"This isn't the part where you ask me why I killed Carson," Dakota said. Katherine and I cautiously spun around to face my best friend.

My best friend in the whole wide world. The one who would always be there for me. My constant.

My Dakota.

"You both know why I killed Carson."

"Your family?" Katherine muttered.

"OBVIOUSLY!" Dakota roared. She closed her eyes and breathed heavily, keeping the gun trained on us. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell."

"That's what you're apologizing for?" Katherine spat. I pinched into her arm to sedate her, but I failed tremendously. It was so difficult to focus on their heated argument, for the world began to dissipate into smoky ash around me. W h y h e r bounced around the chambers of my brain. "You murdered the love of my life!"

"He killed my family, Katherine! What would you do, huh? If your dad and brothers were just suddenly all dead and buried one day?" Dakota retorted. Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she refused to move the gun away from its trajectory to use her hand to wipe the tears away.

"Then why'd you frame Avery, huh? She's your best friend, Dakota! Why would you do that?"

"I didn't want to." Dakota, remorse and sympathy plastered on her face, turned to me. "You've gotta believe me, Avery. I only used your car because I didn't have mine. I never wanted you to get caught up in all of this."

"So the pictures in the box?" I whispered. "What about that?"

"I just wanted to scare you away, Avery! I placed the box in Carson's house during the funeral. I thought that if you thought Carson was your crazy stalker, you would stay far away from this! I took those pictures, Avery. I never wanted you caught up in all of this. I would've wiped away what Carson wrote, but I couldn't get my evidence in here. I was careful, Avery." She laughed gently to herself. "Careful like you wouldn't believe."

"But you have parents, Dakota. This doesn't make any sense," Katherine uttered to herself.

"It's my aunt and uncle, you idiot. I don't bring anyone home to meet them because I get worried someone will realize I look nothing like my 'father.' I've been planning this from the moment Pierce fucking Prescott got Carson away with murder. I changed my last name. I convinced my aunt and uncle to move to Eldbourne from Maine so I would be closer to my family. I call them 'Mom' and 'Dad' in front of people, and they go along with it because they think it's some kind of coping mechanism. Do you think there's any fucking coping mechanism to deal with what I've been through? Do you?"

"Yes," Katherine spat. "But I'm glad that you didn't find a healthy way to cope. Maybe you'll end up killing yourself along the way."

"Shut up!" Dakota sniveled. "Shut up, Katherine!"

w h y d i d i t h a v e t o b e h e r ? I inhaled, exhaled, inhaled too deeply as I clutched my head with my balmy hands. "Avery?" Dakota whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Of course she's not, you fucking bitch!" Katherine screamed.

"You did it," I uttered.

"What?" Dakota inquired, slightly lowering her guard and drooping the gun by the slightest degree.

"YOU DID IT, DAKOTA!" I bellowed, my screams expelling the darkness from my brain, replacing it with a red, unbridled rage. "YOU PUT ME THROUGH THIS HELL! YOU PUT KATHERINE THROUGH THIS! ALL OF US!"

Dakota looked as though she was about to burst into uncontrollable sobs. "I'm so sorry, Avery. I never meant to make friends with anyone in Eldbourne. I was gonna move back to Philly when this was all over. I was gonna start over!" She beamed at me. She's insane. "But then I met you, Avery Carter. And fucking hell, I love you, Avery. I love you more than I love my aunt and uncle, more than I love Amy, more than I love myself. I don't deserve you, Avery."

"You really fucking don't," I spat. I pulled Katherine closer to me to anchor myself to reality. "I can't believe you just lied to me over and over and over and over again!"

"I had to! I'm only admitting this because you were getting too close, Avery! I got rid of all traces of Johanna Creonte. But you're so smart, Avery. You would've found out sooner or later. And when that newspaper article was published, I just knew I had to get out of town."

"What about Xander?" I demanded. "What about the fucking bastard you convinced to help you?"

"I love Xander, but not as much as you," Dakota assured.

"Then why would you let him touch me?"

"I promise on my brother's grave, Avery Carter, that I never told him to do all of that. I told him to scare you off...but not like that. I..."

"You just wanted him to kill me," Katherine accused. Dakota nonchalantly shrugged, a smirk threatening to infect her face.

"Yeah, that's right. I hate you, Katherine Summers. Every single time I look at you, all I see is Carson. And I hate it."

"Well, I'm happy I made a little bit of your life a walking nightmare."

"Back at ya," Dakota replied. She jerked her eyes to me, her light-blue hair swaying slightly with the motion. "After all, it's not like you're the only one who lied to Avery."

"What are you...oh...," Katherine muttered. I turned to the Summers girl and backed away cautiously.

"What do you mean 'oh?'" I inquired from her.

"Why don't you tell her, Katherine?" Dakota hissed. "No, I've got it. I got Xander to call her and told her that if she planted her DNA at the crime scene before the cops did their second sweep, he would tell her who really killed Carson."

"But...but you didn't, Katherine," I mumbled. Katherine shamefully looked toward's Carson's fatal spot on the floor.

