The Heartthrob Won't Leave

Chapter Fifty-Six (New Chapters)

"What do you mean?" Blake found the words falling incredulously from her lips. She had no idea what Stella was talking about, and the more this fell on, the more in disillusion Blake felt.

"You know...I always wanted to be at the top, you know that, don't you?"

"You are at the top" Blake responded, trying to hide the edge in her tone "You've always been at the top"

"How do you think I got there?" Stella asked suddenly. Blake's eyes widened, glancing down at her hands. She hadn't really thought about it, Stella had just always been at the top, for as long as Blake remembered there was no one greater, no one higher. "I started from the bottom...just like everybody else" The thought of Stella not being the centre of attention, of being like her, it felt unfathomable. But, it was understandable. Life was a set of stairs, and every step up was harder and heavier than the last. "I needed someone below me to lift me up" Blake's body fell, unmoving. She felt like she had the wind knocked out of her chest, and she was unsure why.

"Blake...why do you think I even bothered with you in the first place?" she swallowed, wide eyes of disbelief "I needed someone next to me that would do what I asked...that would make me look better because they were such a pathetic charity case that spending time with them would be like enacting community service" her words were so dead, of anything at all. She looked like a husk, something that once stood human and was now crumbling.

"You don't mean that" Blake's voice, it was higher, more full of breathe than she had intended. The air once in her lungs was now wind in her ears, echoed by the slamming of her heart against her ribcage. "You were my...savior" Stella's eyes widened, not in shock, but something else entirely. She was happy, so fucking happy that a smile dressed her face just as fast as it could fade.

"Why do you think people believe in god?" Stella asked, letting out a sudden laugh "They cling to it when their in peril" Blake couldn't stop seeing the image of her young self, so broken, she cried so much because she was so fucking alone. But Stella, she had come down like a gift sent for her misfortune. The only friend she had for so long.

"Did you think I had no idea what your home life was like? I knew you were assaulted, verbally abused and controlled. Even before the state took you in I knew that" Stella insisted "Why do you think I never tried to help you out of it?" Tears started lining her eyes, pooling in the edges of her vision. "You were easier to control damaged than you would have been mended" Blake forced a look away, struggling to wipe away the tears she shed on the sleeves of her shirt.

"Why a-are you saying a-all this?" Blake questioned, her voice shaking.

"Because...you have to understand why I'm doing this-," Stella responded. Blake panicked, watching as the girl, her friend, reached into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out a small gripped knife by the hilt. It glinted in the moonlight, like a deadly jewel in her clenched, manicured hand.

"What choice do I have?!" Stella yelled suddenly "You had a place! A job! A purpose Blakelyn!" The shouts shook Blake's soul, they vibrated against the walls, causing the world to shake. "Instead you stepped out!...Your failed attempt to join the rest of us!-" she seethed, nearly uncontrolled "...As if a person like you...deserves to live on the same level as us" Blake couldn't wipe her tears anymore, instead she just let them fall "It's disgusting"

"Are you- are you-" Blake tried to speak, but it was like she couldn't. It was like her mouth wasn't working "Are you going to kill me?" it came out as a leer whisper of disbelief. Her hands shook at her sides, the panic rising throughout fervor of her body. She wanted to scream, she wanted to run, but the knife, it dared her to risk it with its own taunts. Stella raised an eyebrow, as if confused, amusement like a reflection of light across her pupils.