I took a right turn towards the entrance but before I could grab the door handle that led to the entrance, that guy dashed towards me and pushed me making me fall down hard and hitting my head on the librarian's desk which shook violently, and a knife fell down.

I moaned in pain. He took the mallet and walked towards me. He then knelt down and grabbed hold of my collar. He raised the mallet high above his head, preparing to hit me to death.

******************************

On Monday it was pouring. Our physics teacher was giving a lecture on thermodynamics.

"May I come in, Sir?" A male voice boomed through the class.

Everyone turned to look at the new comer. He had platinum blonde hair swept to the side in a hot, messy way that matched his fair skin.

I could see every girl in the room ogling at the handsome stranger, others shamelessly giggled and whispered to one another. I had to admit. He was pretty good looking. Mr. Rogers clapped his hands to get our attention. He didn't need to.

"Class, we have a new comer here with us today, Devon Steeve. Please come in, Devon."

My eyes bulged out. 'I know him,' I instantly thought. And that exact moment Devon's dark eyes met mine, knowingly, and I knew that I knew him from some time in my life in the past.

"Thank you." He said then breaking away from our stare.

Mr. Rogers went back to teaching us while Devon made his way to the seat right beside me.

Devon took the seat beside me and sat down. And then I felt his eyes piercing through me. I thought about when he had looked at me. He had squinted his eyes at me and bit his lower lip trying to recognize me.

I looked up and gave a glance towards him.

He was still looking at me! Fudge! Why isnt he looking away?!

At interval I and my friends were playing truth and dare.

"Mary!" Ashley exclaimed suddenly, waving a serious Mary over to us. "Come join us. We're playing Truth and Dare."

Mary turned towards us and gave me her now infamous offended look. "No, thanks, I am good alone."

"Oh come on, Mary! Its going to be fun." Ashley said.

Mary still stood there feeling reluctant and hesitant to come.

"Come on, Mary! What are you waiting for?" Ashley ordered as if she hadn't heard Mary's curt response. One thing about Ashley was that she was very dominating.

"Uh. Well, okay," Mary shrugged and walked across the cafeteria towards us, and sat between Ashley and David.

I had the feeling that Mary was evading me. She seemed uncomfortable and was not looking at me. She kept her face down most of the time.

I did not notice Devon walk quietly up to a table behind us, with his tray, sit down and read a book he had brought with him. Then Mary spun the bottle and it stopped, pointing towards me.

"You ask her." Mary grimly said to David since she was apparently very angry with me.

"Truth," I said before David could ask.

"Hmm, what question should I ask from you?" David said, doing some loud thinking like Ashley did most of the time.

"Ah ha!" David exclaimed, triumphant. "Cameron, have you ever bullied anyone in your life?"

"Uh..." I hesitated a little but said simply, "Yes," going a bit red in the face but quickly recovering because it was a long time ago.

At this, Devon looked up from his book.

"Okay, can I ask when and why?" David asked. At this, Mary looked down.

"Uh... I don't know, can you please change the question, David." I asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"No dear. There is a rule in this game that questions are not changed." David was definitely in the mood to tease me..

"There is no such rule. I want it changed or I am out." I said, getting worked up.

"Hey calm down, buddy. No need to get all nasty." David said, his hands up in surrender and mildly surprised. Silence had settled over our little group. David looked around and seemed to make a decision, being all dramatic. "Fine. Somebody else go." And he leaned forward to spin the bottle when suddenly Mary shouted, "Stop!"

Everyone looked up at her, startled.

"No, nobody is going to change this question!" Mary said angrily. She seemed to be taking deep breaths. She turned to me and said haughtily.

"Today you will answer this question. Why exactly did you bully that person?" Her voice was filled with so much anger and hate towards me that I thought she might lash out at me.

"Uh... I - I can't," I hesitated, "I don't want to be reminded of those dark thoughts so long back."

"Tell 'em, Cameron!" Mary pressurized, her eyes were ablaze with anger.

I was desperately looking around for an excuse. "Oh, I just remembered I've got some important work to do." And as I scrambled to get up, Mary grabbed my arm and pulled me down so forcefully that I dropped down like a rag doll.

"Woah, woah, woah, wooooaah Mary, calm down!" Benjie said, before things got violent. "What the heck is going on with you? If Cameron doesn't wanna tell, she does't wanna tell. Get over it!"

Mary was still glaring at me but she seemed to have calmed down when Benjie told her to.

"Come on Cam, everybody gets bullied. Its no big deal," David tried to neutralise things.

"Bullying should be illegal, David!" Mary said to him.

"I don't get it!" Now David was the one getting fed up. He was just not used to getting serious in life. "You know what? I am out. People are too full of life here." He said sarcastically and grabbed his bag and stomped back to the cafeteria probably.

Silence befell the group again. And this time, i broke it.

"Okay, fine!" I said."Fine, I'll tell you." Ashley, who had become rather withdrawn, looked up at me hopefully.

