Ah, I love coming home and seeing I have five more reviews than yesterday! I love love love you all. I'm glad to see that I no longer have any chapters with one review only! The two chapters with one review before was Chapter 7 and Chapter 2, but Openlung bumped them up to two reviews. Thank you!
Oth4everNaley, no, Dan does not have any relations to Carrie. But after this chapter, you'll probably think he's worse. That's how creepy (or in my opinion) he is in this chapter. Next chapter, I'll include what I was thinking when I wrote what Dan did, because I don't want to spoil it in this author's note.
Now, there is only one record breaker! This chapter ranks in at a little over 5,000 words, which was my goal! YAY!
I'm looking forward to reading your reviews of how you like how I ended the 3 part chapter! The total number of these three chapters put together is roughly 12,650 (!!) words. Did I spoil you guys or what?
Also, I love to hear everyone's ideas for the stories in the reviews. Even the little questions, like 'Will Nathan agree to be on speaking terms?' because usually the questions you all ask haven't crossed my mind and give me inspiration on how to continue.
I know I've read over Oth4evernaley, TreeHillMiss, and Shelley's reviews and I thought, 'Wow, this would be good to add!' You help me out by giving me little ideas, and I could probably get a lot of inspiration from it and get the chapters out sooner.
Has anyone noticed I've been getting chapters up earlier than usual? It's because of those reviews helping me with inspiration. Expect a new chapter in 1-3 days!
Next chapter will be POV, or I might skip over the 1st person POV this one time, because I have to tie up loose ends. I love cliffhangers! Either way, expect a 1st person POV next chapter or the one after.
ALSO, IMPORTANT NOTE: Dan is already the mayor, just so you all know, so you don't get confused. Let's just pretend he became mayor before the fire.
Chapter 10- I Should Know Better Than To Touch The Fire Twice, Part 3
Peyton struggled against the ropes.
"Are you fucking crazy, Dan? Off your rocker? Forget to take your crazy pills this morning or something?" Peyton said, Dan's face two inches from hers.
"Peyton Sawyer, sarcastic joker." Dan said, and Peyton raised her eyebrows.
"Dan Scott, physco asshole that ties up seventeen year olds." Peyton spat back, and he stood up, smiling.
"How'd you do it?" Dan asked, hand on Peyton's shoulder. She shook it off. "God knows where that hand has been." Peyton growled, and Dan chuckled.
"You know, for a girl that's about to die, you're a little cocky." Dan said, and Peyton stared at him. "You don't have the guts to kill me." Peyton said, and Dan nodded.
"Really?" He said, pulling out a knife from his boot. Every muscle in Peyton's body tightened as he held it. The candles made the blade shine. Dan smirked at Peyton, and then knelt down beside her. "I don't have the guts to kill you?" Dan whispered in her ear. Peyton tried to move her head away from his but he grabbed it and pulled it closer.
"Such a nice girl would try to kill me, yet a monster like me wouldn't have the guts kill you?" Dan laughed. His laughter echoed off the walls. Peyton closed her eyes, trying to block it all out. She felt Dan move to behind the chair.
"What are you doing?" Peyton said, trying to twist her body to see behind her but it was impossible to see what Dan was doing.
Dan traced the tip of the blade on Peyton's skin, not pressing down hard enough to cut it. The blade's path sent chills up Peyton's skin.
"What a difference three months can make." Dan whispered, and Peyton pressed her eyes shut again. "See, first I thought it was Boozy who did it. After all-"
"You're just angry he got both of your love interests to fall for him more than they ever did for you." Peyton growled. Dan grabbed a piece of Peyton's hair, pulling her head back so her head was closer to his. Peyton gasped in pain.
"I prefer not to have an audience." Dan whispered, thrusting her head away. Peyton hung her head, terrified. What was he going to do? Keep cool, Peyton. Calm down. Peyton thought.
"Anyways, I did pay that Jules girl to fall in love with him. Maybe he wanted payback. Messy story, really. But Boozy wasn't in town the night of the fire. Jules told me, and Jules tells me everything if I wave a little money in her face. Then I thought it was Deb. But once Deb is a little drunk she'll spill out the truth. Funny how people's weaknesses can be used to my advantage. Then thought it was Nathan-"
"Paranoid, much?" Peyton muttered. Dan applied a little pressure to the knife that he was tracing along Peyton's skin, but still not hard enough to cut her. He was playing games with her, like a marionette doll. Pull a string and make them do what you want. Peyton knew this, but Dan was the one holding a knife dangerously close to one of her main veins. She shut up.
