The Best Thing for Me

by Lauren Jackson

  He broke, panting heavily. He stared at me for a few moments, his lips parted, his eyes dilated. They were a few shades darker then they usually were. I'm sure he liked this welcome home. It wasn't exactly the 'norm'.

  "Did you miss me?" he joked, smirking.

  Answering without words, I pushed myself onto him. The kiss became a lot more passionate and clothes began to fly off all over the room. He roughly kissed down my neck, to my shoulders and down to my pregnant belly. He began kissing it, making circular patterns with his lips and as weird as it sounds, I kind of liked it.

  It began to get really hot when my phone made a sound. It seemed to snap us out of our trance. We both paused. With a sigh, I pushed him off me and padded over towards it. I saw Luke from the corner of my eye make a beeline to the fridge. Typical.

  I looked down at the phone and furrowed my eyebrows together. For some reason I felt my stomach do a little dip and my heart beat become faster. I licked my lips, shaking my head in absolute horror. This couldn't be happening.

  Jason and Emma... The 'Golden Couple' of the year... possibly breaking up?

  But what is even worse... Emma is staying at Britney's?

  God, what has the world come to?

  Jason Mayor

  He stood there, his palms cupping her face. He leaned in, so that their lips were mere inches apart. They were about to touch... I threw my leg out, kicking the table in front of me as hard as I could. I strangled scream tore from my throat as I turned, slamming my fist down onto it. The desk shook with the contact.

  I sank down on my bed, my hands having fistfuls of my hair. I shook my head. I was ashamed to have tears welling up in my eyes.

  She almost kissed him.

  Again.

  I was ready to go in for the kill. I loved her; that much was obvious. But she obviously felt something towards him. I'm not sure if it's emotions, feelings or just plain lust, (which made me utterly sick in the stomach), but whatever it is, it's there.

  Until she sorted out whatever was going on, I wasn't going to be dragged around with her. I'd rather her sort out her emotions and whatever. Even if it meant her choosing Chase over me. It made me want to vomit, just thinking those words, but it was true.

  I'd prefer her happiness, over mine.

  My phone began vibrating beside me. I turned my head, just staring at it. I was relieved when it wasn't her name on the screen. With numb fingers, I reached out and clutched the phone in my clammy hand.

  "What?" I croaked out, using my thumb and pointer finger to pinch the bridge of my nose. I didn't want to speak to anyone today. I wanted to just wallow in my own self-pity and anger. Just have some alone time to feel sorry for myself for the crap I've gotten myself into.

  "Hey man," Alex said cheerfully. "We're all doing some practice laps down at the pool for the comp tomorrow. Are you almost here?"

  I sighed heavily, shaking my head.

  The River Comp.

  I completely forgot about it. With my head all messed up right now, who knows how good I'd be. But... since swimming was my escape from everything it might be good. I contemplated in my head, unsure of what to do.

  "You there, Jase?" Alex asked.

  "Oh-er yeah. I'm heading there now." I managed to force out.

  "Sweet as. See you soon."

  The line went dead. I slowly removed the phone from my ear. I may as well go. I couldn't let the team down, no matter what was going on. I slowly stood and made my way to my drawers, to fetch my shorts. I yanked them on and grabbed my keys. I trudged down the stairs and called out to mum, telling her where I was going. I stamped out to the car, slid in and began my way towards the pool. I pulled in and just sat there for a moment. This was the spot, the exact one, where Emma and I... almost christened the car park.

  I shook my head. God... even half a day without her and she was driving me insane. This couldn't be healthy. I shouldn't be feeling stuff like this. I pulled the key out and chucked it in my bag. I slowly made my way to the pool. Coach was there, shaking her head disapprovingly.

  "Glad to see you've graced us with your presence, Mayor." She tsked, pursing her lips.

  I held my hands up in some sort of a peace signal. "Sorry. Train was late."

  Some of the team members snorted and she narrowed her eyes at me. "Alright, smart alec, get in the pool and give me ten warm up laps. Two more for being late."