"No...Avery, I put your DNA there," she admitted. "I'm sorry. I couldn't go to jail, Avery. I wouldn't survive there. I thought...I thought that if Xander heard that some girl was arrested because of DNA, and since he seemed to despise you...he would tell me anyway."

I wanted to ask her how she could deceive me like that. I yearned to call Dakota and inform her of Katherine's treachery. I wished to wake up in bed and realize that none of the shit from the past few weeks had actually happened.

"Yeah, well you were wrong," Dakota said. "You just got Avery arrested."

"Don't act like Avery being swept up in all this is my fault!" Katherine retorted.

"Yeah, it's not, actually. It's Carson's."

"Why did he write my name, huh?" I asked. I pointed dejectedly at the floor and begged, "Why did Carson drag me into all of this?"

"I...I don't know, Avery," Dakota admitted. "You'd have to ask him. Maybe he felt bad for you." She chuckled to herself as she recalled the past few years. "You know, I would see him in class and wonder if he told anyone what my real name was. What my story was. What my life was. But he never did. I guess I'm grateful for that. I'm still confused why he never snitched. I mean, I would've."

"You're disgusting," I said. "Absolutely despicable."

Dakota feigned disinterest. Her face suddenly warped into a misshapen smile. "Come with me, Avery."

"What?"

"We'll run away from here. We don't have to tell anyone about this. We can just be together. Forever." Her eyes glimmered with hope.

"Dakota?"

"Yes?"

"You're my best friend in the whole world. And I hate you." Her face fell. "I'd rather rot in Hell than run away with you."

"Y-you don't mean that! You don't mean that, Obi-Wan. Batman. Sherlock Holmes. Avery."

"No, Dakota. Not ever."

She sighed. The dams broke as waterworks issued out of Dakota's mournful eyes. "I knew you were gonna deny my offer, Avery. That's why I've poured gallons of gasoline upstairs--and I'm gonna go light it."

"What, and leave us here to die?" Katherine scoffed.

"If I have to," Dakota replied. Her fingers twitched as she tightened her grip on the gun. "I'm sorry, Avery. No matter how much I hate myself, I can't die. I still have work to do. I won't be able to sleep easy knowing that you're out there, Katherine. You and your whole family and Pierce Prescott and Avery. I can't live with Avery hating me."

"Then you shouldn't have done this, you monster!" I screamed. I may as well have torn Dakota's heart from her chest and smashed it onto the ground. The light of her eyes had dissipated, and any empathy she may have depicted floated away into nothingness.

"I'm going to call the police. I'm going to tell them that Katherine admitted to everything. And there's going to be at least one unidentifiable, burnt body rotting away in this building. That'll be you, Katherine. And I'm going to run away. They'll be searching for you while my aunt and uncle mourn me. Avery, this is your last chance."

"No," I echoed. I already missed my best friend. I was already lamenting our late-night movie binges and visits to the coffee shop. I was already mourning Dakota.

"Then I'm gonna have to leave you here to die, Avery. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry. When you're up there, I hope you can find any possible way to forgive me."

"Not in this life or the next," I retorted. Dakota ignored me as she reached into her back pocket for her cell.

"Luring Carson to this hotel to kill him was the best thing I've ever done," Dakota apathetically admitted. Raising the phone to her ear, she asked me one final question: "Remember Antigone, Avery?"

"Yeah, of course. You never shut up about that stupid play when we started reading it." I hid a smile behind my mask of irateness.

"You know why Sophocles didn't entitle it 'Creon?' I mean, he gets more screen time." I shook my head. "The play wasn't about Creon. It wasn't about a king who made a mistake and attempted to make amends for it. This story is about a girl who just wanted to bury her family. Hello, operator? Please, hurry! I'm where Carson Harris was shot--in, in the hotel! Katherine Summers admitted to everything! Please, please hurry! She has a gun, she has, she has--" Dakota interjected herself by slamming the phone on the floor and finishing it with a deafening shot. "They'll be here soon. We're gonna go walk upstairs, okay?"

"We're not--"

"We'll go," I said, glaring at Katherine. Trust me. "Come on, Kat. We lost. Let's go." I intertwined her fingers in mine and led her past Dakota. Dakota kept the gun trained on us as we carefully maneuvered the rotten stairs. Katherine shot me a glance, one that begged for some sort of plan or miracle. I squeezed her hand tight to console her.

"Avery, I...I don't wanna die. I really don't," Katherine cried quietly into my ear.

"It's okay, Kat. It's gonna be okay." As we entered the upstairs room, the stench of gasoline assaulted me and caused me to recoil in disgust.

"It's not, though," Dakota said. "Nothing's okay. It never was, and it never will be."

"Were we asking you?" Katherine spat. I just knew that Dakota was rolling her eyes behind us.

"Go to the back of the room. Go now!" she ordered. We sulked over to the opposing wall and turned to face our executioner. "I'm gonna light a match. And then I'm gonna leave. And...Avery, please," she begged.

