Chapter Twenty

EDITED

Do you know how awkward it was for me to write this chapter? Pretty freaking awkward; just throwing that out there.

So my parents told me that they wanted to read Don't Be Afraid. I'm kind of scared cause I feel like they'll disown me once they read it. So moms or dads who read my book, can you give me so advice? Pretty Please?

Chapter Twenty

3 missed calls and 10 new texts my phone read out to me. All the calls and texts were from Jesse. Well, except one text from Emery asking what time he should pick me up.

It was now 6:00 on Sunday evening and I was now getting ready for the bonfire that was taking place at the mini beach are town has. I still haven't spoken to Jesse since Friday night when he decided to pick a fight with me for no reason. Of course I still kind of miss him even though he was being a jerk. It was really hard to be mad him, but I made sure to stay my ground.

When I got dressed, I actually dressed up. I wore flattering jeans and a fitted blouse that exceptionally looks good on me. And I actually brushed my hair and wore it down this time instead of throwing it into a ponytail like I usually do. I wore to its full length, all the way down to my knees. It was still bone straight, which annoyed me a lot, but I couldn't really do much about it since my hair doesn't like to hold heat.

When I was done getting dressed I decided to read. Which is what I'm doing now. I was in the middle of A Tale of Two Cities when my mom called me down stairs in an annoying manner.

"Athena, you date is here!" She yells. I roll my eyes. After my mom sung happy birthday and gave me my birthday present, which was a new laptop, I told her about Emery picking me up to go to the bonfire. I most definitely clarified in that same sentence, that Emery was not my date and that this social gathering was not a date; but she chose not to listen.

All night long I thought about the newspaper clipping my dad had showed me. At first I thought my dad had forged it. That he had made it himself through one of the Institute's computers. But then I read the date at the bottom; it was dated on the eighteenth of November exactly eleven years ago, on my sixth birthday. And the day after was the day my father was admitted to a mental institute. So I had ruled that option out.

But my mom looks like my mom. If that makes much sense. The family pictures of when I was five looked exactly the same as she does now. I don't know what's going on. So I just decided to let it go and forget about it. My life was already stressful enough without family drama.

I make my way down stairs and into the living room where everyone was. Emery and mom were making small talk while Miles glares at Emery. How lovely.

"Athena you look nice." My mom says when she sees me. She beams at my appearance and gets up.

"Thanks mom." I say unenthused. Emery gets up and offers a warm smile.

"You ready to go?" He asks. I nod.

"Yeah in just a sec, I have to talk to Miles." I say. Miles looks up at me in surprise and confusion. I motion him to follow me to the kitchen where I could talk to him in private.

"What?" He says when we reach the kitchen. I reach out and pull out the newspaper clipping.

"Miles, I know that we haven't...um, been very close in the past few years but I need to tell you something. Weird things have been happening in the past week. Weirder than they have been in the past. I need to tell you that my life might be in danger and that if something does happen to me I love you. I still love you even though you've practically ignored me for the past five years. Even though I should hate you for it, you are still my brother and I'll love you unconditionally no matter what you do to me." I pause to wipe the tears that got free, off my face. I reach the clipping out to him. "Here, this is what dad gave to me when I visited him yesterday. I don't know what to make out of it, so I'm hoping that you will." I say. He takes the clipping and looks at it for a second then puts it in his pocket. I start to walk out of the kitchen when Miles grabs my arm.

"Athena, wait." He says. I turn back around to look at him. He pulls me into a tight hug. I hug in back in shock.

"I love you too. I'm sorry for acting the way I did over the past five years. I should have had been a better brother. Athena, if you're in some kind of danger than you have to let me know. I don't know what I'd do if I lost my only sister, not to mention losing our dad already." He says. I pull back and nod. We were both crying now.

"The problems that I'm dealing with now are out of yours and my power. If I ever need your help I'll come to you." I tell him. He nods and smiles. When we wiped the tears from off our faces, we made our way back into the living room.

Emery sees my face and his turns into concern.

