It was as if her soul had been left in the woods that night. Alongside the nine innocent lives that were lost. No, not lost. Taken. The nine lives that were taken, and the one malignant life that was long overdue for a very slow, painful death.
She wished she could say it stopped there. The lives that were taken. She wished she could say, that it was just those unlucky nine. But she couldn't. If she could, she might be able to convince herself she wasn't as lost as she thought. As she felt. She was the one that was lost. She was the one that was still alive, though she knew very well, that she didn't deserve to be.
All of the work and dedication she had put into being the exact opposite of what she inevitably became, was for nothing. She was the very thing she had always feared she would be. The thing she was portrayed to be. She became what she condemned Stacie for being. She was a hypocrite and she hated herself for it.
She was the monster that parents warned their children about. The one they used to make sure they didn't venture into the woods alone.
It was upsetting really, that no one could see her for what she truly was. Until it was too late. No one saw the monster. They only saw the girl with pretty red hair and fake eyes. Eyes that had lost their once beautiful ice blue color. The eyes everyone fell in love with. Eyes that were now covered with a dull blue colored contact, so they couldn't see the terrifying red beneath them. They held so many secrets.
They heard a soft voice, one that sounded as though it were made of silk. A sweet smile. They trusted her, as if she were a long time friend.
As long as they did that, she wouldn't go hungry. As long as people continued to trust her, to follow her, to be alone with her; she would continue to be the monster she had always vowed to never be.
It was sunny. Almost too beautiful outside, too beautiful for the occasion and she knew it was the universes way of mocking her. She sat in the last row, sunglasses in place.
Six rows ahead of her, stood a man in black robes, a book in his hands. She tried not to look at him. Afraid that if she did for too long, she might burst flames. It was a ridiculous way to feel, but it didn't stop the dread that filled her stomach when she let her gaze linger for too long. She listened to the sniffles and whimpers around her as kind words were spoken.
Memories and more tears were shed before it grew quiet and she looked up to see a little girl, no older than six stand up in the front row. Her black dress was pressed neatly. Her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, held with a black bow.
Everyone watched with baited breath as she walked up to the shiny black casket, a pink long stemmed rose in her small hand. She heard the echo of a mourning wife, as the little girl stood on her tip toes, but still wasn't tall enough, to place the rose on the casket.
She looked down, as the priest walked over and lifted the girl, helping her to place the rose on her fathers casket.
After she was set back on her feet, her mother stood and ushered her down the aisle, and away from the service.
With one last look, she stood and followed the woman and child, toward the line of cars waiting. She wanted to speak to them, but didn't dare. She knew that if she did, she would say too much. She would end up doing something that she couldn't take back.
When she reached her small dark blue car, unlike the many black ones in the line, she got in quickly, locking the doors and her fists automatically gripped the wheel tightly, painfully.
She tried to do as Stacie had done. Kill only the ones that deserved death. However, she wasn't as strong as Stacie, she quickly learned. She slipped up. A lot. Those were the victims she made sure to keep track of.
She made sure to attend the funeral of every innocent person she murdered. She only kept count of those. Of the lives that she took, that did nothing to earn it.
She let out a breath and started her car. Then taking her sunglasses off, she pulled out the disposable contacts and blinked a few times. Feeling a moment of relief. As she pulled away from the cemetery, she glanced in her rear view mirror. Seeing the mother putting her child into her car. To head home to an empty house.
Seventeen. This was her seventeenth funeral. It wasn't the first one that she attended where she was forced to watch a child mourn their dead parent. And she made sure to watch them. To feel the pain, and grief they felt.
She inhaled sharply, letting the tears fill her eyes and spill down her cheeks. Tears of anger. Regret and self loathing. She swiped them away as she turned away from the cemetery and let it disappear behind her.
She made the mistake of looking in her mirror again and caught a glimpse of the eyes she was forced to live with. Where her once beautiful blue eyes used to be, were the blood red eyes that reminded her of what she was. The color that told the truth of the monster she had become.
She wasn't on the road for very long before she felt the familiar feeling in her gut. She gasped lightly, feeling as if she had been punched in the stomach and looked in her mirrors, but she couldn't see anything. She pressed down on the gas, and the car shot forward. Clearing her throat, she rolled her shoulders and kept her eyes on the road ahead.
It had been nine months. Nine long months since that night in the woods. Since she killed the doctor. Since she murdered the group of campers. Nine months that she had been running. Hiding.
They wouldn't stop though. They wouldn't leave her to live her miserable life. No, why would they?
She could feel her heart begin to ache, and a new wave of pain came over her body. Goosebumps erupted along her skin and she felt lightheaded.
This only happened every once in a while. When they caught up with her. When they knew she was close.
She knew the feeling. She knew it well.
Beca.
Beca was close, they were looking for her and they were close to finding her. But she couldn't let them. She couldn't go with them. She wasn't like her family. She wasn't like Beca. Not anymore.
They had caught up with her three months prior. Beca had found her and she could still clearly remember the look on her face. The look of relief, yet pain. She could feel the way Beca's heart beat, yet broke at the sight of her.
She wanted nothing more, than for them to stop, to leave her alone. Stop looking for her. But they wouldn't.
They had followed her from LA, and they never stopped trying to find her. Now, as she drove the winding roads in a small town in Arkansas, she felt anger fill her stomach.
Why couldn't they just leave her alone? She didn't want them, and they didn't need her. She needed to be left alone. She was dangerous, to them, to everyone.
There were no cars on the road, and she took a breath, knowing the only way they were going to lose her trail, is if they couldn't sense her. Through the bond, she shared with Beca and Stacie, they could sense her when they were close enough and she knew she needed to break it before it was too late.
She couldn't bare to see that look on Beca's face again. She couldn't feel what she was feeling. Not was selfish, but after everything she had already done, why shouldn't she add that too her list?
She took one more look around, seeing no one on the lonely two lane road.
She had spent enough time in the small town to know that there was a scenic overlook just up the road. She needed to get there before they caught up.
She hit the gas a little harder and was soon flying down the road toward the overlook.
When she could see it come into view she took another breath. Then closed her eyes for a moment as she neared it.
"I love you Beca." She whispered before she yanked her wheel to the right and smashed through the guardrail, her small car careening over the side of the overlook.
By the time it came to a stop, a crumpled heap at the bottom, Chloe was unconscious. And the bond was severed, just momentarily. Just long enough, for the connection to break.
Fifteen miles away, the car that held Stacie, Aubrey and Beca pulled off to a stop.
"She did it again." Came a soft voice.
Aubrey parked the car and looked into the backseat. Beca fell back against the back of it and looked down into her lap.
"I'm sorry Beca." Aubrey said. And Stacie dropped her head into her hands.
She looked up at the blonde, her eyes tired. She nodded slowly.
"Yeah, so am I."
Aubrey looked at Stacie before starting the car and pulling back onto the road, making a u-turn and heading back towards the motel they were staying at. Where they would wait, until Chloe regained consciousness. Then, they would try again, to catch up to her.
However, Aubrey wasn't sure how much longer Beca was going to be able to do this, before she finally snapped.
A/N: I said I wasn't going to post this until i was done with one of my other stories, but I just couldn't wait. So like me. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review?! What do you think for a first chapter?!