Last Christmas

by Kate Brian

Ariana didn't take the time to answer. She reached the stairwell and flew down the steps three at a time,

  slamming into the door at the foot of the stairs just as Sergei slammed it shut behind him. She smashed her

  fist against the heavy wood.

  "Damnit!" She doubled over, gasping for breath.

  "You okay?" Thomas was moving slowly down the steps one floor above. She looked up at him, feeling a

  sudden pang of guilt. She shouldn't leave him alone in his condition.

  "He's getting away," Ariana said desperately.

  "Just go!" Thomas shouted, his voice bouncing down the stairwell. "I'll catch

  up!"

  Without another glance in his direction, Ariana threw open the back door and squinted against the glare of the

  sun's reflection on the snow. Sergei had crossed the stretch of land behind Drake House and was headed into

  the woods. She gritted her teeth and followed with renewed determination. She would get to him. If he

  revealed those photos-the photos that showed her cheating on Daniel-she would lose everything. It

  wouldn't matter that Daniel had lied or that he'd cheated first. All that would matter was that she cheated on

  Paige's twin brother. She'd lose her friends, Billings, maybe even her mother. She would be a nothing.

  Sergei disappeared into the thick covering of trees ahead. Every nerve in her body seized with terror.

  Reaching the edge of the woods, Ariana turned back for a moment to look for Thomas. He was limping

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  slowly toward her, at least twenty-five yards behind. She inhaled a sharp breath and ducked past the line of

  trees into the woods.

  The crunch of leaves and branches under Sergei's feet slowed up ahead. He was getting winded and she was

  getting closer. She weaved through clusters of old pine trees and ducked underneath their heavy boughs,

  adrenaline propelling her forward. Sergei was just ahead, struggling against a branch thick with pine needles.

  He shoved past it and it whipped back in her direction, the tip of the branch slicing across her face.

  She brought her hand to her numb cheek. When she pulled it away, her fingers were covered in blood.

  Stinging anger rose inside her. Why was he torturing her like this? Sergei had her whole life in his hands.

  Easton, Billings, her mother, and Thomas.

  "Sergei!" she screamed, tears running down her cheeks "Stop! Please!" Her desperation was palpable, and it

  rose up in her throat, threatening to choke her. He hurried into the large clearing at the center of the woods.

  The lake stretched in front of them, silent and frozen.

  Ariana had spent so much time around this lake since she'd come to Easton as a freshman. Bonfires with the

  other Billings Girls in the fall, stretching out on blankets with a bottle of white wine in the spring. The threat

  of getting caught had always sent a shiver of excitement down her spine, a kind of excitement she'd never felt

  when she'd lived at home. The threat she faced now filled her with gut-wrenching dread.

  Sergei darted onto the frozen surface, then hesitated, glancing over his shoulder at her. She ran faster, the

  space between them

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  diminishing with every step. Reaching toward him, she strained to grab the hem of his sweater. She was so

  close.

  Suddenly, he stopped and turned around to face her. Before she realized what he had done, her body slammed

  into his. They tumbled onto the ice together. Her head cracked against the unforgiving surface, and she felt a

  searing pain at the base of her skull. The sounds of their heaving gasps throbbed in her ears.

  And then another sound, this one sharp. Slow at first, then faster. The crackling sound of ice breaking

  underneath their weight.

  Ariana screamed, flipping onto her stomach in time to see the ice give way under Sergei's body.

  "Oh my God," Ariana gasped.

  A look of surprise flashed across Sergei's sweaty face right before he plunged into the gray water. Ariana

  instinctively slid backward, away from the hole that threatened to swallow them both, but Sergei's fingers

  closed around her ankle.

  "No! Let go of me! "Ariana screamed, clawing at the ice beneath her, leaving a jagged trail in the ice as

  Sergei pulled her closer and closer.

  "Help!" Sergei croaked. "Help me!"

  His grip was like a vice. She could see the freezing water getting closer as he thrashed with his free arm. In

  seconds he was going to pull her down with him. They were both going to die.

  "Sergei, no! "Ariana choked. Fear honed her senses, and suddenly everything around her came into sharp

  focus. She reached down to her ankle and grabbed his hand, her fingers digging into his ashen skin. His face

  twisted in fear and pain.

