I'm A Fighter (CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN)

Chapter 6

Lily's POV

     I woke up sore, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. 'What happened? How did I get here?'
I looked around, seeing that I was in my bed. Alone. I glanced at the clock. 6:30 AM. I was confused. I didn't remember going to bed. I noticed my knuckles. They were wrapped up in bandages. Suddenly memories came rushing back to me, bringing a whirlwind of feelings.
"He was there!! He was there!! No!" I started sobbing, my words barely coherent, turning into pathetic, unintelligible blubbering. I curled into a ball, hyperventilating. It was like Nicholas was killed all over again.
     Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around me and I screamed, struggling frantically.
'He's here to finish me off! He's gonna kill me just like Nicholas!'
"No! Please don't kill me! No no no!" The arms suddenly released me, and I felt the mattress rise as the person stood up. I scrambled backwards to the headboard, staring at him.
'Drake?'
     He was standing beside my bed, confused and empty hands raised to show he wasn't a threat. I thought he would have run off by now. I was trembling as I weakly raised a hand towards him. He sat down again slowly, holding my hand. We sat there together, the silence broken only by my sniffles. We sat until I was calm enough to speak.
     "How did I get here?"
"You collapsed," he replied. "I carried you home and cleaned and wrapped your knuckles. I slept on the floor."
"Why would you do that?" I asked quietly.
"You weren't awake to ask for consent to sleep in your bed."
"That's not what I meant," I said. "Why did you help me? Why didn't you just leave?" He hesitated for a moment.
"Because I care about you, and you needed help." We stayed quiet for awhile. Finally he spoke.
"What happened yesterday?" He asked the question tentatively. I sighed. He deserved to know.
     "My last opponent..he was the man who murdered Nicholas. I don't know what happened. I just went crazy. Am I insane?"
"Of course you're not," he reassured me.
"You don't understand...when I saw him...I wanted to kill him.." I waited for Drake to yell at me, his loving look to turn to disgust, to storm out. He did none of those things though.   
     He simply pushed my hair behind my ear and smiled softly at me.
"I understand." My eyes widened in shock.
"But I could have killed someone yesterday. Why aren't you freaked out?" He looked away in shame. I was confused. He acted as if...
'Did he murder someone? Would he do that?'
I didn't know.
     I placed my hand on his arm reassuringly. Whatever he did, there had to be a reason for it. He sighed.
"You May have almost killed someone...but I have killed someone..." A tear ran down his cheek. My brows furrowed in confusion. He looked away as though he expected me to back away. Instead I slid even closer to him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked gently.
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Drake's POV
"Do you want to talk about it?"
I closed my eyes, and decided to trust her.
*Flashback*
     I came home from school happily. I stopped at a yard sale on the way home. I saw the most adorable little stuffed animal. It was an elephant, my sister's favourite animal. She was twelve and always so full of hope, and excitement. She would love it. I remembered, suddenly, that she got home ten minutes before me. I was late. 'Oh well, it's worth it to see her smile.'
     I hurried home with the elephant in hand, unbelievably excited to see her reaction. When I walked in the door, I immediately called to her.
"Susie! I'm home! Come here! I've got a surprise!" Our family wasn't very rich, so surprises were far and few. I waited to hear her little footsteps storming down the stairs. Silence. And then a loud thump.
'Is she jumping on her bed? She knows she's not allowed to do that.'
     I rolled my eyes and headed upstairs to find her. I walked down the hall to her room, holding the stuffie behind my back. I threw open her door with a huge grin. My eyes widened in shock and horror. No, no, this couldn't be!
     My sister was laying on the ground, bright sapphire eyes wide open. My eyes traveled to her neck. A wide slash stretched from side to side, crimson liquid pouring from it. Still fresh. I dropped the elephant. Standing over her was a man. I didn't know who he was. He turned to me, a bloody knife in his hand, a gruesome smile on his face. I flew blindly into action.
     I leaped onto him, knocking him to the ground. I heard a crack as his head hit the hard floor. He was left in a daze. I grabbed his knife, stabbing him in the chest. He gasped, hands clutching his open wound, but he was still alive. In a rage, I wrapped my hands around his large throat, squeezing as hard as I could. His face turned purple. His eyes bulged out of his skull.
     Soon he passed out. I kept squeezing until I felt his pulse fall silent. I stood, stumbling over to Susie. He killed her in cold blood. If I hadn't been late...I looked at her face, streaked with still-drying tears. She was so innocent. She didn't deserve this. She was the only one who knew about my depression, who was there for me, who supported me. I started sobbing, grasping her lifeless body in my arms. She was too young! Her cheek was still warm, her skin still pink. If I'd been here just five minutes sooner!
     "I'm sorry! Susie! Come back! I'll do anything! Please! Please just come back to me! I-I love you! Don't leave! You can have whatever you want! I'll give you all my favourite CDs, that blanket you love, my phone, anything! You can have as many piggy-back rides as you want, we'll go to the park for hours, I'll take you to your favourite ice cream place, just please don't leave!" I started screaming to the sky. "Take me! Take me instead! Just b-bring her back!" I completely broke down, collapsing in the pool of her now-cooling blood, refusing to let her out of my arms.
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*Present*
I looked at my hands in contemplation. When I'd finished speaking, Lily wrapped her arms around me, letting me be vulnerable. Recalling it hurt so badly, I just wanted it to go away. But it would always be apart of me. I looked back at Lily, watching her facial expression, waiting for that look of horror that my ex-bestfriend had shown. But there was nothing of the sort. She simply ran her hand through my hair, and kissed my forehead. Speaking with her eyes as they told me that everything would be alright.
"Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me that," she said quietly. I simply nodded in response. We stayed there for awhile, enjoying each other's company. Finally she broke the silence. "I'm scared that history will repeat itself. He's out there..."
"Hey hey hey no," I reassured her. "That will NEVER happen again. He doesn't deserve a second thought." Her eyes welled up with tears.
"But...what if he kills you too...?" she whispered.
"Look at me okay?" she stared into my eyes. "I am not going anywhere. Plus, I mean, look at these muscles. I could totally take him." I flexed my, uh, totally huge and intimidating muscles (totally not sarcasm?), making her giggle. "There's the smile I like to see. How about we go eat breakfast. I made pancakes." I smiled and reached for her hand to help her up. She grinned back at me and accepted it, and we headed downstairs.
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