by Amy McClung
There was a tap on my window, I removed the pillow and looked over slowly and there was Mitchell holding up a take-out bag and smiling at me. He was so sweet, there is no way he can be a bad guy. If he was, then I had no one left and I am all alone and I am not ready for that to be true. I was staring at him and it must have been too long because his smile faded and he started to look worried. He mouthed, “Are you ok?” My face must have said no because he started frantically trying to open the window. I waved my hands at him and got up, walked over to the window and opened it for him. Once it was open he slid inside and threw the bag on my desk and grabbed my shoulders, “are you ok, you look like you’ve seen a ghost, did you hear from Quinn?” Backing up from him I stuttered, “How did you know that?” I fell backwards on the bed and scrambled to get up. Mitchell looked confused, “what is wrong Parker? You seem like you are scared of me.” This can’t be happening. Mitchell is the only person I have left. I had my back to him and he put his arms around me and nuzzled his face in my neck, “I would never hurt you Lupita.” His arms around me felt so comforting, I let myself relax in his arms, Quinn had to be wrong.
Turning to face him I said, “I’m ok Mitchell, I just had a bad dream and then, yes, I heard from Quinn and the phone cut off and I don’t know what happened to him,” some things were left out but I didn’t want to upset Mitchell…or tip him off. He hugged me again, “I’m so sorry Park,” he pulled back and looked at my face, “I brought you breakfast, will you sit and eat with me, you need your strength so we can go looking for Quinn today.” I smiled at him and shook my head. If he wants to look for Quinn, it had to be a good thing. Please let Quinn have been wrong.
“Oh yum, chocolate chip muffins, those are my favorite!” I exclaimed as I opened the bag and looked inside. He laughed, “I know, they are Jackie’s favorite too and she told me that was a tradition for you guys when you would have breakfast together.” My appetite disappeared at the mention of her name, I closed the bag and set it back on the desk and sat down on the side of the bed. “So, where do we start looking for Quinn today?” I had to change the focus because we had more important things to worry about. He walked past me, opened the bag and pulled the muffin out, he started to unwrap it and then handed it to me. “Eat first, please…for me?” Hesitantly I took the muffin and as soon as I took the first bite my appetite returned, it was delicious. After I finished, my senses seemed to return as well, “I’m sorry Mitchell, for freaking out on you this morning…it’s just been…” He put his hand on my leg to stop me, “you don’t have to apologize its all good, don’t worry.”
He leaned toward me and it was obvious he was coming in for a kiss. I backed away and put out my hand to stop him. “I thought we both agreed to just be friends, I love Quinn and I am not going to cheat on him.” Mitchell looked hurt, “I spent all last night thinking about that kiss Parker, it felt right to me, hell it felt amazing, and I know you felt something too. Jackie is with Will now and for all we know, Quinn is with Elizabeth…he made two calls to you now, how does he keep getting a phone but he can’t get away from her? Seems to me he wants to stay there. So I say, let him! And you and I can move on with each other…” I couldn’t listen to any more of this so I smacked him across the face as hard as I could. “Get the hell out of my house and don’t EVER come back!” I screamed at him. I didn’t realize how loud I was until my dad burst in the room and saw Mitchell sitting on my bed and saw the tears on my face. My dad yanked Mitchell up by his shirt and started hauling him toward the door. “Son, I don’t know what is going on here, but you don’t belong in my daughter’s bedroom, and I especially don’t like the look on her face right now.” He tossed him into the hallway, Mitchell turned back to me, “I’m sorry Parker. I shouldn’t have said that, please…” I walked toward him, said “get out!” and slammed the door in his face. I heard him trying to reason with my dad while they walked downstairs and then heard the door downstairs slam. Like father like daughter I guess.
A few minutes later there was a knock on my door, “Princess, it’s me, can I come in?” I got up and walked to the door and opened it for him, I threw my arms around him and thanked him for protecting me. “What happened, did he hurt you?” my dad asked “Because I can do a lot more than just throw him out of this house.” Shaking my head, “no, not physically, he just said something that was hurtful but he didn’t know it would hurt me…I mean it wasn’t vindictive.” His hands went up, “As long as he didn’t intentionally hurt you, I am good. I just wanted to make sure you are ok, I can tell you don’t want to talk about it so it’s fine.” He kissed my head and turned and walked out, shutting the door quietly this time.
