When All Else Fails :P I slammed the gym doors open, feeling the unwelcome sting in my eyes.

How could I be so stupid? Just how idiotic a girl could be to let someone through her walls and let them hurt you? All these years of careful distance, of wrapping yourself in empty coldness, of such enormous efforts to protect yourself from this. Im just so damn stupid. I stumbled through the halls, looking for sanctuary, for a place where I wont hurt the way Im hurting now. My heart felt like it was splintering, and I was desperately trying to keep it from falling apart. The dance was getting louder and louder, the sounds conquering the building with its heavy beats and loud noises. I dont want it to reach me. It brings too many images at its notes like hidden shadows lingering and tearing at my fractured mind. I need a place where silence was a friend, a cold but sure friend. Kai! I heard Shanes voice, calling me as he tried to undo what he had done. Dont, I thought as I ran faster, dont come with your lies, dont try to explain elaborately, dont tell me you were wrong when I already know you are, dont tell me she means nothing when I know she means something. I ran as I shoved my broken thoughts into my head. Dont tell me youre sorry because I know youre not. But most of all dont tell me to come back because you love me, because I just might do that and let my heart break all over again. I sped up and ran. I ran from the dance, from Shane and from the image of them dancing, where a kiss was a breath away. A wail tried escape from my throat as the image, clear as crystal sprang from my mind. His hands around her waists, hers looped on her shoulders. Her dress a painful pink so small it covered only half of what was appropriately hidden. Her eyes captivating him and a smile that said she won. I thought he didnt get people like her. But apparently, that was the way Shane wanted it. The way I thought he didnt like. And such a huge price to pay for such a mistake! I laughed pathetically at my own weakness. The laugh echoed along the halls ominously, like it was mocking me. The darkness lingered and I felt a spark of fear inside my misery. It felt suffocating to me, smothering me with emotions that tempt me to do things that I wouldnt normally do. I tasted the emotions with overwhelming desire as they rolled through me. Fury. Jealousy. Envy. Rage. But it wasnt me. This isnt me. I blindly tried for the double doors at the end of the hall to escape the feelings and my lungs accepted the fresh air gratefully as I left the Sports building. But the spiked punch and my poor balance worked together to make me stumble like an idiot towards the closest building I could see. The lights faded as I ran shakily to the Dance and Arts building. Unlike the Sports building, where they held prom because of the enormous courts and spacious rooms, the Dance and Arts building was smaller, more silent tonight, without the blinding lights and the offensive music. I glanced up the tall structure. For a moment, there were fleeting shadows that danced across the windows. But I shook my head. I was too sure that it was the alcohol affecting me, making me see things. I opened the usually-locked front door. The lock was on the ground, a portion shattered by something powerful like a steel weapon. But it was dented by four marks, each like a finger. The fear was there in me, an emotion I was all too familiar with. But still I stalked on. What could be worse than what happened to me at the dance floor anyway? The heels of my shoes sounded like clapping hands as I rapidly tried doors and rooms. All of them were locked but one. The sign stated Dance Room, a place where Shanes new toy hung out as a ballerina.

The sharp reminder was harsh but my drunkenness took over me and made me ignore the sign. I opened the creaky doors and dropped on the floor without delay. Anguished cries filled and echoed the room as my head replayed scenes, my mind noticed each detail, each painstaking thing around them and about them. How the lights played and blurred their movements that they looked like they were one. How Shanes dimple appeared as she nuzzled his neck. How Ches perfect body rubbing seductively with his. How Shanes lust took over and kissed her in front of the whole batch. How each of the faces was horrified as I tumbled to the refreshments table, when I staggered back as I stared at Shane and Cherrys bodies pressed together with unmistakable intimacy. It was all so damn painful that even after years of training that developed my alertness, I didnt feel someone standing beside me until he spoke. You are strange, you know? there was a lilt in the soft male voice that echoed around the room. I looked up abruptly and my heart skipped a beat. A boy, around my age, stood over me with a smile on his face. He couldve been somewhat normallooking but his whole body radiated darkness. I felt a spark of fear inside me. Instinct screamed for me to run. Hair the color of midnight covered a part of his left eye and when he brushed them away to get a better look of me, I forgot about the darkness that I thought came from him. I was stunned to the point of incoherency. He took in my state with a smile: my ruined dress, my obvious drunkenness, my red eyes. I was a sorry mess. Eyes, the color of liquid silver, stared at me with amusement. You ran from your unfaithful boyfriend, yet you cry in this room where his lover dances. He said, his words spoke of the irony of my decision. I felt a flare of irritation. And so? My reason to like this place is irrelevant to the fact that Che dances ballet here. I explained to him to distract myself from the pain I was feeling. The room, it echoes my voice, my movements. It reflects me in a thousand angles, different mes. I have company yet not another person that require conversation. I shrugged. Im alone and not alone. If I had been in a better shape, I would have answered a more elaborate explanation. My words wouldve been enough to confuse anyone listening. But there was no motivation in me. The bleakness hushed the poet in me. But he nodded as if he got it. I see, he said. I wouldve snorted if my mood was lighter. Dont you now, I murmured. He looked and smiled warmly. I do. Irrational anger sparked in me. No, you dont, I stood up, irritated that he was pretending. You think you know what you say you do. You say you get it when you just freaking dont. You pretend that you see when the truth is you all just dont fucking understand! My words rang across the four corners of the glass-covered walls. It echoed and reverberated, giving more impact, more time to let the words sink in. I looked away, ashamed that I let my anger show. He seemed unperturbed. He just nodded, as if he understood what I was going through. Shane would be forgetting about me now. Hed be saying that he couldnt have done anything; that he cant help but like Che. The truth hurts, I know, but that wasnt the truth. So it hurts more.