"But you guys have to promise me that you will tell not one soul," I said.

"We promise," Benjie and Ashley said unanimously. I looked at both of them making a meaningful eye contact, urging them to keep my secret, a secret.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and opened them. "Alright then..." I began.

"It was the first day of our school after our summer vacations, eight years ago. I was in fifth grade at Fly High Middle School.

A new comer, who was a boy, had come to the class. I looked up and saw the scrawny little boy, a weakling, a loser.

Above all, he was weak, like some other boys of my class. But I was not in the position to judge, since I myself was pretty much a loner. I did not have a sure group of friends and more often than not, I would find myself strolling through the school halls alone and bored. People just found me boring while I thought I was pretty interesting. I don't know.

Anyway, I was in desperate need of a friend and so I decided to be friends with him, the bony new comer. Something was better than nothing. To my surprise, we both got along really well! We'd help each other out in our studies. He was particularly good in Maths and that was a lifesaver for me, not that I was flunking it but I wasn't too happy with my performance either.

My new best friend made things easier, and his funny outlook on life made school bearable. He used to get bullied but I never exactly came to his help because I was myself scared of those humongous Stockley brothers. I mean, those guys were HUGE! I just avoided them.

And they avoided me, for some reason.

But unfortunately my friendship with Devon gradually started turning sour. It was because this new comer had become the highest achiever in every, single, freakin' exam! And since he was also helping out other students, I would always get 3rd place or the 4th place or the 5th place.

I became jealous of him because he was the apple of the teacher's eyes. However, for my new friend I was the bright student. Something he'd cheerfully tell me and I'd just brush him off.

I then broke friendship with him out of building jealousy and then I ultimately joined a group of boys and girls who were already jealous of that boy. They made me their main. Their sole purpose of coming to school was to bully people. Our group would often be joined by the Stockley brothers who actually seemed pleased with the new addition, that was me.

The boy was devastated that I had broken such a sweet friendship with him. But he seemed to have gotten himself together and his studies were always his top priority.

He continued being the first in his class.

The fact that our broken friendship had not seemed to have affected him at all made me insanely angry.

I named our group "The Death Benchers" just to make that boy afraid, to tease him and others of course. But him especially. I decide on this name of our group and announced it in class. Nobody dared chuckle because they knew we were deadly.

Everyday I used to propose different ideas about how to bully that boy every second of every day making his days miserable and the worst. I made his school life completely difficult. We used to play a game called "Simon Says" where one would be Simon and whatever he or she would say, all the others playing would have to do exactly what Simon Says.

So, whenever the teacher wouldn't be in the class, I'd come up to the front of the class and begin by saying. "I am Simon." All the Death Benchers would cat call and hoot and exclaim in encouragement. While the class would lapse into silence.

I'd say, "Simon says, hit all the boys in the front." Fortunately, my ex-best friend would be the only boy in the front row. The Death Benchers would slowly get up from their desks, move towards the boy and give him generous helping of kicks and punches. We would stop hitting him just before one of our group members on "teacher watch" would shout to us that the teacher is headed towards our class.

We'd give the whole class a warning look and one of the Stockley brothers would bellow, "Nobody tells nobody!!"

Then one day I was lunching with my group mates at the cafeteria when I saw that boy passing by our table, with his tray of lunch, when all of a sudden we heard a sickening smack, and the next thing we saw was the boy lurch forward, stumble and collapse on the ground with a thud, his tray of food flying and falling to the ground with a loud clank.

One of the Stockley brothers stood over him with an iron rod grasped in his hand, a savage look in his eyes.

That boy was taken to the hospital. And from then on he stopped coming to school. We got to know that he had suffered from a serious concussion and was unable to talk to anyone, that he had had immediate brain surgery for hemorrhaging.

As more of the boy's friend's visited him, more news circulated among us. He was recovering physically but not mentally. He was now in serious depression. That he would have strange flashbacks of being hit and being bullied that would break into his mind and aggravate his condition. He had become increasingly frustrated and would be seen throwing things around and screaming till the neighbours would wake up.

He was so stressed out by the name of his school, that anyone who'd ask him about his school, he would dash towards the washroom to vomit.

He began waking up with nightmares and flashbacks, screaming and gasping for air. His friends said he'd continue his studies privately, that he will be home schooled up until college since he had a serious nervous breakdown, panic disorder and shattered confidence."

At this, Devon abruptly stood up and strode out of the cafeteria. He was unable to listen to such a painful story about that boy. I stopped and took a deep breath. No one said anything.

"How could you allow someone to hit an innocent person like that, Cameron?" Mary asked, clearly disgusted. I could understand her feelings for me.

"Now guys its your turn to trust me." I said looking at the three of them. No one said anything. They all seemed to be in shock.

"It was not my idea nor was it my group mates' idea," I said.