"Well bye kids! Have fun!" My mom says in her overly cheery voice. Emery and I walk out the door and get into his shiny, new-looking sports car. Well I guess Emery's parents must be loaded.

When we get in, Emery turns to me. "Are you okay Athena? You look like you've been crying. Is everything alright, love?" He asks, his words laced with concern.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just having a moment." I explain briefly. He brings his hand to my face. He strokes my cheek.

"If you say so. But if you want to talk about it, I'm always here for you." He offers, than he smiles brightly.

"Now are you ready to have fun?" He asks in a high pitch voice. I laugh at his silliness.

"I don't know how fun going to a party where everyone hates me is, but I can try." I say. He smiles.

"It's not going to be like that. People are barely going to be paying attention to you anyway. Also you'll always have me to protect you." He says in a light-hearted tone. I laugh again.

"Well then let's go!" I yell while laughing.

***

Sitting on the sand with Emery's arm around my shoulder and my head on his was not how I planned this night to go. If you would have told me I would be doing this a few days ago. I would have either thrown up or laughed.

But actually being in this position wasn't all that bad. I was actually kind of nice. After about twenty minutes of lying like this, I start to feel Emery move.

"Athena, I have a birthday present for you." He says. He did? How did he know it was my birthday?

I move from my place on his shoulder and look up at him. He hands me what's in his pocket and gives it to me.

"When I was moving from London to here, I found this in my attic. I don't really know what it is or why I have it. But it serves no use to me and I think it would look better on you anyway." He gives me a ring. It was a silver band with three green emeralds carved into it. On the backside of the band there was the same language that was on my bracelet that my dad had given me. "Happy Birthday, Athena." He whispers.

I hug Emery, I didn't except him to get me anything for my birthday. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you gave me a birthday gift." I tell him. Then I put the ring on my pointer finger.

He smiles and then kisses my cheek. "You're welcome, love." He says and then I blush. No one has ever kissed me on the cheek before.

I feel someone's eyes on me. I look around until I meet violet eyes, Jesse's violet eyes. He was staring at me with fury plastered all over his face. I wonder how long he had been staring.

Then Jesse starts walking towards us. Emery seems to notice this to and he gins widely.

"Hey Athena, I didn't know that you were going to be here tonight. You should have had told me, I could have had brought you here." He says when he reaches us. He had an obvious fake smile on his face.

"No that's okay, I brought her here. We were going together anyways." Emery adds with fake politeness.

"Oh, well I didn't know that. Athena may I please talk to you for a minute?" Jesse asks between clench teeth. I look at Emery whose face was filled with annoyance and anger.

"Um, sure I guess. I'll be back." I tell Emery. Jesse walks to a more secluded part of the beach and I follow. He turns around to face me. His face was filled with regret and worry.

"Athena, I am so sorry for the way I had acted on Friday. I just didn't know what came over me. I didn't mean to hurt you and make you angry. Trust me, that's the last thing I want to do to you." He apologizes and then he hugs me. I hug him back unintentionally. Even though he was a jerk to me, he apologized.

When he pulls away he looks me in the eyes again. "So are you and Emery together now?" He asks seriously, all emotions gone.

I shake my head immediately. "No. No, we're just friends. He ask me to go with him to the bonfire Thursday and I wanted to say no-well I did say no. But he got really sad so then I decided to go with him just so he would so bugging me about it." I explain quickly.

"Good." He says smiling. I was just about to say something when I felt familiar pain explode through my chest.

Depression.

I choke on the air around me. I couldn't breathe. I almost fall down but Jesse catches me. I start to cough, I couldn't catch my breath. "Athena, what's wrong?" Jesse yells frantically. Why wasn't he feeling this? Didn't he sense the ghost to?

This depression was worse than that night when I saw the demon, worse than the time in 8th grade. I try to suck in air, but it feels like my throat is closing in on me.

I push Jesse away so I could run or something. But my knees just end up buckling and I fall to the sandy ground.

I look up to see thousands-or maybe even millions of ghost around me. They're all speaking to me at once. Their voices all around me. I couldn't understand any of them.