At Nathan's, Haley washed her bowl and put it in the strainer to dry. She went into the living room, where Nathan was sitting, head in his hands.
"You okay?" Haley asked. He looked at her briefly then returned his head to his hands.
"Headache?" Haley asked. "Mhm." Nathan murmured.
Haley stood up. "I'll get you Tylenol." Haley said, rubbing his back briefly as she walked by him. Haley walked upstairs, with a candle. She looked over her shoulder, expecting Nathan to be following her. He wasn't, he was still downstairs. Good. She walked right past the bathroom and went to the end of the hall, to the second to last door.
She pushed it open, the light shining into Nathan's room. Haley sat on his bed, sighing.
FLASHBACK (Early Naley relationship)
Stupid parties. They always made Haley uncomfortable. Lucas knew that, yet he dragged her to yet another party for the team.
She walked upstairs; everything was so hectic she had to get away. She snuck into a room, second to the last door, and sat on the bed.
She looked around, realizing where she was. She smiled. "Getting away from it all?" Nathan's calm voice said, making Haley turn around. He walked out of his bathroom in shorts, no shirt. There was a towel around his neck he was drying his hair with.
"Yeah." Haley muttered, and turned back around. "How's that worksheet I gave you coming along?" She asked as Nathan pulled a shirt over his head.
"It's coming along." Nathan said, leaning over. He kissed Haley. She smirked, and pulled away. "Have you told Lucas about us yet?" Nathan asked.
"No. He's been all tied up with Brooke."
"Literally?" Nathan said, and Haley laughed, scrunching up her nose. "I knew Brooke was some kind of sex robot, but I never pictured her tying someone up." Nathan said, just trying to make Haley laugh some more. He lived for making her laugh, seeing that smile, saying things that made her scrunch up her nose because she was grossed out. She rolled her eyes, but grinned.
"Not literally, figuratively. And he's been in a pretty good mood; I don't want to ruin it." Haley said, and Nathan nodded. "Good to know I could ruin a Lucas's good mood." He said, and Haley shot him a look, as if telling him to back off with the Lucas remarks. Haley fell back onto Nathan's bed.
"So, why would you take a shower in the middle of your own party? What if someone comes in?"
"Like you did?"
Haley nodded, smiling. Nathan shrugged. "I just took a risk, and look, no one in this room except us." Nathan said, tilting his head a little. His signature smirk on his lips. He sat next to Haley, who pulled herself back up into a sitting position.
"Care to take advantage of an empty room?" Nathan asked.
Haley giggled, wrapped her arms around Nathan's neck, and pulled him into a kiss. They fell onto the bed, kissing.
END FLASHBACK
God, how Haley loved (and missed) those make out sessions with Nathan.
She remembered that she was supposed to get Nathan Tylenol, so she jumped up and ran out of the room. She went into the bathroom and grabbed the Tylenol from the cabinet, and ran downstairs.
"What took you so long?" Nathan asked, and Haley handed him the bottle.
"I got lost." Haley murmured. "Where did you get lost? This house isn't that big." Nathan said, and Haley shook her head. She could end the sentence with 'In my memories', but that was a little too weird.
Brooke dug into her second bowl of ice cream. Everyone was sitting around the table, three candles in the middle, each person eating their second (or third, in Lucas's case) bowl of ice cream.
They were all sitting in silence when Brooke sighed and dropped her spoon. "Let's do something fun." She said, and Mouth was in the middle of eating a spoonful of ice cream. 'Like what?' was what Mouth tried to say, but it came out as 'Yike shwat?' because he was in the middle of eating. Brooke glared at him.
"Mouth, don't you remember Kindergarten? Swallow your food, then talk." Brooke said, smirking lightly, and Mouth nodded. "You're hilarious." Mouth said sarcastically, and Brooke smiled. "I know." Brooke joked.
"But seriously, we should do something fun!" Brooke said cheerily.
