to Kyle’s question was Heather, but Lily was unwilling to accept that. In this crazy world, she had no one to trust but maybe Heather… or so she thought. Actually, Heather only wanted to be part of the Grey Mountain cheering squad. No one knew exactly why, but she was determined to get in, and since Lily was the captain, she figured she had found her way in by being her dealer; and free of charge at that.

So, when Lily thought about it, Heather was only using her (and vice versa); they weren’t really friends. But, how would this kind of torment on her part help Heather? Like so many before her, Lily asked herself, “What the hell is going on?”

‘I want to leave,’ she declared to Kyle, very much out of the blue.

‘What?’

‘Can I please leave?’

‘Well, there has to be an adult present for us to discharge you, but why do you want to leave so suddenly?’

‘I just want to, okay, Walker?!’she snapped. Kyle let go of her and sat back again, but with his eyes still glued on her. What was with the sudden change of heart? Albeit reluctantly, he got to his feet without relinquishing his gaze on Lily and said, ‘I’ll go call your mother.’

‘NO!’ she screamed with an energy even she didn’t know she had. Kyle was shocked at the reaction, but Lily didn’t care. She added, ‘Don’t call my mother. Please.’

‘Who then?’

‘Anyone else,’ she cried, ‘just not her.’ Kyle walked out against his better judgment, leaving Lily to mope in this latest development. Swallowing hard and combing her fingers through her hair, she turned to her side where she saw black leather Marie Claire bag that looked vaguely familiar but didn’t belong to her. The zipper was undone, so instinctively, Lily grabbed it and began observing the contents. It didn’t take long for her to realize that the stuff was all hers, brought over by one of her friends, though at this moment it didn’t matter who.

In the bag, the one thing that caught her attention was the cold plastic sensation that was her phone, which she took out and stared at like it was some new invention. Mindlessly, she ran her finger over the screen and the light flickered on. There were dozens of missed calls and texts from her friends, but nothing from Heather. Figured. Quickly she ignored the notifications and moved on to her phonebook, but she had no idea exactly who she wanted to talk to. However, she quickly came to a decision when she saw the first name on there; Athena.

Determinedly, Lily dabbed her finger over the name and the phone dialed. A couple of rings later, Athena’s sweet voice met her ear, ‘Hi, sweetie, are you okay?’

“Yes,” Lily wanted to say, but Athena would know that was an obvious lie. Still, it was a formality and she found herself saying it. After that there was a moment of dead silence as neither one knew what to say to the other.

‘Look, Lily,’ Athena began, ‘I’m sorry I jumped to the conclusion_’

‘Don’t worry about it, Athena,’ Lily interjected quickly. ‘You were right.’

Silence again, and then Athena asked, ‘About what?’

‘Everything,’ came Lily’s reply. ‘You were right about everything.’

 

CHAPTER 7: Take All Your Faithlessness with You

 

Apart from being one of the prettiest and most charismatic girls in school, Athena Ninis was a star. Her voice was nothing short of angelic prompting an indie rock label to hook her up with a deal. But Athena, being a rock geek, included a few friends in that deal. First, obviously, was her best friend, Beyoncé, whose talent was just as good, if not better than hers. Then, there was a drummer and a couple of guitarists.

The only problem was that the last three band members were already committed to another group. They were Dan’s boys, and he wasn’t too happy that they had abandoned him for the lures of a record label. What made it worse was that Athena didn’t even consider him in her little ensemble.

Dan and the band were rehearsing for the play when Athena butted into the auditorium with her shadow, Beyoncé, in tow, demanding a meeting with her drummer and guitarists. ‘Screw you,’ Dan said boldly without even considering it.

‘What!’ Athena shot back. No one ever talked to her like that; especially considering her boyfriend might as well have been a body builder. ‘This isn’t even about you, Dan!’

‘Oh, I think it is,’ he replied hotly, ‘and in case you’re huge ego is in the way, you can see we’re busy.’

‘For a play?’ she teased, oblivious to all the attention that was now very much on her. ‘Come on, guys, we have a deadline.’

Silence. The three band members looked at each other. Their eyes said they wanted to leave with Athena, but their body language suggested otherwise. ‘Well,’ Athena said surprisingly patiently, ‘are you coming or what?’

Again, silence. This time, however, Dan looked at his friends and he noticed their eyes instead of their body language. Dejected, he sat back looking from the guys to Athena and Beyoncé. ‘Go, then,’ he sighed at them.

‘You’re kidding, aren’t you?’ came a voice from behind them. It was Heather, the newest member of Dan’s band and the forgotten member of this conversation. Suddenly Athena’s gaze shifted from Dan to her, allowing an ugly scowl to stretch across her face. Heather got to her feet as she squared up to Athena. ‘We’re busy,’ she said almost arrogantly, ‘so like Dan said, go screw yourself till we’re done.’

With what was running through her mind, Athena could only stare back at Heather and sneer some more. She was suddenly unable to speak, and thank goodness, because if she did, she would let it all out. Not such a bad idea, she thought, but Lily wouldn’t have wanted that; not when they had come this far.

Like it had become a mere last-laugh ritual for them, Athena swung a heated slap across Heather’s face which echoed across the whole auditorium. Heather had dropped to the floor but Dan had got to his feet and was prepared to fight back. However, there was already a crowd around them and a teacher right in the middle parting them.

‘What is wrong with you?!’ she demanded, glancing from Athena to Dan and to Heather. ‘What’s going on here?’

‘Nothing,’ Athena replied. She was still looking down at Heather, who again, was clutching her cheek but was unable to take away the sting. ‘We were just leaving,’ she added.

The teacher pushed her back and reiterated that she and Beyoncé leave. When they had gone, she turned to the center of attention, Heather, but wasn’t able to say anything since she and Dan were already walking to the backstage area.

When the door slammed shut, Heather pulled as far away from Dan as she could, making the best effort to hide her now very red face from his. At first Dan let her find what solace she could but then realized that it was a stupid idea. He could see that she was practically begging for his undivided attention. Dan had never been a kiss-up, but something about Heather was destined his whole personality, and slowly, he made his way to her and gently held her shoulder.

Heather turned around, big glossy eyes fixed firmly onto his. Slowly, Dan took her hand and peeled it away from her cheek, exposing the nasty bruise al la Athena. It took a lot of resolve, but he didn’t make a face. Doing that would only have made her more insecure.

As if he was a professional, Dan reached behind Heather for a makeup bag. Then, gently dabbing powder onto her face, he said, ‘Thanks for what you did out there.’ Heather didn’t answer. She didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or to get even more mad at Dan for failing to show Athena who’s boss. ‘I wish you didn’t have to do it, given… anyway, thanks, Heather.’

‘I wasn’t doing it for you, Dan,’ she said almost too sincerely. ‘Athena is a b***h and someone needs to put her in her place.’

A smirk almost traced itself on Dan’s face, but even he was impressed at how he managed to keep a somber look on. Sure, someone needed to put Athena in her place but so far, Heather had proved that she wasn’t that someone. Athena was two-nil up in this little spat of theirs and at the rate things were going, Heather was never going to win the war.

