Christopher | ✔

Chapter Twenty (Finale)

I peered behind Chris, my heart leapt once I realized there were three police cars parked outside on the street, with no less than five men standing armed. Chris turned a bit to get a view of them and turned to me with enmity.

"You called the police?" he asked, the gun trembling in his hand as he tried to withhold his anger. I raised my hands slowly, showing that I was surrendering.

"Let's just not make a mess out of this," I slowly and smoothly replied. "You put the gun down, and talk about this, in a civilized manner." Chris shook his head, clearly too distraught about the whole situation to consider other options.

"No Zoe. I will not sit down and talk with you," he answered raucously. "I'm going to shoot you, and make sure you die slowly and painfully," he threatened. He then chuckled darkly. "We'd both go down together... no one wins. Don't you like endings like that?" I gulped visibly, realizing I'd underestimated this man. "Because I do."

He raised the gun once more, ignoring the yelling behind him that was instructing him to put the gun down. I closed my eyes once more, cringing waiting for the moment when I'd be ultimately gone. I'd maybe get a chance to meet Candace, tell her that I'm sorry for putting her through that mess, which cost her life. I had no words for my mother, she did things that an unspeakable mother would do... Okay, I was going too far with the description, but still.

And that's when I heard it, the sound of a bullet being shot from a gun, but I never felt anything. I could have still heard the sounds from my surroundings. Maybe this was what it felt like to be dead.

"Ma'am, you can open your eyes," a disembodied voice said. I slowly opened them, and right next to me, laid Chris, clutching his chest with his eyes wide open, staring at the sky. The officers had already begun to escort me off the lawn, but I stayed a bit and knelt next to him. He was still breathing, the blood leaving a great stain of red on his shirt. His eyes looked from the sky to my eyes.

"I hope you suffer," I said, with no remorse for his state. "I hope you burn in hell, Chris."

"M-my name is n-not..." he stammered, gasping for air. "Chris." He closed his eyes and I assumed he was gone. I finally felt free and avenged. He was dead. I turned my head as I heard my name being called, happy to see Caleb, Gabriel and Darlene coming out the door. Nina followed behind, shivering but she seemed okay. I ran towards them, as the police assessed the scene. I knew many questions were to be asked later on.

"Where to from here?" Darlene asked once we were alone. "How do we even recover from this?" I shrugged, watching the sunset beyond the horizon, the lake nearby.

"I don't know. I'm not going home after this. Maybe I'll camp with Caleb, and help him get over his confused emotions about Emmett." Darlene laughed.

"Speaking of Emmett, we got in touch, and he's on his way. He feels bad that he couldn't help." I smiled sadly. He couldn't have known, I thought.

"Where would life take us from this? You know this is going to change us, right?" Darlene nodded.

"Both you and Nina," she replied and wrapped her arms around me. "But you know we'll always be here right?" I hugged her back. I had a bad feeling at the pit of my stomach, which confused me. Everything had turned out fine, but I felt like I wanted to puke. I pulled back from our embrace and forced the most convincing smile that I could manage.

"Always."

***

And this is the end! Thank you so much for sticking around until the end. I hope you enjoyed every bit of it. As for me, I'm always writing, so feel free to lurk around my profile.

Love you all!

Taja D'amore.