Grabbing my hoodie I crawled out the window and down the trellis. I didn’t want to worry my dad by running out on him after that. Someone steadied me as I took my last step and I turned around ready to punch Mitchell, “Will! What are you doing here?” He smiled awkwardly, “were you expecting someone else or did you just decide not to hit me?” We were standing only inches apart and it made me a bit uncomfortable so I stepped aside to open up the space between us. The irritation in my tone was unmistakable because I was tired of dealing with all these liars, “Yeah, I thought you were someone else…so as I said, what are you doing here?” He looked like he was trying to find a way to say whatever he had to say so I took a deep breath and started to walk away. He grabbed my arm, “I’m worried about you, you haven’t been to school and Jackie and I feel terrible about what happened. I came to tell you the truth, about everything including Quinn.” I let out a huff, “So now you know who Quinn is all of a sudden? How convenient.” He looked down in embarrassment and quietly said, “Can we go somewhere and talk privately?”
Motioning for him to follow me we got in my car and drove for a while. I pulled over on the side of the road and turned the car off. “So, tell me the truth then,” I said annoyed as I turned and faced him. He looked ashamed or embarrassed but started with, “I remember Quinn, and you and I never dated.” My head hurts and I can’t take much more of this, “What the hell does that mean? Why would you lie about that? I freaking thought you had been brainwashed, you and Jackie both!” Will continued, “You were so hurt by him leaving that Jackie and I thought it would be better to pretend as though he never existed. She and Mitchell were done and she thought you were both better off without those guys so she came up with the idea for me to act like we dated. You had been in the cave for a while and you had an infection in your body so we knew your memory would be foggy. She and I never expected to fall for each other in the process and we ended up ruining everything and pushing you away. Neither of us wanted that. We think Mitchell is back in town now, Jackie has been getting strange calls and she is scared. He didn’t cheat on her like we said…he almost killed her and I had to save her life by staking him. We locked in him a cave, the one where you guys thought I was buried, but he got out somehow and now we are worried he is going to come back, so we had to make sure you knew not to trust him. He and Quinn both lied about me being dead and I am not sure why, they left me in the woods and I had to heal myself.” He paused for a moment and then added, “He locked you in that cave and left you to die Parker…Mitchell did, and he convinced Quinn to go along with it. It must have been hard on Quinn, I guess the guy did care about you somewhat so he left town and that is when Mitchell attacked Jackie. You have to believe us; we were doing what is best for you.”
My head was spinning now, all these stories, all these lies or truths, I don’t know what to believe, who to trust, I don’t know anything anymore. My stomach was overcome with nausea. I put my head against the steering wheel trying to collect my bearings. “Parker, are you ok?” Will reached out and touched my arm and in anger I knocked his hand away and screamed, “I am so sick of this, I don’t know who is telling me the truth anymore! You and Jackie were my friends but you’ve been lying to me. Mitchell was my friend but what he just did…” I stopped myself mid sentence realizing I was supposed to pretend Mitche
ll was still out of town. Will looked alarmed, “have you seen Mitchell? Parker…tell me! You could be in danger!” Opening the car door I stepped out to get some fresh air and he was right behind me getting out of the car. He came over beside me and put his arm on my shoulder, again I smacked it off, “stop touching me Will!” Needing to get away I took off running into the woods and Will took off after me yelling my name.
The trees were blurry as I kept running and looking back and he was right behind me, I was trying to outrun him but it wasn’t working. He screamed my name again and I turned around to see where he was and then all of a sudden I was tumbling on the ground and rolling around with someone’s arms around me. I fought to get free, “let go of me, Will, let go!” I was hitting him and realized it wasn’t Will, it was Mitchell and I was lying on top of him. I jumped up screaming and stumbling backwards. Mitchell stood with his hands up in surrender, “it’s just me Parker, I am not going to hurt you…but he might,” he said as he pointed at Will who had reached us. “Parker, are you ok?” Will asked. My head was swimming in uncertainty. My stance was wide so that my balance didn’t waiver and I kept looking back and forth between Will and Mitchell. My stomach was in knots, my chest hurt, I was petrified because I didn’t know which one was trustworthy. I know now that one of them has betrayed me on purpose, no brainwashing involved.
