Chapter 15: A Killer Revealed

Gotta love the cliffhangers! (…I shall say nothing about that. –Jordan)

Ohsofili: (I think that's who asked, if not I'm sorry. I don't have Internet access on this laptop.) When I'm saying 'The End' I mean of the chapter. When it's the last chapter of the story I will notify you!

Until then, enjoy the chapter!

Chad was fully expecting Emily to pull apart from him and slap him. He didn't care. He missed her touch, longed for her scent and yearned for her kiss. He missed her. All too much.

But, Emily didn't pull apart from the sudden kiss. To Chad's surprise, she returned it.

Emily had felt the same as Chad. She missed him, even if he had betrayed her trust. They were perfect together. Emily couldn't understand why Chad hadn't seen that.

Emily broke apart suddenly. She turned away, hiding her face, and took a few steps away from him.

"Em," He started.

"I told you to leave us alone," She whispered.

"Emily, you really need to talk to me."

"No, I really don't," she turned to face him.

"You can't just break up with someone and not tell them why," his voice was full of frustration and anger.

"You can't just walk up to my door and kiss me!" she shrieked.

"You kissed back! That has to mean something, Ems."

"It was a mistake. Please just go."

"Why?"

"Because," tears fell from her eyes, "being this close to you. It hurts."

"Em. Please. Tell me what I did. I'll make it up to you, I swear," Chad pleaded.

"Please go." She whispered so her voice wouldn't crack.

Chad shook his head and took a step towards her. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong, Em."

"Don't," she said as he tried to take hold of her hand, "touch me."

With that, Chad gave up. He left the house and decided: It's time to move on.

(I'm serious Jordan. DO NOT BOLD AND/OR ITALICIZE THIS! It's mean for a LINE to go here!)(You forgot underlining. Hehe. -Jordan)

"Sis? I'm home!" Troy walked through the front door.

Troy only heard a sniff from the couch. He turned that way to see his sister curled into a ball.

"Emily!" he ran to her, "What's wrong? Nightmares?" He got worried. 'Not the nightmares again. Anything but the nightmares. She was getting better! I don't want them to take her away again.' Troy's thoughts screamed in his head.

Emily gently shook her head. "Chad stopped by after you left."

She sounded like she had been crying for a while. Mascara was running down her face and her cheeks were red and blotchy. Her eyes were red and puffy and her hair was a mess.

"Troy," she added, "he kissed me."

Troy didn't know how to respond. "Well," he searched for something to say, "how did you react?"

"I kissed back." She buried her head in her crossed arms.

Troy felt his jaw drop. He had expected her to slap him, kick him, punch him or yell at him. Anything but kiss back. But, his sister did like to surprise him.

"W-why?"

"I don't know!" she got defensive tones in her voice, "I wasn't thinking! I just reacted!"

"Ok. Ok." Troy held out his hands in defense.

"I just…miss him, that's all." Emily sighed.

The two Boltons remained silent for a moment.

"Wanna talk about it?" Troy finally responded.

"No," She said simply and walked up the stairs and into her room.

Emily collapsed on her bed in a huge sigh. 'Life's too complicated.'

She stared at the wall for who knew how long. Finally, she rolled over and went to sleep.

Emily huffed and puffed her way down the rugged path in the woods. The dorm lights were still on. 'I can make it,' she thought. Her feet pounded the dirt ground with extra force as she sped up.

She was only a few yards from the dorms now. Suddenly, the ground met Emily's face with a sharp pain. Emily cried out as shooting pains shot through her arm. She scrambled up.

The next thing she knew she was slammed against the brick wall of the dorms. A cold gruff voice came from the man holding her by her throat. "You knew I was coming."

Emily jumped up in her bed. Her shirt was soaked through with sweat. Emily was terrified.

One thought ran through her mind: She knew that voice.

Emily jumped up and searched through her drawers frantically.

"Come on. Come on. I know you're in here," she said to herself as she threw random things out of the drawer. Finally, she found it; her boarding school yearbook.

She practically tore the pages she was flipping through them so fast. Her finger trailed across the paper until she found the face she was looking for.

'Michael Bryans' the caption said under his picture. Emily shivered looking at his picture. She was staring at the same eyes that had haunted her dreams.

What's wrong with you?

-- Sadie

Nothing

Something's wrong. Please tell?

Emily balled up the note. She ignored Sadie's attempts to make eye contact with her during the rest of the period, too. Emily was slowly starting turning into the PTSD Emily again. She didn't sleep last night. She couldn't pay attention in class. And she couldn't shake this haunting feeling that Michael was out to get her.

The bell rang and she packed up her things and headed to lunch. Emily passed right by her friends' table and headed for the roof with her lunch.

She ate a few bites, but quickly set it aside. She began to stare out onto the surrounding landscape that could be seen from her seat.

"Ms. Bolton, do you have any leads on who might have done this?" the detective paced in front of her.

"Um," she stuttered, "There is this one boy…"

"What's his name?" His partner cut in.

"Michael Bryans," she said quietly.

"We'll look into him," he wrote the name down, "Good evening, Ms. Bolton."

