I blinked slowly. My eyes were playing tricks on me, weren't they?
Nope. He was still there, just standing still. He looked badly bruised and beaten. Cuts covered his face and spread like a rash down his arms.
"Mattie, I know this will seem completely strange to you, it does to me too."
"Strange? That's one way to describe it, Ric!" I kept my eyes on his injuries, taking them in slowly, one by one. My eyes were glassy and gave off a sudden coldness.
I was angry, no furious. The pain I had felt in the past week had been for nothing. I pinched myself to make sure it wasn't a dream.
"Look, I was as surprised as you are when I found out that you weren't dead." He was confusing me now and he could see it in my expression. "When Johnny took me out… of the room… he… he."
"He what Ric?"
"He basically beat the crap out of me. I was positive he was getting ready to shoot me after that. He loaded the gun and brought his finger to the trigger. I closed my eyes, just wanting him to get it over and done with. When I heard the bullet release I braced myself but nothing came. He had shot at the sky." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"But Johnny didn't deny you were dead. He may as well have admitted it!"
"Of course he didn't, that was his plan Mattie. To hurt us both more than death ever could. He led you to believe that I had been killed and right after he fired the gun he walked off, telling me he was on his way to get you, he had a knife this time. He said he was going to kill you just like he planned to kill Sal." Ric's eyes filled with tears but he refused to let them affect him.
"Oh Ric… I…I…" There were no words to say. I was so glad he was safe; I felt my heart beat normally again and the depressed feeling that had begun to weigh my mind down was lifted. I just ran at him, with all my might and wrapped my arms around him. We embraced like we had been separated for the whole of our lives. The feeling I never thought I would feel ever again, overwhelmed me. He was safe. Ric was safe.
-x-
It had been half an hour but neither of us dared to move. We needed to be in each other's company. We thought we had lost each other for good.
"Mattie!" Hayley's voice shouted. She was walking towards us down the beach, Jack and Martha followed. "We were about to send out a search party…" she trailed off when she saw who I was hugging. I reluctantly let go of him, and I let Martha grab him in a massive bear hug. "Oh my God," was all Hayley could say.
Jack looked shocked to say the least. The cut on his head was healing, it was a nasty one but the doctors said he was going to be fine.
-x-
We were now all sat in my old house, where I was staying again. Sally, Cassie, Pippa, Brad and Mr Stewart had been called over immediately. They were devastated at Ric's death. All of them shut themselves away from the grief and everyone around them. It reminded me of the way I dealt with my mum's death. They were absolutely ecstatic and just as surprised as I was when they walked into the room to see him.
"I just can't believe this. It's flamin' crazy!" Mr Stewart shouted. The whole family, in fact everyone in the room was crying tears of joy. We had explained everything; we each did it from our points of view. Jack was taking care of the Police side of it. He had said that Ric and I had been through enough.
"I just got the note you left me Sal…" Tessa light voice filled the room from the front door. She let out a high-pitched scream and ran into Ric's arms. I shuffled on the spot uncomfortably. Ric didn't look completely contented with the situation either. That same pang of jealously hit me again. I was still in love with Ric, and we both knew it. This was going to be harder than I thought…
-x-
Tessa had reacted just as I had. Angry at first, then delighted. The feeling was indescribable. Love ran through my veins when I thought of him.
"I've missed you so much!" Tessa cried as she kissed Ric for what seem like the millionth time. Not as much as I had, I thought. That was when I remembered, we had betrayed Tessa's trust and she needed to be told. I felt like such a terrible person. I slept with someone else's boyfriend, twice!
"I'm just going to get a drink," I said croakily as I swallowed down the lump in my throat. I walked into the kitchen and filled up a glass that lay beside the sink. I could hear Ric push Tessa off his lap and walk into the kitchen to join me.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. This whole thing is just… wow!"
"Tell me about it."
We stood in silence for a while until I brought up the topic in my mind.
"You need to tell her, Ric."
"I know I do. I can't just drop it on her now though. She thought I was dead. I can't come back and then suddenly tell her that I'm in love with someone else and I cheated on her. That we're going to get back together... It's just too hard."
"I don't think we could ever be together though, Ric. It's too complicated. I never imagined this happening when I came back here. I never even expected you to still be here. I'm not in the right frame of mind for a relationship right now Ric. And I don't think I could ever go back there. We would break up again, I managed to survive that once. I don't think I could do it again. I just want you to be honest with Tessa. She deserves it."
"Okay, we'll see how it goes..." he said taking my hand softly in his own.
"We can do it together," I whispered, squeezing his hand reassuringly
A/N: Sorry I haven't been updating like I usually do, school's really hectic with my Standard Grade courses at the moment, but I'm managing :) Anyway, this was just a filler chapter, I needed to put something up. Thank you for the reviews, they mean so much! Also, thank you to those who reviewed my other fic, which was a oneshot. A lot of people have asked if I'm going to continue it, and I have decided I will... someday :P Keep reviewing!