April 13, 2010 (44)
11:40 p.m.
Michael’s Apartment

“Evalynne,” someone murmured into my ear. I felt a pair of strong hands jostling my shoulder.
“Huh?” I said, all tired and disoriented. My eyes began to flutter open and instantly a sharp pain formed in my head. I groaned in pain as my vision grew less blurry. Once I could see clearly again, I saw that it was Ash who had woken me up. “Ash?” I uttered. I had to have been dreaming. The last thing I remembered was me dumping the pot of boiling water into Michael’s face, Valerie pushing me to the ground and Michael knocking me out with his fist.
When I looked around the room, I realized that I was lying on the couch in the living room of Michael’s apartment. I went to sit up, but I couldn’t because my hands were duct taped together behind my back. When I looked down, I saw that my legs were also wrapped in a thick layer of duct tape.
“Oh my gosh!” I cried.
“Shh!” Ash commanded, bringing a finger to my lips to quiet me down. “You have to be quiet. Michael’s still sleeping.”
He pulled a small pocket knife out of the pocket of his jeans and reached down to cut the duct tape so that he could peel it off of my wrists. He did the same with my legs so that I was free to move around.
“How did you find me here?” I whispered to him once I was duct-tape-free. I was so relieved he was here, but so confused at the same time. How did he get this address? How did he know I’d be here? How did he get into the apartment?
“Valerie texted me. She told me everything that happened,” he informed me, his voice a soft whisper. It was then that I noticed Valerie standing behind him.
“Oh,” I said softly.
“You guys need to get out of here before Michael wakes up.” Valerie told us.
“But what about you?” I asked her.
“I have to stay,” she replied. “I killed someone, Evalynne. I’m a felon. There’s nowhere else for me to go.”
“But what will Michael do when he sees that I left? What if he blames you?” I inquired. I really wasn’t very close with Valerie, but I still didn’t want her to get hurt. She was a really nice person once you got to know her. I didn’t want Michael to murder her or the child she was carrying.
“Stop questioning her, Evalynne. We have to go,” Ash told me, sounding frantic.
“What if he tries to kill you?” I asked Valerie, completely ignoring what Ash was saying to me.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “Just leave,”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Michael’s deep voice boomed. We all turned to find him standing in the entry from the hallway into the living room.
“Oh no,” Valerie murmured to herself, her naturally blue eyes going wide with fear. I was just as frightened.
“Just let us go, Michael.” Ash stated, looking him straight in the eye. “We promise not to call the police if you just let us go.”
I studied Michael’s face, which was now scarred with burn marks from the water I’d poured in it. However, they weren’t as bad as I thought they might be. It was mostly just skin that turned a smooth, shiny, light red. It sort of made him look like Freddy Krueger a little bit. That served him right though. Now he knew how Will felt with his burnt arm.
“You really think promising not to tell the police about this is a good enough reason for me to let you go?” he remarked.
“Yes,” Ash replied matter-of-factly.
“Well you’re wrong,” Michael snapped back. “I told Evalynne that I wouldn’t kill you as long as she did what I said. And she’s been doing a pretty good job…up until last night.” He glared at me with fury burning in his eyes. “So now you’re going to pay for her mistakes,”
I watched in horror as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the same knife he’d been using to chop up vegetables last night. He began making his way towards Ash, who frantically bared his tiny little pocket knife. It was quite obvious that it didn’t stand a chance against Michael’s large blade though.
“Michael, don’t!” I cried out desperately. He stopped in his tracks and glanced over at me, but kept his knife held high. “Don’t hurt him. Please, I’ll do anything!”
“Evalynne, stop.” Ash ordered. “Let me handle this myself,”
“No!” I stepped in front of Ash so that I was standing in between him and Michael. Valerie was standing off to the side, looking completely panicked. I blinked away a single tear and turned to look at Ash. “I’m not letting you die on me again,” I said to him.
“Evalynne…” he murmured, his grayish blue eyes filled with sadness. He had no other words left to say, but that was fine with me. I let out a short sigh and turned back so that I was facing Michael.
“You want me as your girlfriend?” I said to him. “Fine, I’ll do it. Just let Ash go.”
“No, I won’t let you do that!” Ash cried from behind me. I pressed my lips together, trying to maintain my composure.
“Ash,” I began without even turning to look at him, “just let me do this. It’s what he wants. If I don’t give myself over to him, he’ll never leave us alone. So stop trying to stop me. I’m saving your life here.”
“Yeah, and destroying your own!” he remarked.
“It’s already been destroyed,” I replied. He was silent after I said this and I knew he had come to accept my choice. So I walked over to Michael and did something I never thought I’d ever do. I kissed him. It was just a quick kiss on the lips, nothing too special. Just my way of showing him that this was my final decision, that he had won.
Michael grinned down at me, looking extra haughty now. He had been right all along. He really did get whatever he wanted. I felt tears brimming my eyes as he snaked an arm around my waist.
“I’m glad you’ve finally come around, Evalynne,” he said to me. “But there’s still one little problem standing in the way of our relationship: your husband.” He turned to glare at Ash when he said this and I felt my heart skip a nervous beat.
