quick note before you read this,
if you want to, listen to the stripped audio of 'trouble' by halsey. I listened to this while writing these and I loved it!
okay now for the chapter
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Avery's POV
My hands were shaky as I held onto Luke's in the ambulance. Emotions were mixing inside of me, and I couldn't tell which was stronger. Fear, or anger. I was scared because now I knew that the pyscho-stalker following me was not afraid to hurt anyone. Although they had threatened to kill Danny, they hadn't yet. "A-Avery?" Luke whimpered, his hand losing a slight bit of grip on mine. "It's okay. It's okay." I hushed him, gently wiping away a small tear that was trickling down his cheek. "I d-don't think it is Ave." He winced. I couldn't help but feel responsible. "Here, take my other hand and hold on tight. Each time it hurts, squeeze my hand. That way I can try my best to take that pain away."
"But you can't do anything to take it aw-" He squeezed my hands tightly, so I leant forward and pressed my lips against his. His grip loosened as he kissed me back, his face relaxing and his shoulders dropping slightly. "I take it back," he smiled. "Maybe you can."
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As I wasn't family, I wasn't allowed into the hospital room, and had to wait outside in the waiting room. Every time I sat down, the chair felt as if it was made from guilt, not wood, and was swallowing me up. But, every time I stood, the walls felt as if they were made from regret, and were closing in on me. My eyes jolted around the room, not being able to focus on anything. Time moved by as if seconds were minutes, and minutes were hours. My attention was caught by a black-shadowed figure sliding out of the hospital A&E door. Their shadow was blurred behind them, making my vision faint and leaving my brain confused. As I took a step to follow them, a loud piercing beep ran through my ears. "Luke." I panicked to myself, before running towards his room.
"Please!" I begged. "Let me in!" I fought the doctors blocking my way by attempting to push through them. "I'm sorry, Ma'am. But Family only."
"You don't understand!" I screamed, glimpsing a view of Luke. His body seemed lifeless as the doctors tried their best attempts to revive him. "Luke!"
"Ma'am, I'm sorry but if you don't follow instructions you will have to leave." Ignoring the doctors, I pushed through them one last time. The whole room froze around me as I laid my eyes on him. His body seemed so fragile; the type of fragile that should come with a warning. I needed a warning. No one warned me this would happen. "Luke, don't leave me." I pleaded, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. "Come on Luke, squeeze back. I can take away the pain, remember?" I felt myself edging with tears. "Remember?" I whispered, allowing myself to break down on Luke's lifeless body. "Ma'am, I'm sorry but you-" The doctors voice faded away as my head leant against Luke's still chest. Come on Luke, just breath. You can do this. I thought to myself, begging him to just show one sign of life. Nothing. Not a single breath came from his lungs. My whole body fell limp as the doctors picked me up and dragged me away. I can't believe this.
"Time of death, 23:56."
"Ma'am. I'm sorry. We need you to leave." Everything moved in slow motion. Luke was dead. He was dead, and it was my fault. I stopped resisting, and let my knees drop to the floor.
"Ma'am?"
The doctors stood around me, watching as I finally let the guilt take me away. Each tear that rolled down my cheek represented a bite of remorse eating me up. "I'm sorry, Luke. I'm so sorry, that I made this happen. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Although I knew no matter how much I apologised, nothing would change, it still made me a difference to me. Scenes of Luke's family being told the news was forced into my brain, along with flash backs of our first dates.
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"Woah, Avery?" I heard someone speak behind me. "Mmhm?" Turning round, I saw the tall, blonde stranger that asked me out. "Oh! Luke, right?" I smiled gently and sat down back at my seat at the bar. He nodded, before cautiously sitting down next to me. "I am so sorry I'm late. I kept trying to do my hair but it kept falling down, then I wasn't sure if I should dress up or not. Then my taxi didn't come and I am so sorry."
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"I had a really nice time tonight, Thank you." He smiled, before pecking me lightly on the cheek and passing me his phone. "I would really like it if I could have your number, maybe we could do this again?"
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A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. Checking my appearance one last time in the mirror, I opened the door and greeted a very formal Luke. "Wow," he gaped. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you." I blushed at his comment, before shutting and locking the door behind me. "Let's go." Luke took my hand as he helped me into his car. "Such a gentleman." I teased, tightening my seat belt.
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"Not the hair, baby." He winked, before resuming his place in front of me, no air in between us. His hands found the bottom of my back, and his fingers ran down the curve, before pushing us back towards the wall.
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The next few days went by slowly. I rarely left the apartment, and barely ate. I couldn't face the fact that it was my fault Luke was killed.
"I thought we were exclusive, Avery."
I kept running the words over and over in my mind, attempting to make sense of them. "I thought we were exclusive..." I whispered to myself as I sat on the sofa. "What did you say?" Zoe asked, sitting next to me carefully. She was fragile around me now. She seemed to think that if she said the wrong thing, I would re-shatter into more pieces than before. "The message," I sat up, my brain finally ticked. "I understand it."
"What message?"
"The game-the one that got played in the club. The whisper was, 'I thought we were exclusive Avery'. I understand why." I stood up slowly, thinking to myself hard.
"What does it mean?"
"The stalker, well, killer now." I muttered towards the end. "They want me to themselves. I kissed Luke, in the cupboard. They got jealous and didn't like it, so they killed him." Zoe was shocked. "You can't be serious?"
"I'm serious, Zo. And I think I know who it could be." I pursed my lips together, refraining from tears as I pictured Luke being killed in front of me.
"Who?" Zoe questioned further, moving towards me. "I have that app, and I only replied to 4 people. I dated them all, right?" Zoe nodded as I pulled out my phone. "So my only guess now is that the killer is one of my dates." I gulped. "But...that can't be right." Zoe mumbled. "You need to go to the Police, Ave." She ordered. "No, I know what I'm going to do."
"Are you fucking joking?! You think you can take on an obviously well trained murderer?!" Zoe shrieked. "I'm just going to play a game with them instead."
"Avery..." Zoe warned.
"I'm going to go on another date with them. I'm going to find out which one of them did it."
"You can't do this. Please, don't do this. You can't play this game." Zoe pleaded. "Oh trust me," I crossed my arms. "Soon they'll realise their fighting a losing battle."
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authors note:
hey guys sorry its been kinda long
this was short i know but i have exams coming up so ya!
sorry i killed luke it was a really hard decision but please dont hate me
i hope you liked this chapter (probably didnt but yeah)
tysm for reading and ily all! see you all soon x