Lucas smirked at her. "What?" Brooke said. She was trying to get along with Lucas the best she could for the rest of the storm because she didn't want any drama.
"I think it's funny how your mood is so bubbly when we're in the middle of a depressing storm." Lucas said, and she shrugged, grinning. "That's just my personality, Luke. So... Oh, I got it! Let's talk about what we remember about each other in elementary and middle school!" Brooke squealed. "Mouth, you first. What do you remember about me?"
"I remember you poured a bottle of pink paint on my mask in 5th grade." Mouth said, twirling around his spoon in his hands. Brooke frowned. "That wasn't me!"
"That totally was you. I was sitting right there. You stomped over with Peyton, declared that you were Queen Brooke Davis, and Peyton was your daughter, Princess Peyton. You told us that the kingdom needed peasants to make a suit of armor for your noble knights-"
"Like who, Nathan and Tim?" Lucas said, and Mouth laughed.
"Probably." Mouth said, picturing Tim in a suit of armor. He smirked, because Tim probably would fall over or say 'Bow down to Prince Tim!'
"I remember that! Then Brooke surveyed our masks. Skills and my masks were fine, but Mouth's mask had brown eyes. You didn't like brown eyes, so you snapped your finger. Peyton handed you a bottle of pink paint, and took one for herself. You both poured the bottle of pink paint onto his mask, because in your opinion, pink was a happy color." Lucas said, and Brooke pouted. "Did not." She mumbled, her final attempt to disagree with them.
"I failed art because that mask was worth half my grade and a pink mask wasn't that 'artistic'." Mouth said, and Brooke rolled her eyes. "Did it bring down your precious GPA?" She joked, and Mouth smiled.
"You and Peyton were vicious in elementary school!" Lucas laughed, and Brooke shrugged. "I was just mean to you because you were better at me in oh, about every subject, and Peyton just agreed with what I did. And I was mean to Mouth because he assoiciated to you." Brooke said, feeling bad that she bossed Peyton around.
"Nice to know that Lucas is the cause of all my bullying!" Mouth joked, and Brooke rolled her eyes. "I did not bully you." Brooke said. She paused.
"It wasn't always like that, though. Telling Peyton what to do, you know? I am bossy, but we had really fun times together. Did I tell you when we found the turtle and named it-"
"Another day, Brooke." Mouth said, already getting bored. She flashed him a look and Lucas smirked.
"What do you remember of me in middle school?" Lucas asked Brooke. He didn't expect her to remember him. Brooke thought for a moment.
"I remembered you sat a table over and one up from mine in sixth grade. You sat with Tutor Girl, Mouth, Jimmy, Skills, Fergie, and that African American girl." Brooke said, and Lucas smiled.
"Faith Banks?" Lucas asked, and Brooke held up her spoon, as if saying 'that's it' and smiled.
"You always looked so happy. That was the grade we all found out you and Nathan were related. Nathan knew about it since he was 7, but you just found out that class. It was like the school split up in two, one was Team Nathan, and one was Team Lucas. That's when we all grew up, I think. We stopped believing in fairy tales. We got attitudes and we fought and if you think of it, it all started with the division of sixth grade." Brooke said, and Lucas nodded.
"The 'division of sixth grade'? You make it sound like a world war or something." Mouth said. Brooke ignored him.
"You know, I remember the first day we all found out you two were related. We were all in the same class, everyone, Haley, you, me, Peyton, Mouth, Skills, the whole crew, for the first time. Nathan wasn't used to being in the same class with you, Dan always made sure it was arranged like that. But the middle school wouldn't have it. They told Dan that middle school is about growing up, and new environments."
"It was the second week of school, and our Math teacher went on maternity leave. The new teacher was trying to get to know everyone, so he read the files. I guess under the files it lists the parents, and under Lucas, Dan was there. They had to put him in case of emergency, like if Karen or Keith wasn't there and he got a fork stuck in his hand or something. The teacher noticed Nathan had Dan under him, too. So he announces to the class that he thinks having half brothers would be good, something about an example of building bonds like brothers had. The teacher was a fool, in my opinion, but whatever."
