Jade

chapter 3

"..And at the last second, the brave prince brought down his sword and severed the dragons neck. The mighty creatures head fell off the edge of the cliff and Prince Henry smiled, for he had won his battle and now the Beautiful Princess Evangeline would be his."

I smiled, resting my head on the pillows.

"Well, another happy ending. Shocker."

Liam sat in the chair beside my bed, the blue book of child fairytales in his hand. His mouth was set in a grim line as he flipped through the pages, searching for another story to read me.

"Hey, its a fairytale. It's supposed to have a happy ending. Little kids dont wanna read about death and broken hearts, Liam."

"But that's all life really is. There are no happy endings in the real world. Might as well tell them the truth, so they know."

I shook my head at him. Liam was so complicated sometimes.

"There are happy endings. For some people."

His jaw clenched and he pushed himself to his feet. He walked to stand at the foot of the bed, gripping the bar in his hands.

"Then why dont you get a happy ending Jade? You, who is the best person i've ever known, you, who never considers yourself, only others. Why do some people that dont deserve to be happy, people that are selfish and cruel, why do they get to live forever and you're not even gonna' see seventeen?"

I stared at him for a moment, wondering how long he had been thinking about that. Then, when i finally had an answer to his question I smiled at him.

"Because God needs me more than you do, Liam"

He started to cry. Tears rolled silently down his cheeks as he stumbled his way to the head of the bed and i grabbed his hand. He crawled in beside me and I layed my head on his chest.

"It's not fair. It's all a load of bullshit, Jade, and you know it."

I laughed. It was amazing how he could be crying and pissed off all at once.

"Don't worry, I'm fine today."