Will reached into his pocket and a gulp of air caught in my throat until I saw he was just pulling out his cell phone. He dialed a number and then put it on speakerphone. “Jackie, it’s Will, I have Parker here and Mitchell is here too…” Jackie screamed on the line, “what! Are you ok, did Mitchell hurt either of you?” I turned and looked at Mitchell who was rolling his eyes and then he yelled, “Jackie, what the hell are you talking about…I would never hurt anyone and you know that, tell the truth!” Will spoke this time, “Jackie, I need you to tell Parker what’s been going on, she is confused and doesn’t know who to believe, I know she will believe you.” He held the phone out to me but I shook my head no, I couldn’t take anymore. “OK, baby, I am going to leave you on speaker, go ahead…”Hearing Will call her baby made me cringe and I could see it affected Mitchell as well, then Jackie’s voice sounded, “Parker, Mitchell tried to kill me and he and Quinn both tried to get rid of Will, we didn’t want to tell you because I knew how hurt you would be. You have to believe me though sweetie, you can’t trust him. We locked him in a cave and somehow he got out…” I cut her off, “Shut up! All of you have lied to me and I am sick of it!! Just leave me alone, if any one of you cares about me you will just leave me the hell alone!!” Will started walking toward me and Mitchell growled at him and I took off running as fast as I could.
The road was getting closer, I could see my car up ahead and I got to it as fast as I could and unlocked the door and as it started I saw Will stepping into the clearing. He was yelling my name but I started the car and left. My phone rang and it was Jackie, I didn’t answer. My phone rang again and it was Mitchell this time. What am I going to do, I have no one I can trust, the man I love included. I wanted to be at the waterfall, I could think there, but it would be the obvious place for them to look for me. My inner thoughts were screaming in agony. My hands were shaking; I kept glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure no one was following me. The phone rang again but this time it was my mother, but I was not in the mood to talk to her right now. I silenced the phone and as my eyes went back to the road something jumped out in front of my car and I swerved to miss it and ran my car off the road and almost hit a tree.
Chapter Nineteen
Once my equanimity returned I looked back to see what it was there was a man lying in the road. I got out of my car and started walking toward him to see if he was ok, he looked up and it was…”Quinn!!” I started to run toward him but he screamed, “Run Parker!!” I looked up and saw a woman standing a few feet behind him smiling at me. I turned to get back in my car but she was too fast and she grabbed me by the neck and slammed me against the door.
She held me up in the air against the car and was smiling at me in the most evil way, “Well, well, well, we finally meet, officially. Allow me to introduce myself…I am Lizzy, the real love of Quinn’s life…er …well afterlife” she laughed maniacally as she said this. Quinn was standing now and he was looking at me with pain in his eyes, “don’t listen to her Parker…I love you!” Liz turned to him and said, “Aww…how sweet…you are such a good liar Quinn, but you don’t have to pretend anymore. In fact, she will be ok with it, she encouraged me to fight for you, remember that, Parker? That day at the rest stop when you were so upset, yet you took the time to help little old me with my problems.” I thought back and remembered the girl I spoke to that day, the day I ran out on them for talking about changing Jackie. That seemed like years ago, everything has changed since that day. She continued her taunting, “She needs to know that you and I are together and that she is just a pawn in your game.” Quinn’s response was a mixture of rage and grief, “Shut up Liz! You are the one lying, you are trying to ruin my life because I ruined yours, but there is no need to bring Parker into this. She hasn’t done anything to you, just let her go…please,” he begged.
Her grip tightened on my neck and I could hardly breathe now. I was trying to make myself angry, trying to make myself shift but all I could feel was sad, scared and confused. Gasping for air I tried to speak, “I…love you..Quinn…” As I spoke, she covered my mouth and I tried to bite down on it. She responded with a blood curdling scream that faded into laughter, “You silly girl, a werewolf can bite a vampire, but at the moment you are just a normal human child.” My teeth ached, it was like biting into stone, she whipped me around to face her and at that moment Quinn came running and grabbed a hold of Liz and when he did she threw me as far as she could and I landed hard on the ground. I rolled over in pain and when I looked up, Will was standing above me and his hand was extended to me.
