The final chapter! DUN DUN DUN!
Raevyn pushed open the door and walked right into her father's arms. "I'm very sorry. Please excuse me," she whispered. But he wrapped his arms around her and didn't let go.
"I'm sorry," he murmured into her hair. "I'm so sorry. Forgive me."
She pulled away. "Forgive what?"
"For being so cruel to you."
Raevyn's mouth fell open. "Forgive you? Forgive you? After all the shit you put me through? You could've killed me! And why are you even apologizing? Is mom going to divorce you if you don't?"
Her father hugged her tightly again. "Thank you."
She pushed him away from her. "For what?"
"For talking to me. I just wanted to hear my daughter speak again."
Her lip quivered. "What is wrong with you? Are you sick? Why did you even do all that to me in the first place if all you were going to do was hug me and tell me sorry?"
"I—"
"Do you think I wanted to be the delinquent daughter that no one can be proud of? Do you think I asked to look like I do? The one that says hateful things and runs away from home or runs out on you in the middle of a conversation? The one that fails school not because she's stupid, but because she can't commit to anything? The one that drinks and fights because she can? The one that steals, who's clumsy and stubborn and won't admit it when she's wrong? Who can't love anyone?"
For the first time in years, tears welled up in Raevyn's eyes. "I just wanted you to be proud of me. I just wanted you and mom to be happy. It's just so hard for me get myself to do things. You don't understand. It's a constant battle inside me every day, but I try my best to ignore it because it just causes pain for others." Hot tears slipped down her cheeks. "I just want my dad back."
She ran up to her room and gasped. Everything was back. Her pictures, her poster, her books, her candles and spell-casting items. Everything. "He must truly have lost his mind."
Slowly, Raevyn walked over to her nightstand and picked up her pocketknife. She flicked it open and held it near her wrist, her hand trembling as she pressed the blade against her skin. Letting out a feral growl, she threw the knife across the room, where it pierced the wall and stuck like that.
She couldn't cut; she had promised herself that she never would. Almost all her friends had been suicidal or had been cutters. Cheyenne was both. She had to be strong for them, no matter how far away they were.
Hiccupping, she pulled her straightener out of her closet and started to straighten her hair. She put her hair in high pigtails and started applying her makeup. Looking in the mirror and grinning like a Cheshire at her reflection, she threw open her closet and drew out a uniform that consisted of a short red-and-black skirt, a tight-fitting red-and-black shirt, and pom-poms.
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Raevyn watched the pigtailed cheerleader, her carbon copy, flirting with Rory. She was crouched on top of the large chandelier in the Arcade. Why there was a chandelier in there, she would never understand.
Her doppelganger sat on the blonde vampire's lap and threw her arms around his neck. Their lips smashed together.
Raevyn leapt down from her shadowed shelter on the top of the chandelier, walking slowly over to her former friend. "So," she whispered. "Do you love her?"
Rory's head jerked up at the sound of her voice. He didn't want to believe it was her, because he couldn't help knowing she would disappear again. "Raevyn?" he choked out. She looked… she looked like her again. She was back. Her glove, her necklaces, her shoes, everything was back. She was wearing her jacket over a black tank top, and highlighter yellow skinny jeans.
But she was still so thin and pale and sad, so tired and sickly-looking. He looked at her more closely. No, Raevyn was still far from herself. Her hair was flat and glossy, and the shadow above her lip had disappeared. She reached out with long, bony fingers and lightly touched the girl on Rory's lap. He watched, dumbstruck, as the cheerleader slowly dissolved back into Raevyn's body.
"I bet you think I haven't been watching," Raevyn murmured quietly, just barely audible. "But I have. And I can tell you this: whether or not I find a way to lift the spell, you will never be anything but a hopeless, selfish skirt-chaser."
She whirled around and walked out the door. Rory stared at the spot where she had been only moments before, as if she would materialize in front of him again any second. Benny and Ethan waited for a moment before Benny hit him in the side of the head.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go after her!"
Rory jumped up and stumbled out the door. He swiveled his head around, trying to decipher which direction the girl was running. He cocked his ear as he picked up the sound of her sobbing, and the sharp dagger of hopelessness pierced his heart. Because how could he hope in a world with no hope, where he may never find his friend again, for she was lost and broken without repair? He never thought it could happen. She had been so strong. It chilled him to think of just how quickly everything could change.
His demonic vampire speed brought him to her side in a matter of seconds. "Get away from me!" she sobbed. "I don't want to be around you right now. This is what I get for trying to teach someone a lesson."
Rory felt a tingling sensation all across his body, the same as when he had first met her. After she had cast the spell. "I changed my mind," she whispered. "No one should have to learn to love. Not even skirt-chasers like you deserve that kind of pain."
She pushed past him and kept running. Rory bolted in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. "I'll take on that kind of pain every day just to see you smile again! I want to learn to love. I want you to teach me. I don't want to chase skirts, I want to chase bright-colored skinny jeans that belong to a girl with crazy black hair and big brown eyes. I want to chase a preachy girl that says things that make me insecure. One that plays video games and loves Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons, who was my friend before anything else, because we're both complete geeks. I want—"
"I want to be with you! But I never will, alright? It just doesn't work like that. We can't be together!"
"Why not?" he demanded.
"Because we can't! Just get it through your head that we will never be together!"
Rory bared his fangs, his eyes turning bright yellow-green lined with black. Raevyn's eyes widened. She had seen Erica do that, and occasionally even Sarah, but Rory had never done it before. He'd bared his fangs, maybe, but not in a menacing way.
"That's not a reason! I want to be with you, and I know you want to be with me. So why can't we?"
"Because we come from to different worlds! You're a vampire, and I'm a human witch. You're immortal, and I'm not. Even if we were together, I'd eventually die, and you'd go on living. It would kill you inside if you actually fell in love with me."
"What about immortality spells?"
"That's dark magic! I told you, I'm not evil!" she yelled. She pulled away again and ran as fast as she could to Benny's house.
She pushed open the door and bolted inside. "Grandma?" she called. She had met the woman in a supermarket and had become previously acquainted with her. Benny's grandmother strolled over to her.
"What is it, dear?"
"I need your help with a wishing spell."
"Wishing spell?"
"I need to make a very… difficult wish. Please, don't ask any questions. It's really important to me."
Grandma cast her a wary look, but complied all the same.
And so, hours later, they stood over Raevyn's cauldron. Next to them was a knapsack filled with all the things closest to her heart. Raevyn breathed in the scent of the potion. It smelled like all things good, and then the odors would turn foul, and then sweet again.
"Whenever you're ready, dear," said Grandma, giving her a reassuring smile. Raevyn lightly touched the heart-shaped locket around her neck. She had found it in a box on her windowsill when she had gone to collect her things.
"I wish that… that Rory and I… that we had never…."
She choked on the words. She couldn't make that wish. It was just too painful.
So she found a loophole.
"I wish that everyone I've ever met in my life would forget I had ever been born!" she cried.
There was a flash, and Benny's grandmother was staring at her with a dazed and confused expression. "Who are you?" she demanded, "and how did you get in my house."
"Goodbye, Grandma."
Raevyn slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out the door.
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She didn't bother going back to her house. They wouldn't remember her there. Raevyn crouched behind the bushes as she watched her old friends walk home. She clutched the note in her hand and let the tears trail down her cheeks.
She had found the letter in the box with the locket. Scribbled on it were the words, "Raevyn. I know you say we can never be together, but I won't believe it. Meet me in the park tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. I have something to tell you."
More tears welled up in her eyes as she hefted her bag on her shoulders and turned away from the town of Whitechapel, Canada. "There won't be a tomorrow." Her footsteps echoed painfully as she walked away from her second life.
"This is goodbye. I'm sorry, Rory. I'm so sorry."
Should I write the sequel? Or will this stay a heart-wrenching tragedy of love? Review and tell me what you think!