  I suppressed a groan and just nodded at her. I went to lane eight and plunged myself into the water. I propelled forward, letting all my anger and built up frustration pour out, surging me forward. I felt myself mentally smile.

  Swimming was always a good distraction.

  Emma Ross

  Britney's house was ginormous! I had been lost three times. Twice was trying to find one of her five bathrooms. Like seriously, who need five bathrooms in their house? Only two of them lived here! It would be such an effort to clean.

  But, they have a maid, so I guess they're all good. It seems as though everybody have amazing, big houses and then there’s me. I swear my house could fit about three times in here, comfortably. Don't get me wrong, I love my house. It's cosy, small and just... home, but it would be pretty sweet to have a get up like this one. They had gold lining, marble floor, winding stair cases that reached the fourth floor and so much cool stuff in here.

  You would never get bored.

  Britney's mother was away on a 'Girl's night out', which was really good. I didn't have to know her to know we wouldn't get along. So, it was just Britney, myself and the maid. Her name was Kim. She was really lovely.

  "Do you want to know a secret?" Britney asked me, as I followed her into the kitchen. She went to the cupboard and disappeared into the pantry. I saw her go to the back and get on her knees. She put her arm in a gap behind one of the cupboard. She emerged back out with a block of chocolate. "Don't tell my mum."

  I laughed, shaking my head. "I won't. Is that the secret?"

  "No, but it is one of them." she sat down on one of the bar stools and opened the packet. "We had this maid, but he was a guy. He was like, Spanish, or something. Really hot. Didn't speak much English, but that didn't matter. I had a fling with him before I dated Jason and mum found out. She fired him."

  "Wow." I said, my eyebrows raised. "Do you still keep in contact with him?"

  "No. I can hardly understand anything he says." she sighed, resting her palm on her chin. "You probably think I'm an embarrassment."

  "I think you're a normal teenage girl." I stated.

  Hanging out with Britney actually wasn't as dreadful as I thought. I think she was just sick of acting like somebody else. She was just being open and honest. I think it was relieving to get half of this stuff off her chest. So, I was here to listen.

  "I've never told anyone about that." she murmured, popping a square of chocolate in her mouth. "I thought people would judge me."

  "Why would they?" I asked, taking out my own square.

  "Because he was a maid."

  "So? Maids are just like us. Working for a living."

  "Not one of my friends would say that."

  I shrugged at her. "It's the truth."

  "Want to know something else?" she asked, keeping her eyes targeted on the chocolate, refusing to look up at me. "I lied to Jason."

  I felt a swirl in my stomach at the mention of him. I felt sick when I thought about what happened. I should have tried harder. To risk losing him... I don't think I could handle it. Breaking up with him would be like, one by one, ripping out my heart strings.

  "About what?" I forced myself to ask.

  "Told him I was my first." she said, laughing without any humor. "But really, it was Alvaro."

  "Really?" I asked in surprise. "Wow."

  "Yep." she replied, popping the 'p'. "There is a lot more to me then you'd think."

  "I see." I said, laughing. "It must feel good to talk about it."

  Her eyes flickered to mine. She looked at me. I tried to make out what expression it was,
but it was proving difficult. Sincere, maybe?

  "It does." she spoke softly. "It really does."

  I smiled at her. "Well, if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here."

  She took a few moments to reply. It seemed as though she was contemplating on what to say next.

  "I can't believe we're hanging out." she finally said.

  "Me either." I admitted.

  "Are you alright? I heard you crying last night."

  It was my turn to look away. I bit my lip. "Not really. I won't be nearly okay until I talk to him. Sort out what's going on."

  "Why don't you go see him now?" she asked.

  I clicked my phone, so the screen lit up and showed me the time. "He'd be at swimming practice. He has a comp tomorrow."

  "Oh."

  "I think I'll give him today to clear his head. I want him to be completely focused for tomorrow. I might try and talk to him afterwards."

  "That's probably a good idea."

