March 2, 2010
10:30 a.m.
Evalynne’s House

Ding Dong
I strolled over to the front door, ready for Shaun to tell me just how great his date with Kristy went. Yesterday night when Kristy called me to fill me in on it, she’d done exactly what Shaun had predicted: describe in very deep detail just how amazingly gorgeous he looked that night, along with how incredibly sweet he was.
I smiled to myself as I recalled what she’d said as soon as I picked up the phone last night. “Oh my gosh, Evalynne! Shan took me out on a date tonight, and I had the most amazing time of my life! I think I’m in love! I really do!”
“Evalynne, hi,” Shaun greeted me when I opened up the front door to let him inside. I welcomed him with a wide grin.
“Hey, so how’d the date go last night? I know Kristy sure had a good time.” I informed him.
“About that,” he said, stepping inside. “I’m not so sure that Kristy and I are really meant to be a couple. I think we’re better off as just friends.”
“What?” I cried. “Why? You were so happy that she liked you yesterday! I don’t understand. Did something bad happen on your date last night?”
“No, nothing bad happened. Kristy’s actually a really sweet girl.” he replied.
“Well then why do you all of the sudden only like her as just a friend?” I demanded.
“I just don’t like her as anything more than that. I thought I did at first, but once we actually went out—as a couple I mean—something inside of me changed. She’s just too…clingy for me.”
“Clingy? Kristy’s not a clingy person. Why do you think she’s clingy?” I inquired. I knew that my tone made it sound like I was angry with him, but to be honest, I kind of was. Once a guy tells a girl he likes her, he can’t just change his mind about it. That was so heartless.
“Well almost the entire night, she was either holding my hand, draping her arm around my shoulder, or resting her hand on my leg. She just wouldn’t lay off. It was really annoying.” He looked irritated just thinking about it, and instantly I felt bad for Kristy. After all, she was my best friend. I wanted her to be happy.
“Well, Shaun, she really likes you. I’m sure she didn’t realize that it was annoying you. If she did, she wouldn’t have continued touching you. I think you should give her another chance. You liked her so much yesterday, and you were so excited when you found out that she liked you.” I reminded him, trying to convince him to go back out with Kristy.
“Sorry, but I don’t think so.” Why did he seem so against giving Kristy another chance? I knew it couldn’t be just because he thought she was clingy. There had to be more to it than just that.
“Tell me what else happened on your date.” I commanded, staring right into his light hazel eyes.
He looked back at me for a moment, not saying anything at all. Until finally, he caved in, letting out a deep sigh. “Fine, I’ll tell you.” he said. “But pleas promise me that you’re not going to go and repeat this to Kristy. I know it will hurt her and I don’t want to get her all upset.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what his reason was. It was obviously pretty bad if it would hurt Kristy. “I promise,” I said to him. But this wasn’t entirely true. I knew that if it was something that I thought Kristy should know, I’d tell her.
“Ok, the real reason is because she’s nothing compared to Megan.” he confessed, causing my jaw to drop. How could he possibly say that? Kristy was ten times better than Megan! From what I remembered, Megan was a coldhearted witch. “And last night on the date,” he continued, “every time I looked at Kristy, all I saw was Megan. I think I still love her. And even though Kristy’s a sweet girl and all, she just doesn’t measure to how I feel about Megan.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I exploded. “Kristy is a really kind, funny, friendly person, and you have no right to talk about her like this! Megan’s the one who almost dumped you just because her friend told her to! How do you like her more than Kristy?”
“I’m sorry.” he stated apologetically. “I don’t want you to be mad at me, and I don’t want Kristy to be either. I still want to be friends with both of you, because you’re both great people. I just don’t like Kristy like that.”
“But you did!” I cried. “You told her you did! You took her out on a date, you made out with her! And now all of the sudden, you ‘don’t like her that way’?” It just didn’t make any sense to me. Maybe I was being kind of harsh, but Shaun was about to dump my best friend because of heartless, compassionless Megan. And that just made me livid.
“I know I did. But I didn’t realize that my feelings were going to change about her so quickly. If I did, I wouldn’t have asked her out…or kissed her. I’m really sorry.” he told me.
“Well apologizing isn’t going to help you now!” I shouted. “I can’t believe this! She let you stay in her house when you had no place to go, she’s been nothing but nice to you, and now you’re going to break her heart?”
The corners of his mouth turned down, forming a frown, and he bowed his head in shame. “Well if it helps, I’m no longer going to be living with her. I’m renting an apartment about twenty minutes away from here. I need time to think about what I want to do with my life. I just need time off from everything—and everyone.” He glanced up at me, looking sorry for what he did. But I didn’t care how sorry he was. “It would be really great if you could keep that promise you made and not tell Kristy about this though.”