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  "Please," he gasped, thrashing in the water. "Help me! I don't swim!"

  His voice echoed in the silent clearing. The color was slipping rapidly from his cheeks. He couldn't survive

  for more than a few minutes in the icy lake, and she wasn't sure that she was strong enough to pull him to

  safety. She grabbed his forearm with her other hand and pulled as hard as she could.

  "Hold on," she groaned, leaning back with all her weight. She couldn't silence the sound of her heart

  pounding in her chest. The sound of Sergei, screaming for help. The warmth in her mother's voice that

  surfaced every time she mentioned Daniel. Thomas's breath on her skin, the soft sound of him whispering her

  name while they lay in bed. The voices echoed in her mind, getting louder and louder. Closing in. Suffocating

  her.

  You never know what people are capable of until they're pushed to their edge, Ariana."Ariana!" Sergei

  begged.

  "Shut up!" she screamed. The images he'd taken of her and Thomas flashed in mind. It was all too much. Too

  chaotic. She needed silence, time to think. Sergei's grip loosened slightly, and she looked down at him. A

  bluish-gray tint had crept into his skin. He mumbled something about his photographs, looking up at her with

  wide, pleading eyes. A gnawing sensation at the back of her mind told her that it wasn't too late to help him.

  To save him.

  But those pictures. Why had he taken them? What did he want for his silence? What would he make her do to

  keep quiet? Her life was on the line here. He'd backed her into a corner.

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  "Please." Sergei's voice was a whimper now.

  She locked eyes with him. And suddenly everything became clear.

  Slowly, deliberately, Ariana released her grip on his arm. Sergei's eyes went wide as she placed her hand on

  his dark, wet head, and pushed. Pushed with all her strength. He struggled for a moment. Just for a moment.

  But he was weak. And before long he slipped silently underneath the ice. His eyes dark, unblinking, stared up

  at her from under the glassy gray surface. And then he was gone. Vanished. As if he had never existed.

  A thin film of new ice was forming over the hole he'd fallen through. She stared at her reflection in the icy

  water, sinking into the silence that hung heavy over the clearing. A strange warmth settled over her as she sat

  on the ice.

  It had been so easy. She had taken control back. She'd get to keep Billings, her mother, Thomas. She'd have

  time to figure it all out perfectly. And with that thought, her mind was finally calm. Free. The voices had

  quieted.

  All but one.

  "Ariana!" Thomas's voice boomed across the lake, and she glanced up to see him limping toward her. "W
hat

  happened? Where's Sergei?"

  "Stay there!" she yelled. "The ice isn't thick enough!"

  Thomas froze, and she pushed herself slowly across the ice, careful to stay low. When she reached him at the

  edge of the lake, she wrapped her arms around his legs, squeezing them tight. He was here. And they were

  safe.

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  EVERYTHING

  ***"We have to get out of here. Now," Ariana rasped, grabbing Thomas and pulling him back toward

  campus. Away from the lake. Away from Sergei's body.

  "Ariana." He grabbed her arm, refused to let her run. "You have to tell me what happened out there."

  She searched his face. Took in his furrowed brow, the way his mouth twitched slightly. He could never know

  the truth. He wouldn't understand.

  "He grabbed me. He ... he tried to hit me," she said. There was a waver in her voice. Good. It sounded like she

  was scared, trembling. Really, she was waiting. Waiting for the gravity of what had just happened to weigh

  her down, drag her under. Waiting for the guilt to suffocate her. Just waiting for the calm to break. Waiting to

  feel.

  But all she felt was ...peace. It had been so easy. All her problems gone-just like that.

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  "He tried to hit you?" Thomas repeated.

  "I managed to shove him off of me, but when he hit the ice it broke underneath him." Her voice was steady

  and calm, and the explanation slipped from her lips with little effort. "He fell in and I tried to save him, but I

  wasn't strong enough."

  For a brief moment, she thought she saw uncertainty in Thomas's eyes, felt him shrink away. But then he was

  holding her, pulling her close.

