Stone Hearted

Prologue

Maya Stone looked at the sharp butterfly knife in her hands and felt worried, something wasn't quite right today. She didn't know why she had the knife, but it made her feel slightly safer.

Maya made her way over to the window of her apartment and looked out at the buildings above. She had always loved Wynnstan City with its towering skyscrapers and busy streets. Today, however, it was a place that didn't help the worry, especially seeing as the rain was beginning to come down.

Then she saw someone in the distance. The figure of her boyfriend, Dominic Matthews, a sixteen-year-old, with dark brown spiky hair, brown eyes with specks of green in them and a muscular build. He wore a black leather jacket, a red t-shirt, and dark blue jeans with brown work boots. He was a pretty handsome man but he had a temper like a volcano, explosive- not that he'd lay a hand on her though.

From the look on his face, Maya knew that today was going to be different.

She glanced at her own reflection in the window as Dominic entered the building, presumably to make his way to her apartment. She was a tall, strong, seventeen-year-old, with scarlet red hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. The ball of worry increased as she heard the elevator make its ascent.

The rain hammered down on the roof, it made her feel slightly afraid.

As the elevator doors opened and Dominic stepped out, Maya could see the sad look in his eyes, masked by the look of anger on his face. She knew why he was here, he'd found out what had happened, what she'd done.

All that together made her scared. Especially when she opened the door to the apartment before he could knock, looking away as he glared at her, a chill ran down her spine, feeling unsure.

"I want an explanation. Now."

Maya turned and faced him with a sigh, her hand still gripping the knife tightly.

"Dominic, I'm sorry." She replied

"That's not good enough. I want to know why."

She studied his face, eventually settling on his eyes, how conflicted they were, how hurt and sad and angry.

"I'm sorry Dom it just slipped out before I could stop it! I didn't mean to hurt you and I really am sorry. I can't explain what happened!"

Dominic let out a laugh, a fake sarcastic laugh, but said nothing.

"You can't explain... You can't fucking explain to me why you told my fucking bully my deepest secret!" He fumed, "I can't believe you, Maya. I really can't. I was supposed to be able to trust you, to be able to tell you anything! But I can't can I?!"

"Dom please, it slipped out! I'm sorry!"

He took a step towards her and, in a panic, Maya thrust the knife toward him, stabbing him in the stomach.

His eyes widened, pupils shrinking, as he let out a gasp of pain, clutching around the knife with his hands and stumbling backward. Maya shook, she couldn't believe what she had just done. She caught him as he began to fall, laying him on the ground.

"Oh, Dom I'm-I'm so sorry!" She said frantically, "Oh god hang on! I'm sorry!"

Dominic didn't reply, beginning to lose consciousness, as she pulled out her phone and rang for an ambulance, tears falling down her face as she explained what had happened. The ambulance arrived shortly after and Dominic was carted away. Maya watched him leave from the window, she couldn't bring herself to go with him.

She looked down at the bloody knife that had been discarded on the floor, after being extracted from Dominic's stomach and kicked it out of sight before sitting down at the kitchens breakfast bar and pouring herself a shot of vodka with a shaking hand, tears still falling down her face.

Not even that could calm Maya's nerves. She had a restless sleep that night, hoping that Dominic was going to be ok.

In fact, she was wide awake when the police banged on her door.