Disclaimer: I don't own the OTH characters. Sadly.
A/N: My second story! The first one, Life Goes On, isn't really going where I wanted it to go, so here's another attempt at a Breyton-story. I just rewatched season 3, and this story is about how I thinkepisode 16 should have gone.
Also, if there are any strangely spelled words or odd grammatical constructions in here, it's because I'm Dutch. Please tell me if I did something wrong though, I will only learn from it.
Feedback very much welcome, without it there will be no updates ;)
Oh, 'cover' for this story can be found here: http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/6693/ch2vd0.jpg
1. Don't you dare stop me
I'll never forget the moment I saw that gun pointed at us. I'll never forget the moment he pulled the trigger either. But what will always be with me, in the back of my mind, haunting me every night, is that I couldn't find her. I had subconsciously taken her hand in mine, but the minute that bullet went flying, the warmth of it was gone. That was probably one of the scariest moments of that day. We fell to the ground, and it was chaos. People ran for their lives, and they separated me from my Peyton while they did it. Some guy grabbed my shoulders, lifted me up and pushed me down the hall. "Run!" he yelled. But I didn't want to.
I got outside and started screaming for her. Maybe she'd made it outside as well, maybe nothing was wrong. But something told me there was. I guess I'd always had a sort of sixth sense when it came to Peyton. I always knew when something was off, when she needed me to talk to. The sixth sense had just reached a whole new level, when I felt she was hurt when I couldn't even see her.
The bus just arrived, and Nathan and Lucas jumped out. Panic came over me and I ran to Lucas, telling him what happened. Before I knew it though, he was going after Nathan, who was running towards the building. When Lucas tackled Nate, I saw that everyone was staring at them, curious to see what happened next. Whitey was watching too, and there and then, I made a decision. I quickly ran away from the bus, to the back of the school. My legs were thinking for me, I guess, 'cause I sure as hell didn't know what I was doing, or what I was planning on doing when I got in the school, for that matter.
One of the emergency exit doors was wide open. I sneaked towards it, my heart pounding. The hall was empty, except for the scattered books and bags on the floor. I moved to walk inside, but quickly retreated. Brooke Davis, what are you gonna do when that guy catches you sneaking around, huh? Aren't you gonna defend yourself? Hm. Good point, me. My eyes searched the area, searching for something useful. I saw a purse lying on the ground outside, and picked it up. It was pink, which meant it was definitely a girl's purse, so there should be some…. Ah! Deodorant.
I made my way back to the door, and went inside, deodorant at the ready. It must've looked pretty stupid, but at the moment, I felt I was quite the Charlie's Angel. At every corner, my heart skipped a beat. I was so scared he was going to be around the corner, ready to shoot me without thinking. In one of the halls, I suddenly heard footsteps. Whoever was running was running quickly towards me. I was scared stiff, and couldn't get myself to move. Then, I saw him.
"Nathan! Oh my God! What are you doing h…"
Before I could finish my sentence, he pushed me against the wall, his hand against my mouth. He put his finger on his lips. I nodded to show that I had gotten the message and that he could let me go now.
"Brooke, what the hell are you thinking?" he said quietly, but angry.
"Eh, I could ask you the same, mister."
This dawned on him, and he asked: "Where are you going?"
"To find Peyton… I don't know where she is, but she didn't make it outside… You going to get Haley?"
"Yeah, she's in the tutor centre… Seriously though, Brooke, you can't do this, it's too dangerous… Peyton will be fine, I'm sure….just get out, now!"
Oh no, I was not leaving her.
"Nathan, listen to me. You are going after Haley, right? And why? Because you love her, and you could never live with the thought of having let her in here without trying to save her. If something happened to her, it would break you. Completely. Well, it's the same for me. If I ever lose Peyton… So, don't you dare stop me. Don't you dare."
I was feeling pretty confident that that little speech had won him over, so I walked away. He didn't try to stop me. When I was at the end of the hall, he called my name. I turned around and saw him looking at me intently.
"Brooke?"
The look on his face told me all I needed to know. I smiled.
"You too, Nathan."
I arrived safely at the spot I had last seen Peyton. There was blood where she'd been standing. Oh my God. I can't describe how it felt to see the blood of your best friend on the floor, after you'd just abandoned her. What if… what if she was dead? I shuddered at the thought. I would never be able to live without her.
There was more blood. It was like a trail, leading towards the library. I almost squeezed right through my little bottle of deodorant as I made my way towards it. The doors were closed. What if he was in here? With her? Her dead body at his feet? Again, I felt so much pain in my heart thinking about that. No, no, she wasn't dead. She was perfectly fine, her nose was just bleeding. Right. Right. Oh God.
Extremely careful not to make a sound, I pushed the door open. The library was deserted, tables and chairs turned over, open books on the floor. The trail was also there, leading to one of the shelves. On my toes, I followed it. I stopped right behind the shelve, and tried to get myself together, to gather every single drop of courage I still had in me. Then I thought of Peyt, and there was no longer a doubt in my mind that I was going to go find out what was behind this shelve. Everything for my girl.
It all happened in slow motion, even though I was moving pretty slow already. Ready to spray evil murderers in the eyes, I turned around the corner. Then, my heart shattered into tiny little pieces.