A/N: And we're back! After 2.5 years! I have absolutely no excuse. Just lots of stuff happened. Sorry followers. :(

Chapter 25

The Confession

I awoke pretty early the next morning, alone in my bed. I had just gotten used to sleeping with another person, and was kind of disheartened to find myself alone again. I remembered last night's events, and couldn't help but feel angry again. What did Gianni take me for, that he would just go ahead and try that on me after just a few days of being in a relationship? I got up and got dressed, and decide I would go for a walk, just to clear my head.

I tiptoed past Gianni, who was asleep on the couch. Shadow crawled out from beneath the darkness in the living room and met me at the door. "Hey Shadow, you gonna go for a walk with me?" Good...at least I won't be alone…

As I left out the front door and walked down towards the street, with my umbreon right behind me, I tried to make sense of everything that was happening, but I still couldn't help but feel mad at Gianni. He had ruined the innocence of our relationship. Everything had been going so perfectly, it seemed, and he had just gone and messed it all up.

But then I reminded myself that things weren't going perfectly. I was still hiding a deep dark secret from Gianni. There was no innocence in our relationship. I was being just as bad of a person as he was, if not worse. It was hypocritical for me to be angry with him at all, in fact. He had tried to seduce me whereas I had been instrumental in disrupting his whole life, and was still keeping it a secret. I can't keep doing this… I thought. He'll find out one way or another.

My first thought was to just break up with him. And hopefully I would never have to interact with him again. I could go on with my life like nothing ever happened. It seemed like a simple plan. I knew it was a cowardly thing to do, but I was never a brave person to begin with.

I stopped walking right then and there. I was a block away from my house. Shadow was behind me.

No.

I can't keep doing this.

I have to stop with it all. I need to stop with the lies. I need to stop with the secrets. I can't keep just pretending these problems will just go away. I need to fix them.

I have to tell Gianni. About everything.

I took a deep breath and turned around. I began walking back to my house.

I'm going to do it. I HAVE to do it. I can't keep the secret anymore.

I remained sure in my thinking all the way home. My heart pounded. I had never told anyone about what had happened, and about what I had done. I just couldn't bring myself to do it for some reason, but now it was different. I had never felt more resolute. This was it. I was going to do it. I was going to tell him.

As I re-entered the front door, still coming up with an exact statement to make, I found leaning against the wall of the kitchen, looking at the floor. He was fully dressed, which was unusual. He seemed like he had been waiting for me.

I cleared my throat. "Hm...hey, Gianni."

No response. He was still looking at the ground. Something was off. My heart started beating faster. I thought maybe he was still mad about what had happened yesterday. We hadn't really talked since last night's "event".

I tried again. "Gianni?"

"Kari, do you really think I'm that stupid?" The frustration in his voice took me off guard.

"What?"

He looked up at me finally. "What do you mean, 'what'?" His expression was that of unwanted anger.

I hadn't noticed until now that he was holding something in his hand. When I saw it, I knew I was done for. Completely and totally done for.

My old phone. The voice recorder.

He knows.

The moment I saw it in his hand, I felt my whole word collapse. I had no idea how he had found it, but there it was. I felt sick. I almost fainted. I felt like I was falling, but still remained standing. Barely.

"How long did you plan on keeping this a secret?"

"Gianni, I-" I stuttered, starting to cry. "I swear-I was going to tell you-"

"Oh, please, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear your excuses and more of your lies." He started walking towards me. His raging green eyes were trained on me fiercely. I backed away. "I thought you were my friend, Kari. I thought you were my f***ing FRIEND! I trusted you!"

"Gianni-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Sorry for what? For hiding the truth from me? For helping someone try to kill me? For turning me into a MONSTER?" he shouted.

"Gianni, I-"

"Oh, please…" He chuckled a little bit. The way he was smiling, he seemed even more terrifying. "You know...that part's not so bad, I guess." He was still advancing toward me as I backed away. I was almost at the front door. I reached for the doorknob. "I mean, I love being a monster. It's just the way you did it to me, you know," he continued, feigning mild disappointment. "The way you just tricked me, poisoned me...you violated me, really."

I was hyperventilating. I didn't know what he was going to do. I just knew the many things he was capable of, and that in itself made me scared beyond measure.

"I guess I should thank you, really." he said sarcastically. "You gave me power beyond measure, the ability to breathe fire, the ability to fly..." He finally stopped walking towards me. I was just about to get the grip the doorknob. His face was dangerously close to mine. To my horror, I could see his teeth were starting to get sharper. "...and well, you made it a hell of alot easier for me to kill you."

