+I Hate Everything about You+
by: Three Days Grace

I hate everything about you
why do I love you?
You hate everything about me
why do you love me?

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.20: prize

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When my eyes open they’re met with a blinding light, causing me to wince. It’s almost as if, in that light, everything comes rushing back to me. So fast that I feel like my brain is about to burst, like blood is going to be trickling out of my ears from the strain. I whimper, and grab my head, feeling a tug on my arm. Looking over, I see that I’m hooked up to an IV machine and I’m reminded of where I spent my last Halloween. I wonder if it’ll be a tradition now, for me to lose someone on Halloween and spend the night at the hospital.

But . . .

There’s no one left for me to lose.

I sob, covering my burning red, puffy eyes with my hands and ignore the throbbing from the slash on my arm. Then, I hear someone humming from beside me and recognize it all the way. But I don’t have the energy to do anything. I feel like I’ve rotted inside, like even though my body is still alive, I feel dead.

Finally, I remove my hands and slowly turn my head to the window, and sure enough, Death is there, sitting on the window sill, staring up at the full moon and humming to himself.

“It’s too bad the moon isn’t red, tonight would be perfect if it were,” he said softly.

“You’re . . . a monster,” I whisper, my voice rasp.

A beautiful monster.

It’s true, there, sitting on the window sill with the moon light reflecting off him. Even though the light is on, it looks darker by him for some reason. Nevertheless, he’s a beautiful and deadly creature.

He turns to me with a smile and says, “You’ve won your mother’s life, but her soul is still mine. Shall we call it a draw?”

“You said,” I choked, my throat unbearably dry, “that if I won, you’d tell me—in the library.”

“Oh yes, about the game,” he says gleefully.

“How long?”

“It started when your sister was born and your mother made the deal. Your mother’s the one who started the game, but I was the one who thought it up. First, all I had to do was find the other . . . players.”

“My family.”

“Yep. I didn’t have everything thought out though; it just came together on its own and became a new game over time. At first, I just wanted to see if I could make a human fall in love with me—and I did.”

“You weren’t curious about emotions?”

“Oh yeah, I was curious, but I didn’t want them. I mean seriously, emotions are a weakness! Why would I, a God, a superior being, want your petty human weakness?”

“You’re sick!” I try to scream but my voice cracks and I cough.

My hand catches blood.

“Emotions may be our weakness at times, but it also our strength,” I whisper into my blood-stained hand.

He sighs, shrugging his shoulders carelessly. “If that’s what you want to believe. To me, you just sound like a blabbering fool trying to be positive or whatever. Logic wins over everything. If you had used logic rather than emotion, you might have won the game—your mother and sister might still be alive.” He then shakes his head thoughtfully. “Not the father though, you were much too young to save him.”

“How could I have saved my sister?” I ask.

“By asking me to save her life instead of your own, by making a deal of your own. But you didn’t, you were too panicked and scared, you only thought about saving yourself. Her soul was taken yes, but I’m the God of Death, I could have given it back.”

“Would you have . . . really given her back?”

“Maybe. It would have depended on the deal you made.”

“You didn’t give me enough time . . .”

“If you didn’t have your emotions getting in your way, you would have had plenty of time to use that pretty little brain of yours to think up something.”

“But it changed . . .”

“Oh yes, the game changed, after you confessed, I felt . . . it just wasn’t a good enough ending to the game. And then I remembered how your mother was supposed to die.”

“You knew I’d be the one to kill her.”

“It was very blurry, but I had a hunch.”

“An accident . . .”

“You didn’t mean to kill her, did you?”

No . . .

I just wanted her to stop . . .

“That’s called unintentional, not an accident.”

“Yes, but I enjoyed watching you panic and acting overly paranoid.”

I don’t say anything to that.

“But you won her life, so I’m here to give you a prize.”

I grip the sheets.

“Whatever you want and I’ll give it to you.”

“Give them back,” I hiss through clenched teeth.

He doesn’t respond.

“My father, my sister, and my mother . . . give them back.”

My family.

My blood.

My kin.

I want them back!

“I can’t do that.”

“You said anything!” I shout but soon regret it, as more blood oozes out of my mouth—something that doesn’t seem to surprise Death at all.

“Why would you even want your mother back? She tried to kill you.”

“You wouldn’t understand . . . she’s my family, my mom. She gave me my life. She was . . . she was the first person I saw and loved when I came into this world . . .” I look at him with fierce eyes. “I don’t care how you do it, just give them back to me.”

“And what would I do? Put their souls in their corpses? Your father is nothing but bones now, your sister too, and your mother’s body will rot away soul or no soul. Having a soul will only make her rot slower.”

“Like what’s happening to me,” I choke out.

He smiles. “You got it.”

“I just figured it out. My body . . . it’s rotting.”

“A soul can only do so much. Your body should have died last year, your soul shouldn’t even be there anymore.”

“Can’t you . . . put my family in new bodies?”

“No. Their souls lost their host. They would just reject a foreign vessel.”

I look away. “Then what could you . . . possibly do for me? What could you possibly give me?”

He places a hand on my stomach, a feathery light touch.

“It’s your insides that are rotting . . . I can heal it, prolong your life more.”

“How long?”

“A few more decades. You’ll only make it to thirty forty though, fifty if you’re lucky.”

“Heh, you call that a prize?”

“Some people wish for merely one more day to live.”

That’s when I realize . . . I don’t want to live at all.

Not anymore.

“I don’t . . . I want . . . my family . . . take me now . . .” I sob.

“You choose to die?”

“Yes!” I’ll do anything, to feel them in my hands and arms again—to be able to grasp something again. Kayla’s innocent smile, father’s protecting arms, mother’s loving embrace.

I want it all back.

I don’t want to live with this loss.

