Never meant to be

Jake~

As I walk through the forest, I begin to question whether I'm actually insane, or just pretending I am. I'm pretty sure the adrenaline in my blood is something everyone would feel in this situation. Or maybe, most would feel fear.

After all, I'm facing a demon tonight. A monster of my own making.

Oh, Bella, my nightshade.

The low canopy blocks out all signs of the moon, and it feels as though I'm taking a stroll through hell itself. However, the only fire in this hell is awaiting me at the end of this path.

So this is what it came down to. All the time we spent loving and hating each other, trying to hurt and heal at the same time, it all came down to me walking to the death of one of us.

I am still hoping that my deduction was wrong, that my brain had failed me -God, I wish it did- but deep down I know, that it has to be this way. One way or another, every decision we had taken would converge into this one moment.

But I am prepared. There's nobody else like us, nobody else who can put an end to our miseries.

As I spot the clearing ahead, it becomes clear that my mind failed to disappoint me. It is a cliff overlooking the lake.

Of course she would choose this place. This is where it all began after all.

I remember that summer very vividly. We were both thirteen, still kids by the world's definition. Not that the world's opinion ever mattered to us. That was when I realized that I wasn't alone, that there was someone else who saw through lies as easily as a hot knife cut through butter, someone else who heard the same sounds as me, saw the same world. That was way before it all went wrong, before we both broke each other beyond repair.

I now stand in the middle of the clearing. The lake shivers and glistens under the full moon. Behind me, I hear the faint rustling of leaves.

I turn around, and there she is. Skin as fair as the moon, and eyes as dark as the sky behind it. Her clothes, like the coat of a black cat. A jacket hugs her body tightly, softly moving as a breeze slowly blows.

To my eyes right now, she's beauty incarnate. Just looking at her, my heart threatens to set itself ablaze and shoot liquid fire through my arteries. But I refuse to yield.

"About time you showed up." She says, and my breath catches yet again. There's something about her, something greater than beauty and grace, that refuses to let my brain function normally.

I almost laugh at the thought that my brain functions "normally." It never does, and neither does hers. Scientists have a term for people like her and me.

Psychopaths.

"A nice place you've chosen. "

"Quite near to heaven, isn't it?"

"If only you had taken into consideration that neither of us are going to heaven."

She smiles. "Well, we're here anyway. Might as well try to redeem ourselves with prayer."

"Their is no redemption for people like you and me, Bella. We've messed up far too much, killed far too many."

We both let the words hang in the air for a few minutes, and the silence between us feeling darker than the abyss a few meters in front of me.

"Where do you think it all went wrong, Jake?", She says finally.

"Wrong?" I ask, with a hint of disbelief that she wasn't the one to say what I'm about to say. "It was never right to begin with, Bella....It was never meant to be."

She walks towards me, till the distance between us is reduced to mere inches. "Let's get the final act done, shall we?"

I feel her breath on my neck, and I suddenly get this overwhelming urge to pull her close and never let go. It blocks out all other senses.

That is, until she points the barrel of a pistol at my chest, the tip touching the outside of my shirt.

My response is immediate, and seconds later we're both pointing guns at each other.

I wish I could say something to her, something, but everything is already understood. There's nothing left to say.

"What are you waiting for?" I ask. Her reflexes are faster than mine. She could've killed me before I even got the chance to get a firm grip on my gun.

"I could ask you the same."

There is a determined look in her eyes, and at once, I understand her intentions. She won't pull the trigger until I do it. She's waiting for me. She wants us both dead.

Just as I thought.

So I give her what she wants, and shoot.

So does she.

Both our guns fall, and her hands rush to her side. But mine don't rush to my chest. Instead, I grab her by the shoulders.

She shudders under my grip and looks up, anticipating another attack. I grab the opportunity the moment it appears before me. I pull her close and kiss her.

Electricity surges through me, shorting every circuit in my brain. And then, with what strength I have left, I push us both off the cliff.

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What comes next all depends on her. My bullet was not close enough to her organs to cause heavy bleeding. With my body under her, she'll survive the fall. She'll see the boat I have left in the middle of the lake for her, and she'll live, while I'll become one with the lake.

Because of the false evidence I left, and the dead body I left at the bottom of the lake, the police will think we both died, and they'll be off her tail forever.

Now, as I see the surface of the lake nearing, I know that the end has come. And I also know that I have been victorious today. Because despite what she wanted and hoped for, I didn't fail to protect her.

- End -