Emily knew Michael did it. She knew it. Willow Rembrant was such a pretty girl. Her and Michael were the cutest couple. But, Willow said he was abusive. She had told Emily late one night. Finally, Willow got the courage to break up with Michael. Emily ended up overhearing.

"I'm tired of you beating me all the time. You push me around and this time I'm pushing back!" Willow's voice screamed at him.

"You don't want to do that." Michael's voice was menacing.

"Michael, please. Just leave me alone." Willow tried to leave.

"You're not leaving."

"Yes, I am," Willow walked towards the door.

"Fine, but you leave and you won't be alive much longer!" Michael's screamed at her.

"Whatever, Michael." Willow rolled her eyes as she left.

The next night, Willow was found dead.

A tear slid silently down Emily's cheek.

"Em?" Her brother's voice softly called out. He walked over and sat down next to her gently.

Emily continued to face away from him, out onto the breath-taking landscape below. "She was my friend," she said in a raspy voice.

Troy knew what she was talking about. He didn't know how, but he just knew. "I'm so sorry, Em."

"He told her. He told her he would kill her. I should have told someone. I should have said something," Emily began to shake with sobs.

"Em, what are you talking about?" Troy had never heard her talk like this. When she had ranted about the murder – just after it happened – she had never mentioned anyone but Willow.

Emily told the story of the argument. Once she finished, she added, "He knows I saw. He's going to kill me, Troy. I just know it!"

For some reason, Troy knew that she was serious. He knew it wasn't the PTSD talking, and – he didn't know why but – he started to believe her.

"Oh God, Em." He pulled her into a hug. Emily cried into his shoulder for a while.

"I thought it was supposed to be me. It wasn't. It was supposed to be Willow, but I'm next. I don't know why I didn't see it before. I completely forgot about Michael until…"

"Until what?"

"He's the one in my nightmares, Troy. He's the one that's killing me in my nightmares. Now he's going to kill me in real life!" Emily began crying in his shoulder once more. Her brother held her close, almost as if trying to protect her.

"Shhh. It's going to be okay. I promise. I won't let anything happen to you, Em," he whispered in her ear and held her tighter.

"Emily!"

Emily ignored him as she walked towards Troy's car. She just needed to get home. Troy explained the situation to their father and he gave them permission to go home.

"Emily, wait!" He grabbed her arm.

"LEAVE ME ALONE, CHAD!" she shrieked at him.

"Em, you have to listen to me." He grabbed her shoulders.

"GET OFF OF ME!" She slapped his hands away and more tears slid down her cheeks.

"Chad," Troy ran between them, "What is your problem?"

"I just want to talk to her, dude."

"Well can you not see she's going through something right now?" Troy motioned towards his crying sister. Troy didn't wait for Chad to answer. He gently put his hands on Emily's shoulders and steered her towards the car.

"I'm going to my room." Emily announced once they got home.

"Call me if you need anything." Troy nodded.

She walked up to her room and sat in silence. Somehow, she fell asleep on her bed.

"You can't run anymore, Emily," the gruff voice said still holding the death grip on her throat.

She struggled against him. Her hands clenched tight around the hand tightening on her airway. She kicked and flailed, trying to knock him down in any way. He laughed at her pathetic attempts.

"You're not going to win. You shouldn't have told the cops about me," he tightened the grip and Emily's face began to turn blue.

Her vision began to blur. Suddenly, she heard a clicking noise. Michael had a gun pointed at her head.

Tears streamed quicker down her face.

"Sorry, Emily," his almost sing-song voice rang out. Michael laughed as he squeezed the trigger.

Emily sat up in her bed screaming at the top of her lungs. Her heart was pounding and her face was glistening with sweat. She jumped at the sound of her cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" She tried to sound calm.

"Long time, no see, huh, Emily?" the voice answered on the other line.

Emily's eyes widened and her face went pure white. Her body began to tremble and her heart was about to explode in her chest.

"Oh, Emily. Not going to talk to your old friend? Well that's okay. I was going to do all the talking anyway."

Emily gulped. She was terrified and could barely hear Michael Bryans's voice over the sound of her heart pounding.

"I know you told about me, Emily. It's okay," he paused before continuing, "You know, you aren't the easiest person to track down, Ms. Bolton. It took me quite awhile to find you. How's the weather in Albuquerque? I hear it's quite nice down there. But, I guess I'll find out soon enough."

Emily began to breathe heavily through her trembling.

"East High. It's a lovely school. And, wow, that house of yours. It's a nice one, Bolton. Can't wait to see the inside. Well, I really must go. I have a long trip to make if I'm going all the way to New Mexico. Oh and Emily," he added, "Enjoy the sunshine while you can."

The line clicked dead. Emily was left holding the phone. Her body was still trembling, her heart still pound and her face drenched in terror.

Michael was going to kill her.

And now we draw to the close of the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to fill it with suspense and drama. (I'm hyperventilating; this chapter is THAT good. –Jordan)

I am sorry to say that this chapter is the beginning of the end. Yes, the story is drawing to a close. (Yes, quite sad, but I do know what the sequel will be like!! YAY! –Jordan)

I was thinking of a sequel. What do you guys think? (Allyn, you and I both know that we're going to do a sequel anyway! –Jordan)

Well, please review! (Yes, please do. -Jordan)