In Fate's Hands

“So what was the emergency that I had to come pick you up right away?” asked Jayden as she helped Elizabeth unpack in her room.

The room was bigger than most typical bedrooms. The walls were painted a deep shade of crimson with a crimson bedspread to match. The queen-size bed stood exactly in the middle of the room with a dark wood night table on either side. The dark wood desk with a laptop on it sat under the window and there were shelves full of books, CDs, DVDs, and other things all over the room. The flat-screen TV/DVD/VCR combo was nailed into the wall opposite the bed and the door to the large walk in closet stood next to it.

“Boy, do I have a lot to tell you,” Elizabeth sighed as she folded her clothes and placed them in a drawer inside one of the night tables. “I just couldn’t stay there anymore, not after what just happened.”

“And what just happened? Spill!”

“Ok so as soon as I got home from shopping, Jesse invited me to go to his game and then out with his friends afterwards, so I agreed. Jesse really was on his game tonight, so the Lions won. After the game, I went up to him and told him that I had changed my mind and that I wanted to be with him, so we kissed and it was the best moment.”

“But I don’t see how that would make you want to get out of his house as fast as you could.”

“Hold on, I’m getting to that part. So after the game, we went out with his friends and while I was coming back from the bathroom, I heard one of his friends ask him if we were a couple and he said that we were just friends. Then, his friend goes on to say that before I met Jesse, I was a nobody and an ‘ugly brainiac’ and Jesse didn’t even bother to defend me, so I walked out. I don’t want to be with somebody who’s going to be too embarrassed to tell his friends that he’s with me. After all the crap I’ve been through, I don’t need that to top it off.”

“I can’t believe after all that he reverted back to his old ways. Typical Jesse.” Jayden rolled her eyes.

“I’m just so sick of going back and forth with him. One minute he’s so nice to me and the next he couldn’t be more of a jerk. I don’t want someone who is only nice to me when we are alone.”

“You are absolutely right.”

“Thanks a lot for letting me stay. I really don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come and got me.”

“No problem. You would have done the same for me.

“Burn” by Three Days Grace rang out and Elizabeth glanced at her phone to see who was calling: Jesse. She ignored the call and tossed the phone on the bed.

“Can you smell it?” asked Jayden

“Smell what?”

“The desperation. He already started trying to call you. Now, he’s going to stalk you. Just be prepared for what’s to come.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

As soon as they finished unpacking, they put on their pajamas and got into bed. Elizabeth fell asleep almost instantly.

“Elizabeth! Come down here, please! It’s going to start soon!”

Elizabeth ran down the stairs to see her parents cuddled up on the couch in front of the TV. They were about to watch American Idol together like they did every week. She sat down next to her dad. He put his arm around her and kissed her head, which always made her smile.

“This…is American Idol!” Ryan Seacrest’s voice blared from the TV as all the contestants came onstage. The credits rolled and then the first contestant was up. “Jesse McCartney will begin the night singing ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ by Cyndi Lauper. This should be interesting…”

The music started and Jesse ran onstage. He was dressed up as a girl in a cheerleading uniform, pompoms and all and started to sing in this high-pitched girly voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. He ran and jumped and did other cheerleader-like moves on stage. The camera switched to people in the audience having fits of laughter and pointing up at Jesse. Elizabeth and her family could not stop laughing either; somehow, she couldn’t believe that it was her boyfriend up there singing horribly dressed up as a female cheerleader. Sometimes, he was such a goofball, but maybe that was why she loved him so much, kind of like how America did because they kept him on the show for something to laugh at each week.

After the show was over, Elizabeth’s phone started to ring; she saw that it was Jesse and picked it up right away.”

“Hello?”

“Hey, Beautiful!”

“Hey, you! You were awesome tonight. I almost died of laughter.”

“Well then I did my job. So where are you now?”

“At my house. Why?”

The doorbell rang, so Elizabeth’s dad went to get it. A minute later, her dad came back into the room accompanied by someone else.

“Elizabeth, someone is here to see you,” said her dad.

“Jess, I got to go. Someone’s here.” Elizabeth said and hung up the phone. She hung up and turned around and there he was. She screamed and ran into his arms. “When did you-? How did you-?”

“I wanted to see you,” Jesse responded.

“How on earth did you get here so fast? American Idol is in California and this is New York.”

“I hired an impersonator so that I could fly home and see you. I must say, he did a pretty darn good job. That costume was a good touch. Nobody could tell that it wasn’t me.”

“You are too sweet. Mom, Dad, is it ok if Jesse and I go up to my room if we leave the door open so that we can have some privacy?” They said yes, so Elizabeth and Jesse went up to her room. “I’ve missed you so much,” she said as they sat down on the bed and she started to kiss him.