"Dakota, I..."

"Avery, just you and me. Everyone will miss you, but you don't need them!" she cried, a new hope igniting within her wretched eyes. "All you need is me."

"Dakota..."

"Please, Avery. Please. I...I can't do this, Avery. I just can't. Not to you. Please. Please."

"I...okay, Dakota." I let Katherine's hand slip from mine as I shot my arms up in the air in forfeit. "Okay."

"R-really?" she stammered, shocked and excited.

"Avery!" Katherine yelled.

"I'm sorry, Kat. But I'm not ready to die either," I replied with a despondent voice. "I'm sorry." I began to walk towards Dakota when she held up a hand to halt me.

"No, it's a trick! You're trying to trick me, Avery Carter! Ha, I know you too well! Get back over there!" she ordered, theatrically waving the gun around to entice me to return to my deathbed.

"Heh, worth a shot, huh?" I grumbled. "I wasn't gonna leave you, Katherine. Remember? I promised you that I wouldn't leave." Katherine began to sob. It took every fiber of my being to not join her. I had to be strong. For all three of us.

"I'm...I'm gonna love you forever, Avery Carter, okay?" Dakota said.

I nodded my head slightly. "I know, Johanna. I know. I miss my best friend, too. Her name was Dakota." Johanna bore her eyes at me as she withdrew a pack of matches from her pocket. The match was ablaze in the matter of seconds.

"This is for them," Johanna reassured herself, pointing the match to Heaven. "This is for me." She dropped the tiny fire through her fingers and stared at it as it collided with the gas-covered ground.

And in that moment, I charged.

Johanna fired a shot, more of an instinctive reaction of fear rather than a result of her wishing to murder me. She fired again and screamed out in agony.

Through blurred vision, I collided with Johanna. I enveloped her in my iron-tight grip as I listened to the roaring disaster exploding behind me. "Get off, Avery!" she scolded. I couldn't manage to find the strength to reply. Katherine got the hint and bolted away from the flames, darting towards our assailant. Johanna pointed the gun towards my friend, but I grasped her arm and bent it towards the ceiling. Another shot rang out, blinding and deafening me as I struggled for control.

"We've gotta go!" Katherine screamed. Licks of orange and red nibbled at my heels. Johanna sneered and pushed the Summers girl away. "We've gotta go!" Katherine echoed. "We've gotta go!" I clutched onto my stomach as I turned Johanna over, wrestling with her for the gun. I thought I could make out the sounds of sirens trumpeted in the background.

"Let go!" I managed to squeal out. I brought my fist up and rocketed it down, my knuckles contacting with Johanna's cheek. She screamed in defiance and kicked me off of her, grunting as she stumbled backwards. "Katherine, run!" I ordered. Katherine nodded and dashed down the stairs before Johanna could land another hit on her.

I glanced down at my stomach. All of the adrenaline had prevented me from noticing the gaping hole that had formed in my gut. Blood collected on my fingertips as I lightly chuckled to myself. I fell to my knees and whispered, "Thanks, Carson."

"Avery?" Johanna yelped. "Avery, oh my God. I-I didn't...I didn't..." She grabbed her head, wrestling with her inner demons as she gazed upon my fragile form. "I never wanted it to end up like this."

"Is that why you brought a gun?" I mocked.

Johanna laughed at the remark as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard. Her laugh had always been contagious. I joined her in her insanity. "Y'know, Avery Carter, I really thought I could get away with it. When I was about to kill him, I hesitated. I decided against it when he broke down in tears. And then I turned against that and shot him when I looked into his eyes and all I could see was Joshie's smile. All I could imagine was Mom's eyes and Dad's hugs." Johanna let the gun clatter onto the ground as she fell to her knees as well. She perked her eyes up to me and began to cry. "I love you, Avery."

"P-please," I whimpered. "Hold my hand." I don't wanna die alone. Johanna complacently scampered over to me and grasped my hand. "'Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness.'"

Johanna grinned. "'This will begin to make things right. I've traveled too far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy.'" When she wrapped her arms around me, I thought she was embracing me, so I returned the gesture.

But, despite the difficulty, she picked me up and carried me away from the fire. The police sirens grew louder. Red and blue conquered my vision as I blinked away tears. "Katherine?" Johanna called out. "Come get Avery." She set me down gently on the last step.

"D-Dakota?" I muttered as I watched her form ascend the staircase. The crackles and maniacal chorus of the fire erupted upstairs. I felt Katherine's arms latch around my shoulders as she began to painstakingly drag me across the floor and towards the door.

"'Leave me to my own absurdity,' Avery Carter," Dakota replied. She disappeared into the room upstairs.

I could hear distinct and distant voices scream my name. Katherine kept murmuring something to me as she tugged me out of the hotel, the fire shooting out of the windows and conquering the old hotel.

"We got her," I laughed to Katherine. She brought my head close to hers and kissed me on the forehead. I began to laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh

Thank you, Avery Carter. And I'm sorry, Carson whispered in my ear as blackness overtook me.