‘Is it worth it, Heather?’ Dan asked, still trying to mask the redness of her face. ‘Does the pain weigh out the prize?’

‘I can’t believe you just quoted Greenday,’ she grinned.

He smiled back. At least she was beginning to lighten up. ‘Seriously, though, if you want to teach Athena a lesson you have to calculate your moves. She seems to always one-up you whenever you have an argument.’

‘She doesn’t one-up me, she gets away with a cheap-shot.’ the pouting had returned as Heather spoke.

‘Either way, you need to plan your next move.’

‘What is this, Danny, a competition? If Athena wants to keep on hitting me she can be my guest…’

‘Are you serious, Heather?’

‘What will you have me do, Danny? In case you missed it, the b***h accused me of trying to kill Lily! I don’t know how or why she came up with that heresy, but don’t you think if I did something bad to her I may just get people to believe her lies about me?’

Her face was back to its usual beautiful self now, hence Danny backed away, allowing himself to scrutinize it from a couple of feet in front of her. ‘People would be crazy to believe you would ever do something like that to Lily… or to anyone for that matter.’

‘Come on, Danny…’

‘No, Heather, I’m serious. There’s a huge difference between you and Athena and I think the whole world can see it. Your personalities are poles apart and so are the lengths to which you’ll go to get your jollies.’

Silence fell between them as Heather pondered the last statement. Sure, on the face of it at least, she was very different from Athena. But then again, that was the side of her she wanted the people around her to see. Deep down Heather knew exactly who she was; what she was.

Images of Lily suddenly flooded her mind, mostly those of her half-way into death on the forest floor. Heather, though she greatly denied it, knew exactly what happened. She knew exactly what caused Lily to go over the edge and attempt suicide. She knew it long before Dennis had pointed it out. On top of all that, she knew the truth… she knew that she was responsible for everything that was wrong with Lily. This was information that belonged to someone who bordered on psychotic… a psychopath… it was information that she was determined to keep to herself.

But, even more importantly, only Heather knew the real reasons as to why she did the things she did. The only trouble was, when she eventually got caught, she didn’t know if others would understand it quite like she did.

 

Dennis made his way to the hospital for the first time since what people were calling Lily’s accident. Like any boyfriend was obliged to do, he brought flowers; Lilies, actually; perceptibly Lily’s favorites. The vase was already occupied so he placed them by the side of her bed, where he took a seat and quietly stared at her.

At first Lily met his gaze but later faced the other side with what seemed like embarrassment, but Dennis wasn’t sure. ‘Hey,’ he said, gently grazing her hand which was quickly retracted. ‘Lily, I’m sorry,’ Dennis added in a soft voice that was so unlike him.

After nearly a full minute’s silence, Lily turned to him, her eyes wet and inscrutable, saying, ‘It’s taken you three days to say that?’

‘Lily, three days ago you were out-cold, and since then till yesterday you haven’t been accepting visitors.’

No reply. Normally, Dennis would have been able to read the expression on her face but of late, he wasn’t sure he knew the real Lily at all. ‘Why’re you here, Dennis?’ she asked in a whimper.

‘I’m here because you’re my girlfriend and I care about you, Lily, is that so hard to accept?’

‘it’s not acceptance you should be worrying about, Dennis.’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’

‘It means I trusted you!’ she snapped. ‘I trusted you with the biggest secret in my life and you blew me off! What do you think; I like being a drug addict?! I hate it! But I have no choice, Dennis, and I tried to tell you that but all you could do was pretend you are so perfect…’

‘Lily I’m not perfect… no one is…’

‘Well… do you believe me now?’

Feeling a little like the baddie, Dennis shifted in his chair, leaning closer to her. Surprisingly she didn’t shy away. In fact she seemed more inclined to him than before, but it wasn’t clear why. ‘I never said I didn’t believe you, Lill.’

‘Dennis, you didn’t have to say it,’ she replied. The harshness of her tone had simmered down to a soft snivel that piled the guilt on Dennis.

‘I was lost for words,’ said Dennis as he slowly took her hand. Again he was surprised she didn’t pluck it away as quickly as she may have a minute ago, ‘and I’m sorry. God, I am so sorry, Lily, if only you knew…’

A tiny smile forged itself on her face but only for a moment. It disappeared so quickly Dennis thought he was hallucinating. Then, reality came rushing back to Lily, who up till then had been oblivious to it. She turned away from Dennis as abruptly as her smile had disappeared, taking her bandaged hand with her. ‘I know what you’re thinking, Dennis,’ she said after a bit of a lull, ‘and I would explain it to you but you wouldn’t understand.’

‘Lily, when I heard exactly why you were whisked off in an ambulance the only thing I could think of was all the things I didn’t say to you when I should have. I don’t know if you have noticed, but I can’t lose you, Lill. I may have been a b*****d over these past few days, but �" and I’m being blunt here �" I have done nothing to deserve losing the person I care about most in this world.’ He took her hand again, forcing her to turn to him again and stare deep into his cosmic eyes. Like many before and after her, she was lost in them; too taken to keep control of her own body. Yet again, this situation was too dyer to be distracted from even for a second. ‘I love you, Lily,’ Dennis continued grimly, ‘and to me, you are as perfect as perfection can get.’

‘What about my little… er… problem?’

‘That isn’t a reason for me to hate or to dump you,’ he replied, ‘if anything, I should be closer to you. I will help you with anything you want, Lily, just promise me you won’t try to leave me ever again.’

‘I promise,’ Lily replied. She sounded convincing enough for Dennis, so he didn’t question her. Every time she blinked Lily could practically see her own thoughts. They haunted her worse than her nightmares because at least in a nightmare she knew she was dreaming. This time when she blinked, she saw a lie. It was a lie so blatant she was surprised Dennis didn’t notice it.

“I promise I won’t kill myself, I promise I won’t kill myself,” she kept repeating in her head, though deep down she knew the truth. It was only a matter of time until she was released from this place. She’d then be alone in her room. Don would unlock it and rape her like he always did. For a split second Lily wondered if he would notice that she was a corpse; that the cold lifeless body under him was exactly that: lifeless.

 

CHAPTER 8: Act of Love

 

‘I told you, she said I was right about everything.’

‘That’s just it, Athena, exactly what is everything?’

‘Heather,’ Athena replied to her best friend like she was supposed to understand exactly what that meant. ‘What the general public knows about Lily’s condition is that she had an accident. That’s it, Bee, an accident. You, me, those closest to her know the truth…’

‘And it puzzles me every day,’ Beyoncé said; mostly to herself.

‘That’s beside the point. You know she tried to kill herself, right? Do you know why?’

‘No, Athena, but I’m sure you’re going to enlighten me,’ she said with a hint of tiredness in her voice. The pair was in the library that morning, plowing through books but not really learning anything. Distractions around them ranged from boys to the phones before them to the conversation they were having.