  "Your face," he whispered when he pulled away. He reached out and touched her cheek where the pine

  branch had sliced her skin. "Is that where he-"

  Ariana nodded. She pulled in a choppy breath, pleased by how broken she sounded despite her Zen-like

  peace. "We have to tell the police," Thomas said. Ariana pulled away. "No!"

  "What? Why not? Ariana, someone died. We're the only people that know what happened," Thomas said. He

  folded his shaking hands over his chest. "We have to do something."

  "Thomas, please." Ariana forced herself to sound weak, vulnerable. "If we call the police, we'll have to

  explain everything. We'll be expelled. Maybe arrested. And my mother, your parents ...what about your third

  strike?"

  Thomas's blue eyes hardened and Ariana knew she'd hit home. Thomas's survival instinct had kicked in. He

  needed to protect himself-and her. She was just as important to him as he was to her. She knew it was true.

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  "Shit. Okay. Okay. You're right." Thomas pushed his hand through his hair, his eyes rimmed in red. "Okay.

  We have to get out of here." He gripped her hand tight. "I can't fucking believe this."

  His face twisted in pain as he leaned on his bad ankle and they started the trek back. Ariana relished the feel

  of his warm hand over hers as they made their way through the trees. Everything was fine. She was with

  Thomas and everything was going to be fine. It was romantic, even, this early morning walk through the

  woods. So serene, so peaceful. They should do this every morning once school was back in session....

  "We have to leave campus," Thomas said softly. "Separate for a while."

  "What?"

  Ariana was floored by the suggestion, by the sudden break in her happy thoughts. Her body tensed with anger

  and she stopped abruptly. How could he be so quick to leave her, after everything they'd been through

  together? After what she had just done for them? For him? He couldn't just leave her alone.

  "No." Her voice was like ice. "We can't. I won't do it," she said as she stared through him.

  "We have to." Thomas started to take a step toward her, but something stopped him. He looked at her

  uncertainly. Was that fear in his eyes? What did he have to be afraid of? "We don't have a choice, Ariana.

  They're going to figure out Sergei's missing and question everyone who was on campus. If they find out we

  were here, we're more than screwed."

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  "I know that," she snapped. "But I'm not going to leave you now, Thomas. Not when we just found each

  other," she said more calmly.

  Thomas snorted a laugh. "Just found each other? What is this, some kind of

  cheesy soap opera?"

  Ariana's eyes smoldered with anger. She clutched her arm, digging into her jacket sleeve with her fingernails.

  "Don't mock me," she said tersely.

  Thomas blinked. "I'm not."

  "Yes, you are!" Ariana shouted, startling a crow out of its perch in a nearby tree-sending it squawking

  toward the sky.

  She stared into his eyes and waited, her teeth clenched. He loved her. She knew he did. He had to love her.

  Because if he didn't...

  Thomas gazed back at her for a long moment. Looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. Finally,

  he stepped forward and took her hand. "I don't want to be away from you either. But Ariana, please. Be

  reasonable. If I get caught, I'll lose everything. My family, my friends, my inheritance ..." He looked deep

  into her eyes and touched her face with his cold hand. "I'll lose you."

  Ariana's heart surged. He did love her. She knew it. She slipped her arms under his and held him tight.

  "Okay," she whispered, gripping him tighter with each passing second. His body shook against hers.

  "Whatever you want to do. We'll be fine." She lifted her face to his and kissed him. "Trust me. No one will

  ever know."

  "Okay." Thomas exhaled a shaky breath. His eyes were glassy. "Now let's get out of here."

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  He slung his arm over her shoulder and, leaning into each other, they limped toward campus. Ariana breathed

  evenly, deliberately, letting the cold, fresh air cleanse her. With every step, she left Sergei farther behind.

  Every moment that passed would put more distance between them, until he was nothing but a vague memory,

  a kid who might have gone to Easton Academy once. A fading image in an old, yellowed photograph.

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  HARDEST THING

  An hour later they stood together at the corner of the main intersection in downtown Easton. The streets were

  blanketed in darkness, save for the tiny orbs of light from the streetlamps on every corner. Ariana leaned

  against the cold iron base of one of the lampposts, staring numbly past Thomas to the other side of the street.

