"And where do you think you're going?" My aunt bursted into outrage as she caught me opening the door in an attempt to sneak out. 'Damn,' I thought to myself as I shut the door, remembering the loud creak that had alerted my aunt to my intentions. "The school is holding a camp fire thing tonight, I was hoping that I could go," I spoke as my aunt just starred back, without a word. I shut my mouth and understood, I walked past her and up the stairs. "Wait, Ruth, come back here," I slowly decended the steps once again, preparing myself for whatever punishment I was about to face. My aunt took my hands and opened them, held them up, and placed a set of keys in my hand. "Don't be back to late," my aunt whispered as she opened the door to let me pass through, allowing me to run free. I turned to her, confused, shocked, and largely grateful. "You never hang around with other kids. Treat yourself this one time," My aunt smiled, wrapped her robe tightly around her, and waved me goodbye as she shut the door behind me. 

I took a large and deep breath, suddenly noticing the cold air that surrounded the night. The silence around me had allowed me to notice the thumping sound my heart had made in my chest. I thought to myself, and slightly regretted leaving the house tonight. What good could come out of meeting the person who knew my secret? I started to think of the possible outcome of tonight. Option 1, they ask for a cash settlement. If someone knew my secret, they could be devious enough to ask for money in return for their silence. However, unfortnately for them, money is something I rarely came across. Option 2, it indeed is Krystal and she has decided that her constant warnings haven't been enough, and that a second beating was in order. And the third option, the one that I was hoping for, was that this was all a prank, or all a horrible dream.

I walked as I attempted to slow my heart rate down. If my pulsee continued at this rate, I might as well have a heart attack right here and spare the mystery messenger the jail time. I distracted myself from my thumping heart by starring at the night sky, remebering the time when Amber first brought me up onto the hill. I breathed as I remembered every sight, sound, and sensation. Only to remember that I could never feel the same emotions around Amber ever again. Maybe giving me a good beating would be good for me, maybe it would make getting over Amber easier. Because as of right now, Amber was the only sole person who stood in my mind.

I stood in the middle of a road that connected to two paths, one familiar, and one deadly. The one on the left, led to the hill that would be loved forever in my memories. And the other, on the right, leading to the unfamiliar presence of the bon fire area. I took a final breath and shoved my shaking hands into the pockets of my jacket. I took a step forward and eyed my back, awaiting my fate. My breath hitched as I realised where I stood, at the centre of the bon fire. I leaded against a tree, never having been more nervous in my life. Maybe I should have planned this out better, I was standing, alone, at a bon fire in the middle of the night. There were no houses or families that lived near by either. For all I knew, I could have been murdered tonight and there would be no one to save me.

Nevertheless, I still managed to force myself not to run home, partially because I was frozen with fear. My phone rang, and my shaking hands somehow managed to clasp it long enough for me to read the message.

"Behind you, " -

I shut my eyes, took a last final breath and turned to meet the one who tormented me. 

My jaw hung open as a rush of thoughts flew through my head. Why? How?

"Suprised? Curious?" Jack spoke as he stepped out of the shadows and into the light. "Well, they are all questions that will answer, in due time," he smiled, leaving me flawed at the fright that I had for him. The way he smiled, it was completely different from the way the Jack I knew did. It was like the joker, only worse, this smile spoke of nothing but pure evil. A rope came into view as his hands reached for me. By attempts to run, to fight back, were nothing but useless. I was shaking so much from fear that my hits were nothing more than ant bites. A rope wrapped around my body, tying me to a tree. 'This was it,' I thought to myself, this was how my life would come to an end.

I had always expected my life to end in a tragic accident, just like my dads life did. I always thought that it would be karma, karma for what I did, for leaving my father in the fire. Even if he had asked me to, his yells and pleas for me to run have haunted me till this day. I decided, that I would accept it, if this was my fate, if this was how my life would end, who was I to fight it? "Alright, now we can talk," Jack looked up towards me, flashing that fearsome smile that sent chills pouring down my spine. "How about we play a little game, hmm? You ask a question and I'll answer one," Jack finished and starred at me, waiting for a question to be answered. "What are you planning on doing to me?" I asked, my words were shaky and soft, but Jack heard them loud and clear. "Straight to the point, eh? Well, let me just tell you everything that led to this moment," Jack spoke he sat on the ground and began to fiddle with his stick.

"I remember, when I was a wee little boy, I had a neighbour, she was a beautiful girl. She was always cheerful, she lived with her mom and dad and they loved her very much. I would go over to her house and wait on the porch everyday in hopes of finally seeing her when she came home. As you can imagine, I had a huge crush on her, her happiness shown through all the darkness that muddied up the world. One day however, her mother died of cancer, a fearsome death. And suddenly, she wasn't so happy anymore. Her father was strugglig to take care of her and to pay the bills. My father once felt bad for them, he owned an oil business, so whenever my father came home from work, he would bring buckets full of gasoline for the car that her father needed to drive to work. This allowed her father to continue work and whenever she was home alone, she would come to my house to play. Although I knew that what had happened to her was a tragedy, the fact that I could spend time with her made me oddly happy. One night, I stayed up just thinking about how special she was to me, and decided that I had to tell her. So, I snuck over to her house, taking my lamp with me, I began to throw rocks at her window, being the romantic that I am. I continued throwing, and throwing, but she never came. Sadly, I went back home, and cried myself to sleep. The next day, I woke up, finding police men, knocking outside my door, taking my father away with them. And in that police mens hand, was the lamp that I took to the girls house the ious night. I took a step outside, and starred at the burnt ashes that stood where the girls house had used to be," Jack paued for a moment, allowing me to realise what he had wanted me to understand.

