Insane - Who Are You To Judge? (Gripping Psychological Thriller)

Chapter 83 - Avery

"There you go, miss," the officer says to me as we pull up outside my house.

I don't want to get out of the car. I don't want to move. I don't have any energy.

"Miss?" the officer calls after I haven't responded to him.

Slowly turning my head, I give him a brief smile. "Thank you, officer. Have a good day." Although my tone doesn't project sincerity, he nods and says the same to me. I force my feet to step out of the car and my legs to stand up straight.

I don't want to breathe. My ribcage feels too heavy – my lungs aren't strong enough to expand underneath them. I drag my feet up the pathway leading to my front door, tripping over each step as I go. When I reach the top, I poise my key in front of the lock, but I don't have the strength to push it in.

For a while, I stand there, staring at the key loosely held in my frail hand. My brain tells my hand to move, but I can't feel anything past my elbow.

When I lift my head upright, I catch sight of the fuzzy purple monster smiling back at me. I don't want to go in there, with that. I immediately give up, drop the keys in the hanging basket and walk back down the steps.

I don't know where I'm going, I just want to walk. For some absurd reason, I think that if I do, perhaps I'll figure out how I'm feeling. What I'm feeling.

About fifteen minutes later, I find myself in familiar territory. I'm at the park. Our park. I curse my feet for taking me here – this is the last place I wanted to go. But at the same time, I feel comfortable here – like he's with me.

Taking a seat on the bench, I lean my head back and stare mindlessly up at the clouds.

I'm sure there are a million thoughts running through your head right now. Let me settle them for you.

After Cinderella faced me, it didn't take me long to know that I would need to find someone to take the fall for her untimely death. Even if they never linked me to the case, I couldn't live my life wondering what if? The case had to close.

As soon as it happened, my plan was to plant it on her husband. It seemed like the easiest, best option and it would be a quick, easy case for the police to close.

However, I had to have a contingency plan. What if the Prince had a strong alibi? What if I couldn't foil it? What if the police didn't think the evidence against him was strong enough?

When I went to the Cosy Coffee to clean myself up, I had all sorts of ideas coming in and out of my mind. Then he showed up. His timing could not have been more perfect. He was my plan B. If the Prince wasn't charged, I could make it seem like he was having an affair with her and he was going to do the same thing to me as he did to her. He wouldn't be around to defend himself. Fool-proof, right?

Wrong. I didn't account for the possibility of me getting attached. I knew I had to be in a relationship with Him to some extent, so that it was believable, but I didn't realise the effect it would have on me. I thought it would be the same attachment I had with Julian – purely physical.

I suppose the question you're all asking is; did I love Him?

Of course I did. The person most surprised by that answer is me. I didn't know I could feel like that. I didn't know I could be as close to someone as that. I so wanted plan A to work. I didn't want to have to do what I did to the one person I think I've ever truly loved. But I love me more.

And this isn't a fairy tale.