I put my hand up to my chest and start to claw at it. I just need to get this pain out of me. I still couldn't breathe and the effects of that were starting to take on. I start to feel light headed and weak. I could barely move. Finally, my whole body collapse on the ground.

I couldn't even hear Jesse or anybody. All I hear is yelling outside the voices of the ghosts. My eyes start to close and I feel my lungs start to shut down.

When I was just about to give up trying to breathe and let darkness take over, I hear words being whispered in a foreign language that I, surprisingly, could understand.

"When the devil comes out,

When God is nowhere in sight,

Bring the power of dark into this world,

Hell will take care of you now,

Heaven will sit and watch you die,

Hell will help you,

Lucifer will be here to guide you,

He'll guide you home,

Let him in,

Let God out,

God would never help you like He will,

Lucifer will protect you now,

He's the light giver,

He will love you forever"

Then all the ghost disappear and I can breathe again. The depression is out of my chest and I stop clawing. I take a deep breath of air.

I look up to see Emery standing over me holding out his hand for me to grab. I grab it and he pulls me up.

"What did you do to her?!" Jesse yells, his face was red in fury. Emery just smiles.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Emery says with a wide grin on his face. Jesse just turns more angry.

"You could have killed her!" He yells again. It was a good thing that we were far enough that we weren't heard.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about. I just helped Athena up from the ground. I saw her fall and by the looks of things, it looked like you were the one who was hurting her." Emery says. I see Jesse's fist clench at his words. Oh god, what if they start to fight. I decide to stop this disaster from happening.

"You know what guys; I think it's about time I get home. I don't feel too good and I think I should get some rest." I say. Jesse turns to me and his fury turns into concern.

"Are you okay Athena? I can take you home if you want." He offers. Before I could say anything Emery interjects.

"No, I'll take her home. I brought her here anyway. I think it should be my duty to get her back home safely. I want to leave also; I think I've had enough for one night." Jesse turns angry again.

"Athena could I talk to you before you leave?" Jesse asks. I nod my head wondering what he wants to talk about.

"I'll be in my car." Emery says before turning around and walking off to find his car.

Jesse turns to me and pulls me to him. He gives me another big hug. "I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen tonight, Athena. If anything does happen, I want you to know that I'm always here. If you're in danger call me, okay? I'll always be here for you." I nod and he pulls away. Then he does the most surprising thing in the world-he kisses me. And I, surprisingly, kiss back.

It didn't last very long. Like maybe ten seconds. But it was also my first kiss. Ever.

"That's for if something does happen." He says when he pulls away. We both smile.

"Okay I'll see you later." I tell him and start to walk away

"Be careful with Emery!" Jesse calls out.

Minutes later Emery pulls up to my house. "Well thank you for taking me to the bonfire." I say to Emery. "I had fun tonight-well except for the part where I had a mini breakdown." I say with a little laugh. Emery just smiles.

"I had fun to. We should hang out more often. So has your opinion of me changed any?" He asks with a smile.

"Well I don't know, the night's still not over." I tell him. He just laughs. I give Emery a small awkwardish hug then I get out of his car.

"You are right about one thing Athena; the night is still not over." Emery calls out. I laugh it off; but later that night I found out what he really meant.

"Mom, I'm home!" I call out in the house when I get inside.

"I'm in the kitchen!" She yells back. I walk to the kitchen and see my mom leaning on the counter.

"So how was your date?" She asks brightly.

"Mom," I say while rolling my eyes. "It wasn't a date and it went fine."

"Good. I forgot to tell you. I have one last birthday present for you." She says.

"Oh really? What more could you possibly give me? All I wanted was a laptop." I ask in confusion.

She just grins and says, "Your destiny." Before I could fully comprehend what she said, I see her get something from behind her back.

A knife.

I back up a few steps. "Mom, what are you doing?" I ask, my voice wavering. She just grins and steps closer to me.

"I'm helping you Athena. This has been your destiny since you born, sweetie. You always wonder why you stuck out; well this is the reason. You should be grateful and that the one and only Lucifer wants your soul." She says in a proud tone. I back up close to the kitchen's exit, but my mom keeps stepping closer and closer to me. She raises the knife and strikes at me. Before she could stab me in the stomach, I move at the last second. I run backwards into the living room and trip over the coffee table. I fall on my left leg really hard.

