No Rest For The Wicked

"Do you know me? Am I a nice guy?" "Because...I was doing my job. I don't give a damn about you or anyone." - Frank Bannister, The Frighteners.

You would think that a Hollywood premiere was taking place in the museum, not the opening of a new exhibit. Ok, so I couldn't see a single celebrity (though there were a few local faces that I recognised) but the crowd that waited anxiously outside seemed way too large for a simple opening ceremony.

I didn't even realise that the crowd was too big until Jesse pulled into an empty parking space and looked at the chaos with a worried expression on his face.

I didn't wait for him to open my door this time (mainly because every time he does something nice for me I feel like I am going to faint) so I was out of the car before he could remove his keys from the ignition. He fumbled with them for a moment before yanking them out and reaching into the glove compartment to remove something black and metallic. I didn't realise what it was until he climbed out of the car and pushed it hastily into the shoulder holster that he wore under his black police jacket. I shivered again, as I always did when I saw a gun. Guns cause death and I deal with enough death being a Mediator.

Jesse didn't look at me when he moved around the car to take my arm. My eyes involuntarily followed his gaze and I noticed why the crowd was so large. I can't believe that I hadn't seen it before...a flashing light next to the main entrance. And this flashing light didn't belong to a police car. Because police cars weren't white vans with the word 'Ambulance' printed along the sides.

I chose to look away, allowing Jesse to pull me along. If someone had died in there... I really didn't want to deal with an angry ghost tonight.

It was as I was thinking this that something caught my eye; something that flitted across the roof of the museum...something that seemed to come out of the roof of the museum. I saw the flies first, the swirling hurricane of insects that acted as a second cloak. The reaper moved across the roof and rested next to the upside-down 'V' that was the top of the main entrance (the museum looked like a modernised Parthenon). Despite the speed of the wind, the insects that buzzed around the reaper were not blown away.

Jesse suddenly stopped in his tracks and I knew that he had noticed my line of vision. He was aware of the presence of the reapers and knew what they did but he couldn't see them and he couldn't touch them, so he couldn't help me. I don't know if it was this realisation or the fact that the reaper seemed to be searching the crowd for its next victim, but I ran (whatever my reasoning was) towards the main entrance, leaving Jesse to scream at me to come back.

The crowd seemed to part pretty much willingly for me. I guess they didn't want to get in the way of the crazy girl who was actually trying to get in to the museum rather than leave the vicinity as many of the visitors seemed to be doing.

The main entrance comprised of two sets of revolving doors. They were the kind that you pushed on your own, not the stupid slow-moving airport ones, so I was able to burst inside the museum fairly quickly.

There were still people inside the museum, I was surprised to see, and they were all grouped around a couple of men dressed in green uniforms that were leaning over something on the floor and shaking their heads.

It was a strange scene, given the decor of the museum. I wonder if the Ancient Egyptians really did use so much gold and ochre. Though I am pretty sure that they don't stand mummified corpses upright in glass cases with a metal pole supporting them.

There were large tablets on the wall, some of which looked fake (though some were genuine and even had plaques beneath them) and they had hieroglyphics carved into them. Of course, I didn't have a clue what they meant, but I wasn't really bothered. They could be cursing us all for all I cared because one of the green men suddenly shifted and I saw the word 'Paramedic' sewn into the back of his offensively bright jacket.

Then, of course, there was the foot. The foot that was just visible beside the paramedic's knee. Oh, it wasn't severed or anything, I could tell by the lack of blood, but still...it was a foot. And the person it was attached to didn't look too healthy.

"We need a body bag," I heard one of the paramedics mutter, his voice laced with disappointment. The small crowd that surrounded the body began to step back and glance at one another in fear.

I almost leapt into the air when I felt hands on my arms and a sudden heat behind me.

"Susannah, what were you...?" Jesse began. "Oh, no. What happened?"

I shrugged, though I think that might have been more to shake off the peculiar feeling that his hands caused me to feel. Judging by the solemn looks on the paramedics' faces I assumed that it was another 'mysterious death'.

My eyes nervously flitted over every surface, looking for some sign of either one of the reapers. Judging by the foam that spewed from the victim's mouth, he had been a victim of the pestilence reaper. I shuddered. Though each death was as horrific as the last I would have rather had one of my organs crushed than melted. As I stepped towards the body I could see its face twisted into an expression of pain and terror. I can't begin to imagine how terrifying it must have been; feeling your life being stolen away from you and not knowing what was taking it. I know how horrific emotional pain can be when it destroys you from the inside out so I knew that it must have been agonising to have physical pain take the same action.