Athena fell silent as she waited for a few guys to walk past their table; as if they were interested in Lily’s problems. When they were out of earshot, she continued, ‘Drugs.’

Somehow this didn’t come as news to Beyoncé. She wore the not-so-interested look on her face she always did. Lily was doing drugs, she thought; big shocker… Athena thought she could almost hear exactly what Beyoncé was thinking but decided not to address it. Maybe this next bit of news would interest her.

‘Drugs that Heather gave her,’ Athena continued. She noticed the change of emotion on her friends face and almost wanted to smile. Heather? A drug dealer? Naw…

‘So that explains why they had such a tight bond,’ Beyoncé said. The news had only just sunk in. as shocking as it should have been, she didn’t seem to realize that she wasn’t all that surprised. Naturally, Heather was a bad person who just put on a pretty face for those who saw her. ‘But how do drugs cause someone to attempt suicide?’

‘Heard of Halo?’

‘Yeah, I thought the stuff was outlawed.’

‘Come on, Bee, the girl is from Mexico,’ Athena said snappishly. The mood should have softened a bit but it didn’t seem to. ‘Seriously, though, I don’t think that stuff can quantify as drugs, Bee. Given their intensity and the side effects, I can confidently say that Heather was trying to poison Lily.’

‘Athena…’

‘No, Bee. You and I both know what those drugs do to people who take them in huge amounts,’ Athena said hotly. ‘Besides, Heather told Lily that it was morphine. Morphine, Bee! Now why would she lie if she didn’t have some villainous agenda in mind?’

‘“Villainous agenda?” Athena, come on.’

‘Trust me, Bee, I know how it sounds, but what other explanation do you have for it?’

‘You know of late, I’ve been feeling like I know Lily less and less,’ Beyoncé said, perhaps a little too candidly. Though Athena eyed her like she was out of her mind, she couldn’t help but feel a dash of truth in that statement. The stiff silence between them lingered longer than it should have, but only because they were in a library. ‘I’m sorry, Athena, but I’m not sure accusing Heather of something so serious is the right thing to do. Don’t get me wrong, I love Lily and I know Heather is up to something, but I don’t think it’s murder. In any case, did Lily ever tell you why she takes drugs?’

There was no need for words as Athena gazed at Beyoncé rather evocatively. All of a sudden the doubts started to flood into both their minds. Maybe Heather wasn’t the villain at all. Maybe Lily was the one they were meant to turn against. But, as soon as those thoughts got their fair share of entertainment, they were dismissed. Athena, shaking her head, said to Beyoncé, ‘We’ve known Lily our whole lives, Bee.’

‘I know_’

‘She’s a great person, okay? Its Heather we want, and she’s the one we are going to go to for answers. Not Lily. Never Lily.’

No reply.

‘Beyoncé, I need to know if you’re with me.’ Athena sounded a lot like the person that intimidated so many around school. Not once since she and Beyoncé became friends had she spoken to her this way. She knew she shouldn’t have done so but it was necessary; for Lily. Taking her hands and squeezing them, Athena said, ‘Bee…?’

‘I’m with you,’ Beyoncé replied more or less blindly; like she had been hypnotized. ‘Never Lily.’

 

Darkness fell abruptly in Bethany, paving way for Heather to doll herself up. In a couple of hours she was ready.

She left her bedroom in a long black coat and a large book bag on her shoulder. As always, she rang her driver and asked him to meet her in the basement parking lot. In about ten minutes he was with her.

Ander Pereira was a handsome fellow in his late thirties, Heather guessed. Since over the years Heather’s father had been all about his political career, their relationship had never really got out of first gear. The relationship with Ander, however, was tighter than it should have been. To her, he was a father figure; a cool father figure.

Now that they were so close, they knew most of each other’s dirty secrets. The biggest secret they shared was Heather’s propensity to disappear from the embassy and head to a friend’s house. Only when she said she was going to a friend’s house what she really meant was that she was headed to Lilacc; a secret she entrusted her driver and makeshift bodyguard.

Tonight was no different from any other Saturday night. Still in her trench coat, she parked herself in the Audi like the good little girl she wasn’t. Ander got in and began driving to this friend’s house. When they arrived at the club, he performed the customary ritual; be safe, don’t get caught, don’t go anywhere without me.

As was her usual, Heather just smiled and promised to abide by all his rules, then she left the car.

Dan wasn’t looking too shabby either. Heather’s smile would have been enough for him, but she felt a greeting kiss was in order. Their conversation hadn’t lasted twenty minutes when they were joined at the bar by the most unwelcome of guests.

‘Great,’ Heather said with a sigh and a slam of her drink onto the counter. ‘Just can’t stay away, can you, Athena?’

‘Don’t flatter yourself, b***h, I’m not here for your own pleasure.’ Heather would have complimented Athena on how beautiful she looked tonight but then realized who she was talking to. Yes, she was pretty with dazzling hair and a nearly unmatched sense of style but was also this stupid little b***h. It was surprising how much that word came up in her head, and whenever it did, it was quickly followed by Athena’s name.

Before the situation escalated (like it could anymore), Dan got to his feet as he held Heather’s hand. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said decisively. Heather obliged, but reluctantly. Part of her wanted to be the bigger person and leave Athena talking to herself but another part of her wanted to stay and fight.

Just when her feet touched the ground and her body was arched like that of someone ready to walk away, Athena grabbed her arm, squeezing it like a stress ball, and pulled her back. ‘I’m not done, Heather,’ she said.

A smile etched itself squarely on Heather’s face as she turned to Athena. Dan took her hand and said they should leave but Heather wasn’t about to do so. ‘What?’ she smiled at her teasingly.

A combination of her ego and naivety prompted Athena to raise her hand to slap Heather but this time the latter caught it in midair, twisted it, and then delivered a slap of her own. What she didn’t count on, however, was Athena’s uncanny threshold for pain, and propensity to escalate.

The satisfaction of the slap lasted a mighty two seconds before Athena turned the tables on her with a quick blow to her once pretty face. Heather was stunned. How the hell could someone as petite and girly as Athena has been so strong. A fight was destined to ensue but Dan was quick to step in, separating the warring girls.

‘Stop it you two!’ he snapped, but to no avail. Athena and Heather seemed not to have heard him; after all, the music was blasting through the walls. Still, Athena sneered bitterly and walked away. Like she was a rag doll, Dan grabbed Heather’s shoulder and turned her so she now faced him. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?!’ he demanded.

‘Excuse me?’ Heather said with a confused expression on her face. Clearly she had never perceived this side of Dan.

‘Come on, Heather, we talked about this…’

‘About what, Danny? About getting “tactical revenge” on Athena? Do you know how crazy that sounds?’

‘Crazy,’ he repeated almost with a smile. ‘This coming from the person that got punched.’

Silence. He had a point and Heather knew it. Still, she didn’t want to and wasn’t about to admit it. She pouted at him and stormed off. Dan wanted to follow her and perhaps should have but decided against it. At times it paid off to have a hard head. Anyway, he wasn’t sure he had the hard head in this little relationship; if one could call it a relationship.

