"Rain rain go away, come again another day, little Sammy wants to play..."

Chelsea's mocking sing-song voice was barely audible over the ringing in my head. I wrapped my arms around myself, practically in the fetal position as the pain of what was most definitely a broken rib or three rendered me other immobile.

"You brought this on yourself, Sam," she said as she circled her way around me. "It was a long time in coming and you have no one else to blame."

"Jason," I barely whispered. I needed to know...

"It really was too easy how you believe all you're told without question. With everything he's been through— after everything you've done to him— that you thought he would so quickly and readily end it all? That's always been your problem, you know. You never gave him enough credit. Not now, not five years ago..."

An unexpected kick to my injured ribs had me screaming and on the edge of consciousness, but I couldn't allow myself the luxury to black out now. Not now...

"You were lucky I didn't find you in that room. I knew what Jason was going to talk to you about. And I knew what you were going to do instead. I just wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt that you'd listen to reason, that you'd actually hear what Jason was trying to tell you, but instead you were so quick to just throw it all away to fuck that meathead Tony Marino."

I could barely breathe— every attempt was like shattered glass in my lungs.

"I told him he should have just let it go, that you didn't deserve him, that he was only going to get hurt, but he didn't want to listen to me. He never wanted to listen to me. And then you rejected him and I just could not, would not, allow you to hurt anyone I loved ever again. So when the power went out, you weren't in the room... but Tony was. And can you believe that asshole actually tried to get it in with me while you were in the bathroom?" Chelsea stopped her tirade to let out a laugh. "Granted it was dark, he was drunk, and he probably would have tried with anyone who walked through that door, whether or not it was you. So, I let him try. I even let him think it was you. And he put that disgusting tongue in my mouth. Right before I cut it off."

"No," I sobbed, the image of Tony holding out his severed tongue to me meshing with the blood in my eyes.

"And can you believe that Jason was actually going to take the fall? You were delirious and no one could get a word out of you and he was actually going to let them think you had nothing to do with any of it. Even after you broke his heart— he just wouldn't stop loving you. Even after I did the one thing I could think of to show him that his pain was my pain he still would not let you go!"

The last five words were accented with rapid kicks to my stomach and the blood and bile rose in my throat.

"He was so worried that something had happened and you had fought him off that he didn't even want them to question Tony first, not that they could get a word out of him." She laughed at her own twisted humor. "And I knew Tony would never be able to decipher if it was actually you or not, so I let them all believe what they wanted to believe. The drug deal, though— that was my parents' spin. Seemed to work for the time being, anyway. Until you started poking around."

She kicked me again, this time more out of frustration than purposefully trying to cause me pain.

"This trip was supposed to be my chance to show him, once and for all, that you were not worth it. That you were never worth it. And what do you do? You fuckin' sleep with him. Like you have that right! Like you weren't the one who ruined his life. As if you were the one who remained to pick up the broken pieces. As if you actually mattered!"

The world spun around me and I was teetering— I was feeling like I was falling off of the edge of the cliff behind me, that I was going to fall into the broken rocks below. And I would welcome it. That would be a sweet relief to the agony I was in, to hearing what Chelsea was telling me.

"And to make it worse, after we finally told you what happened, when I did all I could to convince you that Jason was the last person you wanted to be near and you left, do you know what happened? He actually wanted to follow you. He still wanted to try to convince you that everything was okay! Well, no worries about that. He won't be waking up for quite some time, and by the time he does, I'll have to be the one to tell him that you were the one who had become unhinged. That you couldn't take the lies and the deceit anymore and that you wouldn't be able to make it back home knowing what you know now."

Another forceful kick had me rolling dangerously closer to the edge of the cliff. I couldn't find the strength to brace myself, and one more nudge would have me falling to my death. And there was nothing I could do about it. Just like there was nothing I could have done to save Tony or convince Jason, or maybe even help Chelsea...

"It will take a while, but he'll eventually heal. We both will. Of course there will be interrogations and interviews and the truth that you were responsible for the attack on Tony Marino will surface. We'll clear Jason once and for all while your family is forced to deny your involvement, though taking you away from everything those five years will look mighty suspicious, but that will be their problem to sort through while Jason and I finally get the chance to make something new for ourselves that doesn't involve you."

I believed her. I believed every word she said. She was going to end my and take the credit. She was going to seduce Jason into believing that she tried to save me, just as she made me believe she cared about saving him.

"Believe me when I tell you, Samantha, that I am so glad that this bullshit is finally over."

I made my peace as I waited for the killing blow. The storm would deter anyone from looking for my body and by the time it passed, it would be too late. Whatever remained would be drifting out to sea by the time Jason and Chelsea got back on their plane.

I just wish I had the chance to tell Jason I was sorry. That I was sorry for doubting him. That I was sorry I hurt him as I did. That I was so blind to see what was right in front of me until it was too late.

I could only hope that he was smart enough to see through Chelsea's lies once and for all.

But as I waited to die, coughing and choking on my own blood, I heard the scuffle of sneakers running and sliding on stone, in the distance but coming closer. I heard the surprised gasp and the sounds of a struggle so close to my bleeding head. And as the pain became too much to handle any longer and I drifted in and out of consciousness, I heard the scream. I listened as the scream sounded as though it was never going to end as it fell over the edge of the cliff. And just as I was no longer able to fight against the darkness, I heard the scream stop, and suddenly, as it smashed against the breakers below.