Paranoia

Chapter ten

Dade’s point of view

            Fear and anger fought viciously in my eyes as hot tears threatened to expose themselves to the cold air surrounding me. My eyes were stuck on Ashlinn’s lifeless body covered in dirt and blood, but my attention was on Rylie. My mouth was open, I was probably stuttering out random words. My mind was fogged with questions that were never going to be answered.

“No.” I finally spat out. “No, no, no. I did not do that!” I yelled, gaining more strength with every word. “Why would I do that? How could you think I did that?” My words sliced through the air at a rapid pace.

“Because you were the only one with enough energy to dig the hole in the first place—the only one strong enough. You were the only one who knew where the body was buried too. The only one who doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings. Even Violet cared about me.” Violet smirked as her name appeared in Rylie’s sentence. “You didn’t care.” Rylie’s final words cut through me painfully slow as I took my time absorbing them.

“You have to believe me.” Was my only response.

“Why!? Why do we have to, Dade? You cheated on me! You’re not trustworthy.” I could see she was desperately fighting off tears.

“Rylie…can I please talk to you in the other room?” I took a step closer to her, but she backed away into Maddi.

            Maddi wrapped her arms around Rylie as a tear slipped out. She quickly wiped it away—she didn’t want to appear weak to me. Seeing her that way literally broke my heart. I did it to her. I broke Rylie.

“Please.” I begged.

“You’ve caused her enough pain.” Violet said as she nonchalantly leaned against the paper thin wall.

“I’ll go.” Rylie’s voice broke as she pushed passed me and walked into the other room without hesitation.

            She walked with powerful strides that only seemed to grow more confident as we gained more distance from the group. Her arms were in front of her as I watched from behind. She suddenly whipped around, causing me to stop short and stumble into her.

“Why would you do that to me? How could you do that to me? Do you like to make me feel bad?” Rylie’s face shone with old and fresh tears—the ones I wished I never caused. The ones that were too late to take back.

“I didn’t mean to, Rylie.”

“But you still did.”

“Please…can I explain myself?”

She signaled for me to continue.

“You make me feel amazing. You’re beautiful, and perfect. You are absolutely, hands down, perfect. I wish…I really wish I didn’t do that. I really don’t know what was going on…the Ashlinn thing had me confused…I guess I just needed a temporary escape. Bellie was right there…I didn’t think it was going to hurt you. I know, I know that doesn’t sound good, but it’s the truth. My intentions weren’t that when I first agreed to go upstairs with her…I thought we were just going to look for whatever she pretended to loose. But I know I shouldn’t have kissed her…I know it was wrong. I wish there was another word other than sorry, because honestly you deserve much more than an apology, but that’s all there is. I really don’t expect you to forgive me, but I’m sorry. I am truly and deeply sorry.” I took a deep breath at the end. My ears were flooded with the sound of my own heart beat. I swear she could have heard it if she wasn’t analyzing what I had just said to her.

“Don’t blame this on Ashlinn’s death.” Her eyes now glowed with intense anger. No remorse, not even a hint of sadness.

            Her eyes burned through my icy skin and sent frozen chills up and down my sore spine. My eyes were fixated on the floor—I couldn’t look at her anymore.

“I love you, Rylie.” I blurted out when she began to walk away.

She froze.

“I love you more than anything in the entire world. You are my world.” I took a step closer.

No response.

“I’m sorry, Rylie. I am so sorry.” My own voice cracked.

            Finally, she turned to face me. Her mouth opened and my ears craved to hear her sweet, sweet voice again. My body shook with anticipation when she wouldn’t speak right away. Her mouth closed and her hand shot out. A skin splitting pain exploded in my flushed cheek.

“Fuck you.” Rylie said as her hand dropped from my slightly swollen cheek.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” I said in a low whisper as anger took over.

(A.N.-Hey everyone! Sorry for the infrequent updates, but we're trying the best we can to get chapters out quickly. Thank you for reading, happy holidays ;D<3

~Cassi  

P.S. Sorry for such a short chapter D; )