……………………………………

……………………………………

He watches from the corner… he waits for her to stumble…

…………………………………….

Eventually I found Rob talking to one of his football friends. I grabbed Rob’s wrist and pulled him away from his friend as I ran, dragging him down the hallway.

“What’s wrong?” Rob said breathlessly as we came to a stop just by the side entrance to the school. “What’s wrong Em?”

I bit my lip, trying to form the words. They wouldn’t come. “Let’s skip.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s skip class. Hang out all day,” I smiled lightly at him. “Just me and you.”

“Uh,” Rob looked a little taken aback. “Sure, I guess.”

An hour later found us sitting in his backyard. We were sitting under a large tree- the shade was much needed, seeing as how it was so hot. And for once, we weren’t kissing. We just say there, side by side, silent. My mind was buzzing with thoughts, stuff that I wanted to tell Rob.

Finally he broke the silence.

“I used to climb this tree when I was little,” Rob told me, staring up at the branches. “It’s too bad it’s such a small tree, or I would climb it right now just to get away from this awkward silence…”

I laughed. “I can’t believe your parents let you climb trees!”

“Yeah, well my parents were sort of hippies in their younger years.”

I looked up at the tree carefully. “You know that those branches are rotting?” I pointed at the mushrooms. “Those are decomposing them.”

“Huh.”

We sat in awkward silence for another couple minutes.

“So… why are we skipping again?” Rob asked softly, once again breaking into my thoughts. “Not that I’m complaining. But my marks are dropping in math, so-”

“I wanted to tell you some bad news.” I said nervously.

“Come here.” He patted his lap. I crawled over and got onto his lap (with a bit of difficulty. Honestly, nothing is ever like the movies). He folded his arms around me and tucked my head under his chin. “What is it?”

“Jeff’s out of jail.”

For a moment he didn’t say anything, and then I felt his arms tighten. “How?”

“Not sure,” I murmured. “Something about convincing the judge to let him go…”

“That’s illegal,” Rob pointed out. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said his voice was going frantic. “The judge can’t take back his sentence!”

“…” I curled up even tighter in his arms.

“So I guess you won’t be leaving my side then,” Rob said, making up his mind. “I won’t let him come near you.”

“He’s not allowed on school grounds,” I pointed out.

“Just because he’s not allowed doesn’t mean he won’t.”

“Rob,” I said carefully. “I can’t stay by your side all the time. It’s unrealistic. And we’d both go crazy.”

“No way,” Rob murmured, hugging me tighter. “It’ll work.”

“No it won’t,” I argued. “Besides, I have a plan.”

“Plan?”

“I’m running away.”

“What?” he tilted my face up towards him. “No way!”

“Yeah,” I told him. “I’m gonna go live with my friend Lisa for awhile.”

“Where does Lisa live?”

“About an hour away from here.”

“No way!” Rob said again. “You can’t go that far! What if Jeff follows you and I’m not there-”

“He won’t know I’m going there,” I told Rob. “I’ll just go. I’ll leave my parents a note…”

“What if he finds the note?”

“He won’t,” I told him.

“Maybe he will.”

“He won’t!”

We sat in silence, both of us a little pissed off. Then I decided I couldn’t stay mad at him. He was arguing was out of concern for me, after all.

“Listen Rob, I’ll go away for awhile. I’ll come back and visit-”

“You can’t stay way out there! What about school?”

“Fuck school.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No!” I told him. “I’m going to Lisa’s, and her grandparents won’t want you there. Especially because you’re my boyfriend!”

“I’m coming with you.”

I shoved myself out of his arms and stood up. “No, you’re not.” I turned to leave. “Bye, Rob.”

“Wait!” he stood up, glowering. “Come on, Emily! You can’t just run away. It’s not going to solve anything!”

I turned around and strode towards the gate, but Rob was faster. He grabbed me from behind and swung me around to face him. “Don’t go.”

“I’m going,” I told him. “You can’t stop me.”

Then he kissed me, passionately. Desperately. I felt his lips bruise mine, and his hands grasp my hips aggressively. I felt myself respond.

“Tell me you don’t want to stay with me,” Rob whispered, pulling back for a second before kissing me again. He hands ran down and cupped my butt as he attacked my mouth. I felt my stomach do flips as I kissed him back furiously.

“Rob,” I whispered as he pulled away for air again. “I can’t- I have to go-”

“Don’t go,” he whispered, kissing my neck down to my collar bone. “Stay with me.”

“No,” I pushed him away. We were both panting like dogs. “I’ll come back. I promise.”

Rob hesitated, looking defeated. “Okay.”

I kissed him lightly on the lips, then turn around and left his yard, closing the gate without looking at him. I was afraid that if I did, I would change my mind and stay with him after all.

………………………………………………..

“Mmhmm, and how do you feel about that?”

I glared at Eddie evilly. “Can I leave now?”

Eddie checked his watch. “We have fifteen minutes left.”

“This isn’t helping me.” I told him, peeved.

“Just tell me how you would feel if your boyfriend did come back.”

I thought about what he said. After all those months- months of heartache and tears, how would I feel if he suddenly came back…

Well, a little creeped out. For sure. A little happy, but honestly-

“I don’t want him here.”

I held Eddie’s sharp look as I listed off my reasons.

“I loved him back then, but not anymore. I’ve moved on-”

His eyes turned darker,

“The past is in the past.”

And darker, until they were almost-

Black.

“I wish he’d go back to-” I stopped mid sentence, suddenly afraid. “Eddie?”

“What if he risked everything for you,” Eddie said coolly, standing up slowly. “What if he sold the souls of his family for you? What if he was stuck in hell, for a whole year- and suddenly heard your call, and couldn’t resist it? What then?”

Eddie was now standing right in front of me. Though I had the feeling that it wasn’t Eddie I was speaking to.

I looked him square in the eye. “Pat, you could have resisted my call. You resisted for a year, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but I finally broke down,” he spluttered. “I couldn’t get any peace. Day and night, all my fam, you and my friends, all wishing for me to come home. Each one of those wishes rang through my head until I thought my brain was going to explode. Especially your wish-“

He placed his hands on my shoulders. “When you wished over my grave, I couldn’t resist. I made a deal with the nearest big shot, and off I was- only-”

He got this faraway look in his eyes. “Only wrong. Stuck in his body, the man who had you but didn’t want you. It was sickening-”

“Pat,” I said softly. “You have to go back.”

Pat stared at me for a second. “Fuck no.”

“Please,” I begged. “There’s nothing left for you here…”

“Yes there is,” his look made me shiver. “I thought you loved me, Emily.”

“Not anymore,” I said, softer still.

His grip on my shoulders tightened. “No!”

“You were gone- for a whole year-” I tried to shrug him off, but his grip just tightened. He lifted me right off the couch, so I was standing about an inch away from him.

“You love me Emily,”

“No.”

“Yes you do,” he kissed me, hard. I felt like I was going to hurl.

“No, I don’t!” I yelled. “Get your hands off me!”

Pat reached back his hand as if to slap me, and I winced, slamming my eyes shut. But the expected blow never came. I cracked an eye open to see him smiling.

To be honest, the smiling scared me more.

“Fine then,” he whispered. “I’ll make you love me.”

“Huh?”

“This is your last chance. Do you love me?”

“No!”

“Every time you say that word, someone dies…”

“W-what?”

“Do you love me?”

I didn’t say anything.

“Fuck Emily, answer me!”

“I-I can’t,” I said finally, not looking him in the eyes.

“There’s someone else.” Pat snarled.

“N-n-” I shook as his grip bruised me. “O-of course not!”

Pat smirked, and I could see his eyes fading back to Eddie’s blue. “When I come and find you, you had better come with me. Or the boy gets it.”

Then he was gone.

Eddie stared at me, blinking. Hastily he let go of my arms and stepped away.

We stared at each other in silence.

“I’m not crazy,” I said, finally.

“No- I suppose not,” Eddie stared down at his feet. “Was that-”

“Good ol’ Patty? Yep.”

“He’s a rather- angry youth, isn’t he?”

“Did you hear everything he said?”

“Not really,” he told me. “I just knew he was there; I could feel his presence take over, and I could vaguely understand which parts of my body were moving, but it was all sort of hazy.”

I pointed to myself. “Not crazy.”

“No.”

We stood in silence for another minute.

“Err… cookie?” Eddie offered, pointing at the plate.

I fell onto the couch and laugh and laughed and laughed until I cried.

……………………………………………

Hey guys I’m going away for the weekend and I only have half a chapter written up AND I’m taking on a SECOND job (as if I need another one…) so an update may take awhile, like a week. But the next chappy is good I promise! So keep reading!

Thanks to: Italiangurlinamessedupworld, porkypick, raerochella, and LaLaFaery

Wow, definitely less reviewers this time  please review! I’ll give you virtual cookies!

-He watches from the corner—Club thing, by Yoav