"There's no business for you here, Suze," a cold, sharp voice spoke as calmly as my mother would announce the afternoon news. "The victim's relatives have not been informed of his death yet so you can't possibly con them right now. Or maybe you came here to admire your handiwork."

I spun around to face the owner of this ruthless voice and I saw her standing there in all her fake, designer-clad glory, her blonde hair pulled into a loose updo and a pale orange dress clinging loosely to her no doubt liposuctioned figure. She placed the long champagne glass that she had been clutching onto the buffet table beside her.

"What the hell are you implying?" I demanded, my hands unintentionally clenching into fists which caused my fingernails to press into my palms rather painfully.

Kelly simply chuckled and folded her arms over her chest (which was probably the only part of her that was real).

"Don't you think it's a little strange that you rush through those doors seconds after that man dies," she drawled. I could feel the eyes of the spectators burning into me as she spoke. "He was fitting for about ten minutes and suddenly stopped when you appeared. I find that a little...odd, don't you? Like I find your rushing out of a gas station rest room moments after a woman collapses odd, like I find your scamming Marta de Silva less than an hour before her painful death odd...like I find you conveniently losing your memory of the events surrounding Paul Slater's murder odd."

There were screams. I know that much. Everything else went silent to me. It felt as though my head had been plunged into a warm pool. I was aware of the eyes that glared at me, of the fingers that were thrust in my direction...even of the people who ran out of the museum in fear. I heard Jesse shout something but I couldn't quite make out what it was...not when I saw Kelly's face. Or her forehead to be more precise.

I saw the curve of the '3' first, and then the lines of the '5' that followed. The blood seeped down the side of her nose, outlining her smug grin before becoming lost in the crimson of her lipstick.

"You're next," I spoke, a little louder than I had intended. As soon as I spoke those two words I saw her eyes soften. Her smile faded in an instant as the number dissolved as though it had never been there at all. Of course, it had never actually been there, but you get my meaning.

"Are you...are you threatening me?" she asked, a slight hint of fear evident in her otherwise toneless voice. "She's threatening me!" Then she pointed one taloned finger at me and I heard the click of several holsters being snapped open. I knew that the police had their guns pointed at me, I just knew it. I also knew that I had just implicated myself, not only in the deaths of everyone that Kelly had accused me of killing, but also of her imminent demise. How many years do you get for killing twenty-five people? Would I be sentenced to death?

I guess that thought was what inspired me to carry out my next action. Either that or the swirling mass of flies that suddenly materialised next to Kelly. Whatever it was, it caused me to throw myself at Kelly and not only cause several shots to be fired in my direction but also cause the buffet table to split in two beneath our combined weight. I jerked her to her feet once more as a shrivelled hand grasped her pearl necklace in a really pathetic attempt to capture her.

"Hold your fire!" someone shouted.

"Miss, let her go," the same voice yelled. My eyes met with the officer whose gun was currently pointed straight at me. There were seven cops, which I found unfair. Though Jesse was the only cop who had yet to draw his gun. His expression was unreadable, as always, so there was no way to tell what he was thinking. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't very polite seeing as I currently held Kelly in a grip so tight that she couldn't break free from it no matter how much she struggled.

My chest burned with fear that I chose to hide from the others in the museum. I know from experience that some people see fear as a weakness. I didn't want anyone to take advantage of that and catch me off guard.

I pulled Kelly back a few steps (which wasn't easy, let me tell you that), my grip on her arm still as tight as ever and looked around. I honestly don't know what I expected to see. A trapdoor, perhaps? A magical portal to another dimension? Not that I would have been able to focus on any of them what with the reaper suddenly tacking me to the floor.

The flies that swarmed around it buzzed through me (yes, through) as it reached for Kelly and wrapped its aged hand around her slender neck. I couldn't see much due to the mass of walking disease that was crushing my ribcage but I could hear Kelly's gasps and the scream that followed.

I clawed at the reaper's skin but it simply flaked off in my hands. It peeled away and disintegrated like burnt paper, revealing what should have been its internal organs. All I could see was a mass of black goo and the maggots that dripped out in the place of blood. I retched, a lump forming in my throat and threatening to spill the contents of my stomach all over the floor. I don't know what bugged me most, the maggots or Kelly (probably the maggots...I would take them over Kelly Prescott any day) but I found myself jerking my leg up and sending my knee into the reaper's stomach cavity. Unlike the other people I had kneed in the abdomen, my knee did not make a thudding noise when it collided...it sort of squelched. But whatever, it seemed to do the trick.

