Death Threat (An Owl City Fanfiction)

Chapter 19

   I lay face down on the ground, gasping for air through gritted teeth and holding a hand over the spot where I'd been shot.
My head spun as I frantically tried to comprehend what was happening. It was like grasping at straws trying to make sense of it all. I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it. Ann Marie would never do something like this!
. . .Would she?
"No! Adam!" The man who'd rescued me cried.
I coughed again and I let out an agonized cry as an unbearable pain shot trough my body.

   The sound of approaching footsteps caught my attention and I slowly looked up. Ann Marie towered over me, her face twisted into a hatred-filled scowl.
"Get away from him!" I heard the man yell. She pushed him aside.
My heart shattered as I forced myself to come to grips with reality.
"So. . .so you were the one b–behind all this?" I stammered in a strained voice.
I prayed it wasn't true. I wanted her to tell me I was wrong. A cold stare was her only reply.
"W-why?" I asked softly, my voice breaking with hurt and betrayal. Tears blurred my vision as Ann Marie crouched down to my level and lifted my head with her finger.

"You want to know why?" She asked. Her sudden soft tone caught me off guard. But it wasn't long before it hardened again.
"Because you're driving me insane!" She spat, shooting to her feet again.
"I've tried so hard to move on from our past  but it doesn't matter what I do, I can't escape you! Everything I see, hear, touch, there's always something that reminds me of you. Everything reminds me of you!"
She paused for a moment, trembling.
"I tried to forget." She continued. "I tried to get help. I tried everything I could think of to get you out of my head! But still there are days when I get so depressed about it, I can't even get up! Dark thoughts still swirl in my head constantly! Your memory follows me everywhere I go! It torments me every second of every day! I had to put an end to it!"

"S–so you decided k–killing me was the best option?" I challenged.
"I didn't want to do it." She replied. "At first the idea horrified me. I hated myself for even thinking about it! I told myself I'd be over everything soon enough. But as time wore on, things only seemed to get worse. I couldn't function anymore! As long as I knew you were out there somewhere, my mind would allow me no rest. So, having tried everything else, I turned to the one thing left for me to do. I planned for weeks and hired three men to do the work for me."

   "The plan was simple." She continued. "They'd separate you from your group after your concert at the beginning of the week, corner you, and kill you there. My hands would be clean, and with no one around to see, they'd get away easily."
I swallowed uncomfortably. Listening to how someone meant for you to die isn't exactly what I'd call a pleasant experience.
"But then everything went wrong." Her voice cut into my thoughts. "Just as they were about to put the plan into action, the police showed up."
Suddenly she whirled around and pointed a finger at my rescuer.
"I later found out that he tipped them off."

   I looked over at the man in disbelief.
"Y–you!" I gasped. "You were i–in on this? You were gonna. . .help them?"
The man looked down at his feet and shifted his weight uncomfortably.
"Turncoat." Ann Marie spat acidly.
"B–but what about the death threat?" I asked "Th–the police told me they'd intercepted one."
"I wrote it." The man admitted. "I made it easy for them to discover. I didn't want to turn myself in, but I also just couldn't justify killing an innocent person."
Ann Marie rolled her eyes in annoyance and returned to her story.

   "With my original plan foiled and the loss of a recruit, we had to come up with other ways to get rid of you. At first we tried to make it look like an accident, but it was too risky.  We were just flying by the seat of our pants, and it was drawing too much attention. So when that didn't work, I decided there was no other choice than to just try to get it over with directly."
The hotel incident. I realized.
"However, our efforts were in vain and I was forced to take matters into my own hands. With one of my two remaining men arrested, I had to step in, even if I'd sworn I wouldn't. So I had my last recruit rig the building with explosives. He was to detonate them at the end of the concert, and if you still managed to survive, it would be up to me to finish you off."