"Yeah, then everyone asked him what he meant, including Lucas. The teacher showed a couple kids the files, including Brooke. Nathan just sat there, this angry look on his face. He was like a ticking time bomb. He suddenly stood up, and threw all his books across the room. Everyone went quiet, watching him. He went over to the teacher, and because Nathan was a damn giant even then, they were at eye level. Then he said 'Lucas Scott doesn't deserve my name, not any of it', everyone thought Nathan was going to throw a sucker punch at the poor teacher's jaw, but instead, he just left." Mouth said, remembering that day. Brooke nodded quietly, looking down into her empty bowl.
"Teacher got fired the next day for reading confidential files and distributing them to students." Lucas smirked.
Brooke giggled. "Idiot."
"Think of it this way, if he never did that, would we really be in the same place we are now?" Mouth said. Brooke smiled at the two boys.
"I guess not, but it would have saved me the heartache from the incredibly cliché drama of my best friend and my boyfriend." Brooke saved, and Lucas looked down.
When was she ever going to stop bringing that up?
Brooke looked out the window, then back at Lucas. "Have you checked on Peyton?" Brooke said.
"Is that a trick question?" Lucas asked, and Brooke shook her head. She slid off the stool and went over to her window. She brushed the curtain aside, looking out. "The whole town is like the damn Dark Ages out there-"
"Brooke, the Dark Ages wasn't named the Dark Ages because there was no electricity, it was actually named for the fall of the Roman Empire." Mouth said.
"Well, excuse me, walking and talking dictionary. Anyways, Peyton hates black outs. I should check on her." Brooke said, looking out the window again before dropping the curtain. She moved to the couch, bending over, fumbling around in her purse.
She found her phone at the bottom, and she dialed Peyton's number. "You reached Peyton's voice mail. 'Graaaadulations." Peyton's bored voice said, followed by a beep. "Peyton? It's Brooke. You know, your so-called best friend? Maybe you're sleeping," Brooke checked her watch. "At 7 PM, but I doubt it, you're like a freaking vampire or something, up all night… Just, when you get this, call me back? Thanks." Brooke said, closing the phone.
"Not picking up?" Lucas asked, and Brooke shook her head, staring at her cell phone. Something was wrong, she could feel it. Brooke shook off the feeling and put a confident smile on, not wanting to alarm the guys when there might not be anything wrong.
Nathan looked at Haley, who was asleep. She had gotten a blanket and a pillow, grabbed a book from the guest room she left behind, and curled up next to the fireplace. She had the book laying open on her stomach, her eyes falling and snapping open every five minutes. She would act like she didn't fall asleep, and return reading, then fall back asleep.
Nathan smirked at her the third time she snapped awake. Nathan was sitting, playing on one of his old school hand-held basketball games.
Haley looked over at Nathan, who had his eyes focused on the game. The opposite teams shooting guard had the ball. Nathan, the small forward, tried to steal the ball. It was five minutes for overtime, and Nathan kept trying to get the ball. The shooting guard was getting closer to the basket.
Nathan cursed at the game; the shooting guard took a shot at the basket. The game slowed down, calculating the chance of the basketball going in.
The basketball went in. The game flashed the capitalized words 'Game Over' at him. Nathan threw it across the couch, angry. "I would totally beat him." Nathan mumbled. He looked back at Haley, who fell asleep again. He smirked.
Nathan's ringtone suddenly went off, jolting Haley awake. She mumbled something, the blanket wrapped around her. She rubbed her eyes as Nathan reached over to the table, getting his phone.
"Hello?" Nathan said.
"Wow, really good signal. I expected static and hearing R2-D2." Brooke said.
"What?" Nathan laughed. Brooke sighed. "Nothing."
"Okay, what's up?" Nathan asked, and Nathan heard Brooke getting up and moving. "I think there's something wrong with Peyton." Brooke whispered.
"Like what?" Nathan asked. "Like, she's in danger. She hates black outs and storms unless she's with someone, and I'm pretty sure she would have called me to see if I could come over. And we made a pact in ninth grade that when either of us called, we would pick up if we saw it. Under no circumstances, even if we're in a fight."
"And Peyton always has her phone with her." Nathan said, catching on. Haley looked confused. "Exactly. And we both know Peyton never goes to sleep before 10 PM, so it's not like she's sleeping and didn't hear it. I think there's something wrong, Nate." Brooke said, sounding really worried.