 

An hour or so had gone by when Heather walked out of the bathroom. Without really thinking, she headed to the bar, ordered a whiskey and continued moping. The music was loud and incessant, but none of it seemed to actually reach Heather’s ears. All she seemed to hear was the accusatory sound of her own thoughts telling her how much of a b***h she was. It didn’t even register in her mind that the whiskey prickled the inside of her throat. “What did I do wrong?” she wondered, but she wasn’t referring to her current predicament. Well, maybe a little. All this stemmed off somewhere and since she had done so many horrible things, she had lost count of exactly what brought her to this point.

Suddenly, there was a clicking sound and a couple of fingers snapping before her. ‘Haven’t you heard a single thing I have said?’ the random guy said.

‘No,’ Heather said sincerely and rudely. ‘Who are you?’

‘No names,’ he smiled at her. ‘What are you having?’

Heather chuckled. Couldn’t this guy see that she was a teenager? And anyway, did he not see that she wasn’t in the mood for company? But, oddly enough, she found herself smirking and replying, ‘Whiskey.’

‘Another whiskey for the lady,’ the man said to the bartender, who glanced at Heather, knowing he was serving an underage girl. What did he care anyway? The money was coming in either way.

The next few minutes were spent chatting pointlessly and downing whiskeys. Heather knew she should have quit at the second glass but somehow this guy seemed quite the charmer. He seemed to know exactly what to say at exactly which moment, providing the exact kind of entertainment she needed at this particular time. Why couldn’t Dan be more like this instead of the responsible bore that he was?

A combined tenth glass was drained and Heather let out a loud moan; her insides burned and her head throbbed. Clear vision became a fallacy and so did rational thought. Well, for one of them anyway. Tactically, the man kept shifting closer and closer to her as the conversation wore on. Heather was still draining glasses and she was far too drunk to notice anything strange.

However, the man went a step too far, causing his carefully planned move to fall to pieces. His hand gently glided over the counter then settled squarely on Heather’s. ‘Hey!’ she yelled, retracting her arm and moving as far back on her stool as was permitted.

‘Whoa,’ the man said coolly, ‘calm down, okay? We’re just having meaningless fun.’

But Heather had already calmed down. The world around her was spinning and nothing seemed to make sense. She knew that when she woke she would not remember half this night. “Why not?” she thought groundlessly. Knowing she would regret it in the morning, she moved her hand slowly towards the man’s, intertwining their fingers.

Her eyes were droopy but who cared? The man knew what was coming his way and he couldn’t have cared less if he would go to jail for it. This incredible beauty before him was totally worth it. Then, without warning, Heather’s head dropped, landing heavily on the man’s chest. She leaned in closely, smiled and basically tongued his ear as she whispered, ‘I’m all yours.’

The next few seconds would be remembered as a blur. When Heather opened her eyes after what seemed like a fortnight, she saw a long arm flying across her face and a weighty punch landing on the man’s jaw. Her top was ripped all the way to the bellybutton, revealing a few too many body parts. The man fell to the floor and the bartender yelled, ‘Hey, this friend?’

Quickly, a fit lanky body shot across the room and came to Heather; or at least that’s what she remembered. Dennis’ manly arms wrapped themselves around her body and held her close to his own.

‘I’m fine, Dennis,’ she would remember saying later.

‘Yeah you are,’ Dennis replied. He thanked the bartender then turned back to Heather. ‘What happened here?’

‘I drank too much…’ she said like it was just one of those things. She noticed Dennis chuckle a bit and couldn’t help but wonder why.

‘You look terrible,’ he said.

‘It’s a rough night for me, Dennis, just let it go.’

‘Athena?’ he asked. At that moment, Heather realized that Dennis had no idea what was going on or why she was so wasted. She decided it best not to speak. With a nod, she blamed it all on Athena, hoping the night would just end and her head would stop aching so much.

A stiff silence fell between them and the awkwardness piled in. gradually, Heather peeled her body away from his, sitting up.

‘Are you okay?’ Dennis asked after the long silence. ‘Really?’

‘Yes,’ she whimpered, attempting a smile. Though the lie was so obvious, it said a lot about this girl seated in front of Dennis. Dennis wanted to say that she was super-cute right now but knew how wrong a time it was to do it. ‘I want to go home,’ she said.

Dennis smiled. That was the best decision she had made all night. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘let’s get you outside first.’ He got up, offering a hand to her but she ignored it, sliding off the barstool on her own.

Her eyes were watery and her body weak, but Heather insisted she could walk on her own. Dennis, however, did not want to hear any of it. He put his arm around the small of her back and hers over his shoulder, then steered her away from the bar, away from the building, and to the parking lot.

He owned an Audi quite similar to hers, except he didn’t need a driver or dark-suited bodyguard.

Maybe tomorrow, she would admit she didn’t know who or what swung the passenger door open, just that it did, and suddenly she could feel a gear lever stab her back. Heather didn’t care, though, as long as she was off her feet.

About a second later, she found herself out in the cold again at the hood of the car, where Dennis was. He was fidgeting with his phone when she caught him; God only knew who he was calling. Without much consideration for the gadget, Heather snatched it off his hands and dropped it to the floor.

‘Hey!’ Dennis yelled, but an index finger to his lips was enough to shush him; for now. She then grabbed his shirt, pinching him slightly, and turned the tables, so that he was now facing the car and she was the one leaning on the hood.

‘Heather,’ Dennis began as she pushed herself backward so that she was now seated on the car, ‘you’re drunk.’

‘I know, right?’ she replied with that ever so tantalizing smile of hers. Her legs weren’t quite as close together as they should have been, tempting Dennis all the more. He tried to muster every sense of self-control he had, but lost it all when she pulled him to her, ripping a couple of buttons in the process.

The cold night air brushed gently over his now exposed chest, firing up the moment even more. It wasn’t too brightly lit, the parking lot, but no one seemed to have told Heather. She whispered to him to close his eyes and, like the weak man that he was, he obliged against his better judgment. Suddenly he felt something warm and soft sweep tamely over the exposed chest.

It took him a while to notice that Heather had been kissing and playing around with his chest for the better part of a minute. Her lips began moving upward to his collarbone and to his neck.

‘Heather, stop,’ he finally said, plucking her away much to her disappointment and surprise. ‘We can’t do this,’ he continued, ‘we’re friends. And besides the fact that I have a girlfriend, you are drunk.’

She didn’t respond. All she did was look up into his eyes, taunting him with her magical ones. The blinking would be slow and inviting and from time to time, the lower lip would be bitten. If there was ever something in this world that could bring the strongest of men to their knees, it was this sight of Heather. Sixteen years old yet she was so alluring.

Adding to the fact that the lights from inside the club were shimmering in her eyes and most if not all of her bust was exposed, the tarnished lipstick on her face seemed to give the mood that naughty feeling; a pure turn on in this scenario.

