CHAPTER 63

       WestDale high school was still just as Dylan remembered it. The entrance,up the steps and through two huge glass doors,the hallway in between lockers and even the colors painted on the walls. Nothing had changed but even after eleven years,it was just as incredible evidence that there had been good management over the years. She walked in front,her gun aimed in front of her ready for anything. She didn't want surprises. Even though they had figured out that the meeting point was the school,they didn't know exactly where they were supposed to go. Emily and Carl walked behind her. She had given a gun to Carl as he seemed to be so confident of himself but she had meant it just as something to add to his courage. She wasn't sure he would fire if needed. Emily's fear was evident even at a glance at her but she had declined the offer to stay home entirely. She had always known her to be selfish and even after she got married and changed, Dylan wasn't so convinced that she had completely changed but now,this was proof enough. She knew she might be walking into her death but still went with them. She was beginning to like her. Maybe Carly was right after all, Emily just needed all that craziness to get through highschool and to do that, she had to hide her real self which was this one right here. Selfless, loving and sacrificing. She passed by the locker that used to be Carly's. She remembered it quite well because hers was just on the opposite side. It was a spot they used to stand in while they were dating secretly pretending to be best friends but none of their classmates had noticed. Well, some like Emily and Alison Smith who used to be her rival in basketball had but it hadn't come out to the public until much later after they had broken up. She walked on and headed to the class that they used to have most of their classes. It was as silent as every other one they had passed by. She stopped and turned to them.

                 "They are not here either,"she said in a low voice. She looked at her wrist watch. "It's some minutes to eight."  

                 "We have to keep looking. Who knows what they will do to her when we don't find them on time?" Carl replied in the same low voice although his was a note high because of his deep voice.

                   "Where else could they be?" Emily asked in a shaky voice. It was cold,much colder than it was supposed to be. Almost as if it was some kind of warning that evil was lurking. She didn't like it at all. Any minute wasted was a minute towards Carly's death. Did she even want to say that? The thought of the word alone felt like her throat and heart was being shredded into pieces. A knot tightened in her chest. She closed her eyes and thought. Where would Taylor go to in the school? What was that spot they had all shared in common? Where had they all been together at the same time? Something clicked, she opened her eyes.

                   "The gym, let's go!" she announced then led the way. This time she quickened her pace. They only had two minutes to get there. She could here the two of them behind her,hot on her heels. When they got to the door, she stopped and listened. There were no voices but she heard a continuous tapping sound on the gym floor. She knew the sound because she used to do that a lot. She looked at both of them in turns. "Are you sure about this? It's not too late to turn back."

                "I've never been so sure in my life," Carl replied but Emily just nodded. 

                 "Okay, let's do this." She looked at Carl, really looked at him. He was scared but was really acting hard to hide it. "Remember, don't do anything stupid. Keep calm and wait for my signal, okay?"

               "Okay."

       She turned back to the door and after letting out one heavy breath, she pushed the door open.

                       ★★★

        The gym was as empty as she remembered it except for the few benches they used to sit on when taking a break and where she had first talked to Carly. She remembered the spot too well and if she allowed herself to get in her head much deeper, she would see her seated there, reading a book as that first day when she was playing basketball. She could see the image much near in the front of her mind but she knew that she needed to focus. On the other side sat a person who she could tell was a woman but that was not Carly. She knew that hair,it wasn't what she used to know from highschool but she had seen it in magazines. Taylor Lockwood. Just as she was about to take a step forward, another voice behind them interrupted her. 

                  "Don't you dare take another step!" She stopped and turned around pointing her gun at the her. There she was, Kelley Smith just as she remembered her. The only difference was the absence of the navy blue prison coveralls but the ever present annoying grin was there,just as she remembered. "Pretty amazing that we are once again in one building,right?" She locked the gym door and pocketed the key. She must have followed them from the moment they got in the school premises to this point. "And with no way to escape too,"she laughed.

                    "Where is she?" she asked in a firm voice.