  Silence lapsed between us. My phone began ringing and I slid my thumb across the screen, answering. "Hello?"

  "Hey, when you come home, do you think you could swing by your work and grab some food? I'll reimburse you when you get home."

  "Sure." I replied. "What do you need?"

  He rattled off some items and I made a mental note to grab some Nutella. What he doesn't know, won't hurt him. Muhaha. He hung up and I quickly wrote them down on my notes, so I wouldn't forget them.

  "Well... I should probably go." I started.

  "Oh. Okay." she replied, getting up. "Thanks for... listening."

  "Thanks for having me over."

  She gave me a small smile, which I immediately returned. "I'll see myself out. I'll call out if I get lost."

  She snorted, rolling her eyes. "I'll just walk you."

  I grinned as we began the trek up to her room. I grabbed the stuff I had, (as I was wearing her clothes at the moment. I'll return them when I see her next). After managing to successfully get to the door, I smiled at her. To both my surprise and hers, I reached forward and gave her a quick hug. She was stiff at first, before returning the gesture. I stepped back and left, before anything else weird happened. I began my walk to the shop.

  The sun was hot on my skin as I walked there. I wiped the back of my hand across my forehead, removing the slight sheet of sweat that had begun to form. I sighed, lifting my shirt up and down, attempting to cool myself down. I entered the super market and felt the relieving rush of air conditioning hit my body. I sighed in content.

  If only the outside temperature was this nice. I got all the stuff we needed and said hello to my fellow staff members. (I had had a couple of shifts already). I found myself walking passed Daniel's house. I never realised I walked passed his house all the time. It wasn't until Britney said where he lived. It was almost scary, how close we lived.

  I looked over to a van which was parked across the curb. I nodded the undercover officers and they nodded back, knowing who I am. I rounded the corner and I felt a shudder roll down my spine as I walked passed the house.

  I was just at the edge of their fence when I felt a hard hand, grip my arm. I yelped, being reefed backwards. A knife was swung around and pressed at the base of my throat. I gulped, being suffocated with the sense of déjà vu.

  Not quite with me, but with what happened to Rachel. Er- mum. My heart beat began surging in my ears and my mouth dried out almost instantly. My body went straight into freak out mode, causing my knees to wobble against each other and my fingers to tremble. I enclosed them around his arm, trying to pry him away.

  I had no luck, of course.

  "Daniel?" I squeaked.

  "Guess again." A rough voice said in my ear.

  The cops were only mere meters away... just around the corner. If I could get their attention, maybe - my thoughts were abruptly cut off as the knife pressed harder on my throat. I could feel the blood surface and begin to trickle down my neck.

  "Don't. Scream." his demanded, his voice lacing with menace.

  Without even a second of hesitation, I screamed as loud as I could. I heard an enraged growl from behind me and the blade sliced across my skin. My scream rose in vibrato. It wasn't enough to puncture my artery, but it did break the skin.

  I heard footsteps and he tightened his hold on me, causing me to scream louder. He rammed his knee into my back and I gasped painfully. My knees buckled from under me from the impact, but he reefed me back into standing position. I yanked my hair back, so he had more exposure of my neck. I cried out in pain as I felt a few of my hair follicles rip out.

  "You ruined my life... I'll destroy yours." his throaty voice said in my ear, causing my body to become frozen.

  "Let her go!" An officer bellowed, his voice echoing around the area. I began to feel dizzy in the head. I glanced down and saw the blood trailing down onto my shirt. My stomach did a back flip and I looked away, feeling sick.

  "One step closer, I'll cut her throat." he said in a deep, threatening voice. I couldn't help whimper slightly. I couldn't die and not have things sorted with Jason! Millions of thoughts rushed through my head. I was still so young! I still had so much of my life to live.

  I needed to see Courtney be born!

  "DAD!" A voice screeched and we both whipped our heads to the left.

  Two officer's had Daniel pinned to the ground, handcuffs around his wrists. Daniel's father loosened his grip slightly and I knew that that would be my only option to take action. I dropped as fast as I could to the ground.