Slowly, Heather began shifting on the hood, bringing her body as close as it could get to Dennis’ without her falling off. Her legs now on either side of him, she grabbed his head and teased his lips with a soft, almost non-existent kiss. Dennis moved his lips to hers but she pulled away quickly, teasingly.

She knew he was ready to submit to her; who wouldn’t be, anyway? Heather tilted her head to one side, inviting Dennis to kiss her rose-scented neck. With her hands on his shoulders, nails almost digging through his skin, she opened her eyes just to see him one last time before disappearing into wonderland. However, just as she was about to shut them again, Heather felt a cold sweat break on her back and her heart suddenly stop in her throat.

Then, out of pure instinct, she said, ‘Lily…’

 

CHAPTER 9: There’s More

 

How she would have killed for a slap from Athena right about now. Death would have been far more cruel; death by a blunt sword. Two days ago when Lily caught her and Dennis on the verge of fornication, she was caught by something far worse than surprise. Wasn’t Lily supposed to be in hospital? And, had she been released, wasn’t she supposed to be in some kind of lunatic asylum or something? What the hell was she doing at a club… and why at that exact time?

‘She doesn’t want to see you,’ Kyle Walker said decisively to her. Heather begged for just a minute with Lily but Kyle held his stance. When she was getting discharged, Lily had cried to the doctors and nurses not to take her back home; she couldn’t go back home; not to Don and Kara. Kyle, being her shrink, offered to take her in but only for a few days. Only until the issues between Lily and her family could be figured out and settled.

‘You should leave,’ Kyle said.

Heather sneered at him but let it drop as soon as it forged itself. ‘Okay,’ she said, ‘I’ll leave. But please tell her that I’m sorry, okay? Tell her that if she just gave me a minute to explain…’

Kyle’s stare was studious and firm, almost intimidating. However, when he heard how distressed Heather was, his stance was tested. Sure, he was curious as to what Heather could have done to Lily, but he was also certain that he didn’t want to know. The past two days Lily spent crying and keeping to herself and though he was supposed to make her speak to him, Kyle refrained from asking what upset her this time. When she was ready, he figured, she would say it.

Slowly moving aside, he said, ‘You have a minute, and then you have to leave.’ Heather almost smiled as she brushed past him and walked into the house. Of course being the daughter of an ambassador meant that not everyone had a house as big as hers, but this one was impressive nonetheless.

The corridors were narrow, lit only by dim yellow lights on the walls. Here and there on the walls were a few portraits; some original paintings, others poor copies. The place could almost pass for a poor man’s gallery.

Lily’s makeshift room was nothing like Heather pictured. It was a typical guest room, en suite and all. After a deep breath and a minute of staring at the plain black door, Heather turned the glass knob, letting herself in.

‘Lily,’ she said softly, prompting Lily to turn around with a deadly scowl on her face. In a flash, the latter grabbed the vase by the bedside and without a qualm, pitched it straight at Heather’s face. Luckily �" or unluckily �" Heather moved just in time to save her face, but her shoulder wasn’t so lucky.

‘I thought I told you to stay out of my life,’ said Lily, incensed.

‘Lily, just listen to me…’

‘Listen to you…? Listen to you like I did when you swore to help me? How do I know you’re not just lying to me like you always do?’

‘Lily, what are you talking about? Is this about the other night, because…’

‘I don’t care about the other night!’ she yelled, rage oozing from every inch of her. ‘At least not when there are so many other things going wrong with my life.’ Then, out of the blue, Lily dropped back onto the bed and began to cry. “Why?” she thought of asking. Why did Heather lie to her? Why did she give her one thing and claim it was another? Was suicide on Lily’s part the intention from the start? If so, again, why? ‘Just leave, Heather,’ Lily said through her tears. ‘Get out. I don’t ever want to see you again.’

Coming here was meant to loosen the noose around her a bit but Heather only got confusion. As she left, though, it occurred to her that Lily knew. She knew everything about the drugs, about their effects. Suddenly her little exploits with Dennis didn’t feel so significant.

 

Lunchtime came by a little quicker than was expected… or maybe it was all just in his head. The classroom cleared, quickly, but Dennis remained rooted in his seat, mindlessly jotting notes and pondering his love conundrum. Well, for him, it wasn’t a conundrum. He loved only one girl and that was Lily. So why did he feel a fire rise in him when he was with Heather that night?

Over the past couple of days he had been asking himself the same question over and over again. He had even written their names on a piece of paper so he could stare at them and see where his eyes were drawn. Each time the test was complete, Dennis took comfort in knowing that his mind constantly chose Lily. Each time. It was almost an automatic decision; Lily or Heather? Lily. Lily or himself? Lily. Lily or the world? Lily.

For obvious reasons, though, there was a kind of media blackout between him and Lily since that night. Dennis did everything to try to explain that it was Heather that made the move on him but all he got was a cold shoulder. So, he decided to give the space she needed; if that is what she needed. Maybe after a couple of days she would be willing to hear his side of the story.

This morning, when he caught a glimpse at Heather and her white Marie Claire bag, his heart raced, pumping blood or adrenalin or whatever through his entire body in the space of a second. One second and his whole body came alive. One second, and he would have picked Heather on that piece of parchment.

So that was his conundrum: his heart and mind chose Lily but the rest of his body chose Heather.

‘Hey,’ someone said from in front of him, casting a not so dull shadow and a scent of Bvlgari around him. Dennis quickly looked up to see his English teacher lean on the lip of his desk and raise a thin brow at him. ‘You can’t be in here right now.’

‘Yeah,’ Dennis said with a sigh and a smile, then began to pack up his books.

‘Are you okay?’ asked the teacher like she was so concerned.

‘I’m brilliant,’ Dennis replied. ‘I just have a lot on my mind.’

‘I get that. You want to tell me about it?’

He just smiled, shook his head, and then walked out of the room. Mal smiled back as she watched him disappear through the door. Everyone in the school knew Malory Ceuta. The boys called her the hot teacher who cared about her hair and lips than she did about teaching. Other teachers would try to help a student who needed it, she just didn’t give a damn. Still, everyone loved her for her personality in the classroom and her even more controversial behavior outside. Well, in this case outside meant outside school. In school she had to be a “good example” for her students so she could keep her job.

Ms. Ceuta; everyone’s favorite teacher.

 

Athena was the first to leave the locker room. Soon afterwards, John followed, coolly heading to the outdoor basketball court, where he and his friends hang out after lunch. There was no way he or Athena would ever get caught, considering they had been doing this for the better part of their high school lives. It’s how their relationship blossomed. Essentially, they were veterans at disappearing without any warning, finding a secluded place, and then returning to their friends like nothing had happened.

Athena loved this kind of thing. She loved hiding out somewhere in school and making out or even going the distance. Like the perfect cliché, the thrill of getting caught did it for her… and John.

Today was different, though. Something was amiss and she did nothing to hide it. When John took a seat next to her on one of the bleachers, he asked what the problem was. Rather expectedly, she said it was nothing.

