Hey everyone this is a one shot that takes after Vanished and in the summer time. If you've read my other stuff, you know I have a problem with writing too short, so as you probably noticed, I wrote this one extra long lol. Hope you like it!

It was black. So black that the darkness seemed to consume me, like when you look up at a starless midnight sky.

Then suddenly, the darkness that was assaulting my vision disappeared. I blinked a couple of times until the scene in front of me became clearer. What I saw was Ariana Osgood standing next to a boy tied to a pole. Thomas Pearson.

They seemed to be arguing, his expression angry, hers heart broken. Intrigued, I leaned forward to eavesdrop, but felt that my feet were rooted to the ground.

After a few more moments of silence, the dialogue became coherent, like someone just turned up the volume.

"You know what, Ariana? I think you're nothing but a crazy whore, and that's all you'll ever be. You were never good enough for me, for anyone for that matter!" he spat with venom that I didn't know he possessed.

Well, his words must had really hit home because she crumpled to the ground, sobbing incomprehensible words.

"And I'm going to turn you and your little Billings friends in for kidnapping me tonight. Have fun in jail," he said with a snarky laugh.

I just stood there watching, going unnoticed by both of them, as Ariana continued to have a heartbroken breakdown and as Thomas's chest heaved forward, as if he was trying to attack her.

This all seemed so horrifying, so completely unjust. Thomas, for the most part, has never expressed cruelty before, yet there he was, looking at this crying girl he claimed to love like she was the most repulsive being in the universe. This gave me an odd sense of deja vu.

But then, Ariana got off her feet and brought out something she was hiding behind her back. A bat. A wooden baseball bat that she was raising above her head.

I realized what was happening too late, because the second I tried to shout a warning, the baseball bat collided with Thomas's head.

An ear-piercing, bloody scream of agony escaped his lips, as did please and begging for her to stop. That he took it all back. But nothing was stopping her now.

I tried with every fiber of my being to run to him and protect him. To shout something to distract her, to do anything in my power to save him. But it was like some invisible force was pressing down on me, making it impossible to breathe, let alone move.

So I just helplessly watched as the bat hit repeatedly on Thomas's body, creating gashes, bruises, dents, and pools of blood, until finally enough damage was done to end his life.

I just watched as Thomas Pearson, my first love, was brutally murdered.

Ariana lowered the bat, heaving for air, when suddenly her eyes flickered to mine. My heart completely stopped beating, because up until this moment she didn't know I was here. She had no idea that I was watching, and now she knows that I knew too much. I turned around to run, but not for the first time I seemed to be in a complete vegetated state. So with a look of unadulterated hatred and ire, she ran towards me with the force of a bull, bringing the bat down on me.

Everything went black again, but this time I was sure I was dead. Though the weird thing was I didn't feel any different. Not that I knew from experience, but when you were dead weren't you suppose to feel different, like I don't know, have eternal peace or something.

But then I blinked hard and once again, I got the disorientated feeling of the darkness being filled with color. I was lying on the ground and I squirmed uncomfortably as what felt like gravel pressed into my body. I propped myself up on my elbows, giving myself an immense head rush, and noticed there was a wall encircling the outside of the ground, and above that was navy blue sky. I must be on a roof of some sorts. But why was I here? Wasn't I killed by Ariana..

As if my thoughts conjured her up, there she was, right in front of me, clad with a dark sinister smile.

"You didn't think I'd let you get away again, did you?" she said with a sickly sweet voice that sent a chill down my spine.

She place a hand on either of my arms and yanked me up from the ground. I felt like I was made of pudding from the inside out, and I couldn't for the life of me fight back. And she was so strong, her grip like a vice, and I realized she was going to get what she wanted. I somehow escaped her fatal bat last time, but now there was no way out of this. I was going to die.

Dread fell over me, so heavy it threatened to drown me, and everyone I loved flashed before my eyes. My parents, my brother, Thomas, Josh… Josh, where was he? Would he know about me dying? Would he care?

