Fallen

Chapter Twelve: "Love The Way You Lie Part II"

"Even angels have their wicked schemes
And you take that to new extremes"
-Love The Way You Lie Part II, Rhianna feat. Eminem

There was only one way to sum up how I felt when I finally arrived home after eavesdropping on Riven and Raveena's heated exchange with Phillipe: confused.

Honestly, I didn't know what I had heard. Most of it was complete gibberish to me. A girl contained something called 'Essence' and Phillipe wanted it. Even weirder was the fact that they said my father was involved.

I arrived home to find my father was already there. He and mom were yelling, their argument clearly heated.
"This is your fault, Johnathan," Mom was hissing. Never had I ever heard her sound so venomous.

"I did what I had to do, Ella," Dad snapped back, his voice so thunderous I flinched. "If I hadn't done what I did, she'd be dead. How was I supposed to know he'd find out and come for her?"

"They've been going on like this for an hour," George said from the top of the stairs.

I walked toward him, unsure of how I could hear him over Mom and Dad yelling at each other.

"What about?" I asked.

George shrugged. "Who knows? I mean, I can't really be sure, but I think Dad screwed up really bad. He saved some girl's life and now someone's looking for her. Apparently Mom is really close to her because she's going ballistic on Dad."

I frowned. I was planning on asking Dad if he knew who Riven and Raveena were, but now that he was busy with Mom, I guess it would have to wait.
****************************

The week passed fairly quickly.

Phillipe kept staring at me, which made me uncomfortable ever since I heard him admit he was willing to cut out a girl's heart.

Riven would glare at Phillipe with so much animosity, if I were in Phillipe's shoes I would wither away into nothingness.

Raveena would watch both Phillipe and Riven with a wistfulness. Then she would look at me with an expression that was impossible to decipher.

Ryan...well... Ryan was another story. He and I decided to take a break. It had been a mutual decision and he promised we'd still be friends. But he said he needed to go and he didn't want to string me along when he did.

"Where will you go?" I'd asked.

"Far away from here, Siberia," he'd answered simply. "And if I were you, I'd pack up and go too."

His tone of voice had chilled me to the bone.

"What do you mean?" I had asked, willing my tongue not to stumble over my words.

"I'm saying you should leave while you still can because before you know it, it'll be to late, Siberia."

He had said it with so much honesty that I couldn't deny it was true.

Then he left quickly. He ended up in England. Far away from here, just like he said he would.

Josie was still pining over Riven, desperately trying to gain his attention like a puppy who needs love from its owner.

That Friday Raveena was bubbling with excitement, her breathtaking face lit up like a Christmas tree as she made her way toward us with Riven trailing behind her.

"Hey, guys," she greeted us. "Here, I wanted to give you all yours first." She spoke before we could even say 'hey' back and shoved something into each of our hands.

Upon further inspection, I realized it was an elegantly made invitation.

It was inviting us to a Masquerade Ball that would be hosted by Raveena and her family. It would be held at their place at 8:00 tomorrow night.

"I've never been to a Masquerade Ball before," Josie breathed excitedly. "I can't wait to go shopping for this!"

"I don't know what I'm going to wear," Carmella murmured, appearing to be in deep thought.

Madison just looked at the invitation. When she looked up, she flickered her eyes up to meet mine and she sighed.

We hadn't talked one on one all week. Sure, she knew about my breakup with Ryan and she constantly asked if I was okay, but we never talked privately.

I'll admit, I wanted someone to spill all of this to. I wanted someone who I could tell about the threatening notes and the weird conversation between Raveena, Riven and Phillipe.

But I was afraid.

"And you, Missy," Carmella snapped me from my thoughts. "You're a newly single woman. You are definitely going."

Riven's head snapped up quickly when Carmella said I was single. His eyes found mine and they burned into my own, searching to see if what Carmella said was true.

"Well," Raveena began, looking back and forth between Riven and I with a look of smug satisfaction. "I hope I'll be seeing all of you."

The first bell rang, warning us that we only had three minutes to make it to class.

People began scattering, cursing as they ran.

"See you guys tomorrow," Raveena called out to us as we all went our separate ways.

We all waved bye to each other and hurried to class.

The look that Riven gave me when Carmella said I was single played in my head as I walked to class.
****************************

I knew it was too good to be true, I thought as I stared down at the note in my hands.

I hadn't received a note from the mysterious Stalker in days.

And now I sat in my car, looking down at the note in my hands. The note shook as I gathered the courage to read it.

You're so busy worrying about making googly eyes at Riven that you've forgotten all about little 'ol me, it read. Had to give you something to keep me on your mind.

I swallowed at the menacingly playful tone of the note before I tore it into little pieces and tossed it out the window.

I drove away like the Stalker himself was chasing me.