I guess I'll be leaving you with another cliffhanger. Sorry about that, but my original draft of this chapter moved things too fast. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter - I understand that this may not be up to the standards of my newer writing, but I appreciate everyone who still reads it. This chapter is for kiki390 who asked me over-so-nicely for a new chap. Enjoy, Laura (yes, I read your profile hehe).

Chapter Eleven

Paul clutched at his chest, stricken. The whites of his eyes seemed to be even brighter as he eyed me in shock. He began making a choking noise, and he sank to the floor still jerking. I rolled him over, tears springing to my eyes.

"Dad, no!" I became hysterical. "Dad, please, no, I'm so sorry..." My voice trailed away as Paul started coughing up blood. My hands were covered in the red liquid as I prised the knife from his chest and started doing CPR. My mind disconnected from my body as I worked in panic.

"I'm so sorry..." I gasped, sobbing into his jacket. "Why did you tell me to do this?" I demanded, seizing fistfuls of his shirt and shaking him. "You told me to kill you - you told me! You said to do anything to save Juliet - you said anything!" I rubbed a hand furiously on my forehead, before checking for a pulse. There was one, but it was faint.

"Come on Dad, hold on." I reached for his hand and squeezed it tight. I felt with my other hand in my jacket for my cell frantically, to remember suddenly that it was on my desk, back at home. Back in real time. "Call 911!" I screamed, desperately. "Call 911!"

"Romeo?" My mother's voice echoed down the street, and I turned to see her running towards me. I slid the bloodied knife into my pocket again. "Oh my God, Romeo, what happened?"

"D - D - D..." I couldn't force the words out. Instead, I threw myself off the ground and pointed to my father's lifeless body. "D..." My mom knelt swiftly on the floor and attended to him, pushing down on his chest and feeling for a heartbeat.

"Call 911!" she shrieked, to any neighbours. "Romeo, call 911!" I showed her my empty pockets, but she didn't appear to see me. "CALL 911!"

"I've called an ambulance," came a calm voice from behind me. There stood the frail father, a mobile phone in hand. Father Dominic offered his arm to me, which I took mindlessly. "Romeo, do you need to sit down?" His cool blue eyes stared back at me, and my heart began pumping. It was like he knew what I had done, though he supported my weak frame. "It's alright, Romeo, an ambulance is on its way..."

"He's been stabbed," I warbled, terrified, to Father Dom. "Stabbed in the - stabbed in the heart, right here..." I pressed a hand over my own throbbing heart. "And he started coughing blood and it was red and it went all over my hands..." I showed Father D my hands, for emphasis. I felt inane and childlike, but I couldn't control it. Father D nodded concernedly, lowering me gently to the floor.

"You need to sit, Romeo," he assured. "Sit down, put your head between your knees and breathe. An ambulance will be here..." Sirens sounded in the distance - police and ambulances. I jerked at the sound, but Father D pressed down on my shoulder. "Stay there, Romeo, everything will be fine."

"You don't understand," I blurted, beginning to shake. "You don't-"

"I've lost a pulse!" My mother cried. "There's - there's no pulse, and I've felt everywhere-"

"Move out of the way, out of the way," called the paramedics, as they rushed forwards with a stretcher and medical equipment. "We have a stab wound here, near the heart, no pulse..." The voices blended into one another, like some strange montage of a film. I couldn't focus on any one thing, the only thing I could hear was the boom-boom-boom of my heartbeat rushing through my ears. I felt Father D's hand over mine, and his voice in my ear.

"I think now would be a good time to go home, Romeo," he whispered. "Think of home, now, there's a good boy. Don't forget, you'll have a nasty headache once you get there..." I whirled around to face him.

"You don't understand," I repeated. "I-"

"I know," he said gently. "And God forgives you for the sin you have committed." He gestured towards the crowd surrounding my father, and the shouts of despair. "Go now, to the girl you love; the life you have saved..."

"But-"

"Go."

I cast one last look at my father, hysteria bubbling in my throat. Father D gave me an encouraging nod, and I closed my eyes. I thought of home, of my warm bed, of my mother ordering Chinese take-out...

"He's flatlined...get him into the ambulance! Move out of the way!"

The scene dissolved, and a felt myself falling through time.

Bump.

I landed with force onto my bed, just as my mother opened the door to my room, carrying a tray of hot soup. She looked tired, and sad - there were dark circles under her eyes, and her hair wasn't brushed. She set down the tray on my bed, and gave me a sad smile. I was shaking - I shoved my hands under the duvet to hide them. My mom reached forwards to graze my cheek with a soft finger.

"Hey, Romeo," she said, attempting to be cheerful. "Are you O.K this morning?"

"Dad..." I managed to choke out. My mom's almost-happy expression dropped immediately, and her eyes filled up. "He's...?"

"Romeo, it was months ago," she replied, firmly, as if she was trying to convince herself. "Months ago. We're going to face that fact soon that he's..." She trailed off, unable to voice the word.

"Dead," I whispered, suddenly realising. I had killed my own father; I had broken my own mother's heart. "Mom, I'm so sorry."

She looked up in surprise, and pulled me in for a hug. "Oh Romeo, it's not your fault. You know, the police are beginning to suspect that it was a suicide. No weapon was found with his body, was it?" I shook my head, gently. My heart pounded as I lied. "Well, if he wanted to leave us, so be it. We can survive without us?"

"Did you still love him, Mom?" I covered her hand with mine, and squeezed. A glistening tear slid down her cheek.

Something materialised beside me. I jumped, though I really shouldn't have expected it. My father sat next to me, sandwiching me between my two parents. I rested my head on his shoulder, breathing sadly. He wrapped an arm around me silently.

"I guess I still did," my mother replied. Paul looked up, and stretched to hold her hand. She shivered, as if she had felt something cold, and yanked her hand away. She couldn't see or feel him. After all, she wasn't a mediator.

"She's misses you," I muttered sideways to my father. "And I'm going to miss you. I'm so sorry, Dad, I should never have..."

"You did it because I told you to," Paul answered. "I told you to kill me, and you did. You did as you were told, for once." He smiled. "I'm proud of you, Romeo. You wanted more than anything to save Juliet, and I offered you a solution. I forgive you for killing me - I've killed more than I can even count. You kept the earth balanced - removing it of its weakest mediator."

"You're not a weak mediator," I argued. "But neither was Juliet."

"Is Juliet," he corrected me. I straightened in confusion. "She's alive now, remember?" My heart flipped. My mother clung to my hand.

"What's wrong, Romeo?" she asked. "Are you O.K?"

"I need to talk a walk," I told her, my skin hot. All was happening a little too fast. I needed time to absorb it, time to breathe. "I'll be back soon."

"Romeo-" My mom called out, but I waved her off. "Romeo, come back!"

"I'll be back soon," I replied, grabbing a jacket. "I need some air." My father followed me, unsuprisingly. We walked in silence until the end of the road, before he laid a hand on my shoulder sternly.

"I want you to look after your mother," he commanded me firmly. "She's the only one you have now."

"I have Juliet," I disputed. Paul shook his head.

"Tread carefully," he warned me. "She's a sensitive girl - with protective parents. And she won't have known the love you two shared when she was a ghost. As far as she knows, she was never a ghost." I nodded, slowly.

"I'll do whatever I have to get her in my arms," I said, determinedly. "I love her."

"I know you do. That's why I don't want you to lose her."

"I won't ever lose her," I whispered. "I'll just keep fighting and fighting."

"Time starts now," he warned me, and I frowned in confusion.

"What?" I asked, but he had started to dematerialize. I reached out, only to find fistfuls of air. "Dad!" I growled in annoyance and turned on my heel, only to walk straight into someone. Someone who had pale skin peppered with freckles, and dark curly hair that sprung in tiny ringlets around her face. Someone whose eyes sparkled more than her 'J' necklace. Someone who set my heart singing.

"Hi," I squeaked nervously.

"Hi," replied Juliet.