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CHAPTER TEN

"Kat…"

"Katrina…"

The voices called after me, but I kept running anyway even though I knew there was no way to meet up with Mason's car.

"Katrina…" They finally caught up with me. "Wait," Jake said. "Please, you have to stay calm." ‘I couldn't stay calm, though,’I thought with heaving breaths.

"Let's go back inside. Come on, Kat," Aaron said, but I couldn't bear to look at him or be around anyone else.

I shook my head and pushed them off me. "I need to be alone," I whispered tiredly.

"Katrina, please…" Jake began, putting more steel in his voice.

"I need to be alone!" I screamed at them, "Don't come looking for me," I said before running off again, and this time, they didn't follow me.

Just a few miles before Redwood's neighboring town's boundary stood a really high cliff that had a massive lake spread out beneath it. On several occasions, students from Redwood High and the neighboring town have been known to go cliff diving at this particular spot. I wasn't a fan of extreme sports, which was why I headed there; it was the last place the boys would come looking for me.

Seated at the very edge of the cliff with my legs swinging, I stared blankly ahead as I threw rocks unconsciously into the water, thinking of how I could have stopped any of this from happening.

‘I never should have kissed Aaron,’I thought for the umpteenth time, wondering again what was wrong with me and why I found it difficult to just choose Mason and stick with him. Why did I have to be attracted to all three of them initially, and why had I found comfort in Aaron's arms instead of looking for Mason?

It was very glaring to me now that I couldn't live without Mason because I knew none of the others could affect me the way that he did. When Jake had stopped hanging out with me or when I had stopped kissing Aaron to go after Mason, I hadn't felt this crushed and alone. It was Mason; it had always been him.

Someone whistled behind me, and I quickly turned around to see who it was. When I did, my heart skipped a beat.

"Little girl, fancy seeing you here," he said, his dreadlocks swinging as he walked toward me. "I told you I would come for you," Kaleb grinned sinisterly.

I shot to my feet and made to run, but I was no match for him, and he grabbed me immediately.

"Where do you think you're going? We haven't even had any fun yet, hmm?" He swept my hair away from my face and sniffed my neck, causing me to shiver in fear.

"Let go of me!" I screamed.

His loud laughter filled the air. "You know, back in that warehouse, I ached so much to kill you. There was just something about you, something different from others, and I just knew how much satisfaction killing you would bring,” he said, licking the side of my face.

I whimpered, his touch making my skin crawl. "Please, let me go."

"Good, beg…" he screamed, "Beg me." He began to walk with me in his arms toward the edge of the cliff.

"No, no, please," I begged as I tried to push myself back to no avail; I couldn't swim, not after being traumatized by my dad's death. His body had been found in his car at the bottom of a lake, and from my experience in the massive pool at Mason's house, it was crystal clear that I was going to drown if I was tossed into the lake.

"Help!" I screamed, hoping someone would hear me, but my voice merely echoed back.

Kaleb's hand closed against my neck, squeezing it and choking me. "There's no one here to help you, little girl. Oh, how I will enjoy watching you fight for your life," he whispered before chuckling devilishly in my ear. "Goodbye, Katrina Dawson," he said and tossed me right into the lake.

Free falling, I screamed for no one else but my dad because, at that moment, he was all I could think about, and I recalled what Dr. Martin had said. I needed to come to terms with his death.

"I love you, Dad," I said just as I fell into the water.

I didn't bother to try and swim out of it because it was of no use and I didn't want to give Kaleb the satisfaction of watching me struggle for my life.

Letting myself go, I sank deeper and deeper into the blue waters with one voice echoing in my head. "You are my everything Katrina Dawson, and I am irrevocably in love with you."

Far, far away, I could hear a familiar voice call out for me, and I wanted to reach out to it, but I had no strength left. Fading away just seemed more comfortable and there was no pain left anymore.

"KATRINA!!!" I heard again, then the darkness came, and I embraced it.