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I had no hthouse roof, no e, but as I stood atop it, the hipped its wild fury againstback in my face and around my neck

The sun turned the base of the clouds red, and thunder rolled over the ocean, raising the waves into a swirl of viscous claws, gripping the rocks below

Underall of the treacherous beast that lay ah seas--Do not dare endure her heart, it screamed, for you will surely be destroyed

I slowly reached up and yanked David’s locket frouilt I had no right to wear it any longer

I took another step toward the edge, wiping my hair and the mess of tears from my cheeks, but didn’t look down--couldn’t look toward my fate The Devil could take me, he could have my ruined soul, but I would not look into his eyes as I fell into his arms

I closed my eyes, and the wind cried, howled across the planes behindmy breath, I launched

Silence

Peace

There were no voices here, no tears, no regrets

The ocean roared louder the closer I ca for , bursting white foa the ocean rip the locket fro else

When you disregard your own heart, you betray the ones you love before you’ve even committed the act

As the ocean waves washed over this desiccated, abandoned wreck, I waited for death to cowaves, was Hell

The sun had not returned from its prison in the clouds, and the darkness felt e worse than what I’d becoain I couldn’t let myself live to tell David what I did with his brother--or what I truly felt for hio?" I asked softly "If there is a God up there--" I rolledsalt water, "--just takefrost spread overpulled, shifted, y skin, and I wanted to feel it I wanted to feel that pain

When I closed my eyes, I saw a face--David My David He looked so scared; his eyes round, ragged, a kind of horror filling the his soul down behind those tears

"David?" I whispered "Why are you crying?"

"Because I lost her," he said

I stood beside hi that fragile body a part of their imprint for eternity White cloth shifted as the waters receded, and black tendrils floated out from her head, like snakes on the skull of a beast

"It will be a good death," he whispered

"One suited for the fiend she was"

"No--she wasn’t evil; she was just a girl," he said, suddenly squatting beside her, lifting her head "She just got lost and couldn’t find her way home"

"What will you do with her?" I asked

"Help her"

"No, let her die" I turned away, disgusted in her

"I will But she needs help She can’t die on her own" He dropped her head back into the water and held it under "It’s strange to see her like this--to hate her so ed; why did you stop loving her?" I asked

He looked up "She betrayed me"

My eyes flashed open to the dry, open surrounds of the field The grass remained still, even in the breeze, but my hair lashed out aroundoff to the cliffs

A silhouette appeared over the horizon, stu to show hishis breath; lost, unable to cry He carried a girl so close to his heart she looked like a child, while her bloodied ar down loosely from her body, her neck tilted back aardly, her dark hair dripping with blood and regret

"Leave her there, David," I yelled, watching him pass "Put her back!"

But he didn’t hearnothing else in the world mattered but to

His eyes were aged with the pain in his heart, his soul withering under dying hope He walked with the strength of an eighty-year-old man, and I loved hiht hiave his life was in blood

He started screa before he even reached the steps to the Great Hall, his voice travelling throughout every corner of the manor But no one would come Not if they knew the truth They would say Let her die

He fell to his knees, dropping the girl to the polished floor by the table she dined at every night with those who once loved her He tried to touch her--to o away, but he just didn’t knohere to place his hands "Oh God" He covered hisWhat have I done?"

I stood over hiony if he knehat she’d done

"My love" He cal the stillness that accoone Please"

All around us then, the sour scent of shock and fear filled the room as, one by one, faces ca, massacred remains of my once beautiful body

Each person stoodto her aide Perhaps they knew Perhaps they’d been told what lies would do--how they would destroy, trap, torture any who bathed in the profits

An eerie silence drew the air in then, like taking a deep breath, as the energy of four fas broke the crowd; I heard them scream, heard them cry, but couldn’t understand it Why would they do that, when they knohat she is? Why did Jason fall to his knees beside his brother and search for a place to touch this girl--a way to hold her? What was it she meant to them that they could cry for her, when she did such terrible things?

David knelt back, closing his eyes, as the people around stared at him and Jason--side by side, both alive Shock marred any joy theyhad returned

Mike stepped in then and slipped his hands under h to kiss my brow, his lips bloodied as Mike tore , but saw their eyes, theireach other--forgettingwhat needed to be done