Orange Roses

Twenty-Four: Happily Never After

Dun, dun, dun, the last chapter of Orange Roses. There's a preview to Red Roses coming up and the first chapter of Red Roses will be up by Friday. 

I'll be making a quick simple cover, but if any of you know of a good cover maker who'd like to help me then tell me! Thanks for everything guys. 

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Chapter Twenty-Four :

Happily Never After 

"Hey yeah, I wonder if you already figured out all the things I've tried to hide. All this time, I've been hoping you don't find out what's on the inside."

It had been nearly a week since the whole thing, but by the way Abe looked at me I probably shouldn't be out in public still. 

"You look horrible!" Abe gasped as I limped my way over to where he sat with Drake sitting on my shoulder. I probably did with my none scarred eye having a black eye and a cut on my left cheek with a big bruise on my neck. I even had bruises on my breasts that Drake saw for a split second and he nearly threw a fit and went to kill John. "So...I heard that the police finally caught the murderer. An anonymous caller said that a man had a wound in his stomach and the cops questioned him because he kept clutching onto Marie's locket. Did you have something to do with that?"

Unicorn boy and Daisy wouldn't come anywhere near a place filled with vampires and decided to meet up at the Ripley's Believe it or Not place.

I sat down and he snapped his fingers. "Yeah, you can say that," I told him as I sat down. I looked to see Ari singing. He winked at me and Drake glared, but I smiled at him. Ari looked good for someone who just got out of jail. I would've loved to see how the FBI or whoever had to let him go handled the whole thing when they found out they were wrong.

 A waiter came by and dropped off a glass of wine. 

"You look like you need it."

I nodded and didn't hesitate to drink a sip. I relaxed a little as I asked him, "Do you know about Rebecca?"

Abe nodded. "She tried to kill you, but she realized that she could've just ran away with him."

"You going to kill her?" I asked as he shook his head. Drake began braiding my hair which comforted me even though I still freaked out when a guy came near me now which was new.

"It wouldn't be worth to kill her," Abe explained, "It'd just be too messy and I'll see her again soon. Werewolves don't live all that long as I'm sure you've figured out." I nodded inagreement before I took another sip of the wine. It burned my mouth and numbed out my body a little as I realized and took a deep sigh of relief. "Forgive me."

I thought about how Drake asked for forgiveness because he felt so bad for me almost getting...I shook my head as I said, "For what? It's not like you knew about Rebecca. I don't care and she didn't do near as much damage as John did so I'm happy." I polished the wine before I got up and smiled at him. "I have to go though, thanks for everything."

"I can't be held responsible. This is all so new to me. Just when I think I'm invincible you come and happen to me." Ari sang into the microphone as I smiled and waved at him. Drake dropped off my shoulder and got big so he could cling onto me by the shoulders and helped me walk to the big giant building with the shark's head on it.

The Repily's building was the sort of building that demanded attention with the weird sights like the car covered in gold coins, the oversized faucet running by itself without any pipes, and some weird submerging guy going up and down a pole. It also helped that it was painting bright red. Unicorn boy and Daisy already snuck in, so I paid for my ticket and got in.

Drake held onto me as we looked through the weird crap. I stopped at the vampire stuff that consisted of some of Vlad's clothing, a bat with it's wings painted, a actual vampire killing kit and wondered if I should be behind one of the glass cases. Look at the Freak Scar Girl with Sight of Faeries! She can see all the monsters that go bump in the night!

"Matty?"

I looked over to see Cooper with some girl that I didn't recognize. I smiled as he frowned.

"Brat," Drake whispered as he tightened his grip on my shoulders.

"Hey Cooper," I said as I leaned on Drake's body for support.

"What happened?" I smiled at him, feeling the wine hit me a little then. I limped my way over to him and took his hand in mine before

I took a few steps away from the girl before whispering, "Caught the murdering bastard. He sort of kind of tried to kill me, but he didn't."

Cooper stared at me. "What? And why does your breath smell like a winery?"

I nodded as I looked at Cooper before catching his face between my hands. "I'm okay," I promised, "so don't feel bad." I kissed his forehead before letting him go and walking away from him toward Drake. I looked at the vampire stuff again with it's dark lighting and creepy background stuff that looked like a graveyard at night as I felt Cooper move pass me.

"Summer sucked," I said as Drake pressed his chest to my back. I looked up at him to see him looking down at me.

"It could've been worse," Drake told me as he kissed my forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"How?"

"You could've died." I felt the weight of John on top of me. I saw the look on Dexter's face. I heard the sobbing of Marie's mother. Vomit crept up my throat. My heart broke. Tears formed behind my eyes. I grabbed his hand.

"Death isn't so bad, right? It's supposed to be another grand adventure," I joked.

"Don't say that." Drake said as he put his hand over my eyes. I thought about the man I saw before passing out that night. Who was he?

I grabbed onto his wrist. "It hurts too much sometimes."

"Close your eyes and try to block everything out for a moment."

And let the nightmares eat me alive?