The Girl Who Ran Away

Chapter 1- The Beginning of the End

Chapter 1

She hands over the glass of- well I'm not sure, but it tastes good so I drain it. When I finish, the sweet taste is gone and the bitter aftertaste washes up. I start to feel drowsy. The world slowly fades, like an old fashioned television losing a signal. Through my blotched and quickly receding vision, I see Cece turning around, purposely duplicating my signature hairflip. Cece 's famous laugh rings in the background. The black blots in my vision grow bigger by the second. Soon enough I feel myself slipping away, and my own essence of being starting to disappear.

A hooded figure stands before me. I start to scream as this memory creeps up out of my mind and becomes real. A pointed gun faces me and my friends. A single finger slowly hovers over the trigger. Then suddenly Ezra, the only man I've ever genuinely loved, points the gun away from me. I can see him wrestling with the hooded figure, and it looks like he's going to win. A starts to run; I hear a shot, then he's gone. My body starts to ease and my heart slows back down. Ezra knows who A is! I'll be able to return to my life. As if on cue, he lifts his shaky hand to reveal a flesh wound. He falls to his knees, then to the ground as Aria runs to him. Their eyes lock and he gives her the look he used to give me. I'm nothing to him anymore. He's moved on. He doesn't love me anymore.

The image of Ezra's face escapes me as a spiking pain develops on my ribcage. Hand slide under me and my weight is lifted until the leave me side and I fall down.

"She better be dead this time." A monotone voice says. The noise is quiet and sounds like it's coming from a fixed source, like a speaker.

"Calm down, I'm someone who can get a job done," another voice joins in, only this time it's human.

I recognize it instantly. I shared countless secrets with it; it's the same voice I heard laughing at my downfall. Cece. That backstabbing bitch! She played herself as my best friend, only to betray me. I guess now I know what it feels like. An cool surface touches my pulse. A knife. My heart races.

"I guess I was wrong about you," the cool feeling leaves my neck, "you really can follow instructions. Too bad I have to kill you." A gunshot goes off.

I hear Cece's scream and a body fall to the ground.

"What have you done!" A third voice yells... only it's not a third voice, it's Cece.

If Cece's not dead, then who is? I think back to all the times I've been with Cece; there has never been another significant person she's introduced me to.. has there? My memories bring me back to now and I am still yet to realize anything. In a swift movement, I lift my eyelids to see who it is.

Nothing.

My pulse quickens again.

It all makes sense now: the gunshot, my lack of pulse, and my inability to move.

Am I dead?