                   "Not so fast pretty. Don't you think we should have a little chat first?" 

                   "I could shoot you right now and figure out where she is after. Your face especially makes me sick!" She paused then went on,"You know what I think? Both of you are two little cowards." She said this as she turned to where Taylor was seated. "You couldn't gather up enough courage to come to us face to face. Instead,you sent messages, written notes. And you,did you have to abduct Carly just so you could get to me? Honestly, I thought you had much bigger balls."

                     "Actually she didn't," Taylor finally stood up and walked towards her. Just like Kelley, she had a gun in her hand. How they had gotten them, she had no idea. "I did that,I hit your little princess and I have been keeping her. Kelley has just been working for me."

                    "Oh, really? And when did you turn to be such a crooked crazy person? What happened to you?"

  Taylor laughed,"Do I even have to tell you that. I thought you already figured everything out the moment you knew I was behind all this. I must say,I underestimated the courage of that little bitch. Otherwise you wouldn't have and that's exactly how I wanted this moment to be,a surprising reunion. She ruined that."

                    "Actually we would have figured that out even if she hadn't contacted us. You seriously should keep track of everyone who goes in and out of your life and what you do. Emily already figured you out through the metaphor you sent."

Taylor looked surprised but only for a moment. She looked at Emily,"I'm surprised you could even remember that after all you did to me in highschool. I didn't think you remembered anything from your childhood anyway, it's a good thing you won't remember any of it in a few minutes."

                  "Jesus Christ Taylor! Now that you got us all here you think you have the power over us? How does it feel?"

                 "I don't know," Taylor said then walked around them, pointing her gun at Carl and Emily in turns. "I'm kind of having trouble which one of these would feel good seeing them tremble in my sight. She stood in front of Carl and looked him in the eyes. Dylan had her gun still pointed at Kelley who didn't seem to care that she was doing it but she glanced at Carl beside her. She saw his hand tremble and knew what was going on in his mind.

                   "Tell me where my sister is or I swear I'm gonna blow your head off!" he warned and tightened his grip on the gun. "I don't care what happened between us or even how you pretended to love me while all along you were using me."

   Taylor laughed,"Oh,you finally figured that part out. Amazing!"

    Dylan observed as his face turn from angry to furious. She decided to take action knowing that someone as calm and poised as Taylor,Carl wouldn't even have a chance to pull the trigger before a bullet went through his head. She needed to use another tactic. 

                 "Carl, please relax your hand. Let me handle this."

  Kelley chuckled,"Oh,I wouldn't be worried about him pulling that trigger pretty. He wouldn't shoot the mother of his daughter." 

                  "What!" they all said at the same time.

                "Goddammit Kelley! That was supposed to be my line. Did you have to ruin it for me?" Taylor said loudly stomping her foot on the floor.

              "I'm sorry cousin. I'm just getting bored out of my senses. This is taking so long and I don't want to hear the whole of your boo hoo hoo stories. I need to be out of the country in an hour."

   Cousin? Dylan wondered. Taylor walked away from Carl and he lowered his gun in defeat. Dylan knew that the news had hit him much harder than them. He was left with two choices and all of them involved his family. Now two people of which one they weren't so sure was real but still, Taylor stood in between. Shoot her and they could lose any or even both of them. She expected her to point a gun on her head but she heard her footsteps receding to the back ground. Now they were left in the ratio one to three in the room. No, one to one because both of her two companions weren't so helpful in the moment. She faced Kelley. There was just one thing she wanted to confirm and her answer stood right there with them.

                 "You killed my mother, gave me  the worst two years of my life and now you are here again. Maybe because I maimed your girlfriend but it was just work. She happened to be caught in crossfire and I am really sorry about that. So tell me, why did you kill her instead of me? It was me you had issues with."

                  "God, I'm so sick of you all blaming me for something I didn't do. Trust me I would have loved to take my anger on you for infiltrating my territory and well, taking my women from me but then I also respect your work. Even if it is to catch criminals like me. But girlfriend? That woman is my twenty four year old sister and it really hurt me  to see after fighting hard for her life ever since she was a little girl,you brought her back to this, being bedridden for the rest of her life." 

