Chapter 8


I wasn't sure if my little surprise would work…if you would tell that big oaf about it. He would have convinced you that he was tough enough for anything. Even me. So I would have had to pull him away from you myself. But I didn't have to, did I? You did it for me. And you don't know how very grateful I am for that, Rae. Because you are even more alone now, and soon, very soon, I will have my revenge. But I must make sure he will not be bothering me…but soon enough you will be truly alone. And you will die. You will die, Rae. And nobody will be able to wake you up.


She cried. She could not stop the tears. After Anthony had run away like that…she knew she hurt him. She could see it in his eyes from the second she started talking. But she had to do it. For his own safety.
"I am such a horrible person," she whispered to her pillow. Yana had driven her home. She had seen how upset Rae was, and didn't say anything the entire ride home except "You can call me anytime, you know that." And drove away.
But Rae didn't want to talk. Or paint, or breathe, or live at all. She felt awful. She felt like a part of her was just ripped out of her body that could never been replaced. She had felt it when she was unconscious after the crash, when their fingertips touched. That warm feeling, Anthony's love for her. And she had loved him too. But now he was gone from her life.
It was so hard to act so cruel, to play that awful part. She had to keep her eyes away from his, those chocolate brown eyes…but at the end she knew she had to, otherwise he would know something was wrong.
"I saved his life," she reminded herself, "whoever is after me won't get him now."
She fell asleep in tears. In her dreams she was back in the parking lot of the hotel, when her and Anthony had kissed, but something was pulling him away, pulling him into the darkness. The demons she had been running from when she had blacked out in the car crash had returned, and she was running again. But this time, she was running from a flock of bluebirds.
She woke up with a start and got ready for school. She actually rode the bus. She never rode the bus to school, but today she didn't want to talk to her dad, or Yana, or anybody.
When she got there she pushed open the doors, without the mush she picked up a few thoughts,
Facinelli?/Poor guy/In the papers/
Rae wondered what it all meant, but she didn't have to wait long. Jackie was running up to her, long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders.
"Rae! Rae, it's so horrible!"
"Jackie? What? What happened?" She asked nervously. She knew she wasn't going to like what she heard.
"It's Anthony! Oh, oh Rae! He's dead!" She shoved a newspaper in her face. Rae read it aloud,
"Anthony Facinelli, recently accepted to Sanderson High, has supposedly committed suicide," she stopped oh no, oh god no. She continued with a lump in her throat, "his mother's car was found in the Georgia River, eye witnesses say they saw Facinelli drive off the bridge. The body has not yet been found."
"It's so sad, so horrible, and I only just saw him yesterday. He seemed so…normal! Not depressed or anything!"
"Anthony…" Rae moaned sadly, "and I- oh my god. I'm never going to see him again!" she fell over. She barely heard Jackie telling her to get up, asking her what was wrong. All she could say was,
"Anthony…Oh Anthony…" I really did love him. I did. And he died thinking I hated him. That he was a bluebird. Oh my god. Anthony…
And she just stayed there, lying on the floor, letting her tears soak into the rug.