“Besides, even if you could prolong my life tell me, what kind of life would I have? I’m a murderer after all.”

“I could erase the evidence. No one would know.”

“I WOULD!” I scream and then cough again. “Please don’t . . . don’t ask me to live with the guilt of killing my mother . . . when it’s your fault she snapped in the first place!”

“And yet you still love me,” he smirks and if I had been standing, I would have fallen back.

That’s totally uncalled for!

“Wha-what?”

“Humans are so stupid, especially you women. You can love even the most disgusting men on this earth.”

“So you at least admit that you’re disgusting?”

“I was referring to humans, foolish girl,” he says darkly. “Even if he treats you like shit and doesn’t love you back, you continue to do so.”

“Now you’re trying to rub my face in the fact that you don’t love me?”

He turns to look back out the window. “You were a fool to believe I would. After all . . . you’re still alive. And I’m technically not. If you’re alive, then you can die, I can’t die, I’m not alive. I’m not mortal.”

“You’ve made that clear,” I growl. “Now are you going to give me my prize or not?”

“Such a hurry . . . Fine. But you have a wake up first.”

And I do.

I already knew I was sleeping, no way could we have yelled at each other and no one hear us.

When I do open my eyes, the first thing I hear is a beeping sound, steady but slow. I look over to my side and see Death there, staring down at me.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

I nod, slowly. Suddenly the weight of my rotting body is pressing down on me and I can already feel myself slipping away.

“No regrets?”

“No regrets,” I confirm, my voice so low and cracked I doubt he would’ve heard me if he was a human.

He leans down and just before his lips touch mine I whisper, “I hate you.”

He answers, “I know.” Then kisses me.

I feel . . . light. Like gravity no longer applies to me as I’m pulled up and out of my body. I can’t see, but I can feel Death leading me somewhere, someplace warm and comforting. It’s like all of the pain in my body and heart fade away and I know that I’ll rest in pure bliss.

Then, when we stop, the first thing I feel is my sister’s head being buried in my stomach, my father’s strong arms holding us from behind, and mother gently placing a kiss on my forehead.

Papa.

Sis.

Mama . . .

“I’m home.”

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fin

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…I don’t know what happened.

I know I said I wouldn’t update until Friday, but I just couldn’t wait! (I’m sure you guys don’t mind) So, I decided not to go to my math class today and just sit back and write this. (No, this isn’t the reason why I didn’t go; I just didn’t feel like going today. Ah, to be an adult. LOL.) I’m glad I shocked a lot of you, that was my goal! I love being unique and . . . . and . . . I don’t know. Lol.

I’m also thinking about changing one of the sub-genre’s to Family but Angst also fits….hmmm….

And this is the ending. Whether you love it or hate it, don’t ask me to change it. I find that insulting and annoying. Hate on it if you want, but don’t tell me how to end my stories. Besides, I have a bit of a love for bittersweet endings. My fav type of ending. Though I like to mix them up, bittersweet is my favorite(just don't expect only that from me. I'll add in some happy and sad ones too. I also want to do a WTF?! one). XD

Thanks for the reviews lovelies, your reactions were lovely: TheVampireDoll, Manola3, SecretsUntold, Stahlut, help911x711, Kit-Kat Punk-lover, DarkestOfNights, bakagirl123, Jayjack, teardrop456, SweetDreamsNNightmares, DanitheGurl, vyyper’s prey, zeezuin, xiia0moonlight, Demeterr, T34rSoFBLoOd, angelzane, DaniD3, akaCHEEKS, Lily Marie, xiomara209, Ck Ash, EvanescentSight

TheVampireDoll: I love horror! –gathers all my horror movies up in a pile and haggles them- Yes, I did plan her mother going a little nutso from the very beginning. X3

Manola3: Well, this speed should make you happy. XD

Kit-Kat Punk-lover: Ha ha, you evil little thing! XD Isn’t Toboe ADORABLE?!!! He’s like, the puppy of the group! And his friendship with Tsume is adorable too! They’re all adorable! KYAAA!!! And Blue, soooo beautiful! X3 Ah, now I want to watch it! I have the two box sets cause they were cheap at Best Buy, only like 20 bucks! Aaah, America, the cheapest country in the land. LOL.

DarkestOfNights: Aww, you knew? –goes to her corner of woe- But…a masterpiece? –blushes- Aww, thank ya dear! XD

SweetDreamsNNightmares: well I’m happy my writing took away the pain. X3 I don’t really wear heels so I can’t say I feel your pain but….I helped! I helped! :D I hope you found the stories on my profile to your liking. ;D Er, if you haven’t already read them anyway. Lol!

vyyper’s prey: what’s awesome about my character development is that I didn’t even try or pay attention to it, it just came naturally. Lol!

Lily Marie: A genius eh? –chest swells with pride-

Ck Ash: I got the idea from something I learned about people psychological….ness….or whatever. That sometimes these things, like an anniversary of someone’s death, can make someone SNAP. And I really wanted to do something with that. In my original idea, Death disappears after the confession and Faith keeps losing and the ending is more…romantic? But I didn’t like that so I changed it. I don’t know why, something just bothers me with making Death romantic or loving in any way. He’s a god, to me, he has no romantic love like that. The ending where he kisses her and all that to take her away though, is supposed to show that he did care about her, on some level. And her saying I hate you is her way of saying “I love you”. And him saying “I know” and then kissing her is his way of saying, I know, but I can’t, but I’ll give you your wish—or prize. Aaah, symbolism! XD The game I actually pulled out of my ass on the spot. But it ended up being like, the entire story was a game. Lol. XD

EvanescentSight: Life is random at times and doesn’t make sense. In fact, you might get a call tonight…one that may change your life forever, randomly and fast. Lol. Aaah, there’s some insight for ya, young grasshopper. XD lol! JK.