  Dylan never thought that Kelley had any emotions but right at that moment, she could see the pain in her eyes. She could feel the pain mixed with anger in her voice. It turned out she was human after all.

                  "So really,this is about my family,my very own sister but the truth is, whether you believe it or not,I had nothing to do with the death of your mother."

                 "She is telling the truth Dylan," she heard Carly's voice behind them. They all turned to the direction but her gun never left Kelley's face. Carly was alive alright but she had a gun pointed at her head. There was evidence of tears in her face and her voice said that wherever she had been kept which was probably the gym bathrooms, she had been crying. She looked at her eyes and realization dawned on her. She had spent the past few days contemplating whether it would be the right decision to take her back after all those years and what she had done to her but the answer had been there all along. Now,at this moment, she stood just inches from her death and she would never see her again or tell her what she had known in her mind and heart all along. She was the woman she was meant to be with and she knew that Taylor wouldn't hesitate to pull that trigger. "After I realized that Taylor was behind this, she came to me and confessed everything. She killed Wendy," Carly added and tears began falling in torrents.

                  "Oh God!" Dylan said almost in a murmur. Her strength waned but she knew she had to fight through it because all responsibility fell on her, the lives of all these three people were in her hands. She looked at Taylor. "Why? What did she ever do to you?"

                  "Your mother's death was an accident. I was there for you,not your mother. I was trying to run so she couldn't recognize me,in the process I pushed her. She hit the ground and I turned taken by surprise. I knew right then that she recognized me and so I had to do something to save myself. I didn't mean to for her to die that was my other dumb cousin's idea. Anyway,remember Iris? You dated her as a tryst when you weren't ready to move on because you were still so stuck up on Carly even after she left you and got married to a guy." Of course she remembered her,how could she forget? "Well that one was my sister. I didn't know you were dating her until she came back crying to me. It's really funny how my whole family has somehow gotten involved with you and ended up nurturing wounds both physically and emotionally. You used me Dylan and didn't even stop to realize that I had feelings for you. My sister came along and you did the same. Then you just had to go disturb the peace of my other closest family,shot her sister. Tell me, wouldn't you be pissed enough?" She paused then,"When Wendy died,I regretted it. I disappeared even and wouldn't have sought after you. I knew I had hurt you enough but then all the other things happened and I asked myself,what do I owe you to be so forgiving? And here we are. I want you to have a taste of what I have had all this time."

               "You are one to talk. Don't you think that you owe me that much?" Carl said. "You used me and now I come to learn that I have a kid you kept from me all this time." He looked at Carly,"Is it true sis?"

  Carly nodded,"Yeah. She is ten and really beautiful. I don't know where she is right now but she is there."

                  "And as dumb as you were, the biggest mistake of my life," Taylor said to him. "I mean, how could you not have realized that I was never in love with you?"

                "You are right, I was dumb but if you think I'm gonna let you take away my sister from me too,then you are even dumber." He raised his gun in front of him targeting Taylor. Dylan knew it would only take a second for Taylor to use Carly as her shield and Carl would end up shooting his own sister. He wouldn't live with that. All this time, Emily remained quiet trapped in between them, cowering in fear. She was yet to be addressed but they all knew why she was there. Where was Kenny and why was he taking so long? She needed time. There was only one way to do that. She looked at Carly and their eyes met. It was as if she was trying to tell her something but she didn't figure out what it was. She dropped her gun and raised her hands.

                 "Take me," she said and all the others looked  at her in surprise. Carly's eyes went wide with horror but she remained calm and went on, "It's me you both want so bad so take me and let the others go."

                  "Dylan no."

                   "Don't you dare do that to us Dylan!" Carly said,her voice sounding more angry than afraid. She turned to her and hoped she would understand her. "You can't do that!"

                    "It's the only way I can save you Lee,"she said calmly. "The only way."