"Aren't you with Lucas and Mouth? Have you told them?" Nathan asked, and Brooke sighed. "No, I was hoping she was with you." Brooke said. "She's not. What are we supposed to do, Brooke? It's a storm. We can't just go out in a storm." Nathan said, getting worried too.
"Nathan, it's one of our best friends. You, me, Lucas, Mouth, even Haley all love her. We've got to make sure she's alright, okay? I feel something is wrong, Nate. Remember when your dog died and you, me, and Peyton was hanging out? I could feel something happened wrong. I didn't even know your dog, I know Peyton like the back of my hand. Just trust me, please?"
"Alright, alright. I'll meet you at Peyton's." Nathan said, hanging up. "Peyton's?!" Haley yawned. Nathan nodded. "Go into my room, get two jackets." Nathan said, and Haley nodded, running off.
Brooke returned to the kitchen. She put the phone down on the island. "There's something wrong with Peyton." Brooke said. "What?" Mouth said.
Brooke explained what she just said to Nathan to the two boys. They agreed, with Brooke, alarmed that Peyton wasn't picking up and grabbed their jackets. The three went to the parking lot, and Brooke walked over to her car, pulling out her keys.
"I should drive, I have more experience and the roads are slick-" Lucas said, but was cut off by a flash of lightning. Brooke looked up at horror, a street light tilting. Lucas ran over to Brooke, pulling her out of the way.
The street light fell, Brooke gasping in shock. The street light toppled right onto her car.
"Fucking-" Brooke cussed, but Lucas dragged Brooke and Mouth to his car before she could swear more.
Nathan went outside with Haley after explaining the situation, walking in front of her. "Be careful, alright?" Nathan said to Haley. "We're walking?!" Haley said, and Nathan stopped, smirking devilishly. "I could take…"
"Dan's sports car he keeps in the garage." Haley ended, smirking. That car was a prized possession of Dan's, but he never used it. "I'll get the keys!" Nathan yelled over the rain, running inside. He ran back out with the keys.
Nathan opened the garage, and the two got into the sports car. Nathan revved the engine, and Haley grasped her seat belt. "Nathan, this can't be safe!" Haley screamed as Nathan backed up and sped down the street.
"I've driven these cars in rain, Hales. You just need to control them and they can be the fastest car, especially on a slick road."
"You just called me Hales." Haley said, smiling.
The two cars pulled to a stop at the same time in front of Peyton's house. Brooke got out, and waved at them.
"Funny to see you here!" Brooke said, her hair getting wet and her bangs falling into her face. Brooke ignored it, running up to Peyton's door. "She jokes in a crisis." Lucas said, and Nathan nodded. "I noticed." He muttered.
No one even realized that Lucas and Nathan were getting along. They were all concerned for their friend. Brooke shook the doorknob angrily. "Locked. What skank locks their door anymore?!" Brooke said, and Nathan sighed. "Apparently she insults people in a crisis too." Nathan said, and Brooke ran to the side of the house, returning with a key.
"The lights are on, she's in there." Brooke said, unlocking the door and opening it. The front hall was a mess. "Oh my god." Brooke gasped. "Peyton!" Haley screamed. "Are you here?"
The vases were on the floor, broken. A painting was knocked over onto the ground. Nathan knelt down. "Dan." Nathan hissed, holding up a key. "It's the beach house spare key. He's there because he's obviously not at our house." Nathan said. "And he has Peyton." Lucas said.
"Let's go!" Brooke said, running out of the house. She ran down the stairs, running across the grass. "Brooke!" Lucas and Haley screamed. They both saw it coming.
Brooke slipped on the wet grass, landing on her butt. Nathan held back a laugh, and she got up and stomped over him, and hit him on his arm. "What was that for?!"
"Our friend is in danger, Nathan! And all you do is laugh at me?" Brooke said, hitting him again. "Get in the car and drive, dammit!" Brooke said, stomping over to Lucas's car. She opened the door, stuck her tongue out at Nathan, and got in.
Dan traced his blade lightly on Peyton's arm, humming a little song. He stopped humming and continued on with his story.
"Anyways, Nathan didn't do it. He didn't try to kill me. He's too heartbroken over Hades."
"Haley." Peyton corrected. "Didn't you two have an altercation earlier? With a fork, I believe? Wouldn't you call her Hades?" Dan said, still tracing his knife along Peyton's arm.