This sucks. I can kill him, you know. He said after a small moment of silence. My head whipped up, shocked at what he was saying. Why? I asked, feeling that he was morbidly certain that he could. And it wasnt because he looked serious. I felt the power humming beneath his skin, itching to come out and unleash something terrifying. He looked at me with this heartbreakingly sad smile. Because he broke your heart, Kai. My heart thumped. I said carefully, Youre a stranger, someone who doesnt know who I am and yet you offered death for the guy who broke my heart. I looked at him. I dont understand. He smiled wider. I do know you, Kai Hudson. Suddenly, he took a step towards me. He held out a hand, such long, slender fingers that looked gentle, and paused. Sureness and hesitation in two almost simultaneous movements. I wanted to run, either away or towards him, I wasnt sure. Here was a guy whod kill the jerk who broke my heart. And here was a stranger with beautiful silver eyes and a dangerous aura. Decide, Kai, decide. And like diving off a cliff, I closed my eyes and leaned toward him, letting his palm kiss my cheek. I heard him sigh, relief pouring in just that soft sound. He then took another step and wrapped his arms around me. The tightness of it didnt hurt but told me things that words can never convey properly. Im here. Im with you. I love you. He pulled back and he was smiling with unbridled joy. After my task, Ill take you. Ill show you to places where youll never hurt. Places that will never break your heart. I was dizzy from his touch and the glare of his smile. What task? He smiled in a different way then, cruel and unforgiving. Then I heard the screams. They pierced into my daze and I automatically looked to the general direction of the prom. What was happening? What? I tried to ask the question out loud. I looked back to I dont even know his name. Who are you? I asked, my voice sounding strange. He kissed my forehead. James. Now lets go. He turned and tugged my arm gently. But I didnt follow. I was starting to think and questions were now attacking me with ferocious intensity. He turned, confusion plain in his face. I shook my head. Who exactly are you, James? Why are you doing this and whats happening there? I jerked my chin towards outside. He shrugged. Im High Fae, Ive been in love you and I just told Whitman to kill Shane Allstar and Cherry Sockson. I jerked my hand back, shock and fear fighting each other on whos gonna win and overcome me. You killed Shane? I asked, trying to digest it. He nodded and I felt my knees give way.

Of course, if he really was Fae, hed be fast enough to catch me. He was. So he did. He kissed my head as I felt his cool arms around me and said fiercely, he deserved it, that incubus. He tried to take your soul, Kai. I looked and I saw the molten metal churn with rage. For me, I thought, startled. He was so angry, that he killedfor me. But he still killed, thats inhumane, a voice in my head argued. So was the guy who tried to suck my soul, another shot back. Two things, making me feel different mixed and clashed inside me, telling me to decide. I looked around, my only other sanctuary besides the library. I thought about home, where there lay so many shattered things: my childhood memories, my sisters abandonment, my family. I thought about this high school, filled with nothing but what this world truly was: cruel and ignorant, destroying even itself. And finally, I looked at James, one who understood, who protected and killed for me. So I smiled, there was nothing I could do about Shane, he was dead, he deserved it. And with that, cruel glee filled me. Youre right. Lets go. ^-----moral lesson: Dont piss girls off who have amazing guys secretly loving them at their backs. And, thats fiction for you. ~end~