I felt Kelly pull herself free as the reaper flew into a nearby display cabinet. Which I found kind of over-dramatic. I mean I hadn't kneed it that hard. Before the creature had time to recover I grabbed the back of Kelly's dress and dragged her out of the front entrance. I could hear gunshots and bullets thudding into the wall as we ran.

"Let me go," Kelly screamed as the crowd parted to let us through. Either they thought I had a gun or they didn't like Kelly that much. Judging by the amount of slanderous stories that she had written and the amount of people that she had pissed off, I chose to assume the latter.

"Not a chance in hell," I growled, pulling her towards the car park. I could hear the heels of her shoes scraping against the tarmac as she fought my hold on her. But her struggle was amounting to nothing; while she was spying on innocent citizens I was either working out or fighting the undead. I had way more muscle than her. Not only that, but I also knew how to use it.

I didn't know where I was going to take her...I didn't exactly have much of a plan. I just wanted to get her as far away from that creature as possible.

"Keys," I breathed. "Give me your car keys."

I don't know where the idea came from, but it was worth going ahead with.

"I-I don't-" she started before I jerked her violently towards her white Toyota.

"Don't mess with me!" I screamed. "If you want to stay alive, you will give me your car keys."

I could already hear the voices of the cops, one of them shouting at the others and telling them to stand back...a voice that sounded strangely familiar.

Kelly tipped the contents of her clutch bag on the floor and I loosened my grip so that she was able to bend down and grab her keys. I then pressed her waif-like form into the side of the car and ordered her to unlock the door.

She seemed reluctant but a quick jab in the ribs with my elbow convinced her to do exactly what I said.

"Susannah!"

I tried to ignore the voice as Kelly managed to pull the heavy door open and crawl inside. I even reached inside the door to flick the child locks on so that she couldn't sneak away. It wasn't until I jogged around the front of the car towards the driver's side that someone grabbed my arm. As a reflex I found myself thrusting my elbows back and shaking my shoulders but I couldn't break free.

"Susannah, what the hell are you doing?" Jesse demanded, pulling me back and holding my body against his. I should add how distracting this was. Besides, being there in Jesse arms (even though he was restraining me, not holding me) made me feel so guilty about kidnapping Kelly, despite it being for her own good. I felt so...righteous. Or at least like I wanted to be righteous.

"Let me go," I demanded, not letting up my struggle for one moment. "Let me go or she is going to die."

I could sense something nearby. I know that it sounds strange, but you can feel it when a supernatural presence is around. It's like the air around you changes. I could feel it then, the air was practically alive with electricity. Sure enough, when I looked up, both reapers stood by the museum entrance.

"Susannah, do you see those police officers over there?" His lips were by my ear and his voice was unmistakeably loud despite the fact that he was whispering. I nodded feebly, falling apart in his arms despite how hard I was trying not do. Doesn't he know the way that he makes me feel? Being this close to him was nothing short of torture. "I am the only thing standing between you and their guns. I am the only thing stopping them from shooting you. If you give up now, if you let Kelly go, you can walk out of here as a free woman. If you run they will arrest you and charge you with the murders of those she accused you of killing."

Kelly banged furiously on the windows of her car and the cops continued to point their weapons at me. I knew for a fact that they usually only carry one clip to events like this. How many times had they shot at me and missed? Would I get out of there before getting shot?

As soon as I saw the cloaked reaper push the other one aside and leap onto the roof of the nearest car I knew what choice I had to make. I was simply lucky that the crowd (including the police) were distracted by the car alarm, which had decided to sound in response to the reaper's sudden leap.

"I can't let her die," I admitted. Then I sent my elbow back into Jesse's ribcage. Spinning around to face him I swung my fist at his jaw and while he was distracted I reached into the side of his jacket and pulled his gun from the shoulder holster that it sat in.

Once he realised what had happened it was too late. I will never forget the look of shock and betrayal on his face as he stared down the barrel of his own handgun. My hand shook terribly and I was unable to hold the weapon still but I continued to point it at him.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. I could feel tears streaking down my cheeks. "But I'm not going to let anyone else die because of me. You have to understand that."

Then I lowered myself into the car.