I couldn’t believe him. Was he seriously asking me not to tell Kristy about this? He had to have been out of his mind. “Get out of my house,” I spat, deadpanning him.
He grimaced at my brutal tone, but turned around and walked out the door nonetheless. And I stood on my porch, glaring at him as he hopped into his shiny silver Jaguar and drove off down the street.
I thought that Shaun was such a sweet, funny, decent guy. But I was obviously very, very wrong. I shook my head, despising myself for being so naïve about him. I should’ve seen this coming. I should’ve known that there was something shady about him the second I found out that he was dating Megan.
“You and your boyfriend break up or something?” The sound of Michael’s deep, uncanny voice sent chills down my spine.
I turned to face Will’s house, and realized that Will was standing there on the front porch, looking right into my eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend and he never was.” I corrected him. I turned around, ready to go back inside. But Michael’s next few words stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Well he obviously made you pretty angry. If he made me that angry, I’d just kill him.”
My heart stopped and I felt a fearful cold sweat come over me. This guy was seriously nuts. But I couldn’t help but to wonder what exactly was going on in his head when he said this. Was he serious? Did he actually want to kill Shaun?
“Why didn’t you do it, Evalynne? Why didn’t you just kill him?” he asked me.
“Because I’m not a murderer.” I stated emphatically.
“But you have to admit that it sounds pretty good right about now, doesn’t it? Just think about how furious he made you. Don’t you just want him dead?” he inquired, his tone growing thick with animosity.
“No,” I replied, never turning back to face him. I knew that if I looked into his eyes once again, I’d snap. Just talking with him freaked me out enough.
“Why not? He deserves to die. People like him, people who hurt other people, don’t belong in this world. They need to be punished. And it’s up to the good people—people like you and I—to provide them with that punishment.”
My hands began to tremble at my sides, and my breathing was turning into frenetic panting. “But if we kill them, doesn’t that make us bad people too?” I said to him, hoping that maybe he’d realize that what he was doing was wrong. That murdering people was never the solution. But his mind was already set. I couldn’t get him to change.
“No, not if there’s good reason behind it.” he remarked evenly.
The pungent taste of bile began to burn my throat, and my stomach began to churn nauseously. “I have to go.” I told him. Then without waiting for his response, I stepped into my house, shutting and locking the front door behind me.
Then I raced to the bathroom, and feel to my knees. I held my hair back with one hand and placed the other on the floor for support. I hung my head over the toilet and began gagging. Slowly, the vomit rose up in my throat and I threw up.
When my stomach finally settled back down, I rose to my feet. I took in a deep, cleansing breath and blinked a few times, my vision coming back into focus. I looked into the mirror, taking in my appearance. My face was flushed and I had dark circles under my eyes from exhaustion. I was a mess.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t stand living right next door to Michael. It was just too much for me to handle. I had to get out of here. But where could I possibly go?
A thought crossed my mind, but I quickly discarded it. There was no way I would go stay with Dad and Nina. Not even if there was a murderer living next door to me. It wasn’t worth it. I was much too disgusted with both my dad and Nina to even speak with them, much less move in with them. I’d rather have moved in with Katrina.
Oh gosh, why did I just do that? Why did I just put the thought of Katrina and Cole in my head?
Scratch that, I wouldn’t rather move in with Katrina. I could just picture her nuzzling up next to Cole. Gently kissing his neck. Running her hands through his hair. Whispering sweet, flirty things into his ear seductively.
But Cole had been mine first. I’d loved him way before she’d even met him. He was rightfully mine. It wasn’t fair for her to just swoop in out of nowhere and steal him away from me. Then again, I guess I’d done the same thing to her when I was with Ash. I knew it was awful of me, but I now found myself wishing that I’d just let her have Ash. I found myself wishing that I would’ve picked Cole over Ash long before all of that drama occurred. Then he’d be able to trust me. Then we’d be able to have a solid relationship.
But no, I’d had my chance and I’d blown it. I hated thinking about things that way, because it really wasn’t fair to Ash. It wasn’t his fault that he’d died. He didn’t choose to die. But I couldn’t help but feel at least a little bit bitter about my decision. Because now, I was all alone, while Katrina was wrapped up in Cole’s arms.
And it wasn’t fair. What had I done to deserve such a sucky life? Was I really that horrible of a person? Did I honestly deserve this?
I mean, first of all the guy that I had fallen in love with, my husband, had died right after we’d married. Second of all, the other guy I’d fallen in love with was now going out with the girl I despised. Third of all, my monster of a father had completely destroyed and betrayed me and Mom. Fourth of all, the other guy that I was beginning to fall in love with was still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, and had a current girlfriend. And finally, there was a psychotic murderer who was most likely plotting to kill me at this very moment living right next door to me.
That wasn’t exactly my number one lifestyle choice. But that was what I was stuck with, and there was no way for me to change that.