"Glory?"
Glory turned and stared at him. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she backed away when he came close to her. She was wearing the short dress she was wearing at the party. That was so many months ago. So many things had happened since then.
"Don't cry," he whispered. Glory remained at her place, watching Deathbringer with broken, empty eyes. With caution.
Her shoulders shook with sobs. "But I'll always cry." She backed away, her face in her hands. "Nobody cares, Deathbringer. I cry, I cut, I die. But does anybody truly care? No."
Deathbringer reached out for her, but he failed. He was close, but not close enough.
Never, ever enough.
"I killed you, Glory." Deathbringer wrapped his muscular arms around his stomach. He felt sick. "I killed the only person I've ever loved..."
Glory didn't stop crying, like she didn't hear him. "The pain hits me over and over again, they just keep coming. Help me, Deathbringer. You're my light in darkness. You're always there...just too late."
He blinked slowly, a wave of nausea coming over him. "You should have stayed, Glory. Just for one second...and it would have been over."
"It's too late," Glory repeated, looking up to him with her broken green eyes. She still looked stunning. But her small smile hid the tortured soul inside.
"I-it's never late," he stammered. Don't say that. Anything but that. "We can still do something. Nothing's too late!"
"It is now." Glory looked at him, smiling sadly. "But the thing is, Deathbringer, I accept it. Things balance out in the end— eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. Death comes with life. Pain comes with happiness."
"I rather have you, Glory," he said painfully, wistfully. What was this painful longing he always felt around her? Love? It couldn't be. "I.. I love you."
She walked up to him and laid a hand on his chest. He felt life flowing into him, with joy and happiness. Glory gave him a dazzling grin, and it lighted her entire face.
Glory fluttered her thick eyelashes. "You deserve something better." She gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. Yet he didn't feel anything. "Something better than me."
"Nothing's better than you."
She laughed and turned, her clothes suddenly turning into a white gown. With a burst of white light, an angelic aura surrounded her. Her blonde hair floated in the air and wings sprouted out of her back, and when she turned her head he saw something so beautiful that it was not human. By it was still Glory. His Glory Bright.
"Don't go," he choked. "Please, Glory, I love you. I need you. Don't leave me."
She gave him a knowing smile, and relief washed over him. But all she said before disappearing was, "Why didn't you say this to me when I was alive?"
~
I never thought you were capable of stabbing people behind their backs. I can never describe the screaming emotions that came into my mind that day. The day you betrayed me.
Alone. I was....alone. Me against the world.
"Welcome to your tape, Sunny Jennair"
~
"Where's the thirteenth tape?" Deathbringer said, changing the tapes. "I can't find it."
Deathbringer sighed through the shoebox, frowning. He didn't know why it bothered him so much. But the fact nobody knew who the thirteenth person was and that nobody knew their story made him feel angry. "Ugh, where is it?!"
Peril shrugged, her hands unconsciously twirling a ring on her finger. It was simple, with a red gem in the middle, but she seemed to love it. Probably because it was from Clay. They had started dating only a few days ago, but he could swear they were picking out flowers for their wedding. "Nobody has seen it."
"That's weird," he said, scratching his head. "So who does the twelfth person pass it to?"
"No one, I guess."
"But that's wrong," he insisted. "Everyone has to hear everybody's story. That's the whole point of it."
Peril stared at him like he had two heads. "I get what you're saying. But don't you see? One less tape, one less person. One less person to tell on us. If they want to hide their story, let them. We all would probably have done it if we could."
"That's wrong." He crossed his arms and pouted. "That's so freaking wrong."
She gave him a devilish grin. "It"s called life, baby."
~
You've always been sweet. Loving. Harmless.
Or so it seemed.
We liked to go to a small frozen yogurt store and talk. Talk about anything and everything. Gossip. Worries. Funny things that happened in the past week. Progress in flirting. Sometimes even money troubles. The point is, you always figured it out. You always listened and solved my problems.
You would always smile at me and say, "What's up, Glory?"
That day, I say down beside you. "Am I late?"
You smiled at me. "Not at all."
Charming, nice Sunny. That's what you were. Or what I thought you were.
I've never told anyone. Never. I quickly ordered a coffee flavored frozen yogurt, just like always. Then I grinned at you. Gave you my fake smile, and you smiled right back.
"What's up, Glory?"
That day, I decided to tell someone. I wanted to. I had to. It was killing me, the secrets. The horrors.
I told myself, I won't be alone. She would listen to me. I won't be alone anymore, we'll be in this together. You always listened to me. You always solved what was bothering me. So, I thought, why not this time?
It turned out it was a whole different story.
I took a deep breath. "Actually, I have to tell you something."
You gave me a worried frown. "What is it, Glory?"
"Remember what I told you yesterday? About Riptide and Scarlet?"
Something flashed over your expression for a moment. Irritation, it seemed. But I thought I saw something wrong.
Turned out I wasn't.
"Sunny, I have to tell you something."
