Paranoia

Chapter twenty six

(A.N.-Contest information at the end of the chapter![:  )

Dade’s point of view

“Blood, there’s blood on the carpet. Blood, there’s blood on your hands…”

            I sang along with my music softly. My eyes were closed and my breathing was shallow. Nothing had been the same since Rylie. I moved my fingers to the beat of the soft song. I felt like I was in a trance as I felt the music engulf my thoughts.

            Rylie’s smiling face stared at me. Her eyes were warm and genuine.

“Hey, baby.” Her eyes crinkled as her smile grew.

“Rylie?” I blinked. “Rylie!” I reached out to touch her, but she pulled away as quickly as she appeared. The happiness left her face, and here eyes were glowing with hate. “Baby…baby, no. no, I’m so sorry.”

“Like sorry’s gonna bring me back to life, Dade.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “You killed me, because I got mad at you for cheating on me. You know what? I wasn’t even mad…I was just hurt. Hurt that you, the boy I love, would do that to me.”

“No…no it’s not like that…” I bit my lip and frantically searched for words. Anything to make things better.

“Oh, so then did you just kill me because you wanted to win the game? Is that why?”

I dropped my head down in defeat.

“You know…I expected better from you.” Her words cut through my heart.

“Wait! I love you! Please don’t hate me!”

“Dade!” My dad called me, his voice muffled by my music.

No Rylie.

“You’re left in the dust of decisions, begging for more…”

“Dade,” My dad knocked on my door, and I turned my music down.

“What?” I asked once he opened the door.

“Hey, we haven’t hung out…just us in a while, ya know? I was thinkin’ we could have a father and son day ta’morrow. Whatta ya think?” A bright smile was shown behind his stubbly beard as he spoke lazily.

“I was actually going to go back to school tomorrow…” I spoke slowly, not even looking at him.

“Oh,” He looked disappointed. “Are ya sure? You can stay home one more day.” He sat down next to me.

“I want to go back.”

“Are you sure?” He pushed. “This could put a lot of stress on you.”

“I’m already stressed.” I stared at my floor.

            The only reason I didn’t want to spend the day with him was because I was so goddamn guilty. He raised me better than who I grew up to be. He didn’t raise me a murderer.

I couldn’t even look at him.

“Listen, I know how hard this is,” He started, placing a hand on my back, but I pulled away before he finished.

“No you don’t!” I screamed. “You don’t fucking know!” I grabbed my phone and ran out of my house.

“Dade!” My father called after me.

“Fuck you!” I screamed in return.

            I sprinted down the block. The cold air wasn’t enough to fill my empty lunges, so I slowed my pace and eventually collapsed on the hard pavement below me. I was coughing violently for air and I felt myself getting dizzy. With one final hard cough, the world went black and I felt the ground reach my face.