"You know it's you're fault he's dead," Ariana said suddenly, her eyes shooting mini daggers into my very soul. My mind was still on Josh, so that's who I thought she was talking about, and panic shot through me.

"You killed Josh too?" I shrieked feeling myself shaking with grief. Now I had no one left. No one will ever love me again, because they know loving me will just get you killed.

"What?" Ariana asked, her evil smile faltering. Relief rolled over me as I realized she wasn't talking about Josh. I don't think I could ever live with myself knowing Josh was murdered over me. But that was short lived as I realized who she was talking about.

"No, you idiot. Thomas is dead because of you. I know you were there, I saw you. You could have stopped me but you didn't. You could have saved his life, but you chose not to, therefore, you're just as much a murderer as I am," she said gravely, her words sinking deep into the pit of my stomach.

She was right. I was right there. I could have done something, but I'd just watched. I murdered the boy who told me he loved me. I didn't deserve to be loved.

"You're better off dead than alive to everyone, so why don't I just spare everyone the misery and end you now?" she said calmly, like this is something she would say to her friends on a day to day basis. Then she shoved me backwards and the wall disappeared behind me, leaving me falling

with nothing to stop me.

I let out a scream as everything in me lurched forward, trying desperately to make my way back to the solid surface again. But it was too late, gravity already took its toll, and I was falling down faster than a penny off the Sears Tower. I fell down, down, down as everything rushed by me at the speed of light and then… THUMP!

I crashed onto the concrete, and I felt paralyzed. Like the concrete had enclosed on me, and I would forever lie there, people walking on me everyday not even noticing I was there.

Ariana smiled down at me, so very very high above, and then she was gone.

So then I just waited to die. It wasn't so much that I was in pain, but the waiting, the threat of death looming over me, threatening to seize me at any moment, was agonizing.

Eventually I started to feel a sinking sensation as the sky I was staring at seemed to grow farther and farther away from me. This must be death, taking its sweet time to come and claim me. Though I'd always pictured it the opposite, that my soul would be floating up, like it'd relieve my body and go on to heaven. Unless.. unless I was sinking right to the pits of hell! No I wasn't that bad in my life, sure I'd partied a few times, had sex before marriage, and ya, I did drugs, but not voluntarily. But what if what Ariana said was true, what if God sees me as a murderer since I did nothing to try to stop Ariana from killing Thomas. That thought did me in and I began sinking into the earth, and slipped into darkness yet again...

Then I was falling. I was falling and the sensation was the same as me falling from the building Ariana pushed me from, but worse. Since this time I had no idea where I was or what I was falling to. All I could make out was streak of colors and light, but at least I didn't see any flames or a guy with a pitch fork and horns. Then once again I landed with a THUMP, and every bone in my body seemed jarred. But miraculously not one of them shattered.

I look down at myself to see if any damage was done, and found myself wearing a skimpy, black halter- top dress and high heels. Then I looked at my surroundings and saw hundreds of people around me, waitresses, models, my classmates, the Billings alumni, botoxed woman, graying haired men, and of course, the Billings girls. I must be at a Billings function or something.

The strangest thing was no one was running to me to see if I was okay, let alone taking notice to me. It was as if people fell from the sky all the time. I got up, and started walking over to the Billings girls I spotted in a clump in the center, to see what they would make of this situation.

But then I saw them. Standing in the corner, where Josh Hollis, my boyfriend, and Ivy Slade, my friend, kissing.

What was he doing? Why was he kissing her when he was my boyfriend? He told me countless times that he loved me, was that all just a joke, a big fat lie on his part?

I ran over to him and grabbed his arm. "What are you doing Josh? Why are you kissing her?" I demanded. Instead of acting ashamed, or begging for my forgiveness, he merely shoved me away.

"Go away, Reed," he said looking at me like I just came out of a horse's rear end. "I don't want you any more".

Ivy gave me a nasty sneer. What was she doing, I thought we were friends again.

"But.. but you told me you loved me," I stammered feeling confused and frustrated and desperate all at the same time.