You sipped your drink, looking bored. Which annoyed me a little. I was about to tell you something extremely important. "What is it, Glory?"
"I'm going to kill myself."
You stared at me, then have me a stretched smile. Like this was a sick joke. "Really?"
"Sunny, I have to tell you something. Something important." I was about to pour it all out when you stopped me. Or, more specifically, when your chair screeched in the floor as you stood up.
It surprised me. "Sunny?"
You laughed, "Geez, Glory. I'm tired of this. You don't have any 'real' problems. All you have is girly crap. You don't know what real problems even feel like, I bet."
I stood up, too. "How would you know that?"
You gave me a snarl. "I'm tired of you nagging me around. I have worse things to think about. All you do is me this and me that, you always just beg for attention and the spotlight because you can't get them yourself. Other people have problems too, Glory. When are you going to grow up?"
"But—"
You huffed. "So your boyfriend cheated on you. So Scarlet lied to you. It's called life, Glory. You can't just keep feeling sorry for yourself. When was the last time you asked me if I had any problems? All you do is think about yourself all day. That's selfish."
You seemed annoyed and frustrated, like you were scolding a three year old. It brought tears to my eyes.
The words stung. "Fine!" I yelled. "Go away!"
And that's what you did. You went away, and never came back. Never came back to be my friend again.
It was me against the world. I was alone, and I didn't want friends. How could I? The person I trusted with my life couldn't take my crap.
I was....alone.
~
"What she said...was it true?"
Sunny stared at him through red eyes. They were covered with tears. She leaned her head back on a locker. "What do you mean?" She choked through sobs.
"What did she say...was it true? Did you do it?" Why would a dead girl lie?
She gave him a puzzling answer: "Did you?"
He pressed his lips together. Yeah, I did. "Why did you do it, Sunny?"
Sunny bursted into tears again. "Gosh, I don't want to face this. I never, ever wanted to face this." She huccuped. "Not to you. You are so innocent, Deathy. You never do anything wrong. I'm the one that did it wrong. I messed it all up."
"Just because you did it doesn't mean you can't look back and apologize."
Sunny sobbed, her shoulders shaking. "I hate myself."
He sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched but didn't move away. "Explain to me."
Sunny gulped. "I didn't want to do it anymore. She was talking about suicide and I didn't want to listen. I didn't want to leave her, but I did. I just got so tired of listening to the same thing over and over again. I just saw a perfect her, and I compared it to my life. I couldn't see the real her. The broken, was Glory. I didn't think her stories were true." Sunny bursted into tears. "Maybe if I stayed..."
Deathbringer stared at The busy hallway. All the posters. All the nice people. All the counselors.
They weren't there when she was here. When she needed them.
Deathbringer didn't say anything. He just stood up and went to the center of the busy hallway, and laughed.
Nobody stopped. It was probably normal in this school.
"Oh, wow," he said, pointing at Glory's decorated locker. He wasn't really talking to anyone but himself. "Pretty, isn't it?" He laughed again. Everything was making him sick. Disgusted. "All the lockers are normal except hers, and nobody has the heart to take it down."
He walked up to a poster. It said, EVERY WORD YOU SAY MATTERS. He stared at it for a while, then ripped it out of the wall. People finally stopped to watch him. He threw it to the ground angrily.
Then he punched the wall. One. Two. Three.
Three strikes.
"Do you know?" He said quietly. "Every word you say matters, yeah, but nobody actually cares? People kill you and laugh at you, and they stop when you actually kill yourself." He turned and grinned at the crowd. "When they try to talk to you, you say, hell nah, obviously they're not going to do it, they don't mean it, they want attention...
Sunny was staring at him through red, bloodshot eyes that were filled with disbelief. "Deathbringer—"
"You could have helped her!" His voice raised into a yell. He was angry, oh, so angry. Angry fate had to take her life instead of anybody else's in this world. They were staring at him, too. Riptide. Darkstalker. Scarlet. Hailstorm.
"Deathbringer?" Hailstorm said, running his hand through his perfect hair. His eyes were distressed and filled with panic. "Maybe we can—"
Deathbringer cut him off. "You all could have saved her. Look at all those nice posters, all those stickers on the locker, but guess what, everyone? She's dead. Shocking, isn't it? They weren't here when somebody needed them. And everyone is just so nice until they drive you to kill yourself."
He felt his face becoming red, but he didn't care. "That's what we are. We are monsters. WE KILLED HER!" He screamed. "We all killed her. Did you catch that, everyone? We all killed her."
He took heaving breaths, tears coming into his eyes. He covered his hand with his hands. Why didn't you say this to me when I was alive?
"She didn't kill herself. We killed her."
Then he walked out of the school and didn't look back. Couldn't look back. Wouldn't.
They were monsters.
They killed her.
He killed her.
~
Sorry for such a long chapter. I watched the trailer and put some moments I liked into this. I hope you liked it!
Remember to...
Vote, Comment, Share ❤ if you like this chapter