Masked (now an EBOOK on Amazon)

Chapter #32

Z's POV:

I screamed until I couldn't feel my throat anymore. My knees buckled and I fell down, barely able to breathe. My hatred and disgust for Aaron all melted away for a few minutes when I saw him being hit by that car. I don't think it's possible to hate a person enough to want them dead. I was hoping he wasn't dead, but I was also prepared to hear it if he was. I was lifted to my feet; it was Noah.

"Z, calm down. He'll be okay; I just asked the ambulance guys. He is severely injured but he'll be okay in a couple of months."

"Are you sure? It doesn't look like he'll be okay," I whispered. He nodded. I watched as the ambulance took him away on a stretcher; I could see blood pooled on the street where he fell; I felt sick. I looked away. "Noah, we need to tell Ray."

"What, now? Shouldn't we let him get a little better before we tell him all this?" I shook my head.

"We don't have time. If the letter he's given me has any proper confession in it, we have to give it to the police as soon as possible."

"Wow, yeah. I almost forgot about the letter. I still cannot believe we're going to hand him over to the police. This guy who we've known for years...turns out not everyone is as nice as they seem."

"Do you think it's a bad idea? Telling the police everything?" I asked, doubt creeping in.

"No, I most definitely do not think it's a bad idea. Come on, Z. Don't back out now. We might finally have everything we need to convict him. He put you in jail, made me disappear and killed Dad and who knows what he did to Mom and Sky when we were gone? Do you still want him to walk free?"

"No...Let's go tell Ray. I'm not reading the letter until we let him know what happened, okay? Come on," I said, pulling Noah by the elbow.

We went to the hospital to see Sky still sitting in her chair, sipping coffee.

"Hey! What took you so long- what happened? Why do you look so frazzled?" she asked, smoothing my hair down and taking in our expressions.

"Aaron was hit by a car. He's really badly injured but he'll be okay in a couple of months apparently," I told her softly. She gave us both a hug.

"You going to tell Ray now?"

"Yeah, any idea if he's awake?" She nodded. I went in alone.

"Hey..."

"What's the matter?" he asked before I could even sit down on the chair next to the bed. I told him what had happened. He took a deep breath and covered his face with his hand. "Will he be okay?"

"In a few months, yeah."

"Okay, good. Is that the letter?" he asked, pointing to it in my hand. I nodded. "I think you should read it alone. I don't want to be there when you read it."

"Why not?"

"Because it's meant for your eyes only. Go ahead, choose a spot where no one will bother you and read it." I got up, smiled lightly at him and walked down to the garden area. They had a few benches to sit on. I picked the one farthest away.

"Dear Z,

Where do I begin? I would have told you a lot of this already, so excuse any repetitions. I had the best time with you. All those years mean the world to me. I told you why I couldn't stay friends with you; I'm beginning to think I was an idiot. Big deal, so we had the same father. We could have gotten along just fine, as family. I'm a pretty instinctive person and when my intuition tells me to do something, I do it. No questions asked. When you were sent to Juvie, I was fine. I decided that I wouldn't regret anything and mope over losing you. Then a few weeks later, everything began falling apart. I couldn't stand being asked questions about you, day in and day out. So I told anyone who asked to buzz off. They assumed I was just frustrated with you being in jail. They were right; I started to feel the guilt creeping in. It practically tore me in half. I couldn't stop thinking about you, and how I was the reason for what had happened to you. For months, all I could think of was how to fix the mess. I thought of so many things, but all of them would end with me replacing you. I couldn't bear the thought of it, so I tried my best to divert my mind; pretty sure I didn't succeed. I did many bad things in those two years, enough to call me a sinner with the most bad blood in him you'll ever know. I drank myself to sleep almost every night. I was snappy with people, locking myself in my room doing nothing. I obviously cannot tell you everything, but I can tell you the things that I know you want answers to.