"Lawrence?" I asked and Jack nodded. It all made sense, he was the nightmare that haunted my past. His father was sent to jail for burning my house down and murder! Jack wasn't Jack at all, he was the boy that lived across the road, Lawrence. "Lawrence, you caused the fire?" I spat out at him, tears beaming down my face. "How could you? My father was the only one left, the only one left!" My voice had risen to a yell and tears effortlessly flowed down my face. Every single nightmare that I ever had in my life, was caused by the man that stood in front of me.

"You're blaming me?" Jack stood up, anger screamed out from his eyes. As he stepped closer, my chest clenched, never experiencing the fear that I now felt. "It wasn'y fault! I went there, to tell you how much I loved you! If you would have just came out to the window, if you had only taken the time to talk to me, I wouldn't have left the lamp on your front porch. If you would have just came to the door, your father wouldn't have knocked the lamp into the gasoline pile whilst opening the front door and he wouldn't have died! My father went to jail for your mistake, and for my love! What is love? All it does is hurt, and kill and steal!"

I was speechless, it was our fault. All my life, I blamed someone else, a higher being for my fate. When I realised, it was ours. There wasn't a curse on my family, because I was the curse. "And now, what do you plan on doing to me?" I thought that even after everything he had done to me, surely he would let me go. But I realised that I knew too much, he had exposed the secret, the truth of the fire to me, and he would not have allowed me to escape.

"Well," Jack stood directly in front of me, his lips just an inch away from mine. "Remember the first day of your school?" He asked as he moved hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. "I was so suprised to see you, I thought I had a second chance," he chuckled. "Even after everything, I still loved you," he spoke as he starred deepply into my eyes. "I called out to you, hoping that we could be friends again, hoping that you would recognise me, hoping that you would fall for me," he paused allowing the rage to slowly fall back into his eyes. "But I never expeceted that you would fall for her," his words turned into a whisper. "I saw the way you looked at her, I noticed the way she was so gentle with you and I knew, that I could never have you," the sadness left him, as he allowed every inch of what was left of his compassion, leave him. "But no, if I can't have you emotionally, I'll take you physically," a smirk of pure evil and madness reached his lips as his mouth moved towards my neck, on every pulse egearly.

I struggled so hard to escape his reach, only to be held back by the ropes that bound me to the tree. I screamed with all my might, till every last breath of air had escaped from my lungs. Jack took his lips away from my neck, satisfed with the mark that he had left and began to chuckle. "Scream all you want Ruth," he whispered into my ear. "You're not going to escape from me this time," he breathed heavily as he crashed his lips onto mine. He forcefully and painfully my lips till I felt them swell and a tear fell out of my eye. He moved away for air and began ot unbuckle my belt. I braced myself for my final attempt at freedom. I breathed in a large breathed, and screamed with every ounce of me that I had remaining. 

Jack's chuckle was cut short, the hands had left my belt, a loud thud was heard, and a comforting presnece held me. "Ruth?" Amber spoke as she held me so close to her that I could've melt into her being. "It's okay now, you're okay now," Amber spoke as she whipped each and every tear off my face. She looked at me with mixed emotions, sadness, comforting gazes and a distinct annoyance that made her lips twitch. She untied the ropes that had bound me to the tree and instantly held me tight against her figure, hugging every inch of my body in her warmth. I looked to the ground, where Jack had fallen to the ground, unconious, caused by a punch that had struck him across the face. 

Amber untangled me from her grasp and starred at me, so eagearly into my eyes. My mind melted with every emtion, every sensation, every speck of relief that engulfed me completely and took me into a state of complete and utter bliss. Amber held my face in her hands, and smiled. "Ruth?" Amber asked, and all I managed to do was reply with a soft moan. "I'm so sorry about this," she spoke.

Out of everything that had happened in the enitre day, no matter what I have heard, no matter what I have seen, no matter what I have experienced, this was the most emotionally engulfing, suprising and addicting thing that I have experienced.

She starred at me with a smile and slowly, gently and so meaningfully, kissed me.

A/N: I'm not sure if im shaking in excitement from all the feels, or about how dark this chapter was. Guise, I really, really hope you liked this! This was just revealing a whole bunch of things, and finally allowing Amber to show her feelings, etc. I'm not going to give too much away, but this is not only the start of Amber and Ruths relationship, but also a lot more problems along the way. I really hoped you guys enjoyed this one! And for those who may be confused, Jack is Lawrence. His family moved when they the police accused his father of starting the fire in Ruth's house because they found the lamp that started the fire that belonged to Jacks father. And while his family was moving, he changed his name so that people from his past wouldn't be able to find him after what he did.

Okay, so, thats all for this chapter. I'm so excited to see what you guys think! I'm so thankful for all of you and I will try to reply every single comment from here on out, so let me know what you think! I am so happy that you guys are still around, so thank you! x