The strange thing was that I cried for barely a second as I thrust the keys in the ignition and drove out of the car park, numerous bullets ploughing into the side of Kelly's rather expensive car. It was amazing how bad the aim of our town's police officers is.

I pressed my foot hard against the accelerator peddle, pushing the car to its limits. The air was still filled with crackling supernatural energy and I needed to shake it off. But how do you escape from something that is everywhere?

"Please don't kill me," Kelly begged, her mascara almost reaching her lips by now.

"For what it's worth, I'm saving your life," I told her. "Not that you would ever know...nobody ever does."

Something in the rear-view mirror caught my eye. Something black. I didn't even realise how close it was until I heard the thud as it landed on the roof of the car. It was kind of like in those movies where they give you a shot of a monster in the rear-view mirror with the 'objects may appear closer than they are' sticker still pasted across the bottom. Except this was real.

"What the hell was that?" Kelly screamed. There was another bang and she shrunk down even further in her seat, her seatbelt pulling her dress up around her knees.

I didn't even have time to speculate over what it was because I found out a split second later. I heard the metallic rip first, and then I saw the blade. Oh yeah, because no self respecting reaper would be seen without a scythe.

I heard the rush of air as the scythe missed the back of my seat by about three inches. Then there was the nails-on-chalkboard sound of ripping metal again and I felt the cold metal of the blade press against my cheek. Instinctively I leaned to the left, away from the scythe. From Kelly's point of view this must have looked extremely odd. After all, the accessories of the dead are as invisible to normal people as they are.

"What the fuck is going on?" Kelly screamed, so far down on her seat that she was practically on the floor. The scythe swept down again as she spoke, shattering the window beside her.

"Shut up!" I screamed. "I can't drive and explain things at the same time. Just stay down!"

Like that was going to calm anyone down. She just started screaming again, trying to bargain with me so that I would spare her life. When this is over she is going to be thanking me...hopefully.

My line of thought was disrupted as the scythe pierced the roof once again, this time actually hitting its target. Which was strange, considering that it caught me beneath my chin.

The car swerved dangerously, turning into side road as I gripped the blade with one hand and attempted to steer with the other. It took the pain a few seconds to set in but when it did I found it hard to concentrate on anything. The blade was obviously blunt since my face was still in one piece but that didn't stop it from breaking the skin. The warm blood trickled down my throat, alerting me to the extreme danger that I was in. If that scythe moved to my neck...well, it would be goodbye Kelly and Suze.

The pain in my fingers as they attempted to pull the dull blade away was nowhere near as painful as that in my chin. I probably would have screamed had my jaw not been clamped shut. When the reaper jerked the scythe upwards, I let go of the wheel and placed both hands on the blade. I may not have been able to scream but I was involuntarily making every expression of pain other than that.

A fresh supply of blood dripped from the wound on my chin as I wrestled with the scythe. Sure, it was opening the wound further but I didn't know how much longer I would be able to take the agony of it pressing up against the original raw wound.

I discovered a minute later that it didn't mater anymore. I could feel myself becoming lost to the pain, the whole world around me spinning so violently that I feared I would be sick.

"You can't just walk away like this!" Paul yelled.

"I ain't walking away," I screamed back. "I'm driving!" I smashed my foot angrily against the accelerator. If I went fast enough maybe I could leave all of this behind. Paul, the way that he has been making me feel lately, everything.

"Can we at least talk about this?" he demanded. "You owe me that much at least."

The rage fuelled my reckless driving as I swerved into a side street. I didn't care how fast I was going. Just like he didn't care how fast our house was being built. I mean, what the hell is his problem? I thought that he wanted to live with me. Boy, how wrong I must have been. Did he even love me? He had lied about a lot of things so why not that?

"Do you love me?" I asked him, the tears that had been falling for the past ten minutes suddenly blinding me. "Do you love me or were you lying?"

Paul just stared at me, completely dumbstruck.

"Of course I love you, Suze!" He spoke, his voice softer than I had ever heard it. "I love you."

I blinked, blood somehow running down the bridge of my nose. Looking out of the car windscreen I saw grass...grass that was brown with damp soil. What happened?

"Help!" I heard Kelly scream. Why did she sound so far away?

I reached down to unclip my seatbelt and as soon as I did I fell into the steering wheel and the deflated airbag that hung loosely from it.

Was I drunk? If I was, why would I be driving?

When I opened my eyes again I saw dried blood on the palms of my hands and small cuts along the underside of each finger. Blood?

