Masked (now an EBOOK on Amazon)

Chapter #31

Aaron's POV:

"I told you to get out of the way, didn't I?" I smirked, shrugging. Her eyes widened as she saw Ray to her side, arm bleeding. He staggered a bit and fell back, hitting his head against the rocks.

"What the hell have you done?" she screamed, kneeling down to look at Ray. His arm was completely red with blood and showed no sign of stopping. Wow, I had done some bad damage to him. She put her hands on either side of his face and tried to wake him up.

"He just passed out, don't worry so much," I drawled, going to them and looking at Ray. He was lightly breathing; head against the rocks and arm lying limp on his side. I inspected it to find that the bullet had hit his forearm. "It's just a flesh wound, it'll heal," I said to her. She whipped her head towards me, face wet with tears.

"How dare you. How could you do this? How could you even think of it? Why would you want to shoot anybody in the first place?"

"Are those rhetorical questions?" I asked quietly, knowing it was the wrong thing to say. I felt a sharp sting against my face as she slapped me, her ring cutting my cheek.

"I hate you," she whispered. She looked back at Ray just for a second before calling an ambulance. She told them the address and whispered a 'thank you'. "I really hate you," she repeated. I looked down at the gun in my hand and put it down.

"You really like him, don't you?" I asked. One look from her and I knew it was so much more than that. I sat down on the ground next to her where she was lifting his legs onto her lap. She knew her first aid tips well. A few minutes later, I surprised her and myself by talking.

"I'm sorry. For everything."

"Easy to say, impossible for you to prove. I don't care anymore, Aaron. Not after all these years; and after all that has happened."

"No, I really am. I never wanted to be like this, I told you. It all started because of dad. I couldn't do it anymore. I-"I was shocked to actually admit this to her, "I really liked you. We were the perfect pair of best friends with no one to come in between us. All those years were perfect, Z. That's the only word I can come up with. Nothing can replace that time. Right now is the only time I can tell you how I feel. I didn't know I had it in me to say all this out loud, but if Ray actually called the cops, I'm not running anymore." She looked up in disbelief. I shrugged. "I'm tired of running from everyone and everything. I have done so many things I regret, so many things I never should have done. Each one of those things gnaws at me every single day. You know my temper, don't you? All these things were spontaneous. Nothing was planned; I had no idea of what I was doing. Each time, I was scared; I went fucking crazy wondering why I never felt any remorse towards what I had done."

"I honestly don't know what to say. What I do know is, those years were amazing Aaron. Then we grew apart and now, there's nothing left. I wish none of this happened; dad...dying, me being put in Juvie, us not talking anymore; but it all did and we need to come to terms with it. Do you have any idea how crushed I was when I was sent to Juvie? The first thing I thought of after having to be away from Mom and Sky was of you. I couldn't bear the thought of having to stay away from you for two years. It felt like a lifetime; and when I was there, all I could think of was how you never, not even once, tried to contact me. I was so disappointed; I thought our friendship meant nothing to you. Maybe you had grown tired of me; maybe-"

"Our friendship meant everything to me. You meant the world to me, Z. I see why you would have thought that way but...I just could not do it anymore. Now that I think about it, maybe it was guilt. Guilt for pushing you away when I found out about dad; guilt for framing you. It was really hard to do what I did, nothing compared to how you felt, nonetheless. I wish nothing of this happened either. I- yeah," I felt tears prickling at the edge of my eyes.