A/N: Hey guys! Rated T because I has a potty mouth. P Anyway. This is just what I thought that whole Ari-snaps-and-goes-all-Volturi-on-Thomas's-ass scene would be like. (PS-don't kno the volturi? Read twilight. Or else.) BTW-first part is 3rd person POV, second is Ariana's POV. It just worked better for me that way.
Ariana Osgood gritted her teeth as she floored the gas pedal of Josh Hollis's car. Trees flew past her as she sped down the empty road. How could she? How could she? No matter what she'd told herself at the time, it didn't change the fact that she'd left her true love tied to a pole with a black bag over his head in the middle of nowhere. She'd left him there, scared, alone, defenseless. What kind of monster was she? She shook her head regretfully, and forced the pedal down even more.
000000
I pulled the car to a screeching stop and nearly flew out the door. I ran around the car and right to Thomas Pearson, where he still was, tied to a pole, with his hands bound and a bag on his head. I prayed I wasn't too late as I struggled unsuccessfully with the ropes to release his hands.
"Who is that?" Thomas asked. I cringed at the sound of his voice. He sounded terrible, like he had a bad cold. But I knew he was only sick with fear. "Hello?"
"Thomas, it's me," I whispered, giving up on untying his hands. Why hadn't I thought to bring scissors, or something else? I'd seen them tie these knots: they were very firm. "I'm so sorry, I was just driving by, and I saw you." I arranged my features into an appropriately sad and shocked mask and pulled off the bag, letting one pale hand rest on his arm.
He glowered. "Oh. It's you."
I pulled away my hand, letting it rest on my hip. "Excuse me?"
"You're not very good at disguising your voice, Ariana," he said flatly.
"Thomas-"
"No, Ariana." He shook his head in fury. He looked like he wanted to punch me.
Suddenly, I was glad he was still tied to the pole by his feet and waist. I was pleased that he probably couldn't feel his hands; the ropes had been tied much too tight by Noelle.
"Thomas, I love you!" I blurted, spreading my hands pathetically.
"Really," he deadpanned. "Pretty fucking funny way of showing it."
"No," I whispered. "Not…my…idea…"
"Does it matter anymore?"
His icy tone cut into my heart. I froze, eyes wide. No. No, no, no. "Thomas, please," I murmured, stunned. "You love me…"
"No."
I froze again. What…? How was this possible? Was he just drunk? Was he scared? Didn't he care anymore? This whole time, I'd kept an eye on Reed, knowing he was interested in her. But now…was it really even possible? Did he really like that nobody more than me?
"Thomas," I pleaded. "You don't mean it."
"That's the thing, Ariana. I do," he smirked.
Smirked. Thomas didn't smirk. At least, not at me, the girl he supposedly loved.
"And," he continued. "I think I'm going to turn you in. After all, it wasn't really nice of you to do that, was it? Poor, poor Daniel, expecting a sweet vacation with his perfect little Ari, and look what happened to him…Well, now he can spend forever swapping your current pictures for childhood ones with your mom."
Fury incinerated my common sense.
I growled at him, snapping a branch off a tree. "You take that back."
He smirked at me. Again with the annoying smirk. Ugh. "Yeah, Ariana. A scary tree branch?" Thomas snorted. I clutched the branch tighter. "What're you going to do, scratch me?" He barked a cruel laugh at me.
I curled my lip at him in utter disgust. But my one shred of sanity pointed out that he had a point. The cruel majority of my brain was mapping out exactly what would cause the most damage. I couldn't think of anything, so I threw the branch at him.
He barely flinched. Instead, he scowled at me and spat at the ground near my feet. I jumped back on a reflex.
"I thought you promised," I said through my teeth. "Promised we'd always be together, that this year would be when we told everyone. And ex-cuse me, but your selective memory seems to have left out that you're the reason I had to kill Daniel!"
"Oh, please Ariana!" Thomas shouted. "Like I could ever love a murderer more than Reed? She deserves the truth!"
My heart stopped. The truth? He couldn't mean that he'd…what, turn us in?
Through my racing thoughts, I managed to growl, "That whore deserves nothing!"
"She does, Ariana, and you know that. It just eats away at you inside, doesn't it?" he laughed cruelly. "Yes, the boy you left Daniel for likes someone else better. You know what, Ariana? It doesn't even matter anymore. You don't matter anymore. Reed is everything for me. So I'm a bad drunk. Shocker. Who isn't? But the truth is, I hate it. I'm not going to let her live at Easton, with a murderer as her best friend!"
I let out a strangled shriek and wailed, "I am not a murderer!"
He let out a cruel laugh again. I grimaced. This had to stop. I was a Billings Girl; Billings Girls weren't spoken to this way. No. Never.
That one thought ran through my head. Never, never, never.
I spotted a cold glint of silver. I bent down to grab it. Josh's baseball bat.
Never, never, never.
I half-stood up, still half hunched over with my long wavy blonde hair stinging in front of my face. I gripped the bat in my hand; the cold metal barely registered with me. I bared my teeth, anger coloring my face.
Never, never, never.
He let out another laugh. I couldn't imagine what I looked like. Probably insane.
Never, never, never.
I held it above my head, shrieking for him to just shut up.
Never, never, never.
I let out a wail. "I'll kill you, Thomas, I swear I will! Shut up!"
"Oh, yes, Ariana," he said angrily. "Kill me too. What's a second person, a third? Nothing to you, just like you're nothing to me!"
Never, never, never.
I gritted my teeth. That was what he felt. Fine. But no Billings Girl could ever let herself be spat upon, be disrespected like he had done to me. I narrowed my eyes, which pooled with tears despite the resolve in my head. I knew what to do, and why I had to. But a little sense of self-preservation shouted at me in my head, crying out that I'd never get away with it. Noelle knew everything, Noelle would realize. Noelle would probably tell.
Never, never, never.
"Oh, Ariana. What are you waiting for?" He barked another short, spastic burst of laughter. "Are you chickening out? Yes, you always did. Isn't that why Daniel had to die? Because you chickened out on him one too many times? Yeah, Ariana. You're insane. Just like I always knew you were!"
Never, never, never.
I swung the bat, ignoring that little voice in my head. There was a sickening crack.
"Ariana," came his mocking voice. "You're missing, Ariana! Only my leg. Is that all you have?"
Never, never, never.
I swung again. The crack. The mocking. The mocking, the mocking, the mocking. It had to stop.
I swung a third time, fury coloring everything red.
I cried as I swung again and again, tears and fury blinding me. I kept at it well after the mocking stopped. Well after I knew it was done. But when I finally stopped, I threw the bat at the ground and screamed.
Never, never, never.
What had I just done? No! I couldn't have! No, no, no, no, no! Thomas couldn't be right about me. I wasn't insane. I wasn't. But it was too late. This picture was engraved in my mind forever. And when I died, as I should have soon, I would see Thomas and Daniel, forever young, and my mother, forever psychotic, all in a little corner of heaven laughing down at me as I slaved away in hell.
As I fled the tiny field, I realized I probably deserved it.
Never, never, never.