Chapter 9:
"I'm serious Destiny. I can't stay here. Shaun almost caught us and its's only been about an hour" Matthew sighed.
"Well not FOREVER silly. I meant for the night while we wait to see if Morales follows through on her threat. Leave your parents a message that you're spending the night at a friends." Destiny suggested.
"Um they won't fall for that. They know you're my ONLY friend. I'm a loser remember?" Matthew stated dejected.
"STOP that RIGHT now. You are not a loser, I can't stand to hear you talk like that Matthew" Destiny sat in his lap hugging him. "You are the strongest person I know."
Matthew scoffed.
"Who else has been paralyzed and fought his way back to mobility when the doctors SWORE it wasn't possible? Who else goes after EVERYTHING he wants and GETS it? Who else could deal with this Eddie Ford thing ALL by himself for so long, and keep it together on a daily basis? I wouldn't have been able to do that" Destiny marvelled, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Des, you know I hate to see you cry" Matthew cupped her face and used his thumb to swipe her tears away.
"I'm sorry. My heart just can't handle it when you sound like you're giving up. That's never been you Matthew, so don't even think of starting now!"
"Yes ma'am" Matthew awed. He couldn't believe how much Destiny believed in him. It made him want to rise up and meet her expectations; to never let her down. If he gave up now that's exactly what he'd be doing.
"I started all of this. I let my Uncle help me cover it up. I just thought he did the worst to my Mom & I snapped. Regardless, if I go to jail one day fine, but I'm not going now right? Des look how many people have been accused so far and nothing's stuck, right?"
"Now THAT'S the man I fell in love with...Even if a gossip queen accuses you, so what? She has no evidence. Your parents will sue her back under the slimy rock she crawled out of. Let's turn on the TV and see what's happened" Destiny got up to grab the remote and Matthew's phone. " I'm going to text your parents that you're staying on my couch cause you needed to get out of your house. They know Shaun's here, they'll assume we're supervised, right?"
"I for one am glad we're MATURE enough to supervise ourselves" Matthew teased Destiny patting the bed beside him.
"Umm hmm. Well I am, not too sure about you..." she teased back.
"Now is that anyway to talk to your boyfriend?" Matthew questioned fawning hurt puppy dog eyes.
"My boyfriend?" Destiny continued to tease.
"Destiny, all jokes aside, I want you to be my girlfriend. I don't want you wondering what my intentions are." Matthew kissed the back of her hand."
"I wholeheartedly accept Matthew" Destiny replied. I've waited so long for that... she thought.
'Llanview we have a live special report from our field correspondent Blanca Morales. Blanca can you hear us?" the news anchor announced.
"Thank you Reggie. This is Blanca Morales at Llanview Hospital presenting an exclusive interview with Clint Buchanan."
Matthew and Destiny stood up hands clasped prepared for the worst.
"Hello my name is Clint Buchanan and this is my daughter Natalie. Her baby boy Liam has been abducted. I will offer this check for one million dollars for any information on his whereabouts.
I also have another announcement. I wish to confess my many crimes including shooting Eddie Ford, kidnapping David Buchanan Vickers, denying my biological son Rex Balsom and coercing Vimal Patel into switching my daughter's paternity tests."
"What? Why are you doing this Uncle Clint?" Matthew yelled.
"Matthew be quiet Shaun will hear", Destiny attempted to calm him down.
"Destiny I'm sorry I have to see my
Uncle Clint right now" he explained grabbing his jacket.
Destiny grabbed his arm spinning him around " Are you crazy? Your Uncle gave you a gift. You have your freedom and your future. Don't throw that away now!"
"I won't let him take the fall for a crime I committed, Destiny."
"Since you have this whole thing figured out what are you going to do? Confess on TV? Isn't that what you were worried about earlier? You promised me you wouldn't, remember that?" Destiny hissed.
Matthew's temper flared up as well "Look Destiny I don't know. If the police drop the case due to lack of evidence, that's one thing. I won't let my Uncle go down for ME."
"He can get out of it. He has some plan up his sleeve, let it play out. We know he didn't do it."
"Destiny I'm sorry I have to go."
"Well I'm going with you. Whoa wait" Destiny grabbed the wall with one hand and her stomach with the next. I think I'm gonna be sick." She ran to the bathroom.
"Destiny are you ok?" Matthew walked into the bathroom and held her hair back while she threw up into the toilet bowl.
She stood up and went to the sink to wash her face and brush her teeth, mortifyingly embarrassed "I am SO sorry. That was 1000 points off my cool meter barfing in front of my boyfriend like that."
"I don't care, are you ok?" worry evident in his embrace.
"I'm fine now. I guess its just been stress..." she reasoned.
"Been?" This happen before? Matthew wondered.
"You should stay here. I'll go see my Uncle alone" he offered.
"Aww HELL NAW. I am going with you to make sure you don't do anything stupid" she enunciated.
She changed out of her PJ's and snuck out her house with Matthew.
"Matthew you had better have a quick convo with your Uncle alone. Then we're coming right back here."
Matthew remained silent not wanting to promise her something he couldn't keep.
As they drove to the hospital Matthew's phone began to ring. He asked Destiny to put it on speakerphone when they realized it was his Mom. "Mom how could Uncle Clint DO that?" he questioned hoping she had some explanation.
"Son we are at the hospital with your Uncle. He told us that without a heart transplant he'll die. He wants to make things right before it's too late." Matthew swerved the car a bit unable to control his rage.
"He's dying?"
Suddenly, a car blared its horn behind them. It's headlights were so bright they couldn't make a thing out.
"What does this jerk think he's doing?" Destiny wondered aloud.
"Destiny is that you?" Nora asked clearly surprised Destiny was a witness to their conversation.
"Hey Mrs. B" Destiny replied with her favorite moniker for Matt's mom.
"DESTINY WHAT WERE YOU THINKING TALKING TO THAT REPORTER?" Nora ranted.
"She was accusing you Mrs.B. I was only trying to defend you." Destiny explained. She had never been reprimanded by Mrs. B before & being that she was the DA, Destiny was feeling the heat.
"Oh cmon Mom are you serious? Don't blame Destiny for any of this."
While the 3 argued, the crazy car pulled alongside Matthew actually driving in the opposite lane. The horn honked again causing Destiny to scream.
"PULL OVER YOU SON OF A BITCH"
What,huh, who? the 3 replied at once. Destiny and Matthew looked into the other car shocked to see Nate Salinger and Dani Rayburn-Manning glaring at them.
"What the HELL Salinger. Are you trying to kill us all?" Matthew yelled after rolling his window down.
"What's going on Matthew I can't hear a thing? Nora complained.
"Are you crazy you're driving in the opposite lane!" Destiny yelled.
"I'M GOING TO END YOU BUCHANAN! YOU KILLED MY FATHER!" Nate yelled. Destiny and Matthew's jaw dropped. Oh no how the HELL did he find out, they wondered.
Suddenly, high beams appeared in the opposite direction. It was a huge tractor trailer. Nate was so preoccupied trying to get Matthew to pull over that another car already pulled up behind Matthew making it impossible for him to retreat to his previous spot.
Nate sped up to try to get in front of Matthew but his car was a much older model and he couldn't get ahead of the Impala. Meanwhile, everyone was honking at each other desperately trying to get out of harms way.
Matthew had no choice. He swerved to the right. The Impala hit the guard rail metal screeching and sparks flying. Destiny screamed as the car flipped over the guard rail to the field beyond.
Matthew came to feeling a pair of hands dragging him out of the car. Everything was so loud, so bright he thought emerging from his fog. He began to make out sirens and see flashing lights. Emergency workers were all over. He looked back at his car seeing that it was flipped over on its hood. "WAIT, DESTINY'S STILL IN THERE!" Matthew ripped himself away running back to the car. He crawled on all fours trying to get through his driver's side window.
"Hey get that kid outta here Smith" yelled a guy grabbing Matthew's arm helping to drag him away as Matthew fought against them.
"NO! DESTINY! DESTINY!" Matthew cried hysterically unable to process what he eyes beheld.
Destiny was hanging upside down in her seat. Her right arm was twisted at an impossible angle. Her head was bloody, halfway protruding through the glass of the passenger side window.