"Please, help me!" Kelly shouted again. Her high-pitched voice just made my head hurt even more.

That was when it hit me...reaper!

"Kelly!" I called, climbing our of the passenger-side door. When I landed face-first on the grass I realised that the car had landed in an awkward angle. It was almost upside-down.

"Kelly!" I pulled myself to my feet by gripping onto a nearby tree trunk and heaving.

"Stay away from me!" she screamed. "Help! Please, somebody!" She crawled on her hands and knees, sobbing in fear.

It was then that I realised why my surroundings looked familiar. The position of the car, the trees, the road just visible way above our heads.

This was where Paul had died.

"No!" I screamed, lunging for Kelly. But I was too late. A black blur slammed into her, dragging her about ten feet into the trees. I could vaguely make out the reaper's slender hands as they pressed against the sides of Kelly's head.

I couldn't breathe. The weight of what felt like a ton of dirt pressed down on my chest. My eyes stared skywards as breath after breath scorched my trachea.

I could hear choking to my right but my brain didn't really register it. Whoever it was seemed to be having more trouble breathing than I was.

The ground beneath me was pleasantly warm and this seemed to be lulling me to sleep. I must have been roused from a dream. That would explain the dull, throbbing pain in my head.

Who was making that noise? It was beginning to irritate me. Maybe if I just turn my head...

No...

Paul...

I was drowning. How, I did not know. I could feel the oxygen being pulled from the air around me. I'm sure that's whet it was. How else could I explain my sudden inability to breathe?

The trees seemed to glide around me, bathed in a monochromatic light.

I drew in a deep, shuddering breath which caused my lungs to burn as I strived to provide myself with sufficient amounts of oxygen. Even when I tried to push myself to my feet I found that I had virtually no control over my own body. I fell forward again, my wrists hitting the ground first and the sudden flash of pain that followed caused me to cry out in agony.

Why couldn't I move?

Why didn't I care?

My limp hands fell to the damp soil and my fingers pushed themselves into the mud in an attempt to drag my lifeless body just a few inches further. The sight of the mud seeping between my fingers was somehow fascinating, the warmth covering my hands. I watched, hypnotised, as the mud trickled over my knuckles and down the side of my hands, leaving a meandering stain on my hand.

Then, as suddenly as I had lost control of the car, something ploughed into the side of my face and the brown stains on my motionless hands were accompanied by red splotches. Splotches that didn't move like the thick soil though were just as warm.

"You bitch!" a voice screamed as I felt the pain again. My body lay unresponsive as the assault continued. I couldn't fight back. I didn't want to fight back.

"You killed me!" the voice screamed again. Somehow the blows did not feel as forceful. Maybe I was just too numb from the pain or maybe this was what it felt like to die.

Death didn't seem like such a bad alternative right then. Not because of the attack, but because of what I would have to face once it was over.

"Hit me!" I screamed, suddenly hysterical. I wanted to feel the pain, to feel the adrenaline surging through me. It gave me strength, strength I didn't think I had. The physical pain seemed like such a relief after all of the emotional turmoil that I had faced. I was dead for sure now. The police would never believe the truth.

"I'll kill you," Kelly screamed as she flickered before my eyes. "Just like you killed me...just like you killed Paul!"

And then...she was gone. She had moved on, just like that, leaving me sobbing into the dirt. I could feel blood running down the side of my head, but I didn't care. I didn't care because I could feel the pain from the gash it was flowing from. It told me that I was still alive.

I could hear no sounds in the surrounding area, nothing except my own unsteady breathing and the ringing in my ears. The reaper was gone.

"You didn't finish it," I cried. "You were supposed to take me."

How many people had died because I was unable to save them? I should have watched over Marta after I saw the strange number, I should have fought off the reaper in the restroom. Heck, I should have done something to save Paul. And now Kelly Prescott lay in a crumpled pile mere feet away from me. I was going to jail for sure.

I jerked violently when I felt a cold hand beneath my armpit.

"Suze," Paul spoke, his voice softer than I had ever heard it. "Suze, you have to get up."

I let him pull me to my feet but I had no intention of struggling to remain upright. Paul realised this and led me over to a nearby tree so that I could sit upright with my back resting against it. Looking down I was amazed to see that my outfit wasn't smeared with mud.

"Suze, look at me," he commanded, kneeling beside me. When I didn't turn to face him he turned my head towards him and sighed.

"God, Suze..." he sighed. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this. Don't you dare fall apart."

