Castle High's After School Horror

Gerard's heart stops beating at that moment. He doesn't dare look to his right. He can't imagine the look on Macey's face at hearing what Chelsea had just said. Maybe she doesn't believe it. With Gerard's luck, she will.

Bonnie gapes at Chelsea.

"What?" Bob gasps. Gerard had forgotten he existed.

"Gerard?" Macey whispers. Gerard flinches. Her voice sounds so broken, so shattered.

"Y-yeah?" he asks, as nonchalantly as he could muster. Not very.

"Is she telling the truth?"

Gerard swallows and looks at Mikey. He's curled up into a ball again, as if he is done talking for the day. Gerard can't do this. It is true. Gerard cheated on Macey with her own sister. He knows that it's lower than low, dating one girl and screwing her twin sister. He loves Macey, he does, but she is...prude. A tease. And he has needs….

"Did she tell the fucking truth?" Macey yells.

Her voice sounds higher, as in pitch and height. Gerard looks up. She's staring down at him with a red face, shaking, mortified. Her notion of standing up brings Gerard to his feet. Gerard grabs her arms gently. She fights against him but his grip tightens.

"I-I'm sorry," Gerard says softly. Macey scoffs and looks away. "I didn't want you to find out this way-"

"How did you want me to find out, Gerard?" she yells. "Were you ever gonna tell me?" Gerard is so broken up by her hurt expression that he can't even look at her anymore. She pulls away from his grasp and stumbles backward. Gerard glances for a moment. Macey turns her stare to her sister. "And you! How could you? You're my twin sister, my best friend! What the fuck were you thinking?"

Bonnie opens her mouth to say something.

"Don't," Mace says. Her whole body is shaking. Everyone is still and quiet, watching the situation unfold. She looks at Gerard again. "How could you...after you said you loved me."

Gerard does love her. He loves her so much that he pushed her constantly to have sex because he wanted her to be the one. But she always said that she wanted to wait. And Bonnie was willing, Gerard was desperate. One drunken romp at a party led to a sober one behind the bleachers and…it went too far. Gerard’s guilt drove him away and Bonnie dragged him right back.

"Mace, I do l-" Gerard starts. Macey interrupts.

"What a great way to show it!" she screams. Gerard feels like his ribs are crushing his heart. "What? Just because I don't want you in my pants after dating you a few months you have to crawl under my sister's covers?"

Gerard bites his lip, holding onto his arm. "I'm really sorry."

Macey chuckles. "Fuck you." She takes a few steps back. She looks at her sister and points an accusatory finger at her. "You stabbed my back." She looks around at everyone. "And all of you knew, right?"

Everyone guiltily stays quiet. Macey shakes her head, lets out a throaty sob, and bolts.

Damn, she's a runner.

They're so taken off guard that it takes them a few seconds of staring around at each other guiltily to react. Gerard's the first one to move, starting after her down the hallway. Everyone stands up and starts running after. Gerard's heart is pumping fearfully against his ribs. It feels like there's poison in his veins, tainting everything inside him. He feels so guilty, so terrible. At the time he figured she would never find out. Bonnie would never tell her, of course. And no one else knew, right?

How wrong he was.

Gerard keeps running but doesn't seem to catch up to her. Where did she go? He goes through a different corridor and sees Malone's body. He jumps over Malone's legs, fear and disgust crawling up his throat.

"Macey!" he calls. Everyone joins in. If they don't find her, who knows what'll happen?

They make it down a few halls, around a few corners, and still don't catch up to her. Gerard stressfully runs his hands through his hair. He hears a door slam and bolts in the direction of the sound. They yell her name as they run. Gerard reaches the end of a hall and pushes a door leading to a staircase.

It opens.

Gerard runs down the stairs, skipping steps, and pushes through the door to the fourth floor. Everyone follows behind him. He's breathless, holding open the door. He looks up and down the empty, dim-lighted hall. He hears a scream.

"This way!" he says, turning to the right.

He gets to the end of the hall and takes another right. He sees Macey all the way at the other end. Her fists are clenched hard at her sides and she's shaking, her face red and wet with tears. There's crimson liquid dripping from her nose and slipping down across her lips. Behind her is a figure in all-black clothing wearing a ski mask and with an arm around Macey's neck. Mace whimpers softly when she sees the group of her classmates standing at the other end of the hall.

Gerard takes a few bold steps forward. "Don't hurt her," he says, swallowing hard.

The figure, the murderer, chuckles amusedly. Gerard feels his body shaking. The murderer's hand disappears behind his back for a moment and reappears holding a knife above his head. Gerard's muscles tense and his eyes go wide, staring at the shining metal. There are gasps behind him. Mace looks up and sobs, horrified.

"No!" Gerard yells, starting to run.

The knife comes down and Macey gasps, looking at Gerard with wide eyes. She screams. Gerard runs faster down the too-long hall. The murderer seems to be pulling the knife down, which makes Mace scream again. The murder pulls out the knife and turns to run down another hall. Gerard hears the steps behind him as everyone runs with him. Ray and Chelsea follow the murderer. Gerard reaches Macey just as she is about to fall back. Gerard grabs her and falls to his knees, wrapping an arm around her torso.

"Mace," Gerard breathes. "Mace, say something."

Macey's eyes are in slits. She's moaning painfully. Gerard feels the liquid dripping down his arm. He uses his free hand to move her hair out of her face. Bonnie falls to her knees next to her, causing the growing pool of blood on the floor to splatter.

"Don't..." Macey gasps as Bonnie grabs her hand. "Don't..."

"Hold on, sis," Bonnie squeaks. Gerard looks at Bonnie. Tears are streaking her face as she shakily brings her sister's hand to her lips. Gerard glues his eyes to Macey, who's groaning.

"Don't touch me," she says, weakly pushing a fist into Gerard's chest. Gerard feels like his heart is being torn to shreds. "Please...don't..."

Macey pulls her hand away from her sister's, eyes shut in pain. Bonnie gapes at her sister, shaking. Gerard settles Mace onto the ground. Mikey appears behind Mace's head, looking down with wide eyes. Bob crouches down and wraps an arm around Bonnie's waist. They all look at Mace with sadness and fear in their eyes.

"Macey, I'm sorry," Bonnie starts. "I-I never meant to hurt you."

"Shut up," Macey says. She turns her head away. Her hair is soaked in her own blood. She coughs and spits blood onto the growing pool beneath her.

"Macey, hold on," Mikey says, fear in his tone.

They know they can't do anything. Gerard stares into Macey's eyes, his whole body shaking. Macey looks up at him, eyes full of pain. Tears roll down her face. She gasps and coughs again. She arches her back painfully for just a second and screams. Mikey touches her cheek lightly.

Macey's body falls to the ground and grows limp. She's staring at Gerard but her eyes are empty, lifeless. Gerard swallows, hard, closing his eyes and not allowing himself to think about what had just happened.

"Macey?" he hears Bonnie's voice cry. "Macey, say something!"

Gerard grabs fistfuls of his hair, hating himself.

"We followed him as long as we could," Ray's voice calls, his steps stopping just feet away from the scene. "He pulled out a gun and we had to..."

Ray trails off. The hall becomes eerily quiet then. Gerard looks up at Bonnie, who's hands are covering her mouth as she shakes her head.

"She's dead," Chelsea realizes.

At that instant, Bonnie becomes hysterical.

"No!" she yells. "No, no, she can't be dead! She can't!"

Bonnie leans down and grabs her sister's lifeless body, holding her close. She sobs and screams hysterically. Gerard stands up an takes a few steps back, watching the sisters solemnly.

It's all his fault.