"It's a little creepy how you keep tabs on her, Danny." Someone said from the shadows, and Peyton looked around hopefully. Dan was surprised too, slipping with his knife and cutting Peyton's left arm. The cut was deep, because Dan was applying pressure, and Peyton could feel her skin separate and blood drip down her arm. She screamed in pain.
"Let her go." Keith said, stepping out of the shadows. Dan ignored Peyton, who was gasping in pain from the cut.
"Nice to see you back, Boozy." Dan said, smirking at Keith. Keith nodded. "Cut the crap, Danny. What the hell were you thinking? Did you honestly think this half assed scheme over?"
"I'm the mayor." Dan said, and Keith laughed. "You sound like a broken record. Just because you're the freaking mayor doesn't mean you can cover up murdering a minor."
"Says who?" Dan said. "Uh, the law?" Keith said, looking at Dan. "Did you take your crazy pills this morning?" Keith said, and Peyton laughed at him. "That's what I said." Peyton said, trying to ignore the pain in her cut. She didn't know what to do, would Dan actually carry through with something like this? Should she joke or scream?
"Great minds think alike, unlike Dan." Keith smirked. The two wasn't taking the situation seriously. They didn't realize that when Dan wanted to get even, he got even.
Peyton saw Dan's face twisted into anger, the dim candlelight glowing upon his face. He suddenly put the knife up to Keith's neck. Keith didn't move, he didn't back down.
"You think this is all a fucking joke?"
"You won't do it, Danny."
"I will."
"Uh, bleeding here."
"Let her go, Danny."
Dan smiled at Keith. "You know what, Keith?" Dan said, and Keith didn't say anything. "I can't understand why a brother would try to murder their own family."
"Exactly, Danny. Lower the knife." Keith said. His voice didn't shake. He wasn't afraid.
"No, I'm talking about you. How could you try to burn me to death?" Dan said. "I'm your goddamn family!"
"You're pathetic. And an idiot for thinking I'd try to kill you." Keith said. Dan chuckled. "No, see, you're the idiot. You think that little paper left stuck between your windshield papers was really from Peyton?"
"What?" Keith said, and Dan chuckled again. "See, this is what I did. I knew you've been back for a couple days, now. I got a piece of drawing paper, the one Peyton uses. Wrote down in a girls handwriting: 'Meet me at my house, 7 PM. It's important.' I even dotted the I with a heart, which honestly, do you think Peyton's the type of girl to do that? Anyways, I called Peyton up. Told her there was something wrong with Lucas that only me and Lucas knew about, and I felt I should inform Peyton, and to meet me at the beach house. She came running, of course. It was easy, then. Drugged Peyton, went to her house, knocked over a couple things, indicating a struggle. I left my spare beach house key, which you probably thought fell off my keychain. Led you right to here. I never thought you both would be so stupid as to fall for it." Dan said, smirking. Keith looked at Dan, a look of disapproval on his face.
He was beginning to wish he didn't lock the door on the way out. Keith locked the door on his way out, so no one could walk in. What he didn't know is that Brooke knew where Peyton's spare key was.
"You really are a sadistic son of a bitch." Peyton said, but Keith held his hand up. Peyton fell silent.
"Danny, how did it come to this? You accusing me of murder? Do you remember when we were kids? It was just you and me against the world, remember?" Keith said, his final attempt to reason with Dan.
"It was never us against the world. It was always me against the world. You stopped caring after I put that Raven out of its misery." Dan said, and Keith looked down at the blade pressed lightly against his throat.
"If you thought I ever stopped caring about my little brother, you're wrong."
"I don't have time for the mushy shit, Keith. You did what you did and it's over. Karma is a bitch."
The single candle left that was giving the room light went out. Peyton's eyes adjusted to the darkness, seeing two figures, neither backing down.
"What are you doing?"
"Quiet!"
"I can barely see!"
"Danny, you're going to get in trouble for this. Just back down."
"Don't, Mr. Scott!"
"He won't do it, Peyton."
"Stop taunting me, Boozy."
"Oh god, oh god."
"It's alright."
"SHUT UP!"
A single scream rang out in the darkness.
If someone screams and there's no one is around to hear it, do they make a sound?