Josh let out a nasty, cruel laugh and Ivy just scoffed. "Please, how could anyone ever love you? We all hate you. Everyone can't wait for the day you die, and until then, leave me alone. I'm in love with Ivy now," he spat, then turned to Ivy, took her face in his hands, and kissed her passionately.

"No! No stop it! You love me, you have to love me!" I shouted, but it was like I was invisible. They never even pulled away to come up for air, they just keep kissing and kissing and kissing..

I whirled around, knowing I couldn't bear to see anymore. Ariana may not have killed him, but she might as well have, that's how lost to me he was now. And what did he mean about everyone hating me and waiting for me to die? Was he right? Did everyone just see me as a big, disastrous, inconvenience? Noelle didn't though. I was her sister for crying out loud! She had to have my back on this one.

"Noelle!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, hoping that would make her appear, and amazingly enough it did. But she was looking at me with such hatred, such obvious disgust, I knew I would have been better off not saying anything.

"He's right, Reed," she said, her words scathing. "Everyone wants you dead, but you just won't seem to die, will you? I would kill you myself, but I don't want to end up in an insane asylum like poor Ariana did. But she had the right intentions, if it wasn't for you, Thomas wouldn't have died, Cheyenne wouldn't have died, Ivy wouldn't have been shot, and Billings wouldn't have been destroyed!".

Her face turned red with rage, and each of her words felt like stabs, cutting me open little by little, until the pain completely took over.

"You know what Noelle, I think I've had enough of Reed," Josh said coming up behind her, saying my name as if the words tasted like poison in his mouth. "Let's just spare everyone the misery and end her now".

I gasped as I recognized the words as what Ariana said right before she tossed me off the side of the roof. Did that mean they were about to kill me too? The people who claimed to love me, claimed to need me, were going to kill me.

This was more than I could handle, and any scrap of sanity I've been holding onto at this point just flew out the window. I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran as fast as I could, but they were already anticipating this. Everyone I knew grabbed me and was carrying me across the room. I screamed and thrashed, but I was just as powerless as I was with Ariana.

They shoved through the doors and we were on a balcony with a great view of New York. Too bad I was going to be thrown off the side, so I wouldn't get a chance to enjoy it.

Then they did just that, tossed me over the side like I was a bag of trash. I guess that was all I was worth to these people, the people I was closest to thought nothing more of me then as trash they need to dispose of.

I would've been better off in Croton. Why didn't I just stay there?

I was used to the falling sensation by now, so I didn't even scream as I plummeted down to the Earth. But what I didn't anticipate was what I fell into. Water.

I sunk into the waves, which I much preferred to then just crashing into the ground, but I was sinking already 10, 20 feet.

The more I struggled, the faster I seemed to sink, until the navy blue water started to turn ink black as the surface became more and more distant. The darkness was another thing I was used to by now, so it was no surprise to me when that's what blocked out my vision.

I woke up feeling scratchy sand press against my side. I rubbed my eyes and saw it was still night time, but now I was on an island with big- leafed palm trees and bushes scattered everywhere. As I continued to hear the ocean incessantly crashing into the shore, I tried to figure out how I ended up here. Last time I checked I was at a fundraiser.. or was I on a roof… maybe I was in the woods...

Wait this didn't make any sense. How did I end up here? Stranded on some sort of tropical island?

Okay think, Reed, think. I was at a fundraiser, that much I remember. Then I saw my friends, and Josh, and Ivy.. Then I felt like I was just knocked over by a freight train as it all came back to me. Josh and Ivy kissing, Josh informing me of how much I was detested amongst the people we knew, and them attacking me and throwing me into an ocean of some sorts.

That's how I ended up here. I remember sinking, but some how instead of being on the ocean floor, I was washed up on this island. Stranded. With absolutely no one here to save me.

And it was all because of my so called "friends", and "boyfriend".

Who needs people. They'll just end up hurting you or trying to kill you.

But I learned a long time ago that pitying yourself will get you nowhere. So I got off my ass, and looked around, conjuring every survival story and movie I could find in my overwrought mind.

