I looked deeply at Jacob taking in his distinct features. He was tall, about 6’2, with a medium build. He had red hair, celery green eyes, and perfect ears positioned symmetrically at each side of his head. Next to him, my skinny blonde-haired face looked homely and displaced. Jacob always held a white-toothy smile that was contagious to anyone who looked at it, but now, the edges of his mouth were pulled down into a deep grimace.

“Jake, what’s wrong?” I asked. I could feel myself trembling from head to foot, suddenly worrying where Jacob exactly was on my suspect list.

Jacob’s grip on me tightened once more. I followed his gaze to a few yards away where Eva and Josh stood.

“Mrs. Livingston? What are you doing here? Josh?” I asked, absolutely confused. The thoughts and feelings in my head ran into each other and I suddenly felt like I was going to faint.

“Mom?” Jacob echoed my thoughts of why the hell his mother was there.

“Jacob, honey, I’m only doing what’s best for you. You’re too good for her, you deserve better,” Eva Livingston stated in a slightly robotic tone.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jacob asked. He looked at his mother like she belonged in the psychiatric unit.

Eva ignored his look. “I tried and tried to break your connection with that bitch. I disconnected our phone line, so you thought you were calling her, and she wasn’t returning your calls. She broke your heart honey, and I couldn’t see you get that hurt ever again.”

“That’s when I came into the picture,” Josh informed Jake and I. His eyes were locked on mine and I was scared to death. “You were eventually going to get back into contact with Jacob, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. I found out you were cheating on me with him when I talked to Eva here in the grocery store.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked in pure astonishment. “Josh, I never even dreamt about cheating on you.” I was struck speechless at that point, and even though I had the perfect chance to argue back, my throat was frozen. I realized Eva had a malicious sneer on her face that told the truth to everything. “Eva,” I managed to mutter.

Eva walked up to me and whispered in my ear. “That’s right honey. I lied! I told Josh a whole bunch of pathetic lies to turn him against you, and it worked. He put on a little show to be so madly in love with you.” She said all this so quietly only Jacob and I could here. She then backed up and continued in a louder voice, “And then sweet little Josh pushed you off the cliff, but no! Someone on the beach saw and started screaming.”

“I had to cover myself up and jump in and save you, you brat!” sneered Josh.

“So you see, it wasn’t my precious Jacob who pushed you, or who hurt you on the beach. It was all Josh. I hadn’t planned to take it this far. I was just going to ruin your life, but when I saw you kissing my son, I knew it was the kiss of death.”

“But, why mom?” Jacob looked stunned and he slowly walked me backwards away from the fruit loops.

“Because I couldn’t see you get hurt! What don’t you understand? I saw you falling into her trap!” Eva screamed at the top of her lungs. She quickly realized she was talking too loud and quieted down. “And now, it is time for you to die Cloey.”

Mrs. Livingston and Josh slowly crept toward us. “Run Cloey!” Jacob screamed, but it was too late. Josh grabbed Jacob to hold him down. Eva circled her arms around me and began to drag me towards the edge of the cliff. At the edge I could see the swirling black waters that screamed my fate below me.

“No mom! I love her!” I turned back to see Jacob sobbing and screaming this, tears streaming down his face. He had stopped fighting Josh and was just standing there weeping. “If you throw her, I’ll jump too.”

This seemed to have a lasting effect on Eva because she stopped pushing and stared at me in disgust. “What the hell does he see in you?” I took advantage of this opportunity and changed positions with Eva. I grabbed a hold of her and pushed her to the edge. What about Jacob? It is his mother. What should I do?

“You’re father left me. I couldn’t stand to see you go too! And to that I might add,” Eva sobbed pointing at me. Okay, not totally my fault, so what was there to do? Not push her and have her probably push me to my death? Or push her and have to live with the fact that I killed my best friend’s mom for the rest of my life? As if to answer my thoughts, Josh leapt over and took Eva away from me. Still holding Eva he reached over to me. How many times was someone going to try to push me off a cliff? Jacob ran up and pushed Josh to his death. And along with him…his mother.