I wrote this story in May 2007, but I never published it. Contrary to what it could look in Chapter 1 it's not a Ghost story, but this first chapter help me to set up the whole story.
The whole story is divided in two "books" this is the first one, it's 15 chapters long.
Thanks to TracyBrooke who volunteer to be my beta!
Disclamer: I don't own the characters, I'm just playing with them.
(and I won't tell this every chapter, if you read a story usually you read chapter 1 first, so you know this already. )
Also - last one I promise, if you can take time to review, it's very important, especially for people who write in a language that it's not your native one. Thanks!
- NOTE: I'm re-posting this because the amazing JasterLady send me new correction. And Betas are like TV-show, you never have enough!
"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything."
(Katharine Hepburn)
The Road Taken - book 1
Lilly Kane was my best friend. She was brutally murdered last October. Today marks one year since her death, and her killer still has not paid. There is someone in jail for this crime, and I know for sure he's innocent. But that is a story I'll tell you another time. So, I'll start again.
Lilly Kane was my best friend. Losing her was like losing a sister. Her death destroyed my world. I lost everything. My father was the sheriff, and he was sure that the Kanes were somehow involved in Lilly's death, and for this and some false proofs, he lost his job. Consequently, we lost our house and our social status. My mother's alcohol addiction worsened, and, one day she took off. At school, people started to avoid me on my lucky days, and torture me the rest of the time. Duncan, my former boyfriend and Lilly's "perfect" brother, started to hate me (but he wasalreadyignoring me for no reason even when Lilly was alive). And then there's Logan Echolls: my former friend and Lilly's boyfriend. He became my nightmare. So, I thought I lost everything, everyone... I thought nothing could be worse. I thought wrong.
It was the party at Shelly Pomroy's. I already had a very bad year, but I decided to go to the party anyway, even knowing they didn't want me there at all. But I wanted to demonstrate that I couldn't care less. And there I was wrong again. I wasn't strong enough to watch Duncan making out with a girl I didn't recognize from school. I felt like I was stabbed in the chest. I turned to see Logan watching my pain and enjoying every second of it, before turning back to kiss his own date.
It was too much. I wanted to leave, but I had to walk back through the whole school population before I could reach the door. During this "pleasant" promenade I found myself with a Coke & rum in my hand. No idea who gave me that. And I did the most idiotic thing I could do: I drank it all. And I don't remember much of the next few hours. How long had I blacked out? No idea. I remember crashing on a lounge chair near the pool, and nothing more.
oooOOOooo
Logan leaned the girl he was kissing against his new X-Terra; not a classy car, to be sure, but he definitely wasn't going unnoticed. "Come on, let's quit these losers and do something … more fun, just the two of us…"
"Mmm… Sounds good… Any idea what?" Cindy leaned against him.
"What about my pool? It's right next to the pool house, which has a very big bed."
She laughed. "I like the sound of that."
"Then let's go." He moved quickly toward the driver side and opened the door, but before he could hop in, something stopped him.
"Hey, lover boy… aren't you in too much of a hurry?"
oOo
Logan froze. *That voice*. He turned abruptly.
"Who's there?"
"Uh… me?" Cindy answered.
Her reply went unnoticed when the voice continued. "You've already forgotten me. And I thought you cared." A new girl came into sight, a fake pout on her face.
Lilly, his beloved dead girlfriend was there, right in front of him, and she seemed so real, almost touchable. "I do! I care for you too much."
"Logan, who are you speaking to?" Cindy came around the car, staring at him intently.
He didn't bother to answer her. Instead, he turned toward the vision before him. "Lilly, I care. I swear I do!" he repeated.
"Yeah, that's why you're here kissing this worthless girl? I mean, where has your style gone? Was it killed with me?"
"Lilly… please… I still love you so…." he whispered into the dark.
"Logan?" Cindy's voice rose, tremulous with a beginning panic.
"I know you did… but you hurt me so much…. You deceived me… you betrayed me." Lilly spoke slowly, pain in her voice.
"Just one kiss, I swear," he pleaded.
"You want another kiss? Ah, bad boy!" Cindy laughed, thinking that he must have said that last bit to her.
"I wasn't talking about sex, stupid! You betrayed me. You lied to me; I thought you cared."
His voice was croaky when he replied. "I do!"
Cindy walked toward him, but Logan didn't even notice.
Lilly bent her head doubtfully. "You do?"
"Yes, of course I do."
Cindy moved toward him, but he pushed her away roughly.
"Hey!" she protested.
"Then what are you doing here?" Lilly asked, sighing as she pointed to the other girl.
"I'm sorry. She doesn't mean anything, I swear."
"She who? Logan! What's wrong with you?!" Cindy snapped.
"I'm not talking about this 'I have fake boobs look at them' bitch!" Lilly stared at him. "I can't understand how you could forget so easily."
"I remember everything."
"Everything?"
Cindy's initial worry was slowly fading, replaced by irritation. She folded her arms and glared at Logan, snapping, "Everything, what?
"Every thing, every detail, " Logan continued, ignoring Cindy entirely.
"Logan Echolls, I WANT an explanation! What are you blabbing about?" Cindy interjected, stamping her foot like a petulant child.
"I wouldn't call Veronica a detail." Lilly answered casually.
"Veronica?" came Logan's startled response.
"YouWhat!? Veronica Mars? That slut?" Cindy exclaimed, throwing her arms wide in exasperation.
Again Lilly was looking at him. "Veronica, blond hair,a little on the short side, sweet smile, sweet eyes, too good for this world?"
"I know who Veronica is!" he cried.
"You let her down," she accused.
"She thinks your father killed you," Logan yelled, railing against the ghost.
"Are you crazy?! I'm pretty alive if you hadn't noticed!" Again Cindy moved in front of Logan, and he pushed her away.
Lilly's eyes burned with rage. 'How could a dead person have eyes so full of life?' Logan wondered.
"Details!" Lilly went on angrily. "She fights, and please notice the present tense 'fight' because she still does, to find who killed me!"
"We know who killed you!"
"You need to see a professional, you drunk jerk!" Cindy stomped back towards the noisy party, muttering insults about Logan and the guiltless Veronica. Logan didn't even notice her depart.
Lilly glared hotly at him and snorted indelicately. "Yeah sure, whatever."
"Lilly…" Logan began.
"You're letting Veronica down just when she needs us most."
"I couldn't care less." Logan dropped his gaze from hers.
"She's going to be hurt," Lilly admonished.
He returned his gaze to hers, eyes flashing angrily. "She deserves it!"
"No, she doesn't, and you know it. Don't use V'ronica as a punching bag," Lilly scolded, pronouncing her friends name in a way that was uniquely theirs. It struck a chord within Logan as the vision before him continued. "She is tougher than people believe, even more than I believed, but this time she needs help. Our help."
"God, Lilly, you don't understand - I need to hate her. Every time I see her, I know you're gone."
"There are other ways to deal with that. Run for her, run for me…." She trailed off, turning away as if she was leaving.
"Lilly..." Logan started, reaching for her.
She turned her face toward him again, "Logan, time is running out." The deep cut in her head started to bleed. "Be fast…" Her figure started to vanish, and he could see through her.
"Lilly don't go."
"Run!" she demanded. And then she was gone.
And he did, he ran toward the party, looking for someone he really didn't want to find.
- To Be continued in Chapter 2