A few silent moments between them passed while they watched a few guys in the court try to impress the onlookers with their mad ball skills. ‘It’s Lily,’ Athena finally said, her voice low enough to keep their other friends out of the conversation. Anyway, they were having a candid discussion of their own.

‘What about her?’ asked John, feeling a bit of an anticlimax. Since her “accident”, Lily had been dominating conversation topics throughout the school. Sure, people were beginning to get more topics, but the word “Lily” came up in at least one conversation in every minute or so.

‘You could at least pretend to care, John, she’s your friend too.’

‘I know, Athena, it’s just… Lily is as much the victim as she is the problem.’

‘What!’ she exclaimed, now loud enough to get the attention of those around her.

Their interest lasted a mere second, and then they were back to their separate conversations. John continued, ‘You know, I have seen this before, okay? I know what I should and shouldn’t say about Lily, but I also know that someone who tries to kill themselves and purposely fails is a selfish b***h just looking for attention.’

‘What the hell is wrong with you? Lily is sick!’

‘Sick…? You know, when someone is sick, they usually display symptoms. Come on, Athena, do you really believe that Lily has some kind of mental issue that is pushing her to suicide.’

Athena, jaw dropped, eyes wide shot to her feet and shouted, ‘You’re a son-of-a-b***h, John!’ and she stormed away from the court.

John ran down the bleachers, willing to follow her, but he realized that even if he did, he would not change his stance. For a moment he watched as Athena walked on, apparently angry. At that moment, he realized that he hadn’t really found out what it was about Lily that was bothering her. But, truth be told, he didn’t care; not for Lily anyway; not when he and he alone knew the unadulterated truth about he.

He turned back to the court, where he spotted Dennis chatting with Chris and Beyoncé. Probably Lily. Lily. Everyone was talking about Lily and how unfortunate she was. The nicest person in the universe, one person actually called her.

Nicest person? How many of these friends, enemies and acquaintances had actually ever seen behind the curtain? How many had actually ever met the real Lily? How many had actually seen everything? John closed his eyes because all he could see now was Lily… or the façade that others saw.

Decisively, he reached into his pocket, fishing out a phone, on which he speed-dialed a number. After three rings, the reply came. ‘Hey, John?’

‘I don’t know how much longer I can go without blabbing something to someone,’ John replied warily. ‘Look, things may have fallen apart, but you really need to pick them up, Kara. For the sakes of everyone involved.’

 

CHAPTER 10: Things I’ll Do for You

 

Beyoncé met Athena at her house late at night, long after her parents had gone to bed. As strange as this may have seemed, it wasn’t the first time they had done it. Athena called it an urgent matter and Beyoncé, ever the stooge, followed her blindly.

'Athena, don’t take it the wrong way, but this is crazy,' Beyoncé said jadedly. Part of her would have followed her best friend to the ends of the planet, but part of her wished she wasn’t so loyal. What was she doing here, in Athena’s backyard, in the middle of the night like they were a secret pair of lovers?

'Don’t you think know that Bee?' Athena asked, pacing about the yard. 'I know what I’m saying and I know how it sounds...'

'It’s not just how it sounds... it’s what it is, Athena. And I can’t believe what I’m hearing is actually coming from you.'

'Bee, besides you, Lily is the only other real friend I have and I can’t let something like this go just like that!'

'Ugh!' Beyoncé sneered. 'What about John then? Isn’t he supposed to be your better half?'

'John... God, John is as clueless as everyone else. If I tell him about Heather he'll go crazy.'

'So why are you involving me, Athena?' she asked, worried. 'I don’t want to be a part of this anymore than your boyfriend would.'

'Come on, Bee; you're my best friend. I can’t do this on my own.'

'Do you realize what you're asking me to do here, Athena? Do you understand the gravity of what you are asking or are you too blinded by this strange, undying loyalty to Lily?'

Athena stared at her as silence reigned supreme over them for a bit. The night was chilly, the wind even more so. The cold should have felt even worse for Athena since she was in her pajamas, but given her current situation, body heat was the last thing on her mind.

Slowly, Beyoncé inched closer to her friend, their eyes meeting in a moment of deep emotion. From the looks of things, Athena had been crying, which was strange considering she was the toughest girl Beyoncé knew.

'Hey,' Beyoncé began, taking her hands. 'I love you, you know that, right? You know that I would do anything for you, right?'

The answer shouldn’t have been so obvious, Athena was thinking. At least not when she could feel Beyoncé doubt her more by the second. 'Yes,' she whimpered.

'Athena, I would do anything for you,' Beyoncé continued in an attempt to convince her, 'but you are asking me to do the one and only thing I could never do in a billion years. It’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s that I won’t do this one thing; just this, Athena. Anything else, maybe but this... look at me; I feel too guilty to even say it...'

 

After three knocks, Kyle decided to let himself into the room. Almost expectedly, he found Lily on the bed, eyes drenched in tears, hanky in hand. One would have expected the story of Lily’s despair to have got old by now, but evidently, it didn’t.

Like the assiduous shrink that he was, Kyle made his way to the bed, where he took a seat beside his patient. The atmosphere around his guest room, he would later admit, had never felt so hostile. Yet, since this was his job more than anything, he had to be here.

‘Hey,’ he said gently, trying to bring himself down to her level. ‘Everything okay?’ he asked. As soon as the last word left his mouth, he realized how stupid his question was. Of course everything wasn’t okay, d****t!

‘No,’ Lily said in the softest tone Kyle had heard yet. Surprisingly, for Lily, no sarcastic remark even loitered in her mind in response to that question. With her ring finger she dried the tears from her eyes, and fought hard not to face Kyle. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.

‘For what?’ Kyle asked. ‘Look, Lily, whatever is bothering you,’ �" he might have added a “This time” �" ‘it’s not your fault, okay?’

‘You don’t even know why I’m crying, Kyle.’

‘No, but I’m guessing you’re about to tell me.’

 A tiny smirked forged itself at the corner of her mouth. Kyle Walker, the shrink, met her not even a week ago and already he seemed to know her better than most of her friends did. Certainly he knew her better than Dennis did, Lily was thinking.

As soon as the smile came is as quickly as it disappeared. Once more, Lily rubbed her cheeks, drying the tears. Swallowing hard, she turned to him and said, ‘I know I’m a piece of work and everything, but what did I do to deserve the things that keep happening to me?’

‘You mind showing a hint of specificity?’ Kyle asked. Wrong move, he knew, but regardless of being her doctor, he was also rather curious about the escapades leading to all her emotional breakdowns.

‘Specificity… you want me to be specific?’

‘You want you to be specific, remember?’

Lily chuckled, ‘Sounds like something Jack Sparrow would say.’ Again, the joy disappeared like it hadn’t even existed. ‘When I was discharged and you offered to bring me here and I told you that I needed a few moments alone first, why did you give them to me?’

‘Well, Lily, because, like you said, you needed them. Plus, I really want us to have this trusting bond.’

