The End

Chapter 13

"You're gonna what?" I ask.

He can't be serious. There is no possible way he can be serious about this.

"The gang I told you about that Casey and I were involved in," he begins, but takes a pause, "never actually let me go. I'm still in, and I'm in deep."

I keep my face straight and shift my hands that are tied behind my back.

"Now that you know about what happened with Casey, they're worried you'll go to the authorities and report what you know. I'm here to prevent that scenario from ever becoming true." He says as he puts his hands in his pockets, being super casual.

"I swear on everything I have left that I won't tell." I say in a panic, realizing that he is serious.

"I believe you, but not all of it is my choice." He says.

"Not all of it?" I ask. "So on some level you want to kill me?"

He stays silent. Tears fill my eyes.

"Oh my god," I say as I look down, "you want to kill me. Why? Why!" I yell. "Is it because I remind you of him? Is that it? I remind you of Casey and you want to kill me too so you can't be reminded by what you did!"

He stays silent which gives me a cue that I'm correct.

"Shane, this is a lot more complicated than you think it is."

"Then simplify it for me." I say.

"This is just something I need to do to protect myself." He says.

I continue to wiggle my hands behind my back in an attempt to loosen the knot.

"What do you need to protect?" I ask, hoping to stall him enough to continue to loosen the knot.

"Myself. From them."

"Why can't you just skip town? Fake your own death? There has to be a better solution than killing me." I say as I continue to loosen the knot. It's actually working, I just need to stall Kelly a little longer.

"This isn't a movie, Shane, I can't just leave my problems, they'll find me. They have incredible resources."

"I'll help you." I say as my right hand is nearly out of the loop.

"I know what you're doing, please don't make this harder than it needs to be." He begs.

I wiggle both of my hands out of the knot and jump up from my chair. I awkwardly pick up and blindly throw the chair in Kelly's general direction. I run out of the blinding white light that was drowning out my ability to see where I was.

Now that the light isn't in my way, I freeze when I realize where I am. I can't make my feet move. They're glued to the ground. My heart is pounding out of my chest. There's a lump the size of a golf ball in my throat.

"Look familiar?" Kelly asks.

"Wh-Why are we here?" I barely choke out.

"I figured killing you in the same place I killed your brother would be special. Make it come full circle."

He brought me back to the pizza place Casey and I would always go to every Friday night. It has since been closed down, so it's empty except for a few wooden chairs. There's a small, bright lamp that's illuminating the majority of the place. The white light creates shadows that make the room darker. The windows are boarded up, making the room even darker.

"I thought I could trust you." I say.

"That's your first mistake. Why would you trust someone who killed your brother and shot your boyfriend?"