I finally grabbed the doorknob and bolted out of the house. I jumped off the patio and ran for my life. I ran as fast as I could, down the hill towards the road.

I didn't make it very far before I heard footsteps coming from behind me, and then something struck me in the back and knocked me to the ground. Gianni had tackled me. I tried to get up, but my back was forced down once again. Gianni had his boot on my back, holding me in place. Then I felt even more weight come crashing down on me.

This is it I thought. He's got me. I'm done for.

He's going to kill me.

I'm going to die now.

Gianni had me pinned to the ground. I felt all his weight on top of me. I could barely

breathe. There was no way I could escape. His face was right next to mine.

He whispered in my ear. His breath felt so hot I thought it could burn me. "So how should I do it, huh?!" He laughed loudly. "Let's see, I could BURN YOU ALIVE, BITE YOU IN HALF, RIP YOU TO SHREDS-"

"FREEZE!"

Gianni stopped yelling. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard I thought I was going to choke.

"Puts your hands in the air!" A stern voice commanded. Although it hurt me to do so, I was able to turn my head just a little to see where the voice had come from.

A patrol car was on my lawn, and there were two officers standing with both their guns trained on us. I knew Gianni was their target but I was still frightened by them being aimed at me. Gianni stood up, and with his weight finally off of me, I was able to breathe. I also started coughing uncontrollably.

The first police officer, a man, walked towards us. Gianni didn't move. He did exactly as the officer said.

"You're under arrest." The officer began reading Gianni his due process rights coldly, as he placed him in handcuffs.

The other officer, a blue-haired female, was immediately at my side. She helped me get up. "Are you alright?!" She walked me over to my house's front porch.

"I think…" I lied. I wasn't alright at all. My back ached, and emotionally I felt utterly shattered, not to mention I was shaking from fear. I sat down on the porch, and Officer Jenny kept her arm around me. "You're safe now. He won't be able to hurt you anymore."

I tried to keep it together, but as the realisation that I had just avoided certain death came over me, I lost it, sobbing into Officer Jenny's shoulder. She hugged me and tried her best to console me. Through my tears, I saw Gianni being forced into the back of the police car. He made one last glance over at me, and our eyes met for a second. His anger had been replaced by shock, but he still looked deeply betrayed. Although I only saw his face for a brief moment, I knew that look he gave me was going to haunt me forever.

The first cop slammed the car door shut once Gianni was inside. Just then, a red sedan pulled into the driveway. My mother's car.

I don't think I had ever seen someone move so fast as my mother did when she got out of that car and ran towards me. I stood up and walked towards her, falling right into her embrace. "Sh...Kari, it's okay. I'm here." She kissed my forehead and stroked my hair. I felt like a small child. "I'm here."

"How…" I struggled to respond to her. I was in such complete disarray. "How did you get here so fast?"

"The dispatcher notified me right after she contacted the police. I had just left the airport; I rushed here as fast as I could! Kari, I was so worried! When I heard what was going on, I was so scared you'd have been hurt...you have no idea, the thoughts that were racing through my head."

"I'm so sorry, Mom!" I sobbed. "It's all my fault!"

"It's okay, it's okay! It's not your fault, Kari, sometimes the people we care about the most like to use that their own advantage. It's happened to me many times. I just care that you're okay! That's all that matters"

I was beginning to get confused and then Officer Jenny cut in. "You may still need to go to the hospital, from what I can tell you he tackled you hard."

"Thank you, officer, I'll get her there myself as soon as possible. Please just get that boy out of here."

Officer Jenny didn't need to hear anything else-that's how well respected by mother was. She got in the police car with the other officer and they backed out of the lawn back onto the road and drove away. I didn't see Gianni's face again.

As things calmed down, my head filled with questions of how my mother and the police were notified. I hadn't done anything or called anybody. I had barely talked to anybody in the past few days since Gianni was here. Who could have known what was going on?

Not only was I coming to my senses mentally as I calmed down, I was coming to my senses physically...and realizing that he really had got me BAD. I felt immense pain in a few areas of my back. I was still crying, now from that instead of fear.

But still I couldn't help but think and ask to myself, how would have anyone have known? And I hadn't talked to a single other soul in person that whole week, or well...except for...Linda. I thought back to how she gave that one last curious, guilty glance toward me...but it still didn't make any sense at all.

I looked up again. The police car was gone. I hoped I would never see Gianni again. But, even then, I think a part of me knew that this wasn't over yet.

And till next time (hopefully before the end of this month). Sorry again for completing blowing this story off :(