Damn Good Reasons **DISCONTINUED - SEE NEW VER!**

41 Revelations

Only you

Can make all this world seem right

Only you

Can make the darkness bright

Only you and you alone

Can thrill me like you do

And fill my heart with love for only you

O-only you

Can make all this change in me

For it's true

You are my destiny...

I breathed in the satin voices that synched so perfectly in harmony with the low tones of that velvety-soft bass. The melody carried me away downriver while the lyrics punctured into me like little stabbing weapons, each line cutting significantly deeper until I felt like a bleeding mess on the inside.

The music had attracted me to it like an insect to a bright light and led me to the Dance Hall in the center of town. Instruments from a live band flowed out of the open windows and doorways, and the hall was lit up with colorful lights and a banner strung high across the doorway reading 'Castle Rock Junior High Hop'.

Keeping my head down, I scuttled past the few kids that littered the sidewalk after spying the perfect place to hide from passersby. The town library stood across the road from the hall, and I rested in its dark alcove entrance, hugging my knees and letting the music fill my ears and all of me.

Replays of tonight's events repeated over and over in my head like a skipping record, returning to the beginning and never finding the end. And it played intensely. I could still feel Ace's warmth on my skin. Those despising steel blue eyes were vivid in my mind. Song after song went by, many of them romantic numbers that kept the wounds open and the pain fresh. Opening up to the pain felt good. It felt good to let go and become the blubbering mess on the sidewalk that I had yearned to become for weeks.

Leaving the dirty floor of the alcove behind, my legs felt like jelly as they carried me into the nearest alleyway. Straining to see through the blur of tears and the lack of light, I felt my way down to the end and peered out to scout the next street. A single streetlight above shone its dim light across the closed shops and the scatter of cars along the sidewalks. I let two minutes go by to watch for movement, but not a soul stirred the air.

My head felt numb as I trudged onto the sidewalk, leaving the safety of the shadows behind. Somewhere in my mind, a decision had been made, and my legs were merely doing the necessary to get me there. All cautions, alternatives, second guesses, consequences - I shook all of it off my shoulders to lighten the load.

The nearest car only took a few steps to reach, and my lockpicks were soon in the keyhole. The door fell open in my hands, and the driver's seat became mine. I pushed my picks down the barrel of the ignition and the car vibrated around me as the engine hummed to life. But, just as I released the handbrake, knuckles rapped hard on my window, right by my ear. My heart leaped into my throat and, when I saw who it was, I swear I gagged on it.

Deep blue eyes stared at me through the glass, his face a picture of purity tainted by a crinkled brow. "Cassie?"

My hand tremored as I wound down my window, and I leaned away from him to hide my distress and puffy red eyes.