Let's Play a Game

Let's Play a Game (39)

“How am I supposed to act then, huh?” he asked me now, and I could tell that he was ticked off now. “Do you want to know what I want to do? I want to wrap my hands around Todd’s skinny little throat and kill him for what he did to my brother and sister.”

I only stared at him, not believing what he had just said to me. He said brother… and sister. Todd hadn’t done anything to Elizabeth, so that could only mean one thing…

“Ethan…” I whispered.

“Shut up,” he snapped, embarrassed.

I didn’t press on, because I didn’t want to ruin this moment between us. Even if he wasn’t going to admit it, Ethan did care about me. And that was good, because I cared a lot about him, too.

“Where is he? Where is he?” a new yet familiar voice suddenly shouted, and I felt my blood go cold at the sound of it. “Where’s Zach? Is he okay?”

When Aveline saw me, she stopped dead in her tracks and just stared. I shouldn’t have been surprised, since I was as white as a ghost and covered in blood in my shredded dress. She didn’t even say anything to me at first, which sure surprised me the most.

“You…” she growled after a few moments, taking a step closer to me now. “You did this! You’re the one that did this to him! If it wasn’t for you, none of this would have happened and Zach would have been safe! You’re a murderer, you’re a murderer! You murdered your mother and you murdered Zach! This is all your fault!”

I was the one to stare now, because I knew she was completely correct. It was my fault that my mother was dead, and it was my fault that Zach was in the hospital. If he died, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to forgive myself.

I was the one who rejected Todd. I never thought something like this could have ever happened just because I said I didn’t want to go out with him. It made me not feel bad for rejecting him any longer, but it instead made me feel horrible because of everything that had happened because I turned him down.

“Maxynn,” Johnny snapped, though his forcefulness was supposed to be toward Aveline. “Don’t listen to her. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

But I wasn’t so sure about that.

Without saying anything to anyone around me, she grabbed onto my wrist and yanked me away from everyone. It was as if she didn’t even care that I was covered in blood and looked like a complete and total mess. “Come on, Maxynn. We need to talk.”

None of my friends or family tried to stop us, but I didn’t want them to. It was about time Aveline and I spoke to each other, especially when it was in a safe place like a hospital. Since we were around so many doctors and nurses, I felt a lot better about talking to her.

At least, I felt safe before she shoved me into a janitor’s closet and slammed the door behind us. I heard her quickly lock it, and she then tuned on the light so I could see her glaring at me.

“Um…” was all I was able to say at first, since I definitely didn’t feel safe locked up in this tiny room with her. I had just gotten away from one psychopath, so I didn’t need to be stuck in a room with another. “What do you want, Aveline?”

“For you to just get out of here and leave Zach alone,” she spat, pushing me back now without any type of warning. I was able to stay upright and not fall over, though it was a lot harder to do after what I had just gone through at the church. “I tried to leave, but I just couldn’t do it. I love Zach too much. At least when he’s with me, he’s not in danger.”

I felt like ripping her hair out, but I knew that wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do. Here we were, locked in a janitor’s closet together, both of us still fighting over the same guy as if it was middle school or something. Even though Zach had told her that he didn’t love her, this bitch wasn’t about to give up.