April 11, 2010 (30)
4:45 p.m.
Evalynne’s Apartment

“Hey,” Addison greeted me when she walked into the apartment.
“Hi,” I said to her, looking up from the screen of my cell phone. I had been sitting there on the couch ever since I’d gotten home, just staring at my phone, trying to get the nerve to call Cole up. He had told me that he would still be there waiting for me when I needed him, but was it really fair for me to go back to him after everything that I’d done to him? I’d hurt him so much already.
“So I uh, stopped by the diner today after class.” she told me.
“Oh, really? I didn’t see you,” I replied.
“Yeah, I think it was right after your shift ended.” She bit down on her lower lip, looking nervous.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Well I went to visit Ashton, but I saw Ben and Angie too. They were just about to leave, but they stayed once I walked in. You know, just to talk to me and Ashton. But while we were talking, I noticed that Ben started to give me these weird looks…almost like he knew that I know he’s really Michael.” She looked at me apologetically as if this were her fault. “I’m sorry. I tried to act like everything was normal, but I think I might have given it away. I think I maybe acted a little more tense around him this time.”
I swallowed hard, anxiety overwhelming me. “It’s ok. It’s not your fault.” I assured her. It was my fault for telling her. I knew she wouldn’t tell anyone, but I hadn’t thought about how she might act around Michael once she knew. Now it was too late though. Now Michael knew that I hadn’t kept his secret like I’d promised. Now he was probably going to kill Addison for what she knew. And it was all my fault.
“He’s not going to kill Cole, is he?” she asked, fear audible in her voice.
“I don’t know,” I uttered, beginning to feel feverish. I was just saying this to avoid telling her the truth, that I was pretty sure he’d go after her instead of Cole. Before Michael had threatened Shaun’s life earlier today, I’d just assumed that Cole’s life was the only one at stake. But now I realized just how wrong I’d been.
Addison could sense that I was lying though. She could tell that I was trying to hide something. At first, she looked confused, like she wasn’t sure why I was lying to her. But then a grave realization came over her and her green eyes went wide with terror. “He’s going to kill me, isn’t he?” she said.
“I don’t know,” I repeated. I hated lying to her, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. How could I possibly tell her that because of me, a psychotic murderer was now after her? I felt so incredibly guilty for all the pain I’d caused to completely innocent people. I knew that I needed to put a stop to it. I needed to give Michael what he wanted, needed to please him. But the only way to do that was to give myself over to him, and I just couldn’t. I’d have to find another way to stop him from killing Addison.
“That’s it,” she said. “I’m calling the police.” She reached inside her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
“No!” I cried before she could dial in any numbers.
“Evalynne, we have to!” she told me. “This guy is dangerous! The police need to know what’s going on!”
“But if we do, he’ll know! He’ll escape before they get there and then he’ll kill Cole.” I reminded her.
“How could he possibly know?” she demanded. This was the first time I’d ever seen Addison get so frustrated.
“I don’t know, ok?” I remarked. “All I know is that he’ll find out and then he’ll kill Cole. And I can’t let that happen.”
“So you can’t let him kill Cole, but you can let him kill me?” she cried. “That’s not fair! You don’t even care about Cole! I’ve known you for less than a week and I’ve already seen you break his heart!”
I looked at her, shocked that she had actually said that to me. It was very unlike her to yell at me like that. She seemed just as surprised with herself as I was, and both of us went silent for a moment.
“I’m so sorry,” she finally said apologetically. “That was so awful of me to say. I’m just really scared right now. I kind of lost it for a moment there. Gosh, that was so rude. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Of course I forgive you,” I assured her. After all, it wasn’t her fault that she was in this situation. It was mine. I should’ve been the one apologizing to her.
“Thanks,” she replied with a small smile. “So,” she began, “if we can’t call the police, then what should we do? We have to do something. I really don’t want to die, Evalynne.”
“You’re not going to die.” I assured her. I wasn’t so sure if this was true, but I didn’t want her to feel like she didn’t even have a chance.
“I hope you’re right,” she said, looking doubtful. Just then, there was a knock at the door. “Oh no!” she cried. “It’s him! He’s here to kill me!”
I sighed and walked over to the door to answer it. Luckily, it wasn’t Michael. It was Valerie, which was kind of surprising to me. “Angie, what are you doing here?” I asked her. I made sure to call her Angie because if I called her Valerie, she might have gone back to Michael to confirm that I’d told Addison the truth about them.
“I kind of need to talk to you actually,” she replied.
“Well come on inside,” I said to her. For some reason, I didn’t really dislike Valerie very much. Maybe it was because she was obviously still hurt by what Will had done to her so long ago and I knew exactly what it felt like. After all, I had been cheated on by Will once too.
“Hey, Addison,” she greeted my roommate.
“Hello,” Addison responded, looking nervous still. She probably thought that Valerie was just as dangerous as Michael.
“Um, I was kind of hoping I could talk to you alone,” Valerie told me, glancing at Addison out of the corner of her eye.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Addison said, taking the hint. She gave me an uneasy look of concern, and I nodded to let her know that it was fine to leave me alone with Valerie. So she walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
“So what do you want to talk about?” I asked Valerie once we were alone.
“It’s Michael,” she began. “I thought about it, and I believe what you told me about him the other day.”
“So you’re going to leave him?” I wondered aloud. I was actually kind of hopeful that she would just leave him. I knew that Valerie was really a good person deep down. Michael was just holding her back.
“No,” she said, completely letting me down.
