A/N: Okay, so basically I re-wrote this chapter about three times and have multiple drafts and had no idea, at first, that it would end up like this, but it did, so here we go. I debated the ending of this chapter for like twenty minutes. Literally. I sat at my desk for that long staring off into space before deciding this is the best ending.
And no, this is not the last chapter! I promise!
Reviews:
glitterxgurl: Well, I will admit that I strive for brilliance;) It's weird to think that I came up with the plot - it was more random crap that sprang up during my regular life, and somehow I made a story. And the no grammar or spelling errors? Lucky. I know I have a few mistakes here and there, but I don't really do well with betas... But thanks! And the psychiatrist thing was a moment of pure inspiration, so I'm glad it paid off! So thanks for the amazing review(:
fanfictionluver: Oh, don't call yourself stupid! I'm sorry I didn't have the x's - FFN wouldn't let me type it regular. It kept disappearing, so I had to do it the other way! Oh, and thanks. I love to hear that the chapters are amazing - it makes this SO worth it. And this update is coming pretty fast, I think. The others should too, I think. At this point the story is just flowing nicely.
Omgitskristen: Oh, thats okay! The fact that your reviewing at all is nice, since lots of people don't. Baha, and they do find her soon. Trust me. I just finished that chapter, too, and it's pretty awesome. I hope you like this chapter - it gets a little off-the-wall. Haha, and thanks for thinking this story is pretty much God.
C-cloud;): And I loved this review! Yeah, I decided to make Massie a little insane and determined towards the end - who wouldn't be? Thanks for liking my writing! I'm sorry, but the only tips I can give are: write a lot! My first stories SUCKED, (from a different fandom) but you improve the more you write! I promise! And then re-read and re-re-read and re-re-re-read everything you write! Don't be afraid to change things and edit. I know that sounds tiring, but that's the only way you can know that your chapter is almost perfect.
Finding-forever: Haha, yeah, we all want him to die. *grins sneakily*. You're gonna like this chapter. Yeah, it's hard to feel sorry for him, but something else about his past is revealed in this chapter. Other things will be told later that will change some opinions about him, like how he and Kendra started dating. Oh, and that "failed psych test and on drugs" thing was random, but I was so happy when I added it. I'm glad you noticed it and liked it!
healsoverhead: Oh, at least you found it now and reviewed! Yeah, I've actually had a LOT of reviews saying that Jason is a douche. I think everyone is gonna like this chapter a lot - but that's all I can say! And I'm happy you think Massie is real - I think we'd see a Massie like this if she were ever in this situation - instead of the bitch. Of course, I like to add little things that show that she's still the same old girl:P Ha, actually the whole Jason/Henry thing gets a little weirder in this chapter! Hope you like(:
applejuicegirl: Wow, that's is a crazyawesome compliment. Like, I am so effing flattered at the moment it's weird. And don't worry about short reviews - I appreciate all, and I understand that there isn't always time, so thanks for managing to say that anyway! I look forward to your next review - as I think you'll like this chapter.
Likewow5556: Oh, thanks! That part with the detectives was odd to write, but I think it added nicely as it's good to know what's going on outside the house where Massie is. Also, I wanted to show that they were close to finding her, as that kinda adds to the suspense. Thanks for reading and reviewing(:
De.J.A .life: Psht, heck yes she will survive! And this chapter just proves it... sorta. Dang, I give away too much! But you'll like it. Truuussst me(:
lost-in-tomorrow: dude, I know! She reviewed this story saying that I was weird for replying to reviews and that I shouldn't reply to you and finding-forever because your stories suck and stuff. But I pretty much told her to check my favorites and to stop leaving offensive reviews because "there's something I will do about it". Baha, I am so threatening. Anywho, Massie does rock. 'Specially in this chapter. You'll see why. I may or may not make a Superwoman reference in the first section.
eerin: Oh, thanks! I love hearing when people love it - it makes this whole thing pretty much worth it. And thanks for reviewing, even though you didn't have to! I'm glad that you like it and I'll try to shoot these updates up as quickly as possible.
jordon5: Wow, very flattering review! You touched on all the things that I tried to focus a lot on: the planning and storyline. I wrote about ten of these chapters before I posted the first chapter, which makes this my most planned-out story to date. Although some things came randomly, most of it was pretty thought-out, so I'm glad you noticed that and enjoyed it. The talks with the psychologist came randomly, when I decided that since this story gets really dark at some points, you might need a little reassurance that yes, Massie does live. And don't worry, continuing will not be a problem! I have written the next two chapters - and am rapidly planning the ones after, so I am definitely not quitting on this story anytime... ever.
Disclaimer: I do no own the Clique. Any recognizable characters, plotlines, or settings are the property of the author and it's publisher. But any original plot points and characters AND settings are mine. Which is actually a large portion of this story. But you get the gist, right?
"And now we're at my favorite part," Massie said softly, as Patricia sat down with her ever-present notebook.
"Ah. The ending." She grinned.
"No, not quite the ending, I'd say. The beginning of the ending. The best part, though."
Patricia nodded, smiling. "That sounds about right. Now tell me what happened. I mean, not a lot of people know the whole, true story."
Massie laughed. "That's right. The press tried to guess how it really went down, but they never were exactly right."
"But you really took down two grown, armed men without a gun of your own, right?"
Massie laughed again, louder. "When you say it that way, I sound like Superwoman. But yes. I guess I won against two grown men. Granted, one of them I beat with mental warfare."
"True. But tell me what happened!" Patricia's eyes were bright. "I'm dying to know!"
Massie sat back and began: "Okay, so I basically knew I had to escape soon..."
****
"We have a negative on Brad Wilson's house, and it looks like Pete Hoven's place hasn't been touched in weeks."
Daniels checked his list of residences they had to visit. Henry Pillson had three friends with homes in mainly rural areas. "Looks like we have one more. Frank Levy's got a big place up near Maine."
John rubbed his palms together, smiling. "I have a good feeling about this. This is the place."
The other man smiled and took a sip of coffee, grinning. "I say we both go with the team. If she's there, I wanna see this go down."
Helen shook her head from her chair. "Of course you both want to witness this. Leave for Frank's house tomorrow?"
They both made a mental check of their schedules. Tomorrow... Wednesday. No meetings. No interviews.
"Perfect," Daniels said, winking at John.
****
Massie woke up the next morning in pain.
It hurt. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to cough, it hurt to sigh. It hurt to stand up or roll over. It hurt to move, period. Everything she did, from blinking to scratching an itch, seemed to have the consequence of a deep throbbing, from whatever bruise she'd acquired. Suddenly she felt unsure about everything, scared of the impending raw nerve.
Today was different, though.
She did not have time.
Massie was a smart girl, when it came to reading people. It was what had allowed her to stay so popular for so long. She could simply tell that something wasn't right.
They were going to kill her.
She saw it, saw it everywhere. It was in the way Jason refused to even treat her better than the scum of the earth. It was in the way Frank hardly ever came down any more. It was the way Kevin's eyes became blank, tired, blurry, a sort of weariness that could only mean the worst.
At it was getting no better. Death lay across that lonely basement like an old, moldy blanket. It seeped into her pores and made her thoughts all the same thing. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.
Desperation only had so long before it arrived. It was only so long before her adrenaline, fight or flight, kicked it. Run or fight?
Fighting wasn't an option - or so it had seemed it first. She'd have to rely on surprise and fast legs to get away. She'd have to hope that her body's internal alarms went off, and granted her the speed she'd never had before. She had to pray, for a real-live, more important than lip-gloss miracle. Because fighting the people with guns? Fighting the people who had the ability to turn you into a little, broken girl would never work.
Who knew that later on, fighting would be her only option?
She sure didn't.
***
The day was perfect. Or, as perfect as it would ever get in planning an escape. Two days after Jason's brutal attack. She was not healed, but she was better. Good was an overstatement, but what else could she do?
Her senses were alert, fierce and sharp, and she knew. She knew that he was going to shoot her today. She was unbelievably positive, in fact.
Frank, Pete, and Brad were all out, running errands or visiting people or working, like in Frank's case. So it was only Jason and Kevin.
They were on the computer, downstairs, messing with it to fix a camera problem. A problem that saved her life.
It was going to be her last video, that was for sure. Everything seemed final. Kevin was in a daze. Jason was irritable. The air was filled with a friction, a sort of tangible tension that made Massie's hair feel frizzy.
She was standing by the staircase, where they dropped the DVDs that had watched upstairs. They were always too lazy to bring them to the cupboard where the movies were kept, and usually she cleaned them up. But she hadn't lately.
"Hey. What're you doing?" Jason is fully on to her, being his usual asshole self. She shrugged.
"Looking at movies. Am I committing a crime?"
He shakes his head and returns to the problem, and then she was... gone. Running.
She wills herself to go faster. Like divine intervention will save her now. Her feet seem to fly up the stairs and the door seems so close, the handle in her reach, and then...
The gun goes off, and she feels that stabbing, sharp pain in her leg that same instant. Wet, sticky warmth floods over her calf and she's on the floor, moaning, crying, screaming, because this is so, so much worse than any other pain she's ever felt. Footsteps are close and she's not looking up, because she's failed. She has not gotten away.
