Make Believe: A Novella (16 page)

I don
’t know why, but I felt good about this. I had given April the space she needed just as she had asked, but now it was time to get my girl back. I was done with playing games and being patient. Patience is not what got us together in the first place. My persistence was, so it’s time to bring the old me back and take back what is rightfully mine, and April is mine.

“Ahh this reminds me of the days when we were young, single
, and free,” Anthony said, smiling to himself.

“What are you talking about?” I turned to face him.

“You know, just me and you, brothers cruising around without a care in the world. Getting girls, getting into trouble. It was always just you and me,” he laughed.

“No, the trouble was always you. You never could resist a good fight,” I replied.

“You would have been just as bad if I’d have let you, but I’m such a great friend that I didn’t,” he smirked.

“Only because you
were hoping, I would take you with me, if I became successful,” I answered. We both glanced at each other before laughing.

“Ahh damn, and I thought you never knew. Busted,” he said
.

“At least you always had my back,” I admitted.

“Still do.”

“Right, I guess this is my stop,” I said as we pulled up outside of April’s Mom’s house. “You coming?”

“I have to if Jess is there. She’ll moan if I don’t.”

“You love it!”

“I know, it’s hot being told what to do,” he chuckled.

“Dude, you’re so twisted
. Come on.”

“Give me five, I’ve just got to make a call
, and then I’ll be in.”

“O
K,” I replied, walking up to the front door. I took a nice, deep breath before knocking on the door. I waited patiently until it swung open.

“Aiden?”

“Hey Bob, you OK?”

“Yeah, where’s April?”
he asked in confusion.

“
Isn’t she here?” I asked.

“No, she went to go and sort things out with you actually,” he replied.

“She did?” I asked excitedly.

“Yes,
son, she did,” he said, smiling. “Come in.”

I walked into the living room
and Jess and Aunt Kels looked at me in confusion.

“He didn’t know April went looking for him,
at the same time he came looking for her,” Bob cleared up.

“Oh,” Aunt Kels
said understanding now.

“Wait, so you didn’t see April yet?” Jess asked with a worried expression on her face.

“No, why?” I asked, feeling a little uneasy.

“Well, when I spoke to her she said Leah was s
itting outside your house. I just assumed you were there, too,” she said.

“Damn, this is not what I need right now,” I growled.

How was I supposed to fix things if Leah was there spreading her poison every time I turned my back? Pulling out my phone, I dialed April’s number in frustration. I needed to know what lies Leah had told her this time. She picked up after the third ring.

“April
….”

“Sorry
, but April is a little tied up right now.” It was Leah. Before I got the chance to say a word the line went dead.

“What did she say?” Jess asked, look
ing worriedly at my face.

Just as I went to answer, Anthony came running in behind Bob.“Damn, I can’t believe that I didn’t remember,” he said with a look of pure horror on his face.

“Remember what?” I asked, stepping closer to him. “What?” I repeated.

“I have seen her before,” he said in shock.

“Who, baby?” Jess asked, calmly.

“Leah, I know who she is. We’ve got to get to April, now.”

Chapter 19: Monday, October 7
th
at 7:25pm

APRIL’S POINT OF VIEW

She was serious. I could see it in her eyes — eyes don’t lie. Every word she said was the truth. In this moment, with just the two of us trapped in this little room, she bared her soul to me, and I had no idea why. Maybe it was because she knew I wouldn’t ever be leaving here to be able to tell anyone. But I don’t think so. I believe she needed to do this — to offload or release something — to heal. She only told me these things because she felt that somehow I too shared the blame in all of this. Whatever
this
was.

The smell of the fuel was dancing up my nose, intoxicating me a little more with every second that went by. I knew this was the end. There
was no other way out. No escape. Nobody knew where I was. Not even I knew. Did I even want anyone to find me anyway? She was dousing this place, and ready to set it on fire. Would I really want the people I loved the most to find my burnt remains? No.

I accepted
my fate. This was it. I was not scared anymore. I had subconsciously trained my brain to understand that this was my end. You sort of get to that stage in a situation like this — a stage of pure realization. You start to release the impossibilities of a situation.

All of those
classes in high school that I labeled as pointless suddenly kicked in. Probabilities: the probability of me escaping, unlikely. Addition: fuel plus a lit match, equals fire. Yes, it all becomes useful in those last moments because you draw on everything you have. You go into automatic survival mode, and when the survival fails, you learn the art of acceptance. Acceptance: I
am
going to die.

And in that moment of acceptance
, you draw on the memories because it’s something to distract you. It’s the one thing that can take away the pain and the heartbreak. In that last moment, I was thinking about my family and my friends, and how much I loved them. I was remembering that I hadn’t told my mom how great she had been in my life all of these years. I hadn’t told Bob that he was the best stand-in father a girl could ask for. I never got to tell my father that I forgave him, and that I was so proud of how he turned everything around. I never got the chance to tell my baby brother what to expect the first time he meets a girl or how to treat her. I never got to tell my Grandma that she was the best cook in the world or Uncle Harry that he was silly, but that I loved him so much. I never got to visit Gramps’ grave and put down the new flowers I was supposed to a week ago. I never got to tell Anthony that he was the brother I always wanted. I never told Jinnie and Erica that even though they fight all the time that I still love them. The chance was stolen from me to tell Jess what an amazing and valued friend she had become over the years. Crystal never got to find out that I no longer regarded her as my friend because she was my sister. I never told Kyle that despite everything we had been through I still loved him, and he was one of the most amazing friends I had ever had. I missed the chance to take Mimi to that new nail bar she kept talking about excessively. And I never got the chance to tell Aiden that he’s the only man who ever made me fall in love, the only man I dream about having kids with, growing old with, and loving until my dying day.