“He’s not my husband anymore though,” I tried to assure him. “I’m with you now. He doesn’t matter to me anymore.” It was so difficult for me to say these words because they were all such huge lies. But I had to force them out in order to keep Ash alive.
“Fine,” Michael replied, but I could tell by his voice that there was more to it than just that. “Then give me your wedding ring,”
I felt all the blood drain from my face and a huge lump formed in the back of my throat. “My wedding ring?” I repeated back to him in shock.
“Yes,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a problem since Ash doesn’t matter to you anymore.”
I looked over at Ash, whose eyes were filled with more pain than I could bare to look at. So I turned away from him as a tear trickled down my cheek. This was all too much for me to handle. I tried to lift my hand up, tried to take the ring off of my finger, but I couldn’t. Both of my arms hung at my sides like limp noodles.
“Well,” Michael spoke, “are you going to give me it or not?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but it took a moment for the words to formulate in my mouth. “I can’t,” I finally choked out.
“Exactly, because you aren’t over him. Don’t treat me like I’m stupid, Evalynne. Don’t lie to me and expect me to believe you. You still have feelings for Ash, therefore he still stands in the way of our relationship. But I’m going to take care of that right now.”
“Michael, please don’t!” I cried. Tears were streaming down my cheeks now and I didn’t know what to do anymore. Nothing I said or did would’ve convinced him not to kill Ash.
Ash stumbled backward as Michael moved closer and closer to him. I was screaming and crying for him to stop, but he wasn’t listening. I reached into my pocket, about to call the police, but my phone was no longer there. Michael must have taken it from me last nigh. So instead I rushed towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to pull him backwards, trying to stop him from hurting Ash.
This just seemed to make him angrier though. He shook me off of him, elbowing me back so that I fell to the ground with a dull thud. When I looked back up, Michael was holding the blade of the knife to Ash’s throat.
“No!” I continued to cry out, not that it was doing any good. “Please!” I felt dizzy, like the room was spinning. I was about to lose Ash, for good this time, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“Wait!” Valerie suddenly shouted. “You shouldn’t kill him. He didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who texted him and told him to come here.”
Michael stopped and turned to her when she said this, but he kept the knife at Ash’s throat. “So you’re saying I should kill you,” Michael replied flatly.
“No, but I don’t think you should kill Ash either.” she informed him.
“Well why wouldn’t I kill you? After all, you’ve completely betrayed me,” he said. I didn’t like where this was going. Now he was going to kill both Ash and Valerie.
I looked at her hopelessly as she sucked in a deep breath. “Because I’m pregnant,” she told him. A little late for that, I thought to myself.
“Oh, I know,” he replied, causing her eyes to go wide with shock. “Evalynne told me everything.” He grinned as a look of hurt betrayal crossed her face.
“How could you do that to me, Evalynne?” she asked me. “I trusted you,”
I didn’t even bother to tell her that he figured out about her pregnancy all by himself, because there was still the fact that I’d told him everything else I knew about it. “I’m sorry,” I said to her, truly meaning it. “He was blackmailing me,”
“Well none of that matters now, because I’ve already made my decision.” Michael stated. “I never wanted a kid anyways,”
“But Ben!” she cried. Ok, now I was confused. Why had she just called him Ben? No one else was around. They didn’t have to use their fake names right now.
“Why are you calling me that?” he demanded, also looking confused. “We all know that I’m Michael and you’re Valerie. We don’t have to use those names right now.”
I watched in shock as she reached behind her to the table that held the TV. She picked her cell phone up off the table and brought it to her ear with a triumphant smile. “Did you get all that, officer?” she said into the phone. There was a pause while she let the police officer on the other line speak. “Ok, see you soon,” she replied. Then she hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket.
We all stood there, watching her in a state of surprise.
“What the hell did you just do?” Michael demanded in rage.
“I called the police. They’re on their way over here right now,” she informed him matter-of-factly. She shot him a smug little smirk, which only got him angrier.
And before any of us knew what was happening, he dove towards her with the knife raised above his head. Ash tried to get him off of her, but he was too late. Michael had already slit Valerie’s throat. She laid there, lifeless on the floor as blood pooled around her limp body.
Ash plunged his little pocket knife into Michael’s shoulder, but not before Michael turned around and elbowed him in the gut. I looked around frantically for a weapon I could use to get Michael off of him, but the living room was pretty bare. So I had no choice but to stand there, crying out in horror as Michael stabbed his sharp blade right into Ash’s chest.
A deafening shriek escaped my throat and I rushed over to Ash, who was lying there on the ground. By that time, Michael was already darting out the front door of the apartment. I barely noticed though. I was too focused on Ash, who was bleeding uncontrollably.
“Please don’t die,” I pleaded through my tears. “I can’t lose you again. Please stay with me. I love you,”
His breathing was shaky and his eyes were beginning to shut, but he managed to say four last words before he went unconscious. “I love you too,” he whispered, and then his eyes fluttered closed.
THE END

Author's Note: That's the end of the 3rd but the 4th will be starting up soon. It's going to be called EC+MM=Obsession so keep your eye out for it (: