by Vera Hollins
With a renewed resolve, I decided to hit the sack early. I turned off my laptop and slipped into my pajamas, positive that everything would be much clearer in the morning. Tomorrow was a new day.
I WOKE UP IN THE DARKNESS of my room, wondering what made me jolt awake. The sky outside was pitch black, and I needed a couple of seconds to adjust my vision...
I froze when I saw someone standing at the foot of my bed. He was dressed in a black jacket and jeans, which enabled him to blend into the darkness, and my brain had difficulty processing what I was seeing.
I turned on my bedside lamp and met the intruder’s eyes, confusion and fear rising in me when I recognized him.
It was Josh .
What the hell? Josh broke into my house?!
“Wha—What are you doing here?!” I barely had time to finish my sentence when I noticed the glint of metal. It took me a split second to realize he was holding a knife and was ready to pounce on me.
I screamed, horror coursing through my veins as he charged toward me with his raised weapon. I was going to die in a terrible, inexplicable way, and there wasn’t much I could do—
Listening to my instincts, I grabbed the glass of water standing on my nightstand and swung it at his head, using all the strength I could muster.
The glass broke upon contact with the side of his head with a loud crash. He cried out, losing hold of his knife, and gripped his head, which was covered in small shards and blood that flowed out of the cuts.
I jumped out of my bed and dashed toward the door, relieved that I could buy myself some time. My mind went the extra mile to come up with a solution in the midst of countless questions.
Why was Josh trying to kill me? Kill me?! Was he getting back at me for what I did at Melissa’s party?
I always knew Josh was unhinged, terrified of his violence that he unleashed on anyone who went against him, which I’d experienced first-hand, but this... This was something else .
I ran out of my room, glancing over my shoulder, and shrieked as he darted toward me with the knife that was already back in his hand. He looked like a monster with his bloody head and murderous face. I ran down the hallway, still unable to understand what was going on. I had to escape him and call the police.
“I’ll catch you, stupid bitch!”
My heart threatened to burst when I reached the staircase. I was all alone in the dark house, desperately trying to scope out what I could use to defend myself...
I heard him right behind me...
No!
I was at the staircase, going down one step, when Josh reached for my leg and tripped me.
I screamed in terror, the world moving too fast, and I went flying down the stairs. The white-hot pain exploded in almost every part of my body, and there was nothing I could do except protect my head.
I hit the bottom with a thud. I willed myself to get up and run away, feeling more nauseated and weak with each step. If only I could get to the front door... I heard Josh too close behind me, and I looked around for any object I could use for self-defense, trying to ignore the rising panic that prevented me from thinking and breathing properly.
I couldn’t hyperventilate now!
Enduring the pain, I grabbed the first fragile thing that came into my view, which was a lamp on a small table next to me. I was shaking like a leaf, sweat breaking out of me in fear, for he was in front of me, striking with his knife.
Hell no...
With a scream, I brought the lamp down on his shoulder. He stumbled and fell to the floor, losing hold of the knife again.
His face was contorted in rage. “ Bitch ! I’ll kill you!”
I spun on my heel, relying on adrenaline to carry me as fast as possible out of the house despite my injuries, but I didn’t escape even five feet when Josh tackled me and I crashed to the ground.
I hit my head hard enough to hear the ringing in my ears. I managed to turn on my back and knee him in the groin, relieved when he recoiled from the impact, but he recovered immediately. I tried kneeing him once more, but he dodged my knee and trapped me completely, punching me right in my face.
I was momentarily disabled when the severe pain surged in my head. I met Josh’s glare filled with insanity, unshed tears pooling in my eyes. There was no trace of humanity in him, and this frightened me more than anything.
“P-Please—” He hit me again, and I had no strength left to try to push him off me, tears and pain blurring my vision.
“This is nothing compared to what I’ll do to you, bitch. Remember the texts?” What? So that was him all along.
“Please, don’t... Ah!” Another hit landed into my stomach, and I was blinded by pain. I was sure I was going to die because there was no way for me to defend myself or escape him...
“Your time is finally over.”
No...
The front door burst open behind me, and a furious cry shot through the air. “ No! ”
Before I registered what was going on, someone shoved Josh off me, and the sound of cracking bones filled the hallway. I forced myself to my feet and cried out in dismay when I recognized Hayden’s tall form on top of Josh. He was hitting him repeatedly, smashing his fist against his face in rage.
“What. Are. You. Doing. Here?” Hayden spoke after each punch.
I bolted to the phone in the living room and dialed 911, bewildered that Hayden had come to my rescue. I explained everything in a rush and gave my address, hoping the police would come before anything tragic happened.
By the time I finished the call, Josh managed to push Hayden off him, and they continued their fight on their feet. My insides churned with desperation as I tried to decide what to do.
Hayden received and dodged several blows before he got the upper hand. He pushed Josh against the wall and pressed his forearm against Josh’s neck.
“I’ll ask you one more time before I make a mash out of you. What are you doing here?”
Josh barked a laugh, wheezing and coughing blood. “What the fuck do you think, smartass? I came to finish her.”
He looked at me over Hayden’s shoulder with a sick grin, his face distorted from injuries. “This bitch was supposed to pay a long time ago, but instead of showing her her place, you decided you wanted a taste of her.” He returned his gaze to Hayden, his eyes conveying the full extent of his hatred and lunacy.
“You can have any pussy you want, but you want this cunt that deserves—” Hayden cut him off by punching him in his stomach. Josh cried out in pain, but then he continued laughing, looking psychotic. “You were kissing her on your own brother’s grave. You’re a fucking disgrace.”
“What are you talking about?” Hayden growled, pressing him harder against the wall. Josh looked like he didn’t have any air left in his lungs, gasping for oxygen.
“Hayden!” I stopped behind him. “You’ll kill him if you keep pressing his neck like that!”
“This shithead deserves to suffer,” he bit out, staring Josh down.
“Hayden, please!”
Josh chuckled, or at least tried to, but it came out like a croak. “S-Shithead? And here I t-thought we were f-friends,” he said with great difficulty, rasping.
“I’m not your friend . Now, answer my question!”
“You’ll kill him if you continue like this! Please!” I tugged at his arm as forcefully as I could, hoping I could manage to pry his arm off Josh’s neck. “The police will deal with him!”
I pulled his arm again and thankfully, Hayden moved it enough to allow Josh to breathe.
Josh let out another chuckle, which came out like sandpaper rubbing on dry wood. “You really fell hard for this cunt, huh? Listening to her like some lapdog. Was her pussy that good—” Hayden landed another punch on his stomach, and blood spurted out of Josh’s mouth.
He sneered at Hayden. “I could never stand the sight of her. She was always so stupid, annoying, and whiny. I always told Natalie there was something going on between you two all along, but she didn’t b
elieve me. She had to see you two kiss at your brother’s grave to finally get into her head what I was talking about.” He stared at Hayden with such hate that it gave me shivers.
My thoughts returned to that day in the cemetery when I saw a drunken Hayden behind me. We ended up kissing, but I never saw anyone then, even after I ran away from Kay’s grave.
“You started sending me those messages because Natalie saw us kiss?” I asked in astonishment.
“That kiss just sped up our plan because it confirmed you and Hayden weren’t enemies. Natalie always wanted revenge, but she thought Hayden would finish you off sooner or later. So after she saw you kissing, she went to your place and slashed your tires, but then I thought it would be better to mess with you with those texts before we finished you off.”
My legs were shaking, my mind racing to comprehend their cruelty. So, Hayden had told me the truth. He didn’t slash my tires. It was Natalie.
“What do you have to do with anything?” Hayden asked him through gritted teeth. “Why are you helping Natalie?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I love her,” he said simply. “I always loved her. I was so jealous of Kayden, who couldn’t even appreciate what he had. I would never betray Natalie the way he did. Never.” He glared at me with accusation, as if it was my fault that Kayden fell for me while loving Natalie at the same time.
“Still, Natalie never stopped loving him, and my heart broke when I saw her after his death. She wasn’t the same person anymore, and it was all your fault, bitch. You made her lose her mind. I would do anything to make her happy—anything to see her smile like before—even kill you.”
The level of his obsession and lunacy sickened me. He was so attached to her that he would even kill me for causing her pain, and it was crazy. Both of them were deranged. No matter how much Natalie loved Kayden, nothing justified such hatred. She was plotting my death . That wasn’t normal at all, and I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.
“So you two plotted to kill me?”
His grin was sick. “Damn right, but because your boyfriend here decided to meddle into something that’s none of his business, he’ll pay too.”
Josh drew another knife out from under his jacket and raised it quickly into the air with the intention to attack Hayden... “I’ll kill you first!”
Hayden tried to dodge him, but unsuccessfully. The knife cut into him, and I screamed, watching him take several wobbly steps backward. With a growl, he clutched his left shoulder. His crimson blood soaked his T-shirt fast and trickled down his arm. My head spun. Oh my God.
He was hurt. There was so much blood already. Oh no.
No, no, no.
I reached with my hands to support him, a new-found fear for him gripping me, but he pushed me away with his right arm.
“Go away, idiot!” He glared at me, his bruised face twisted in pain. “You’ll get hurt! Get out of the house!”
No. I couldn’t do that. I had to stop being so useless and figure the way out of this craziness. Where were the police already? How much time had passed? Five minutes? Ten minutes?
I couldn’t leave Hayden here alone! He got hurt, and if I didn’t do something soon, he could...
Die.
NO.
Josh moved to the side, blocking the way to the front door, and directed his bloody knife at me. “You aren’t going anywhere. I’m going to kill you before you get any closer to that door.”
“No, you’re not,” Hayden grunted in response and lunged at him. He managed to dodge Josh’s strike this time by a hair's breadth, receiving a kick in the stomach that almost made him fall. Josh didn’t stop, swinging the knife once again.
In the last possible moment, Hayden grabbed Josh’s arm with both hands and moved the knife away from him, despite the injury he suffered.
“Sarah, run away,” he yelled, focused on the knife. Josh grabbed Hayden’s neck with his other hand and squeezed it hard.
No, I wouldn’t run away! I desperately looked around the hallway for any object that could help me defend him, but then I saw Hayden letting up, and the knife got dangerously close to his chest...
Josh kicked him again, and Hayden fell backward, hitting his head against a chest before he landed on his back on the floor. Josh raised his knife and aimed at stunned Hayden with a ferocity in his gaze that meant only one thing— death .
No, I couldn’t let him do this! I couldn’t let Hayden’s life be in danger because of me, again!
I couldn’t let him die...
I rushed in between them, facing Hayden as I stopped in the path of Josh’s knife —
I flinched when Josh stabbed me, feeling the punch in my back, and looked right back into Hayden’s shocked eyes. For a moment, I wasn’t able to comprehend what had just happened. Random thoughts twirled in my mind.
I got stabbed.
There is no pain.
Hayden looks so horrified.
I saved him.
Several seconds passed as Hayden and I looked at each other, frozen and lost in our own eternity. His painful, dark eyes revealed the abyss of despair and tragedy, and all suppressed emotions came down on me. It felt like a dam had been opened. Love, relief, need, grief, and want... Everything imploded inside of me.
I saved him. He won’t die because of me like Kayden did.
Something warm trickled down my back. At the same time, police sirens sounded in the distance.
In a quick movement, Josh pushed me and fled toward the back door. Hayden barely had any time to catch me before I crashed over him, and it was in that moment that the agonizing pain exploded inside of me, blinding me with its intensity.
I screamed and closed my eyes, becoming unaware of what was going on around me. I could feel Hayden’s body against mine, but I couldn’t process anything but the merciless pain.
So much pain.
“Sarah?” The voice sounded far away.
My eyes still closed, I inhaled and exhaled as a buzz filled my ears. Oh God, there was no way I would be able to withstand this pain...
“Sarah... Listen to me...”
There were some footsteps... Too many of them, actually.
“Open your eyes...” I felt too weak. When would this torture stop? “Open your eyes, dammit!” Too exhausted, I opened my eyes with immense difficulty and met Hayden’s gaze. He was holding me upright against him, and I noticed he was shaking like crazy. “Stay with me, Sarah!”
“We have two injured people here,” an unknown male voice said, but I couldn’t care less. All I could see was a devastated Hayden through my fading vision. He was crying .
“H-How is your arm?” I managed to ask.
“You idiot.” He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened him, they burned with longing and adoration, and despite the confusion and surprise, it made me so warm inside.
“Why did you have to be so stupid?” His voice completely broke, sounding raspy and foreign to me. “Why did you jump in front of that knife to save me? You were supposed to run away...” I watched his tears slide down his cheeks, mesmerized. Suddenly, I felt another pair of arms around me.
“Miss? Stay with us! The EMTs are here...”
I was already falling into darkness as I looked at Hayden for the last time. Nothing mattered anymore.
I smiled sadly. I’ll miss you . I tried to say something, but nothing came out of my mouth.
My eyes closed against my will.
And I finally drowned in the welcoming darkness.
Chapter 28
THE PAIN. THE DISTANT sounds. The utmost confusion. The pain...
Where was I? Everything was white. A blinding, endless whiteness... All I felt was pain.
I heard some distant murmurs, but where were they coming from?
“H AYDEN, GO HOME.”
I could hear remote voices. Why couldn’t I see anything?
“She probably won’t wake up in the next few hours, so you should go home already and get some rest.”
Was that...?
Ugh, I didn’t remember her name. I didn’t even remember her face...
“No. I’m not going anywhere.”
Hayden? I looked around, but all I saw was the unlimited whiteness. It spread everywhere . I was sure this wasn’t right. If Hayden were really here, there would be some blackness looming...
Ugh, this pain would never go away...
I OPENED MY EYES TO a foreign sight. Everything was blurry and so light that my eyes hurt. I wanted to remove this fog, but blinking didn’t help at all. I felt beyond weak and hurt.
I tried to keep my eyes open and focus on my surroundings. There was no strange whiteness, just the white walls and the hospital furniture. The hospital? I moved my head to look around, but it hurt so I closed my eyes, hissing.
“Sarah?” Hayden? I snapped my eyes open, flinching when the light hit me too hard. Why was the fog everywhere?
“Sarah, you woke up,” I heard his relieved voice. “I thought I lost you too.” An unfamiliar, gentle touch on my hand made me wonder if this was all a dream.
Everything was a daze, and I felt like I wasn’t really here. Everything hurt.
I wanted to open my mouth and say something, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t voice my thoughts.
Where was I? Was this Hayden real? Why did he look like he hadn’t slept in days? Why was his arm in a sling and his face covered in bruises?
The pain and sadness on his face turned into tenderness.
“I’m here. Nothing bad will happen to you anymore.”
What did happen? Ugh, why couldn’t I remember anything?
This fogginess was everywhere...
Seconds or hours had passed as I fought to stay in this world...
In the end, something dragged me away—away from this foreign room and this strange Hayden that looked tender and worried.
The last thing I felt was a numbing kiss on my lips... But then again, it could’ve been only my imagination...
I WOKE UP FEELING LIKE someone had smashed me into pieces and then patched me up. Everything hurt, and I couldn’t move without going through harsh waves of pain. Seriously, what was going on?