‘Yeah, okay, clearly, I shouldn’t have asked for them.’

‘Why?’

‘Because as soon as I was away from you I went back to Lilacc. I know I promised I would never go back there, but I just couldn’t stop myself. Anyway, I wasn’t going to enjoy myself, if that has ever happened in my life. I just wanted some closure, you know? I wanted to feel safe and wanted. The only person in the world who could have provided that, on paper, at least, is my boyfriend.

‘He had come to visit me in the hospital and he told me everything I wanted to hear. On top of that he told me that he loved me; something he had never said before. The sad part is that I bought it; even though it sounded sincere. Do you know what I saw when I went back to the club? Before I even got in?’

Tears flooded her eyes again and dropped, her cheeks turned red from all the friction against it. ‘Heather, who I considered my friend, by the way, had her legs and arms wrapped around him… just tell me, Kyle, am I really that bad a person that my heart is so willingly broken by those who are supposed to be closest to me?’

The moment of hesitation that followed was one of Kyle’s biggest mistakes but now that it was here, he decided to ride it. After all, he had no idea what to say. Twenty two years on the job and not once had he been dumbstruck by a patient. Then again, Lily was no ordinary patient. Legs and arms wrapped around him, he repeated in his mind. Were teenagers these days so clued-up in this kind of thing? Maybe not just these days; teenagers must have always been like this.

‘You’re saying that your boyfriend was cheating on you?’ Kyle finally asked, having swallowed hard and mustered enough confidence to be the one to break the silence.

Lily was looking down at her knees, with her tears bouncing off her skin and onto the floor. Without looking up, she said, ropy, ‘God, you make it sound like I totally made up that story.’

‘No, no, nothing like that,’ Kyle assured her. ‘Believe it or not, I’m just as stunned as you are.’ Now he was unsure whether or not he wanted to know the answer to the next question, but Kyle knew he had to ask; if only to quench his curiosity. ‘What did you do?’

The knees and floor suddenly lost their appeal as Lily looked away from them and at Kyle. For some reason, she was surprised to see the serious look on his face. He didn’t really ask that question, did he? ‘Nothing,’ she said with a bitter sneer. ‘I came back here and cried my goddamn eyes out, Kyle, what do you think?’

‘You’re friend, Heather, came by earlier today_’

‘She’s not my friend!’ she said hotly.

 

Next day the first thing Beyoncé noticed when she came to school was that Athena wasn’t there. Normally, the latter would be at the epicenter of some commotion or other for whatever reason. That was the quickest way to identify Athena, but for the life of her, Beyoncé had no idea where her friend was.

Slowly, she made her way to the lockers like every other student seemingly did. It had been such a while since Beyoncé was down with the “commoners” in or out of school. She had even forgotten how to act like a normal person.

At her locker, after grabbing her math books, she stood still and stared at her reflection in the mounted mirror. The girl that stared back, though she had perfect chocolate skin and even more impressive hair, was someone Beyoncé realized she couldn’t stand to look at. What had become of her? Resolutely, she took the door and slammed it shut, then turned away from the locker. Her back to the metal and books to her chest, Beyoncé sighed heavily and looked around; maybe hoping to find the best friend that she so desperately needed to talk to. Her efforts, as she expected, were in vain.

The entire morning went by without Beyoncé speaking unless spoken to, and that was only in class. At lunch, she had had enough. When she got out of class, she found John, grabbed him, and took him all the way to the locker-room area in the gym. As they stood so close to each other, face to face, John couldn’t help but recall the moments he shared here with his girlfriend. Of all the places Beyoncé could have taken him, why here?

One of her willowy long fingers parked itself on his lips, forcing him to stay silent. A passerby who saw them might have pieced together what was going on between the two, and the passerby would have been wrong. Beyoncé gradually inched and looked away from John, and only now did he realize just how lachrymose she really was.

‘Hey,’ he said tenderly, taking her velvety cheek in his hand so that she faced him again. The big glossy eyes immediately caught his attention, something that had never happened before. Like Athena, Beyoncé wasn’t one to show too much emotion, but her reason was that she just wanted to be identical to her best friend. Constantly she failed to look as impassive as Athena did sometimes. Now was a perfect example. John noticed that something was bothering her; something that apparently involved him. Carefully, he said to her, ‘What’s going on, Bee?’

Running her hand through her perfect hair, Beyoncé took a deep breath prior to replying, ‘We have to tell her, John.’

‘Wait_ what?’

‘Athena needs to know the truth, and she needs to know now.’

‘Bee, you’re kidding, right?’ he asked, letting go of her face. ‘You and I both know she would never go along with this. Athena is the worst person to tell something like this. Her loyalty to Lily is… uncanny.’

‘I know only too well, John, trust me,’ she said. ‘But if we don’t tell her she’s going to do something she will regret for the rest of her life; something we will regret it with her, John.’

‘What?’

‘You don’t want to know.’

‘Come on, Beyoncé, what is it?’

‘Well, you know how all the blame is falling on Heather?’ she replied. ‘Athena has really taken it to heart. She’s saying its past personal now; she’s saying that Heather needs to “pay for what she did to Lily.”’

‘I bet that doesn’t mean she’s going to be on the receiving end of another slap…?’

‘That isn’t even scratching the surface.’

‘What does Athena want to do with her?’ John asked, unsure if he really wanted to know the truth.

Beyoncé, hesitantly, breathed heavily and edged away from John once again. She looked around her; around the gym. If a teacher were to drop in and see them… well, it wasn’t like Beyoncé cared about that at this particular time. Again her eyes met John’s, lips were wetted, air was sniffed. ‘In the end,’ she said quietly, ‘to kill her.’

John wanted to curse out loud, but he was too overcome by shock. “Kill her,” he was repeating over and over in his head. “Kill her? Athena kill Heather? Athena kill anyone?” ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘Hardly,’ Beyoncé shook her head. ‘If you don’t tell Athena the truth about Lily before she does anything, I will.’

 

CHAPTER 11: Pronouncement

 

When the front door was opened, John and Beyoncé eased in and it was quickly shut. Whether it was through paranoia or simple cautiousness, the windows were bolted, the curtains pulled. There was no seeing inside the house �" or out of it for that matter.

‘Take a seat,’ Kara Kelly said surprisingly calmly, but her guests were not about to do it. When they declined, Kara dropped to a chair, crossed her legs, and looked up at John and Beyoncé. ‘So what’s this really about?’ she asked.

‘You know what it’s about, Kara,’ John said steadfastly, his arms folded tightly by his chest, jaw squared.

‘Do I John?’ Mrs. Kelly asked, ‘Because the last time we spoke you practically told me to batten down the hatches.’

‘One of them, anyway,’ Beyoncé said with a slight glance in John’s direction before looking back at the woman before them.

Kara’s eyes darting from John to Beyoncé time and time again, finally settled on the latter. In that time she was silent; possibly pondering one or two of the many calamities that were her life. ‘What does that mean; one of them?’ she asked.

