Grey

21.

(Don't want to give anything away but there is a major Trigger Warning in this chapter.)

Daniel's POV

I walked out into the hallway after the last period of the day to see Amanda standing at my locker waiting for me.

"Okay Daniel, your boyfriend is seriously weird."

"What do you mean?" I ask. Matter of fact where was Greyson? He usually waited for me after school.

"He shoved this letter into my hand and ran off muttering something about having to break a promise."

My heart almost stopped.

"What? What promise!?" I said grabbing Amanda by the shoulders.

Amanda's eyes widened and she looked at both of my hands. "Woah, take it easy Dan. He just told me to tell you that he's sorry that he's going to have to break his promise to you and told me to give you this letter. That's all I know." She says holding her hands up in surrender.

I snatched the letter out of her hand and began to read the words that Greyson had written to me.

I felt sick. I felt like I was going to throw up. I pulled out my cell phone and called him, but the phone went right to voicemail.

"Amanda we have to get to Greyson's house right now!" I said grabbing her hand and running towards the door.

"What the hell is going on Dan? You're scaring me."

"No time to explain. Just come on!"

We reached her car in the parking lot with both of us out of breath. "Daniel tell me what is going on right now." Amanda demanded.

"I can't...I don't-" I said. I couldn't think straight. This wasn't happening.

"Daniel, you're crying for goodness sakes. What the fuck is going on?" Amanda sounded seriously freaked out but not as freaked out as I was. She had no idea what tragedy was getting ready to unfold itself.

I wiped at my face and felt fresh tears. I had no idea I was crying.

"Amanda, I think-" I couldn't even say the word. I took a deep breath.

"I think Greyson's going to do something tonight that he'll never be able to take back."

Amanda seemed to get the picture and unlocked the car door. "Let's go."

She sped down the street towards Greyson's house and I prayed with every fiber of my being that if there was a god in this crazy messed up universe, that we weren't too late.

We pulled up in his driveway and I noticed another car that usually wasn't there. It had to be Greyson's mother's car. My stomach turned in the most unpleasant way and I felt bile building up in the back of my throat.

Amanda and I rushed to the house and banged on the door but no one answered.

"Greyson! Please open the door!" I screamed.

"Stand back." Amanda said, taking a hairpin out of her hair and shoving it into the keyhole.

If this weren't a life or death situation I would've asked Amanda where she learned to pick a lock but at this point I didn't care. I was just thankful she was there.

After several minutes the locked click, Amanda turned the knob, the door opened and I let out the breath I'd been holding since we'd left the school at the sight of Greyson standing in the foyer of his house next to the stairs that led up to his bedroom.

"Greyson-" I started walking up to him but Amanda grabbed my arm and held me in place. I hadn't noticed what was in his hand.

It was a gun.

"Daniel you weren't supposed to come. I don't want you to see this." Greyson said his eyes were that same hard and empty steel grey that they usually became when Greyson had his wall up. The look of uncaring and despair that shook me to my core. The same look he wore that night when I confronted him about his drinking. The same look he gave me after he kissed me that night in the closet when we first met at Liza's party.

"Greyson, please you don't have to do this." I said pleading with him.

"Yes I do. I know you won't understand but it's the only way she will ever leave you alone." He said practically spitting out the word 'she' and pointing at Mrs. Grey who I just realized was standing across the room from Greyson looking annoyed but there was a slight touch of fear in her stone grey eyes.

"Greyson what the hell are you doing!? If this situation gets out then it'll ruin our family name. Put the gun down and I'll call Dr. Rowland. You need help."

"I DON'T NEED HELP!!" Greyson yelled. "I need to get the hell away from you! My entire life you've controlled me and the people I care about. You drove Dad away, you drove Sarah away...anyone that ever tried to get close to me! I slit my wrists open to get away from you only to find myself locked up in a psych ward and sent back here to this hell. And I was finally happy. I was finally fucking happy mom, for once in my life and you ruined that too!"

"I'm trying to protect you!" She yelled back.

"Protect me!?" Greyson let out an empty laugh. "The only person you're trying to protect is yourself, your money, and your reputation. You never gave a single fuck about me."

"Greyson, I'm tired of this. I've had to cover up your shit since your father left to keep food on the table but you are so selfish and unappreciative. I get that pretending to be gay is an act of rebellion. But you're taking this too far.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" I cut in. I couldn't take this anymore.

"I'm sorry to break this to you but I'm not pretending. I'm gay and I don't give a fuck if anyone knows it. What I care about is that you are ruining Daniel's life! You are the reason behind all of this." Greyson said hysterically gesturing wildly.

"You keep taking everything away from me, so now it's time I took something from you. How does; 'Owner of Major Global Fashion Company drives son to suicide' sound as a headline? It would ruin you and you would have nothing." He said hatefully.

He was losing it. This was scary. I'd never seen him lose his cool like this. I had to do something before this escalated beyond control.

"Greyson this is crazy! If you care about me at all, you'd put the gun down. You promised me. You told me you loved me."

"Daniel I do love you, more than anything in the world. But she's never going to let us be together and she'll never leave you alone. You mean more than anything in the world to me and I just want you to be happy. You'll fall in love again, go to college, and live a great life. It's just better if I'm not in the picture." Greyson said giving me a sad broken smile as he lifted the gun to his head.

"No. Please." I felt tears pouring down my face. "Greyson, I'm begging you. Please don't do this. I don't want to live in a world with you." I said sobbing.

"I'm sorry." He said, looking at me one last time and closing his eyes.

"NO!!" I screamed running towards Greyson and lurching for the gun as his fingers began to squeeze the trigger.

But shockingly, before I could reach Greyson his mother was there attempting to snatch the gun from his hand jerking his arm and then there was a loud bang as the gun went off.

Time seemed to freeze as everyone's mouth dropped open and everyone looked around the room. Suddenly everyone's eyes settled on me. Why was everyone staring at me?

"Oh my g-" Amanda gasped.

Greyson's mom dropped the gun that she had managed to wrestle away from him to the floor. The cold hard metal clattering loudly against the marble and echoing around the room.

"What did you do!?" Greyson yelled hysterically at his mother.

Greyson was suddenly running towards me;

"Daniel!" He was clearly screaming but for some reason his voice sounded muffled as if it were underwater.

Suddenly I felt a growing intense burning sensation in my abdomen as if I were being set on fire. I grabbed my stomach instinctively and when I looked down at my hands all I saw was blood. I looked down to see blood spreading across my shirt and pooling on the white marble floor blooming like a crimson rose.