"Ahh!" I scream in pain. I couldn't move my leg. It hurt too much.

Mom just laughs. "You're just making this harder of yourself. Just relax and it will be over soon. You're gonna like it where you're going. You'll be treated like royalty-well until he takes your soul. Then you'll be dead." She laughs again. Now she's standing over me with the knife raised.

"You're not my real mom! My mom would never try to kill me. Who are you?!" I yell. She just laughs again.

"Of course I'm not your mom, silly. Lucifer took care of that bitch years ago. Or to be exact, eleven years ago from today. On your sixth birthday, when you started to see the willowing sad souls stuck in Limbo. See it was all planned out. When my father, Lucifer, made everyone forget about poor Penelope and the Swift family, I was to raise you until you turned seventeen. The eclipse tonight plays a big part in this, you see. If your birthday had not occurred on the same day as the eclipse, then we would have never been able to do this." She finishes with another evil laugh.

"HELP! HELP ME! JUST SOMEBODY HELP!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

"There's point of trying. No one is going to help you Athena. Now shut up; I have to kill you." She says darkly. She raises the knife a little higher and then strikes. I roll on my side a second too late. I've been stabbed on my side. I scream in pain.

"Stop moving!" She yells. She raises her knife to strike again. I hear feet pounding down the stairs just before she strikes again.

"Mom?" Miles says. His eyes get wider when he sees the position we're in. "Mom what the hell are you doing?!" Miles yells.

"Miles get out of the house now! This woman isn't mom!" I yell at him. I need to get Miles out the house before this woman tries to hurt him.

"Miles, don't listen to your sister. She's lying obviously. I'm just trying to help keep us safe from her. She's the one who is a danger here." The woman lies to my brother. It was hard to speak from the pain my side was causing; so I couldn't protest.

Miles just shakes his head and runs back to his room. Wow, thanks for the help, Miles. The woman strikes at me again as I try to roll over to the other side of me. I get close to escaping the strike, but she just ends up stabbing me in the spinal cord instead.

"Stop! Please stop!" I scream. The pain was almost unbearable

"Well, if you'd stop moving this whole thing could be over soon." She replies. I feel her pull the knife from my back.

The pain hurt so much. I close my eyes in defeat. I knew I wasn't winning this battle. Maybe dying won't be all that bad. The bright side is that I won't be seeing ghost anymore. Yay.

After I gave myself the giving up speech, I hear big thump.

I open my eyes to see Miles standing over the woman's now limp body. Miles had a steel baseball bat in his hands that had blood splatters on it. I guess he kept it after he quit baseball and joined a soccer team.

"That's what you get for killing my mom and trying to kill my sister, you bitch!" Miles yells. Miles hits her a few times more before throwing the bat on the ground and rushing over to me.

He takes his sweater off and presses it on to my back. He takes his free hand and presses that into my side wound. "Athena, I'm going to get help." He says frantically.

I shake my head.

"No. No, don't call the police or an ambulance. This is way out of their hands. Just take my keys and drive to the beach where the bonfire is. Tell Jesse to get here as fast as he can." I instruct him.

"Athena, I don't know how to drive. I'm only fourteen!" Miles raises his voice at me.

"Miles I think you've played enough Grand Theft Auto to know the basics of driving. Just don't stop or crash into anything. Okay, got it? Now go!" I push Miles off of me and wave him off.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine I promise." I throw him my keys that were in my pocket.

"Now go!" I yell at him again. He gives me one last look and then runs out the front door. The pain was now subsiding. I feel my back to find the wound is now healed. I also find that the wound on my side is also healed.

I stand up a little too fast and my head starts to feel woozy. I balance myself by leaning on the couch.

I look to the woman who pretended to be my mom for the past eleven years. She now lied on the floor covered in her own blood. I find that she is, in fact, dead now. I smile in satisfaction. I felt like I've brought justice and avenged my actual mother.

