Ross's POV
"Sky, Riker fell in love with you, he was so heartbroken when you 'died'. He can't even walk past where you worked. We ate at the diner last night, he ran out crying, Ratliff had to bring him back. Sky, how do you expect me to pretend you were never here?" She said, "Think about it Ross, what would hurt him more, still thinking I'm dead or that I never even left." I said, "Renee is going to get hurt tomorrow but you can stop it." She paused for a minute, and said, "Renee said she was out didn't she?" I said, "I'll deal with that later. Can I see you again?" She said, "We can spend time together the rest of the week I guess. But just the two of us. Then I disappear and you forget me." I said, "Fine, Sky, I'll never forget you. Can I text you or did you have to get a new number or something?" She said, "It's the same."
Then she said, "You can't tell anyone. Ever." I hugged her and said, "I won't." I was really trying to keep my tears inside. I said, "As long as you're here now, I don't care about anything else. I don't want to lose you again." She let go, "You never lost me in the first place." Then she walked away. I ran back home and knocked on Renee's front door. Her brother answered, "Is Renee here?" He said, "No, she went to her friend’s apartment." I said, "Dylan?" He nodded, "Yeah, that's him." I said, "Do you have his address by any chance, he's a friend of mine but I heard he moved." He said, "Yeah, let me write it down." He wrote it down on a piece of paper and handed it to me. I said, "Thanks Nick." And I went to Dylan's apartment.
I knocked on the door, Dylan answered. He said, "Ross, not right now." I said, "You need to let me inside." He said, "Really, please, go home." I said, "I know she's here." And I pushed my way inside. Renee was sitting on the couch with Charlie, they were signing back and forth. "Charlie?" He looked up, "Ross, don't freak out." I was terrified now. What was going on? "What, is this just a thing with your family? You all just fake your deaths? Charlie, I thought you were stabbed? Sky was so messed up when she found out? Is she that good of an actress?" He said, "She didn't know until she faked her death. I have a friend with the cops, he told the cops and Sky that I was stabbed in an alleyway." I said, "Why are you all doing this?" He said, "Our dad." I said, "He's dead." He said, "There are other people like him. They want this." He pulled out a little box from his pocket. It had the diamond bracelet in it.
I said, "Why don't you just give it to the cops or give it to whoever wants it? You'd all be safe then." Charlie said, "Once we give it to them they'll kill us. That money doesn't belong to our family. It was stolen. If we hide it, somewhere no one can get to it but us, then we have that leverage. But we know that they only need one of us. So we all faked our deaths. Sky did it to protect you Ross. Dylan's our outside man, he doesn't have to fake his death." I said, "How did Sky flat line in the hospital?" He said, "That, 'nurse' was Renee, she unplugged the heart monitor so it flat lined." We had to, we're sorry we lied but we did to keep everyone we know safe." I said, "What about Dylan? Why was he in the loop and not me?" Dylan walked over, "Charlie's my best friend, other than Sky and Renee, I have no other real friends, I had no one else to lose so I could leave that life behind. You have a family Ross."
I said, "So where do you fit in in all of this?" He said, "He had me watch over Sky because he was taking care of Renee. Once Renee was safe Charlie 'died'. They all have to start over. Some bad people are after them, maybe even worse than Mr. Reed." Charlie said, "Ross, you can't tell anyone you saw me, Sky, and Dylan." I said, "Can't you all just start over like Renee?" Charlie said, "We did, but we can't stay here, we know people here, we'd be recognized all over. My names not Charlie anymore, it's Kyle." I said, "You don't really seem like a Kyle." He said, "Well, my new ID and passport beg to differ."
I noticed that Renee was being very quiet, "Renee, can I talk to you?" She sarcastically said, "Are you sure you even want to talk to me? Why not just talk directly to Sky? It'd be better than talking to a stupid replacement." I said, "Renee, I just found out that my best friend isn't dead, I didn't know what was coming out of my mouth. None of that was true, I'm your friend because you're awesome, because you don't like me because I'm famous, you like me for me, a normal person." She said, "Yes Ross, I treat you like a person, because you are one. And so am I, I am a person, not just a replacement.”
I said, “How many times do I have to say it until you believe me?” She said, “I know how I felt when you guys blocked me out, I forgive you. And I’ll help you with Cameron, but I can’t do it your way, I’m done getting hurt. I am finally fully healed. I know how to do this.” I said, “What are you gonna do?” She said, “Talk to him.” She got up and headed towards the door. She turned around, “Good night guys.” I went home too, Rydel and Cameron were sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Cameron said, “Hey Ross.” I blandly said, “Nope.” Rydel said, “That was rude.” Cameron said, “Give him a break Delly, he’s probably just had a bad day.” I yelled, “Just give me my sister back and leave Renee alone!” He calmly said, “I think you should go upstairs Ross, your reunion with your old friends was probably pretty stressful.” How did he know? I ran upstairs and went into Riker’s room, his eyes were wide.