The end is so close and she can see it, feel it, make friends with it, and then his voice is the only thing Massie hears.
"I don't even know what to say. And here you are, bleeding all over Frank's rug."
Her thoughts come to a screeching halt and the world stops. Her hand loosens on the gunshot wound and blood increases its flow but shock is making her numb.
"This is Frank's house?" Voice shaky, eyes wet, it's like she lost the bet before she even got her cards.
He laughs, standing above her, so merciless and mean.
Massie reached up high enough to yank down a jacket from the nearby coatrack and began wrapping her leg, a sad attempt to stop the bleeding. She was feeling faint.
He's going to kill her he's going to kill her he's going to kill her.
Jason bent down, then finally just sat on the floor next to her and smiled.
"It didn't matter that you tried. I'm going to kill you anyway, and I'm going to kill you now."
The adrenaline is coursing, fueling her decreasing blood like a poison.
A poison meant for Jason.
He pulled the little safety catch on the gun. His hand lay limp over his knee and the gun dangled there, carelessly. She watched it with weariness.
"Mass," he said as he continued to let the gun hang from his fingers loosely. "You were a pain in the ass before this even began."
And then she loses it.
She doesn't go crazy, but it's like he flipped a switch with his words and then she doesn't even fucking care anymore, because if she doesn't do something right now, she's going to die.
She reached up and put her hand over his on the gun and turned it so fast and pulled the trigger.
And shot him in the head. She took him by surprise.
The shot echoed in the entryway. The end of a nightmare. The beginning of a lullaby.
And then, Kevin stepped forward, kicking the gun out of her reach and pulling out his own.
"You killed him." He is shocked, pissed, scared, all at once. Like he never even considered this as a possibility. Like the world is ending.
"Kevin..." Massie feels distant, removed, woozy. Her leg is still bleeding, slightly less than a few minutes ago but still hurting. God, it was hurting.
"He's dead. I can't believe this. He drags us all into this and then gets himself killed." He raised his arm, pointing his gun at Massie. "What else am I supposed to do?"
He seemed so scared, so desperate. Massie wasn't sure how to speak.
"Kevin, don't. You can let me go. Please."
"No, I can't. He always said, no matter what, we couldn't let you go. I can't just not listen to that since he's dead."
She shook her head, eyes falling out of focus. "But you can, Kevin. Please. Let me go. You can do a good thing."
He wasn't looking at her. "I've always listened to Henry. Always. Since forever."
Henry? Who in the hell...? But she doesn't have time to analyze Kevin's last sentence. She needed to survive, and he was so desperate at the moment that convincing him to let her live was actually a possibility.
"I'm begging you, Kevin."
He isn't responding to her, though.
"I've done a lot of bad things. Listening to Henry was the best thing I ever did."
Again with the Henry stuff. "But you can do an even better thing! You can let me go!"
"They have the cars...."
"I'll run on foot. God. Just..." Tears were running down her cheeks, her thin face was pale and sunken and leaking tears. Kevin finally looked at her.
"One more good thing..." He whispered.
"Yes. You can let me go. You won't even go to jail, because they'll know. They'll know that you were the one who let me live." This isn't true, not at all. Kevin would be caught and sent to prison if she got away, but in his current, desperate, unstable state, he was listening. Massie ground her teeth as she tried to tie and tighten the jacket around her leg more securely. She was in deep shit.
The pain was enough to make everything seem different, less real, but Kevin's failing mind and slipping resolve made her focus. She needed to break him down using his weakest points.
"Jason is dead. Even if you listen to what he told you to do, you won't get any gratification from it. Okay? It doesn't matter any more."
"His name is Henry, you bitch!" Kevin was shaking, fingers tighter on the gun. She shook her head. Okay, that approach would not work.
"Think of the good Henry, Kevin. The Henry you listened to." She was going solely on things she'd just heard Kevin say. She had no idea what he was talking about, but it had seemed important.
"Yeah, he kept me outta trouble. Helped me stay out of the way so the old man didn't beat on me so much. Henry got the most of it."
Um, what? They were related? With a shared, terrible past?
"You can redeem yourself. You can show people that you're a good person, even if Henry wasn't towards the end."
Kevin nodded. "One more good thing..." he murmured. His emotional ups-and-downs were unpredictable and off the wall, but Massie didn't think this would happen.
She didn't think that Kevin would click the safety catch on the gun. She didn't expect him to press it to his temple and pull the trigger.
But he did.
End Notes: Crazy, right?