“Actually, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” he said as he pulled away.

“What is it?”

“I hate to say this, but I don’t think we should see each other anymore. It’s just too hard with me being out in California and you being back here in New York. I miss you so much, but neither of us can keep on coming back and forth like this. It’s not fair to either of us.”

“Wow…”

“I’m really sorry.”

“I don’t want to break up. I love you, Jesse.”

“I just don’t think it’s such a good idea for me to be tied down right now.”

The rain began to fall out of Elizabeth’s eyes as she said, “Fine, then get the hell out.” She made a beeline for the bathroom and locked herself in there. A few minutes later, she heard Jesse walk down the stairs. She decided to take a shower, so she took off all her clothes, turned on the hot water, and jumped in. For some reason, when the water hit her body, she started to feel excruciating pain. Bruises and burn marks began to form all over her body. She began to cower and whimper; she could not take the pain anymore, so she got out of the shower. She put her towel on and went downstairs to ask her parents about it. Nothing could have prepared her for what she would see when she walked down those stairs.

Blood was sprayed all over the couches and the walls and both her parents and Jesse lie dead on the floor. Elizabeth began to cry hysterically. The next second, Anthony walked into the room with a clean butcher knife in his hand. He smiled maniacally and said, “You’re next.”

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” Elizabeth shot up in bed screaming in a cold sweat.

“Ssshhh, Elizabeth, it’s ok. You just had a nightmare,” Jayden said as she sat up and put a comforting arm around her best friend.

“It was absolutely awful. My dad was in my dream which was nice and we were finally a family again, but I dreamt that Jesse was a contestant on American Idol.”

“You’re right; that is pretty awful,” chuckled Jayden.

“But that’s not even the bad part. In the dream, he flew home just to break up with me. Then, I tried to take a shower, but I couldn’t because every time the hot water hit my body, all these bruises and burns developed on my body and it was the most painful thing. Then, when I went downstairs to ask my parents about it, they were dead and so was Jesse and Anthony killed them. He said I was next and then I woke up and now I can’t stop shaking.”

“That’s really scary.”

“Yeah and I don’t really know what any of it means.”

“Just remember that Anthony is in custody now, so he can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Yeah, but apparently he can still haunt my dreams.”

“Don’t let him do that. He wins that way and you can’t let him win. You are safe now.”

“I can’t help it. It’s only been like 2 days since he was caught, so I’m still extremely paranoid. At first I thought it would be a good dream since I saw my dad, but I guess not. Anthony managed to kill pretty much everything that mattered to me.”

“Just try to get back to sleep. Maybe this time you’ll dream that Jesse is on Dancing With The Stars.”

Elizabeth laughed so hard that she almost snorted. Once she finally calmed down, she lay down and thought for a while and finally fell back asleep.

Two days later, Elizabeth and Jayden walked into school together and walked to their lockers.

“Elizabeth!”

Elizabeth turned around and saw Jesse walking toward her. She took out her books, slammed her locker and started walking the other way. He ran and caught up with her.

“Elizabeth wait! I want to talk to you,” Jesse pleaded.

“But, I don’t want to talk to you,” Elizabeth responded coldly.

“I’m sorry for what I said on Saturday night. You’re right; I was a jerk and a liar.”

“You just realized that?”

“How can I make it up to you?”

“Don’t bother.”

“But I don’t want to lose you.”

“You should have thought about that before you lied to your friends about us.”

“I lied to them because you’re too good for me.”

Elizabeth stopped walking and turned to face him. “What?”

“You have a clean reputation, you are a genius, you are the nicest, most genuine person that I know, and you are pretty damn hot. I never thought in a million years that a girl like you could go for someone like me. I guess I was just afraid that you would all of a sudden change your mind back again and tell me that you didn’t want to be with me after all. I thought that maybe telling my friends that we weren’t together might save me some of the hurt and I didn’t want them to know about us in case you decided to dump me, but now I realize it was the stupidest thing I have ever done.”

“Nice speech,” Elizabeth said and she kept walking.

“It wasn’t a speech; it was the truth.”

“Prove it then.”

“Fine. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, this ought to be good.” Elizabeth stopped and waited as he ran back to the other hall. A minute later, he reappeared followed by all of his friends.

“Hey, guys? Remember the other night when I said that Elizabeth and I weren’t a couple? Well, I lied. Sorry about that. As it turns out, we were together that night and I care more about her than I ever could have even imagined. I just hope that she can forgive me for not wanting the public to know about us.” He looked at her questioningly. After a few seconds, she nodded hesitantly. He smiled and kissed her passionately in the middle of the hallway with the whole school watching.