  The boutiques had closed hours ago. Mannequins frozen in unnatural poses gaped at her from the other side of

  darkened windows. She shivered as a sharp wind whipped around the corner, carrying gusts of powdered

  snow with it."Say something," Thomas pleaded, kicking at the dirty ice that had accumulated along the edge

  of the brick-lined sidewalk. He stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets, peering worriedly at her from under his

  wool hat.

  "What do you want me to say?" Ariana couldn't bring herself to look at him. Did he want her to say that she

  wasn't ready for this? That

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  she wanted just one more night with him before she had to leave? That the thought of going to Vermont to be

  with Daniel made her chest feel so tight she thought she might explode? She'd said all of those things. But she

  was still standing at the corner, her bag slung over her shoulder, the minutes they had left together slipping

  past her like the wind. She had to remind herself that wha
t they had planned was worth it.

  They had talked everything through as they'd made the trek downtown. Trains were running again because it

  had finally stopped snowing, and already several inches had melted off. Even though she hated the cold,

  Ariana would have stayed snowed in forever if it meant being with Thomas. But they had to stick to the plan.

  If Ariana were to break up with Daniel now and start seeing Thomas, it would raise suspicions. Especially in

  Paige, who would undoubtedly spend most of break grilling Ariana about exactly where she'd been and what

  she'd done. So Thomas had decided-well, they had decided together, really-to let all this mess with Sergei

  die down. They could still sneak around this year, but she'd have to wait until the summer to break up with

  Daniel. Then she and Thomas could be together in September. Daniel and Paige would be gone, and they

  could just start dating, like it was brand-new. They would spend their senior year together, as a real couple.

  Just her and Thomas.

  "I don't know what I want you to say. Anything, I guess." Thomas reached out to touch her face, and she

  started as his fingertips grazed her cheek. Her skin felt raw. The cold was like sandpaper, scraping away her

  protective layers. Leaving her exposed.

  Silently, Ariana wrapped her thin camel coat tight around her

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  frame to block the wind, but it didn't help. She thought longingly of her white winter coat, now a pile of ashes

  in the clearing on the hill. She had gone back there, to the place where she and her friends had partied on so

  many warm autumn nights, and burned all the evidence of her two days on campus. The first thing she would

  do in Vermont was buy a new winter coat.

  Thomas moved closer to her, resting his ungloved hands on her shoulders. Cupping her neck, her jaw, with

  his hands.

  "Look at me," he ordered. She did as she was told. Looked him right in the eye. "I don't want to do this

  either. You know that, right?"

  "I know." She nodded, letting him pull her close. She knew he was right, knew this was the only way. And

  she wasn't making this any easier for him.

  "You remember what you're going to tell them?" he asked gently.

  "That I got caught in a motel on the border of Connecticut for two nights because of the snow," she repeated

  robotically.

  "Good." He gave her a rare, sincere smile. "It's only two weeks, naughty girl.

  We can do two weeks, right?"

  He nudged her foot with his. The sound of that nickname, that stupid nickname, brought tears to her eyes. She

  wiped them away with the back of her hand. Two weeks in Vermont sounded like an eternity. But it was the

  only way she'd have an alibi. People to vouch for where she'd been over break. Even if those people had to be

  Daniel and Paige Ryan.

  "Don't call me naughty girl," she joked lamely.

  "Please. You love it." Thomas grinned. But his eyes were blank.

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  Dead. And for the first time, she saw that he was just as miserable as she was. "I want you to have

  something." He reached into his pocket. It was the old New York City subway token he'd been fiddling with

  at the Winter Ball. He pressed it into her hand. "I've carried this around forever. It's lucky. It'll be our thing,

  our symbol or whatever."

  The sound of sirens punctured the night air, and Ariana froze as two police cruisers sped down the street

  toward them in a blur. Red and blue light slipped across Thomas's face, then disappeared.

  "You don't think-" Ariana began, her voice shaking.

  "Hey. You have to keep it together, okay?" He pulled her closer, lowering his mouth to her ear. "They won't

  find him," he said softly. "And even if they do, they won't think to ask either one of us about it. I was on my

  way to New York, and you were on your way to Vermont."

  "On my way to Vermont," she echoed. As if repeating the words would make them true.