There was a knock at my door. Now that I got my balance back, I could walk straight again. I open the door to see Emery staring at me.

"Athena! Are you okay? I heard screaming coming from your house." He takes in my appearance and gasps. "Why is there blood all over you?" His voice gets a little higher.

"A woman who pretended to be my mom for eleven years tried to kill me. And well, let's say that she is now lying on my living room floor." I say nonchalantly through clench teeth. He looks at me with shock and surprise.

"You killed Peokihala?" He says with disbelief in his voice.

"Who's Peacock?" I ask in confusion.

"Peokihala. She was your replacement mom," He says. He pushes me aside and walks into my house. He looks around until he spots the woman's dead body. He gasps. "Oh god, Father is not going to like this." He says.

"Emery, what are you talking about?" I ask. He turns to look at me, but ignores my question.

"Well I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do this." He says. I furrow my brows. "Do what?" I say backing away from him. He wasn't going to try to kill me was he?

"You weren't supposed to kill her."

"I didn't kill her, Miles did. I had two stab wounds and I couldn't move." I say curtly.

"Miles killed her?! That's even worse. Father is definitely going to go crazy after this." Emery says to himself.

He takes another step closer to me. "I'm sorry that I have to do this Athena. Well, not really. I feel sorry for you. But it's going to be so much fun for me." He grins and steps closer to me. I back up until I hit a wall.

"What are you going to do?" I ask, my voice wavering. He was now really close to me. He leans his hand on the wall behind me. His face was so close that our foreheads almost touch.

"Father told me that you were special. And later found out what he meant," Emery starts to kiss around my jaw. "He told me later that you were still ripe. He told me that you had the smell of innocence all over you. And I agree. You're still a pure virgin." He kisses down to my neck. "You know, virgins your age are rare to come by. Especially attractive ones like you." He moves his free hand down to the start of my jeans.

"No matter how much Father likes that, he made the decision that your innocence needs to be tone down a bit. Father wants you all to himself and you're attracting others. Father doesn't like to share." Emery's hand that was on the top of my jeans moves up and under my shirt. He brushes the top of my stomach.

When it finally occurs to me that Emery is trying to rape me, I start to actually think. I move my arms out to push Emery away. But he grabs both of my arms and pins them above my head.

I move my body back and forth trying to get out of Emery's grasp. I kick Emery's shin, but he still doesn't move.

"Bloody Hell, Athena. Stop moving!" He yells. I pull all of myself down to floor and manage to fall out of Emery's grasp.

I try to crawl away from Emery, but he just stops me with his feet. He sighs.

"You're just making this easier for me Athena." He straddles my waist. He unbuttons his pants and starts to pull them off.

Then Emery was thrown off of me.

At first I didn't know what was going on. Well, until I saw Jesse punch Emery in the face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jesse yells. He punches Emery in the stomach.

Miles rushes over to me and helps me up.

"Are you okay?" Miles asks. I nod and look back over to where Jesse and Emery were fighting. I couldn't tell who was winning, but now Emery was advancing on Jesse. Jesse fights back by punching him in the face again.

"You know what, screw this." Emery says and then disappears in thin air. Did I see that correctly?

"Okay, what the hell just happened?" I hear Kyle's voice yell. I turn around to see that Kyle had a gun in his hand. I wonder where he got that. "You know what, answer that question later. Now we have to leave. Everyone out the house!" Kyle commands and puts the gun back into his jeans. I didn't ask any questions, even though I felt left out in a plan the three boys made. I'm just grateful they came to save me.

We all ran out the house and got into Kyle's car. Kyle didn't waste any time starting up the car and hitting the gas petal. He was at least going seventy miles per hour

Jesse was sitting next to me in the back seat, rubbing my hand. "I'm sorry I couldn't get there any sooner." He says. I don't reply. Because before I could the car crashed into a tree. I hit my head on the window on my side, causing everything around me to go black.

A/N: I'll post the Epilogue in a few hours. Just you wait. It's already written and everything. I'm just going to give you some time to process what just happened.

Merry Christmas ~ Insanity