Prologue

I did the only thing I could do: I dropped my umbrella and ran. My legs begin to pick up the same speed that was going through the thoughts of my head as I dodged the trees with the rain darting against my skin, echoing one thing.

I told you so.

He doesn't care.

I told you so.

Through the rain drops splashing against my face, I felt tears form in my eyes as I screamed at myself. "Shut up! Get out of my head! Just shut up!"

I told you so.

"Shut up!"

You knew so.

"Be quiet!"

You knew this would happen.

"Leave me alone-!"

At that moment as those words slipped out of my mouth, the ground below me collapsed and all of it went down the cliff, including myself. My mind was in a whirlwind as I tumbled down the huge cliff with the mud and landed with a hard thud on the ground. I was sure I heard more then one thing crack the split-second before the pounds of mud, dirt and whatever else was on there came rolling down and literally buried me.

Reality suddenly came as I was completely still under the dirt, my lungs and my heart going like sixty. I was completely blinded on all senses. All I could see was my life flashing before my eyes, all I could hear was the lies he told, all I could taste was the sticky taste of tears, rainwater, blood and dirt, all I could smell was mud and all I could feel was pain in my ribs, thighs and left shoulder blade. I couldn't move and I couldn't breathe and I could only remember one thought before I passed out.

Gawd, I hate that bastard.

Several hours later, I awoke, but I wasn't under a pile of mud, I was under a light blanket on a heavier blanket on the floor. My only light was a candle that was placed on a shelf next to a ragged couch that was nearby.

I looked down and was shocked to find the pain I had felt throughout several parts of my body was gone. I observed all the areas in disbelief just as I heard the door open.

"Oh, you…are awake."

I looked up to see an unhealthily skinny woman with long frizzy raven hair that seems to flutter behind her and dull black eyes that didn't seem the type that would reflect light. With only the candle as light, I could make out that she was holding a tray with several objects on it.

The woman closed the door behind her and walked over to me. She knelt down and offered me a glass that was on the tray. "Here. You should drink this. It will make you feel better."

I warily took the glass, but I did not take a drink. Instead I looked around. "Where am I?"

She sat and began doing something on the tray she brought in that I could not see. "You are in my cabin. I found you unconscious under the mud and thought for sure you were dead. What were you doing all alone in the woods at night?"

I took a drink form the glass. "I'm not alone; I'm with my…friends…" I looked down. Why did I say that? I don't even know her!

She paused whatever she was doing on the tray and looked at me. "Then why were you in the woods and not with your friends in the woods, I wonder?"

"I…" I looked at her, and she looked at me. I couldn't explain how but suddenly, I felt like I could trust her. "I ran away."

"May I ask why?" She went back to doing whatever she was doing on the tray.

"Because, you see, I was upset. I…My boy-friend…I thought for sure he brought me out here to propose to me, I mean we've been going out for three years, you would think…and he brought my best friend to hide it…But I saw…They…My best friend and him…Were kissing and…all over each other and he…he didn't propose to me…he proposed to her…and she said yes…And…"

I sniffed and I felt tears forming in my eyes. "And it's not fair!" I banged my fist against the floor. "I'm the one helping him with his classes, my family's the one paying his sorry ass for college, it's my house he's living in, I paid so much shit for him and he jus' goes behind my back and cheats on me and gawd only knows how long they've been seeing each other behind my back and we've been friends since middle school! It's not fair, IT'S NOT FAIR, GOD-DAMMIT!"

She paused as I fell to my lap and started crying. I felt so stupid, but I was so hurt. I loved him. Hell, several times I thought I was pregnant with his child. Why did he do this? How could he? And how could Marilyn? We've been friends forever! How could she do that? Gawd…I just…feel so alone…

I tried to stop crying and furiously wiped my eyes. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw her pick up something of the tray that shape was something I hadn't seen on there before in the shape of a scroll of some sort and set it on her lap.

She raised her hand and rubbed my back. "Hush…It is okay…just let it all out…I understand…and I can help you…"

I suddenly felt a wave suspicion that was followed by a wave of fear by the way she said it. "What do you mean?"

The smile that settled upon her face made my skin crawl. She picked up the scroll like object that was on her lap and slowly began untying the dark ribbon that sealed it. "Do you hate him?"

"You mean Charles?"

"Yes, your former boy-friend. Do you hate him?"

Is the sky blue? "Hell yeah!"

"Do you want him to go to hell?"

"YEAH! Dammit, I do! I can't believe that bastard, I hope he-

But I trailed off, for she just finished untying the ribbon that sealed the scroll. Letting the ribbon fall to the floor, she let the scroll unravel to reveal an ancient looking paper that had nothing on it except in bright, red letters that read The Death List.

I looked up at her. "What in the hell's that?"

She was no longer smiling, she was smirking. "Exactly."

Her voice seemed different. "Wadda ya mean?"

"I mean, my dear, that this list is a hell. A passage to hell."

"Wad….What do…y-

"You sign the name of the person you wish from the bottom of your heart to go to hell."

My eyes widened. Sudden hatred filled my body as I thought of all the sacrifice I had given, all the trust I had made and thought of the anger and betrayal of it all to be broken. Slowly I grabbed the pen in her other hand and wrote the words 'Charles Arthur Meriwether onto the paper.

As soon as I finished, I felt the pen burn, I dropped it and glanced back at the list only to see in horror that instead of the name I just wrote on there, I saw 'Rebecca Joy Williams'.

I screamed in confusion of why my name was on there instead as the woman's face twisted into an awful grin.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play games with the devil??

I screamed as pain erupted through out my entire body. Blood poured out of all openings as my wrists exploded and started bleeding like crazy. Throughout my screams of agony, I heard a deep, evil laughter fill my head. I screamed even louder and clutched my ears to get out the laughter, but the laughter only grew.

The only person who heard my screams was a woman, seventy miles away. Her name was Lavender Stone.

End of Prologue