"She's dead," I choked. The words that had been blocking my throat suddenly came out and, despite how numb I felt, the tears followed.

Paul pulled me towards him and held me tightly, gently rocking me in his arms. I knew that this should have at least made me feel better but it didn't. Because Paul wasn't the guy I wanted telling me that everything was going to be alright. I felt nothing when he said that I didn't kill anyone. The only person whose opinion I cared about was in danger because of me. If he was even speaking to me anymore. The reaper was killing indiscriminately now.

"I'm losing everyone," I sobbed. "I can't lose anyone else. I can't lose him."

"Do you love him?" he asked, sighing softly. I paused before answering. Do I tell him the truth? After all, the last words he had said to me before his death were "I love you".

"Yes," I whispered, pulling away from him to emphasise my point. "I do."

Paul didn't speak a word to me as he helped me limp to the police station. Where else was I supposed to go? I would be arrested as soon as Kelly's body was found and I obviously needed medical attention. The police would find me at the hospital for sure.

There was an argument in progress when I walked through the doors of the police station on my own. I caught my reflection in the glass on my way in and I looked a mess. My neck was soaked with blood and my face wasn't much better. I had obviously hit my head pretty hard on the way down.

I saw that the argument was between the sheriff, a creepy-looking guy in a suit whom I had never seen before in my life, and Jesse. My heart sank as I realised that I must have gotten him into a heap of trouble. After all, I kind of beat him up and stole his gun. The only reason that he was unwilling to fight back was that he sort of saw me as a friend. I hoped.

Jesse was the first to see me. As soon as his eyes landed on my zombie-like form he came rushing out through the office door and placed his hands on my upper arms.

"Susannah," he breathed, his voice filled with blissful relief. His eyes were soft and I could tell that he had been worrying about me. But why? What had I done to deserve any compassion?

I wanted to do nothing more than throw myself into his arms and cry into his shoulder. I wanted to tell him what had happened and hope that he would understand as Paul had. But that was the thing...Paul and Jesse were nothing alike. Jesse was the compassionate one yet it was Paul who had held me as I broke down. I didn't even deserve that. I was nothing. I was a murderer who condemned those who got too close to her. I didn't wish Kelly and Paul's fate upon anyone, least of all Jesse.

"Kelly Prescott's body is about fifteen feet away from my car, which has crashed off Oak Road," I spoke almost mechanically.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with what happened to her, would you?" the sheriff asked, masking his shock rather well.

I shrugged, which was an honest reply. I couldn't remember much about the accident. I knew that I had driven her out there to die but if I had left her in the museum she would have died anyway. It was a no-win situation.

I could barely feel the handcuffs close around my wrists or the hand that gripped the chain between them and drag me away.

"Susannah!" Jesse yelled. "You can't honestly think she has anything to do with this?"

That was so him...trying to protect me despite not having any evidence to prove that I was innocent. How did he even know what had happened to Kelly? He didn't. Just like he didn't know that he could be next.

"How do you know that?" I asked him, stopping so that the officer beside me had to stop too. "How do you know that I am innocent? You hardly know me!"

The hurt expression that adorned his handsome face only served to fuel the torrent of tears that mingled with the blood on my face.

"Here's a newsflash for you Jesse," I spat. "I'm not as innocent as you think. That night we met? It was all a set-up. I stole from your sisters...it's how I get by. I scam people. That's how pathetic I am. Your sister probably died because of me. Susannah Simon died two years ago...you would have liked her. But she's not me anymore. Everything I told you was bullshit. I don't care about you, I don't care about anyone. You were just another sucker."

I laughed humourlessly as the officer beside me yanked on the handcuffs and led me away.

As I was pushed into my cell I kept telling myself that I had meant to hurt Jesse, that I wanted him to hate me and never see me again. It was for his own good.

But as I trembled alone on the bed, crying with dry eyes, I realised that I was wrong...so wrong. I needed him, my heart knew that.

Was this the price I had to pay to protect the ones I love? I refused to live with my parents because of the violent ghosts that appeared and now I had hurt the only person I had cared about in the past few years to protect him.

The cold tiles of the cell and the hard, unforgiving mattress and drab gray sheets told me more than anything that for the first time in my life, I was truly alone.

And it was all my fault.

AN - Apologies for the delay. I had writer's block. So, to make up for it, this chapter is longer than usual :).

I have no idea when the next chapter will be up...but I am sort of looking forward to writing it so hopefully it shouldn't be too far away.

Please review :).