On The Verge

Chapter 30- Unheard Words

——————Maddie——————

⠀⠀The face that stared back at me was not Liza's, it was Paige's.

⠀⠀"Y-you're dead." I stuttered stupidly. Paige smirked an evil, twisted half smile.

⠀⠀"Thanks to you and the others, I almost was." Paige muttered. "You- Chloe, all the others. You pushed me off that roof! You tried to kill me!" Paige's voice was suddenly hysterical.

⠀⠀"Paige, we didn't—" I started to explain myself, but I was cut off.

⠀⠀"My best friends— tried to kill me. I had to avenge myself. It was me who sent those notes, it was me in the bathroom with Kendall, I set the fire, I buried Kenzie— I did it all," she screamed. "you don't understand how it is living knowing your best friends tried to kill you. I wanted you to feel my pain- to know how it feels to hurt." She said, anger pulsing through her.

⠀⠀The pieces came together in my head like a puzzle.

⠀⠀"You killed Josh." I stated numbly.

⠀⠀"My own Twinnie. Tried to kill me. She took away a part of me that I can never get back. I wanted to do the same to her. To take away the one thing she cares most about." Paige was crying now, waterfalls down her pale cheeks.

⠀⠀"Paige—" I started.

"No! You're the one who doesn't understand. I want to make you hurt— the way I have been!" Paige screamed, a new wave of tears washing over.

⠀⠀"If you're not dead, then whose body did the police find?" I asked quietly.

⠀⠀"Officer Derick Hoffborn..." Paige mused, smirking. "You met him. He was the one who interrogated you right after my death," Paige laughed with connivance, adding a certain mocking tone to the word 'death'. "He was easy to manipulate. You kiss him once, and he's suddenly willing to pronounce you dead at scene, even if you're still alive. He was practically my puppet, he would do anything I said, even fake my death."

⠀⠀I was finding it hard to breathe. The air seemed to press into my chest, making every breath shallow and forced. I stepped forward to touch her shoulder. It was an innocent gesture, one that was supposed to reassure her. She needed to know that she fell. She needed to know that we never tried to kill her, we were trying to help her.

⠀⠀The second my fingers made contact with the skin of her shoulder, she jumped away from my touch— and closer to the edge of the cliff.

⠀⠀"Paige, listen to me!" I begged.

⠀⠀"You killed me. You all killed me—tried to kill me— you never cared about me." Paige muttered quietly shaking her head, tears streaming from her eyes.

⠀⠀She was crazy, she had been truly and utterly undeniably crazy all along. I wasn't going to give up till she knew that she was wrong; we never tried to kill her. She needed to know that what we had done was out of love. We just wanted to get her out of that horrible place.

⠀⠀She needed to know the truth.

⠀⠀"Paige," I tried again.

⠀⠀She looked up sharply, surprised to see me. As if she had forgotten I was here. Her lips mouthed unheard words, her eyes wild. Her hood had fallen from her head, exposing her knotted hair.