“But why not?” I asked. “If you stay in this relationship with him, he’s going to kill you. I know you’re probably scared of what might happen if you try to leave him, but I’m sure it won’t be as bad as what will happen if you stick around.”
“It’s not that,” she told me, getting a distraught look in her eyes. “I just can’t leave him,” Now I was confused.
“I don’t get it though. Why can’t you leave him?” I replied.
She sucked in a deep breath, blinking a few times to hold back the tears that were welling up in her dark brown eyes. “Because I’m pregnant,” she confessed.
“Oh my gosh,” I murmured. I had definitely not seen that one coming. “And Michael’s the father?” She nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek. “Oh my gosh,” I repeated. I just couldn’t help it. I was beyond shocked at this news. “Does he know?” I asked her.
“No, I didn’t tell him yet.” she admitted. “I don’t want to have his kid, Evalynne. I just want to leave him before it’s too late. I just want my life back!” By now, she was bawling uncontrollably.
I stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. If this were Kristy, I would have wrapped her up in my arms and told her everything was going to be ok. I would’ve gotten out some cookie dough ice cream and eaten with her right out of the carton. This was what I always did to make her feel better when she went into a temporary depression. This wasn’t Kristy though. It was Valerie…but she really did look like she could use a friend.
Hesitantly, I took a step towards her and put my arm around her shoulder. “Come on,” I said, leading her into the kitchen. I pulled out a chair at the table for her to sit in and then headed over to the freezer. There wasn’t any cookie dough ice cream, but vanilla would just have to do. So I grabbed it, along with two spoons and two bowls and sat down next to her.
I scooped her out a bowl of ice cream and placed it in front of her. It would be kind of weird to eat it out of the carton with Valerie because I didn’t know her that well. Kristy, on the other hand, had been my best friend for forever. As I finished scooping out my own bowl of ice cream, I realized just how much I missed Kristy. I’d told her about moving, but we kind of stopped talking after that.
“Why did you get me ice cream?” she asked, looking up at me with her tear-streaked face. The thick make up she wore was running down her cheeks.
“Because,” I said, handing her a napkin, “this is what I do to cheer my best friend up when she’s in a temporary depression.”
She wiped her face off with the napkin and looked back at me. “Thank you,” she said sincerely.
“No problem,” I replied with a smile.
“Why are you being so nice to me anyways? I treated you so horribly before,” she said, looking confused.
Honestly, I didn’t really know why I was being so nice to her. I just had a feeling that if Will loved her as much as he did, then she couldn’t really be a bad person. I knew she’d been through a lot, so I didn’t really mind it when she treated me like crap. What Michael was putting her through was just as bad as what he was putting me through. I could actually relate to her a lot.
“I know, but I don’t hate you, Valerie. I know you were hurt when Will cheated on you. He cheated on me too actually. So I know that you had an excuse to be so mad at me, especially with what Michael’s doing to you.” I explained to her. “And I know that you must be really scared and confused about what to do right now, so the least I can do is be nice to you.”
She smiled at me, looking grateful for my kindness. “So what do you think I should do now?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe you should just tell him and see what he has to say about it.”
“But what if he gets mad?” she replied. For the first time, I was seeing just how scared of Michael she really was.
“He can’t be mad at you. It isn’t your fault. It’s actually kind of his.” I told her.
“Yeah, but he might still be mad at me,” she pointed out, and I realized that she was right. Michael didn’t care whose fault it really was. All that mattered to him was whose fault he thought it was.
“I don’t know what you should do then.” I told her, feeling bad that I didn’t have any good suggestions. “Do you really want to have this baby with him?”
“No,” she replied. “I don’t want have this baby at all. Especially not with him! But I’m going to have it. I’m just not sure what I’m going to do once it’s born.”
“Well then maybe you could get out of your relationship with Michael now, before he realizes that you’re pregnant, and decide what you’re going to do once he’s out of your life.” I suggested.
She opened her mouth, about to respond, but before she could get any words out, there was a loud pounding at the door. I tentatively went to go answer it. But once I did, I regretted it.
“Hello, Evalynne,” Michael said to me. “May I come in, please?” I was shocked that he was actually asking me to come inside, rather than demanding it.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I told him, not wanting him to walk in and see Valerie sitting there. If he saw that we’d been sitting there eating ice cream, he’d realize that we had made peace, and then he’d be really p***ed off.
“It’s fine, you don’t have anything to hide from him,” Valerie said, stepping up behind me. She grinned at Michael and planted a quick kiss on his lips, making it seem as if nothing was wrong. I had to admit, she was a pretty good actress. But why in the world was she letting Michael come in? He’d see the ice cream bowls and know exactly what was going on.
However, when he walked into the apartment, the kitchen table was cleared. Valerie must have put everything away when she realized it was Michael at the door.
“You know, I was just about to leave, Ben.” Valerie said to him, glancing over at Addison’s door to let him know why she was using his fake name. “I was just dropping by to give our friend, Evalynne, a friendly visit.” The tone she used was so similar to the one Michael spoke in that it was almost freaky.
“I see,” he said, eyeing us both suspiciously. “Well I was just coming here to look for you. You just left without telling me where you were going.”
“I’m sorry.” she apologized, sounding like she really meant it. I knew how much she actually despised him though.
“Well,” he said, ignoring her apology, “I guess we’d better get going then. I’ll see you tomorrow, Evalynne.” Then, he wrapped his arm around Valerie’s waist and led her out of my apartment.

Author's Note: Check me out on Youtube if you wanna! I made videos of the EC+AM=4ever series & my username is LexiWrites (: