ANDY

It's close to dawn.

I have been driving the whole night, to reach the old ruins where I am now. The paint peels off the walls, and there's a musty smell about the place, but otherwise, it's as good as any other house. They say that it's been possessed by spirits, but I'm not one to fall for those stories.

It keeps me safe.
It keeps others away.
It is a perfect place to hide.

I place the sports bag inside an old grandfather clock, hoping it would be a safe place. It's filled with money, all the hard cash I could ever lay my hands on before I went into hiding.

Only one person knew about this place.
My dad.

I think of him and immediately begin to panic. I pull out a cigarette and light it hurriedly, desperately wanting that rush of calmness it always brought.

I had to stay calm.

However, it was hard to, especially after what I'd done.

I take a puff of the cigarette, as the events of the day replay in my mind.

My father and I were face to face, waiting for the other to speak up first. His face was contorted with rage, his eyes drawn low. His fingers kept flexing and unflexing, as though he was stopping himself from throwing a punch at me.

I knew that he'd found out. It was up to me to start the conversation.

"Father, Leah..."

"Is alive", He continues, " Yeah, I know what you've done."

He looks directly at me, and though his eyes look angry, he also seems sad, like this was something that he'd not expected me to do.

I hang my head in shame. "I'm sorry father, it's just - just that I've never killed a person, you know."

His eyes soften at the gesture. "When will you grow up, Andrew?" He speaks, with only a slight undertone of annoyance.

"I'll murder her, I'll go to the hospital now and smother her face under a pillow, I'll poison her-" I start angrily.

"No need." My dad cuts me off. "The police have been alerted, she's under tight security."

I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off my chest. Apparently Leah's safe now. Of course, I frown at my dad and throw in a few swear words about how much I wanted her to be dead.

My dad's face is expressionless."I don't think murdering Leah is going to solve my problem."

I snap my head up. I hadn't expected this.

In the blink of an eye, my dad sweeps his gun out and aims at my heart.

Adrenalin and years of training makes me pull out my gun and shoot him thrice, right on his heart.
My father lets out a bloody wail as he falls to the ground, his released bullet barely grazing my left arm since I'd moved away right in time.

"You-you-", my dad let's out, struggling to find a perfect word for what I'd done to him.

I pocket my gun and slowly walk over to his crumpled body on the ground. Crouching beside him, near his face, I speak out the words I'd wanted to tell him for years.

"Die, father. Its the only way to stop you and your atrocities. Let the whole gang be destroyed with you."

"You-," He breathes, "Did... this... on purpose?"

I stay silent. My father's eyes widen.

"Did... this... to be... leader?"

"No. I'm better off as a normal college student than being involved in the mafia. This isn't me." I tell him clearly.

My father stares at me, his face gaunt and bloodless. A few moments pass, and I stare hard at him, my gaze unflinching.

Then surprisingly, my father smiles at me. "You.. are... brave." He speaks in breaths, "My.. Son... Brave."

A single tear rolls down the side of his face.
I, too, find myself choking up.
He thought I was brave.

My father smiles at me, and just like that, the light leaves his eyes.

I've killed my father. Patricide.
Emotions rush through me at the thought of what I've done.

I drop the remainder of my cigarette and pull out another one.

In my defence, my father had tried to kill me, and I'd reacted. I think of him, smiling at me, and I realise something, he was happy to die by my hands. Being brave enough to speak up for myself was all that he'd wanted.

I hadn't let him down after all.

I take out the spare phone, and dial Greyes number. She must have heard about my father.

She picks up immediately, and from the looks of it, she sounds like she's been crying.

"Andrew! What in hell have you done?"

"So you've heard," I reply carelessly.

"How could you kill your father... How did you even think of such a -"

"It was an accident," I speak over her. "I swear, it wasn't on purpose..."

"Oh, really? And you expect me to believe that?" Greyes spits out. "I know that you've been planning this for ages..."

"Yeah, but, I swear, this was totally an accident... He wanted to kill me too, you know!" I yell.

There's silence on the other end. Greyes is speechless.

"He said that he wanted to end his problems, and he pulled his gun out of nowhere." I explain.

"Woah," Greyes let's out a soft sigh. "That was unexpected."

We remain silent, and I can only wish for Greyes to trust me. I can't afford to lose her, especially after all that I've been through.

"I believe you, Andrew. How are you feeling?" Greyes finally speaks.

"Hey, I'm alright... Just tired." I tell her. "How's your mom?"

"She's depressed that the love of her life is dead, but she also told me that there were plenty of fish left in the sea." Greyes scoffs, "As though his death was going to put an end to her dating people."

I thank my lucky stars that such a lady didn't end up being my stepmom.

"Yeah, well. This means that we both can still date," I say slowly.

"Yeah, right." Greyes says sarcastically, "You're in hiding, and I will be too. They've found out that I've been selling drugs to Leah." Greyes tells me.

"WHAT! How did they do that?" My jaw drops at her statement.

"Apparently, they've hypnotised her or something. Also, they do know that you gave her poison."

"How do you know this?" I ask her, panic building up within me. It was one thing to have killed my dad, but poisoning Leah is more dangerous. Even if it was just an act.

"Heather told me. Adam was rambling about how Leah had imagined a whole relationship with him." Greyes replies. "Heather's not that useless after all, you know." She adds as an afterthought.

"Woah! Leah had imagined a whole relationship? I knew it was suspicious when she was asking me about Schrodinger's cat... She hates science. She can't differentiate dreams from reality, huh?" I start blabbering until Greyes cuts me off.

"You know, you should really be worrying about saving your head from Leah's case," Greyes tells me, exasperated.

"Yeah..." I draw out, my mind already processing the possibilities.

"Use Greg," Greyes advises. "It's the safest way."

"Okay, Grace Waters. Thanks a lot." I answer. "I'll call you later. "

"Bye, Andrew," Greyes calls out sweetly. "I love you too."

She cuts the call before I have a chance to reply.

SHE LOVES ME BACK!

I can't think of anything else for the rest of the night.