Due to a few requests, I am going to continue. Motivated mostly by my dislike of Megan, I think. Or maybe because I want to placate my own desire to punish and torture innocent people for giving me so much pain even when it's not their fault...Megan isn't so innocent anyway, so my sadistic tendencies are justified.

Like Over the Edge (another story of mine), the story ends in the first chapter. This is merely a continuation, and I won't count this as part of the main story. So that means if you don't like this continuation, just read the first chapter and be happy about it. For starters, Megan is going to be awake at the start of this chapter, at the hospital. I know she wasn't in the previous one, so if you really need to connect the two chapters, simply imagine Megan woke up after the sedative wore off, and she's now sitting and waiting. (Continuity isn't an issue to me.)

(Tomisaqt, are you there?)

Disclaimer: The usual...don't own anything...blah blah blah...

She was crying.

She was crying hard.

She was crying without stop, her face buried in her hands, her tiny body racked with endless chokes and sobs.

The little sinner, the irony folly of a genius, the stupid fool. The little damned rat knew she stood no chance of being redeemed. Her crime was too great, too heavy, and the sentence shall match it in severity.

What punishment possibly awaited her? There was the superficial: the abandonment of her family, the harsh beatings she deserved so much, the shunning of the society. Then there was the real punishment: eternal damnation to the agony of guilt, the vengeance of her dead brother, not to mention being barred from the gates of Heaven. She did not deserve His love and mercy; even the most High God cannot free her of her guilt until her brother forgave her first. But wherever he went after the accident, it was clear Drake would never return again. Not for his family, not for Megan.

She would never know if she was ever forgiven.

She cried some more.

He wouldn't forgive her, she knew it.

She would be damned forever, her innocence destroyed by the simple but fateful act. Her innocence, the protective cover that granted her clemency until later in life, when all her sins would be charged to her, and she would accept them without denial, if regretfully and reluctantly. The innocence was gone. And taking its place was vice. Her once-young and innocent heart, gripped by crushing pain, would henceforth be and remain tainted. A dreadful sentence, it was, to be cursed like this for the rest of her life.

And she was only nine years old.

She cried even harder.

Sorry for Drake? Or more likely sorry for herself? Sorry that she ever decided to pull THAT particular prank on that day...rather, ever pull that prank on anyone. It was all the prank's fault, not hers! It backfired, and it shouldn't have! It chose to disobey!

But who's idea was it to invent that one and pull it on Drake?

It was hers, of course. Megan's.

She cried harder yet. Until all her tears were used up, and blood took its place. Until her throat gave out, and all breath expired, and she simply cried soundlessly.

Nothing in the world meant anything to her anymore. She died with Drake, as she deserved. The Atonement for her sin.

"Josh! What happened...?"

Her mother would never forgive her for murdering her own flesh-and-blood son, the eldest son, the brother of her daughter. Megan's conviction felt stronger than ever when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother and stepfather rushing hurriedly down the hallway, with terror on their faces, and fear in their wake. The wait outside the emergency room already lasted an eternity, and now her parents too would join in the period of waiting, no doubt having ample chance to punish Megan to death...

"It was Megan's fault! This is all Megan's fault! Why won't you believe me?!"

"Impossible, Josh! You mean to tell me an innocent nine-year-old girl can..."

"IT"S TRUE! IT HAPPENED!! I tell you, this time you gotta believe me!"

"Josh...I...don't...know what to..."

"Megan isn't as innocent as you think she is! She's been pretending all these years, and you never found out! Well, now she can't anything!"

"Josh, calm down..."

"NO! Look, I'll prove it..."

Megan looked up from her hands, and saw for the first time, true horror on the pale face of her mother. The sight drove yet another stake through her broken heart. And she noticed, too, that her mother was in a state of utter shock, unable to believe that her sweet innocent daughter, whose façade has never been busted until now, has done something so terrible, so dreadful, that it was nightmarishly impossible. Josh's face, however, was a contorted, twisted mask of demonic rage, far more fearsome than his normal appearance which Megan has gotten used to. He let his fury fly, and Megan, the convict that she was, took it with acceptance and apprehension.

"OUT WITH IT, MEGAN!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Josh roared. Spit drops landed on Megan's tear-soaked face, but for a second there they burned like acid. Megan flinched, yelped and backed away from him.

"C'MON, YOU STUPID WHELP! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he repeated, louder than before, taking a menacing step forward. Megan's lip began to quiver again, and her fragile little frame started shaking uncontrollably as she cowered while the beast advanced.

"Josh!" cried Walter. "Calm down! There's no need to shout; the situation is bad enough already!"

"But she did it! She..."

"Shut up, Josh! Let her speak for herself!"

"YES! LET HER SPEAK!!"

Megan let out a loud sob that could be heard over the shouting match. Josh and his father were silenced immediately, and saw properly for the first time, how vulnerable Megan truly looked. How fragile her true self was, when the hard façade of 'evil' has been stripped down to reveal a cowering helpless little wretch, with rivers of tears flowing ceaselessly down her cheeks. At that point, Josh felt ashamed. It was shame that brought him the sudden revelation that Megan's guilt was eating her insides up as much as his anger and grief was devouring him. And suddenly he realized what she was feeling, and how he should be feeling, and how he should be acting. Just as much as she felt that she did not deserve to live, Josh did not deserve the title of 'big brother'.

For a brief moment, Josh's eyes met with Megan's own watery chestnut-eyes. His face burning, Josh tore his gaze from his sister, shut up, and walked away.

Megan began sobbing hard again. Had she caused her brother that much pain, too?

"I'll go with Josh, honey. You stay...?"

"I'll stay with Megan, Walter. Thanks."

Audrey's heart broke to see her beloved daughter in such distress. She sat down beside the little girl, put an arm around her, and pulled her close to her chest. Megan flinched and for a split second made an involuntary movement, as if trying to break free of her mother's embrace. Then she buried her head into Audrey's chest, and cried freely.

"Did you do it?" Audrey whispered gently, stroking Megan's hair with her free hand.

Megan choked and, unable to speak through her tears, nodded dumbly.

"Oh, my baby..."

Audrey held her daughter tight and rocked forward and back, quietly coaxing her to stop crying, like a mother would do to her crying baby. They sat in silence for another twenty minutes, during which the silence was punctuated with soft whispers, gasps and sobs, and an occasional loud sniff.

"I'm s-sorry, mom," Megan finally managed to say, her high-pitched voice cracked and squeaking. "I'm s-so sorry..."

"It's okay, baby," her mother said, still stroking Megan's pitch-black hair.

"I didn't mean t-to," Megan wailed, shaking. "I didn't...I...Drake..."

"Ssh. Hush, baby, hush."

"I'm sorry..."

"I don't blame you, baby girl. Hush now, hush."

Audrey stayed stoic and strong for her broken daughter, but her heart too ached with grief for her son. Whatever Megan did to him, she needn't know. It was all unimportant, for the mother refused to blame her daughter for the death of her own son. Even though she never knew Megan was capable of being the 'demon' and 'evil genius' her brothers always complained about, even though the truth about her daughter was concealed for so long, even if the 'crime' was, indeed, to have killed her own flesh-and-blood son. No matter what, the girl deserved no conviction.

But she knew her daughter better now, the mother thought. All the lies, deception, the mask of sadistic evil, and really what was behind it all along; true love for her brothers, and repentance. She was weak and vulnerable without her shield, as helpless as any little girl overwhelmed by the consequences of her own actions.

"I don't blame you," Audrey kept repeating soothingly. "I don't blame you. Hush. Mommy's here to protect you."

Eventually Megan quietened down, and with peace restored in her heart, fell asleep in her mother's arms.

There was silence for another eternity...

BOOM.

In the stillness of the air, the door slamming open had the same volume of a cannon shot. Audrey jumped, and Megan jerked wide awake, alarmed by the sudden noise. The door to the emergency room was open, and a doctor clad in green surgical gown stood in the doorway, a triumphant look on his pale face.

Megan and her mother stared expectantly, nerves tingling with a mixture of terror and desperation.

"We saved him. He's alive."

I'm being nice to Megan now, am I? Ruddy hypocrite. But I love writing deep emotional family get-togethers, and here I want to express Megan's true inner self when she isn't busy being an evil little girl. Sounds corny in various places though, but there you go...

(For my wonderful reviewers.)

Terrorking Tragedian