  "You little bit-" he began to growl, trying to charge down to me, but what happened next had my heart stopping. My blood went cold in my body and I almost passed out. When I first heard it, I was unsure of what it was. My slow brain couldn't process it.

  Time seemed to slow down. The bullet flew across the air. I watched, my jaw hanging, as it slid over my head and straight into his body. He staggered backwards slightly, a pained expression on his face.

  His eyes widened and his lips parted. He raised a hand to his chest, where blood began to ooze out of his shirt.

  He looked down at me and I almost cried from the look he gave me. He looked so... not scary. He just looked like an innocent man. He dropped to his knees, not even a meter away from me, his hand pressed against his chest.

  With one last intake of breath, he slumped forward, onto my body. He rolled so that he was staring up at me. His hand raised and his fingers clutched around my shirt. I couldn't move. I was paralysed to the bone. I felt his blood pour onto me and it was as though it seeped into my skin. I felt numb with shock and horror. I felt my body began to shake and a sob was beginning to build up in my throat.

  I moved slightly and stared into his eyes, my mouth still open. I saw the life fade from his eyes and there, Daniel's father, died in my arms.

  59

  The entire night was a blur. Questions and questions had been thrown at me, twisting around my head. I could hardly even recall what I had said back. I still was trying to deal with the fact that someone literally died in my arms.

  Not every day, one was put through that.

  I ran a shaky hand through my hair, trying to let myself sleep. I was physically and emotionally drained. I let myself delve back in to what happened earlier tonight.

  SEVEN HOURS EARLIER

  I laid there, emotionless. Blood was pouring from my neck, down my chest and trickling into a pool on my lap, mingling with the blood Daniel's father was leaving.

  "DAD - NO!" A broken voice screamed, making goose bumps erupt all over my skin. I felt sick in the stomach. At the sound of his voice, a shudder ran down my spine and I shivered. I felt cold and dead inside.

  I didn't have to turn my head to know Daniel was the source of the sound. Footsteps ran over to me. Phone calls could be heard all around me, sirens red and blue lights were filling my vision but the sound of my roaring heart beat was beginning to drown out all other sounds. I blinked furiously, seeing a figure slumped in front of me, being dragged.
I glanced up and saw Daniel, tears spilling openly down his face, as he took in what was left of his father. I don't think he even acknowledged my presence. I bit my lip, my eyes watering. Despite what they have done to both me and my family, I couldn't help feel utterly shattered at what they were going through. I knew exactly what it was like to lose a parent figure. (Although, coincidental enough, she didn't really die, but I still went through the tragedy and misery of losing a love one).

  A Coroner soon appeared and removed Daniel's father's body from me. I sat there, just watching.

  "Sorry ma'am," he said, sliding the body from me. I glanced down, noticing all the blood over me. My mouth dried out and my stomach rumbled unpleasantly. I made a face and averted my eyes, not being able to stand the sight of it.

  I looked over at the coroner, who was currently zipping his body up in a suit. After that, my head began to feel light, my vision started to get fuzzy and my body seemed to become sort of limp.

  Unfortunately, I didn't go unconscious, but I seemed to become immobile. I remember officers speaking to me, asking me questions, nurses asking me to follow their instructions, but no words were sinking into my brain. It was like I could see them, see their mouths moving, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. It was definitely an odd experience, that's for sure.

  I had just witnessed someone literally dying. Right in front of me. On me. My mouth was dry, my throat felt like it had closed up and my breath was coming out raspy. A nurse was on her knees in front of me, squeezing my shoulder, asking me what my name was. I couldn't respond. I just sat there, stupefied. I felt and probably looked a little like 'Dudley' from Harry Potter when he had been attacked by those Dementors. I knew my skin was drained of colour, causing my naturally tanned skin to become pasty and pale.

  "Emma, you need to respond." she urged, shaking me slightly as if they would gain more of my attention. "Emma? Can you hear me?"