See, they say that in those last moments your life flashes before your eyes
, but they’re wrong. All you can think about is what you could have done if you had more time. You think about what you wished you could do.

“Done,” Leah whispered, throwing the empty bottle on the floor.

I could barely make out her shape through the tears in my eyes. I gave up reasoning with her now. This was beyond my control, and the truth was, I was tired. Tired of fighting the inevitable. This was like a torture that I was ready to end.

“I know how this ends
. I know you’re going to kill me, to kill us both. You should know though, it’ll change nothing. All you’re going to leave behind is more pain,” I whispered trying to fight the fumes that were making me drowsy.

“No, I’m not just leaving it behind
. I’m escaping it. I’m freeing myself because I can’t do this anymore. I’m tired,” she whimpered as she looked at me. “Aren’t you tired, April,” she asked. I nodded my head and closed my eyes.

“The sad thing is that you seem like a nice person
, but we have to pay, we both do. I’m sorry that it has to be so screwed up, but it just does.”

“Tell me one thing first?” I asked.

“What?”

“Why? You still haven’t explained why?”

“I thought that was obvious by now. It’s because of him. He saved me from Steve, April. I was so scared. I was so hurt. It was going on and on and on, and I kept crying and screaming for my mom. She never came, but he did. He came for me, April. He saved me. I needed him to save me, and he did,” she cried. “He should have been here, he would have been here. I drove him to do the things that he did. I put so much pressure on him. All of the secrets and the lies. I made him become a murderer, and it was too much, but you, you pushed him over the edge. I would visit him in that place. They said they were there to help him, but they weren’t. To them, he was just another lost cause, just a patient. But to me, he was a hero. He was my big brother, and he saved me. You put him there.
You.”
She paused as she wiped a tear off her face. “They found him in the middle of the night just hanging there. I had seen him that morning, and he said things were getting better, that
he
was getting better, but he lied. He was trying to protect me, to be strong because he felt he had to. But he needed help, too. Who was strong for him? Nobody. We all left him to rot while we continued our pathetic existences, and all that time he was planning his death. Day after day. It was one big plan. I stood at his graveside, and I made a promise. I promised that I would make the people who did this to him pay. I
promised
him, April, and I can’t break it. So, here we are, the people who did this to him, made him...made him so miserable that he would take his own life. The two people who brought him to his demise are sitting here in this room, and we have to pay. I can’t break that promise.”

I
struggled for a breath of air when it dawned on me.

“And there it is
! The look in your eyes that I have been waiting for,” she uttered.

“Jay Jay,” I gasped in shock.

“Yeah, Jay Jay, that’s what I called him when we were younger. It was my nickname for him, but, of course, you know his real name, right?”

“Jake. You
are Jake’s sister.”

Chapter 20: Present Day

AIDEN’S POINT OF VIEW

I couldn’t believe what Anthony was saying right now. I needed it to be a dream, because for it to be a reality, was not an option.

“Please tell me you’
re lying?” I asked Anthony as we jumped into his car.

He shook his head and began driving.

“Are you sure? How the hell do you know?” I asked desperately.

“Just now. I called my mom and she told me to make sure that we weren’t causing any trouble. She said she didn’t want us fighting over the girls. That’s when it hit me, the night that Jake hurt April. When I knocked on the door, his little sister answered. She looks different now. She’s grown up, but it’s definitely her,” he said.

“That’s why she was avoiding you. She knew the rest of us had never actually seen her before, that you were the only one. This whole thing was a setup. Every bit of it,” I breathed in shock. “What the hell has she done to April?”

“Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but I need you to calm down. We will find them, and everything will be fine.”

“I don’t know, Ant. How many chances do you get? We survived it all before with Jake, but what if we’re not that lucky this time?”

“Luck has nothing to do with it. Have faith, we’ll find her.”

I wanted him to be right, but the truth was I did not know anymore. This entire time Leah had been planning this, and none of us saw it coming. Everything up to this point had worked out just the way she wanted. Why would it go wrong, now? Clearly, she wanted revenge because Jake had been locked away. She wanted someone to blame, but April was not that person, and if I got the chance, I needed her to know that.

“We’ll find her, Aiden, I promise. When have I ever let you down?”

“Never,” I whispered, but maybe this would be the first time that he had to. “We don’t even know where she is, Ant.”

“No, and we won’t stop until we find her,” he replied, stomping on the gas pedal.

APRIL’S POINT OF VIEW

My mind was racing at double speed. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized this before. How could I miss it? How could I not see it? All along she kept saying this wasn’t about Aiden, but I wasn’t listening. This had nothing to do with jealousy or obsession, this was about revenge.

“Crazy, right? You never expected that, did you? It’s like that moment in a movie where the whole audience says ‘ohh’,” she chuckled.

“I didn’t know,” I breathed.