He helped me up and I turned back and saw that Quinn and Liz were struggling, then I saw Mitchell swoop out of the woods and he ran towards them and pulled Quinn off her. Quinn realized who had him and he turned to him, “You traitor! You were supposed to be my friend; you were supposed to be Parker’s friend! You should have protected her!” Quinn kept pushing him but Mitchell wouldn’t fight back, he just kept shaking his head no. All of a sudden an arm came across my chest and someone had me in a chokehold. “You are so gullible Quinn, Mitchell never betrayed you, you were right about me all along,” it was Will speaking and he is the one who had me in the chokehold, it was Will this whole time. “Why are you doing this Will, she is a vampire, how do you even know her?” I bellowed. Will started laughing, “Isn’t that how it works around here, vampires and werewolves fall in love instead of being enemies the way they are supposed to be?” He continued, “Only I am not in love with Lizzy like that…she is my sister and that sorry bastard that you love…ruined her life after I saved her from being a monster once.” Quinn spoke next, “What the…Liz didn’t have a brother, I knew her for years and I would have known about it.” Liz walked toward Will and she put her arm around him, “When William was bitten and changed I was only five, he had to run away and you and I met when we were 12 Quinn. Our parents refused to mention his name, they knew what he had become and instead of trying to help him, they tried to kill him. We lost touch for many years after that and it wasn’t until I changed into a vampire that I knew what he felt and I had to track him down.”
“So Quinn actually brought the two of you together, shouldn’t you thank him?” I said sarcastically. Liz turned to me, ran her finger down my face and then faster than I could blink, she bit a chunk out of my arm and spit it on the ground. My arm burned as I screamed in agony and Quinn ran toward me but Will just choked me harder. Mitchell was standing there looking at me in the same way Quinn was, both were scared for me, they both loved me. How could I have ever thought Mitchell was the bad guy? How could I have trusted Will, and poor Jackie! There was a car coming down the road at that mom
ent and they slowed down and pulled over…when the person got out I realized it was Jackie. When Mitchell became conscious of who it was he ran to her and she embraced him and then I watched as her hand disappeared behind her and she pulled out a stake from her back pocket and lodged it in his chest. “MITCHELL!!” I screamed. Jackie pulled out of his embrace and looked at Mitchell who was in shock and she shoved him away from her and he fell to the ground. She looked like a zombie, she never even flinched after attacking him and then she stood there not moving. At that moment I realized she may be lost to us forever and my chest hurt at the loss of my sister and friend. Quinn started to run to her and then she started shaking all over and she shifted. “Quinn! Get away from her!!” I screamed. Liz turned to me again and shoved her hand over my mouth.
Will leaned over and whispered to me, “The part where Jackie and I fell for each other, that part was true. It was me who persuaded her to lose trust in all of you. In fact, I am the one who convinced her that Mitchell really wanted you and that was easy to do since he was busy protecting you when I took the chance to bite her that night of the full moon. She is rather easy to influence.” With every bit of energy I can utilize I fight back against his hold, it made me sick that he was touching me, I cringed with disgust. “Oh yeah, and there is something you and Jackie have in common, another BFF trait, you both were changed by the same wolf.” Shocked I gasped, “What…how can that be..?” Will chuckled, “You really did find me after a black bear attack, it had just been a few years earlier than you thought. I was bleeding in the woods and you came upon me.” His fingers were caressing my face affectionately, “You looked so beautiful and it was so sweet how you tried to tend to my wounds, so I bit you in the hopes that I could run into you as human and we could be together. It’s only natural for two wolves to be together, but unfortunately I was too late. You had already met that thing over there. You never even gave me a chance.” He was giving me light kisses on my face as he talked, my stomach lurched his touch was nauseating. “This could have all been avoided if you had just fallen for me instead of Quinn. But it doesn’t matter now, I have Jackie and my sister and I don’t need anything else…except revenge for her.” He moved his arm in a quick motion and threw me down on the ground and I lay choking and gasping for air. He started shaking and he shifted in front of me. Within seconds he and Jackie were at a stance on opposite sides of Quinn, both growling at him and both ready to pounce.