But before I even stepped two feet, some one pulled my hair down, bringing the rest of me with it.

I landed hard on my back, and looked up to see who the attacker was this time.

Mrs. Ryan was towering over me, with a malicious look in her eyes.

But then suddenly I heard a click to my left, and felt something metal pressing up against my skull.

Sabine Du Lac's evil face greeted me, a grim smile playing on her lips, with the same gun she had once pulled on me before, in her hands.

"It's good to see you again Reed. Ruin any more lives lately?" she asked innocently, her eerie voice making my insides freeze.

Mrs. Ryan and her cackled at her remark, and before I knew it, Ariana had joined them too.

Great, I guess that completes the evil trio of Reed haters.

"You see, Reed, there's no place to hide now, and no one here to save you, not that they would even if they could. Don't you see what a waste your life is, Reed? Don't you see how were doing you a favor by just ending your pathetic excuse of existence?" Ariana said, trumping all of them for the the best evil look. And if course she would look the most evil, because even though they were all homicidal, she had been my longest enemy. The one from the start who has hated with every fiber of her being.

"Not that we owe it to you to show you any sign of mercy," Sabine spat, getting right up in my face. Now of all the Reed haters, I had to say she was the most dedicated. She spent a whole year manipulating her way into my life, while destroying every aspect of it at the same time. She even went so far as to kill some one, just to haunt me with her memory and make the guilt of her death overbearing. All for her sister. You almost had to respect that level of family commitment. If only she had learned to use it productively.

"So this isn't one of those quick and painless deaths, Reed. Nope, we're going to torture you until you're last breath. It's the only way a bitch like you should go," Mrs. Ryan practically purred, her eyes radiating craziness.

Now I had known Mrs. Ryan for the shortest amount of time of all three of them, and as far as I'm concerned, she had no redeemable qualities. She betrayed her husband and kids by sleeping with Upton Giles, her kids' friend, and not to mention that made her a pedophile. And also her way of trying to kill me wasn't clever in the slightest, it was just one desperate attempt after another.

And besides, didn't Upton hook up with every girl on the island, so why was she so after me? Was it because she finally snapped, she just couldn't stand to see the object of her obsession with yet some one who wasn't her? Or was it because she thought I wasn't good enough? She was fine with the other girls having sex with Upton, but I didn't deserve him because I was just the white trash girl from Pennsylvania? Either way, she was out of her freaking mind.

She then took the back of my head and smashed it repeatedly in the sand while the other two clawed, pounded, and just generally hurt me until the ever familiar darkness found me again.

I sat up straight, in something that I think was a bed, screaming my head off. It was dark, but I could see light that was radiating from the moon seeping out of the windows. Next to me in neon green lights was 3:23 am. None of this made sense, so I did the only thing I could think to do, scream.

"Reed?" I heard a groggy voice say. I instantly recognized the voice as Josh Hollis'. "Reed, what's wrong?".

His voice got a more panic edge to it as he realized that awful shrieking sound was coming out of me.

I heard a clicking sound and then light flooded the room, making everything visible.

I was in bed with Josh, and we were in his room. I stopped screaming as I finally realized what was going on. I was staying here at Josh's home in Maine over the summer with him and his family, and I had just woken up from a dream. Everything had been just a dream.

But then I realized it wasn't a dream, at least not entirely. It was more like my mind spit- firing every bad memory through out the years, every single source of my worst fears. That was indeed not a dream, because dreams are fake, and that was all too real.

Then I started to cry. I fell into Josh's comforting arm and sobbed onto his shoulder.

"Shh, Reed, it's OK. It's all going to be OK," he whispered soothingly.

I didn't even register my joy of being in Josh's arms again, seeing as the last time I saw him he was throwing me off a balcony. I could only feel pain, of all my losses, of all my sufferings, of all my guilt, of everything that dream had touched on.

Because that dream was really just the nightmare I lived with everyday.

And there you have it! Review if you get the chance please, I'd really like to hear what you thought about this one!