Beyoncé replied, ‘It means we can’t afford to keep this thing a secret anymore or people will_’

‘People will what?’

No reply.

‘People will what, Beyoncé?’ Kara insisted.

Slowly, Beyoncé let out one of the many deep breaths she had taken. She tried to calm herself down but her heart was still thumping through her chest, even though the initial shock of Athena’s plan had long since worn off. ‘People will die,’ she said quietly. ‘Or at least… Heather will.’

‘Okay, you have officially lost me. How about starting from the beginning?’

 

Today was one of those days that Ander almost hated his job. As always, Heather had given her father a kiss, telling him that she would see him later �" after school. However, today just so happened to be one of those days that Heather decided to skip school altogether.

‘I’m going to wait out here in the car,’ Ander had told her before Heather quickly convinced him how very awkward that would have been. So, against his better judgment, Ander got into the Audi and drove away; to the mall, perhaps.

That was nearly five hours ago. In that time, Heather had made sure Dan locked the front door of his house and had practically provided herself with a great personal excuse for missing school. As she leaned in to kiss him, her arms tightly around him, Heather couldn’t help but let her mind wander back to the night she almost had Dennis.

After the long kiss, Dan rolled out of bed, smiling at the pretty blonde Latin girl while he put on his pants. ‘I don’t know about you but I’m starving,’ he said, observing the state of his bedroom. This morning, when he woke up to go to school, it was neat enough to bring a girl in. Now… well…

‘Me, too,’ Heather replied. She was ogling up at him, feasting her grey eyes on his virile abs, his big arms, his surprisingly tender skin. As she stared, Heather recalled just how incredibly he was; both in and out of bed. Everything about Dan screamed her perfect man. So, why was it that when she looked up at his face, she was disappointed that she Dennis wasn’t looking back?

When he was done dressing, he moved his fingers through his hair in an attempt to make it a bit presentable. ‘Are you coming or not?’ he asked her.

‘Where?’

‘To the kitchen, where else?’

‘Oh,’ Heather said like it was such an anticlimax, ‘sure. Just give me a minute.’ When Dan left, Heather rolled out of bed and threw on the Hines Ward jersey she found lying on the floor. ‘Pittsburgh,’ she said to herself. On a normal day she would have cared about the football jersey but things in her life had become far too byzantine to make way for the things she liked.

For a moment she stood in front of the full-length mirror, admiring how fat the jersey made her look. Deep down, however, her mind had wandered to back to Dennis. Every time she closed her eyes since that night, she saw him. She felt him. How close she was to having him when Lily decided to waltz over. Heather knew that the thoughts she was having about Dennis �" the feelings �" were wrong. Not once in her life had she done something like this to her friend; covet her boyfriend. But, something about Dennis seemed to be pulling her attention from reality time and time again.

Today �" a day in Dan’s bed �" was supposed to be a distraction. It was supposed to pull her mind away from Dennis. It was supposed to bring her closer to the boy she was supposed to have feelings for. After all, all Dan did since meeting her was make her feel great; make her feel appreciated; make her the luckiest girl in the world.

Then again, who was she kidding? Dan was great, but he wasn’t the one Heather wanted; not really. Initially with a bit of trouble, Heather managed to push all images of Dennis to the back of her mind to make room for Dan. And, just like she did this morning, it worked. Now she was smiling again; the smile she knew Dan loved to see. With a quick brush of her hand through her hair, Heather turned away from the mirror and made her way downstairs.

Her supposed boyfriend was down in the kitchen, waiting with two glasses of Pinot Noir. Heather beamed as she took one and after the obligatory kiss, took a sip out of it. ‘Stolen from daddy’s collection?’

‘Of course,’ Dan said smugly. ‘But I don’t call him “daddy”.’

‘When you say it like that it just sounds naughty.’

‘My, my, Heather, don’t you have a dirty mind?’

‘Mmh, if I didn’t we wouldn’t have had so much fun today, would we?’

‘I guess not,’ Dan said, taking a sip and edging toward the stove. As soon as his back was to her, Heather’s smile faded rather quickly. To give herself an excuse for it, she brought the glass to her mouth, taking a long quiet pull of the drink. In truth, Heather didn’t know why she was so infatuated with Dennis and at the same time very taken by the boy before her.

Decisively, she put the glass down and came to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her head between his shoulder blades. ‘Danny,’ she said slowly. Dan stopped chopping the zucchini. ‘This is real, right?’

‘What is?’

‘Our relationship.’

He stopped what he was doing and turned around; dead-serious eyes meeting hers. The smiles were no longer there. ‘In my opinion,’ Dan began, ‘this is as real as any relationship gets. Why; don’t you want it to be real?’

In her mind the correct answer was that she did want it to be real. But, in her heart, Heather felt the need to be with Dan more of an obligation than actual feelings. Yet she had real feelings for him. She also had real feelings for Dennis. Since she could choose only one she decided that she wanted Dennis. However, she was here in Dan’s house, in his jersey. If this couldn’t explain to her what she really wanted then nothing could.

‘I’m glad it is,’ she lied… or not… ‘I’m glad I met you.’

 

‘Beyoncé,’ Kara was saying slowly, cautioning, ‘do you realize what you risk if you breathe one word to your friend?’

‘I am aware, Kara,’ Beyoncé replied. ‘I’m also aware of what I risk if I don’t. Look, you and I both know the things Heather has done have been diabolical at best but how different is that from any of us? She was the only one with the balls of going through with your plan. Heather can’t die, Kara, don’t you see that? She’s one of us. We are in this together.’

‘What about Lily?’ Kara asked as she got to her feet. ‘Have you thought about her? Have you thought of what is happening to her as we speak? D****t, Beyoncé, she is locked up in some shrink’s home and he doesn’t have the slightest clue as to what is going on! Lily needs us, and the longer she stays away from us the more complicated all this gets.’

‘But Heather is innocent_’ Beyoncé pleaded before Kara snapped back, ‘and so is Lily!’

The silence hung around like an awkward moment in a conversation. All three hearts pumped heavily and one could almost calculate the average pulse rate if one listened hard enough. Kara, feeling like the voice of reason, broke the ice, ‘You agreed to help with this. You both did. If anything, you begged… for Lily’s sake. I don’t want to hold you guys against your will, but let’s face it; it’s too damn late to back out. We are all in too deep.’

Again silence fell. This one, though, was longer, colder, stiffer. This was one of those times when everyone knew what the other was thinking. It was one of those times when they all thought about their live and with hindsight, almost regretted every decision they ever made.

Swallowing hard, John inhaled deeply, calmed himself down, and then exhaled. He focused his full attention on the woman standing before him, saying, ‘What do we do now, then? Not just about Athena, but about everything?’

‘Well, John,’ Kara began, ‘we could tell Lily the truth.’

‘I think she would hate to know all the things we have done.’

‘No, not that truth; not the truth about you. The truth about her.’

Author's Note

Description and detail is a little light, but other than that, it'd really be great to know where I could improve. Oh, and as you can tell, it is far from complete :)