"Really." Mary rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Mary you have got to trust me." I pleaded with her. "It was not our idea. Even though the Stockley brothers were in our group, we never told either of them to do such a horrendous thing. Believe me, you guys. Please." I looked at Ashley and then Benjie. Both of them lowered their gaze thoughtfully. I could sense extreme sadness in them. I was sad too and on the verge of crying.

"Alright," Benjie, thankfully said something. "I believe you. But why?" He was clearly in pain.

My lips quivered as I shook my head no. "I don't know." Then, something came to my mind. "No, I think I know why.

The Stockley brothers had a consistently bad record at their last school. They told me they were suspended for killing someone but no one's found out the killer yet. We thought they were joking. They were suspended on the grounds that psychiatric help be given to them. Somehow they have gotten themselves enrolled in this school."

"The Stockleys are filthy rich," Benjie said, knowingly.

Ashley spoke up sadly then, not looking at me, "do you know who that boy was?"

All three of them looked up at me.

"Devon Steeve." I revealed.

On Saturday the phone rang incessantly. Mary placed her book that she was reading on her bedside table, jumped off her bed and hurried to get the phone. She said, "Hello, Jones residence."

"Mary, its me," A deep voice spoke from the phone.

"Devon?" Mary said, surprised. Devon did not call much and would usually resort to texting her first.

"I need your help." Mary stayed silent.

"Are your parents home?" He asked.

"What is it, Devon? Why are you being so cryptic?" Mary asked, getting a little worried.

I need to talk to you about something important," Devon said. "Yes, what is it?" Mary said "You remember the incident about my brain injury?" Devon began. "About what Cameron did to me when I was in school?"

"Yes...?" Mary said, carefully.

"Well, I want revenge," Devon said mysteriously.

Mary fell silent for a while. Then said, "Devon, I had been wanting to tell you this but I didn't know how to start it. I am telling you now-" There was a sudden ring at Devon's end. It was his phone. The ringing abruptly stopped.

"Hello?" Mary said.

"Sorry, you were saying," Devon said.

"Cameron is not bad. There has been a huge misunderstanding." Mary said.

"You are her friend, Mary, and that doesn't mean you take her side. Stop taking her side!" Devon suddenly yelled.

"I am not taking her side, Devon," Mary said, surprised but tried to stay calm.

"Look," Mary began, changing her mind. "I just want to tell that I know whatever happened to you was horrible. Devastating. But please, do not take revenge. God loves His people and He loves you, Devon. There is really no need to do that. "Look, I need to tell you something really important. When you were in middle school, there were two brothers who-." Just then, she heard Devon's phone ring again.

"Sorry, I gotta take this," Devon said and the tone went dead.

Mary held the receiver in her hand and replaced it slowly, sadly. She remembered how terribly hurt Devon was when he was little. It had been a painful phase of his life. No wonder he wanted revenge.

On Saturday Finally the most awaited Saturday arrived, everyone was elated and enthusiastic.

I was standing behind the stage wearing shimmery white shirt with net sleeves. I had a necklace and bracelets on which were given to me by my mother on my 13th birthday.

"Hey Cam! My God you look gorgeous, girl!" Benjie jogged up to me and was all praises for me.

"So do you, Benjie," I said, blushing and Benjie's face blushed profusely like a tomato. He was wearing white shirt along with black jacket. Benjie chuckled as he looked down.

"I am going to check the crowd," he said and walked up to the corner of the heavy curtains to peek out into the court. Then he came up to me, his face pale."Okay, that's a huge crowd over there." I could see he was stressed out. He then sighed and looked upwards.

Then we heard Mr. Brody's voice boom over the stage announcing the names the participants and the programs that were in store for the audience. He ended his announcement which was followed by the roar of cheerful whoops and beats of full blown heart-thudding music.

"God, I'm freaking out! Help me God!" Benjie said feeling anxious and turning a bit green.

"Me too... My heart is beating a million times per second," I said nervously. "After all, we're next."

Our turn came right after the first performance which was a hilarious skit and which we could not completely enjoy because we were so stressed.

Despite the freaking out, we gave our best after which that we felt delicious relief and happiness wash over us. Benjie and I then sat on the seats along with the audience.

"Our next participant is... Devon Steeve!" Mr. Brody announced. Everyone let out a roar.

Devon then appeared on the stage and began to sing in that captivating voice of his. He was wearing a black shirt with black jeans. Everybody was cheering. The song he was singing was called "Beautiful now." by Zedd.

After that he sang "Ghost Town" by Adam Lambert.

As I sat there enjoying Devon's performance, I found myself getting jealous again. Devon was so good. He was even better than Benjie and I! This was something I could not stop myself from feeling. Envy slowly started engulfing my heart. All of a sudden I found Devon staring at me while he sang. His gaze was piercing through my eyes and I couldn't shake it away.

Devon kept staring singing that the dark song. He was creeping me out again and this time his stare meant awe fully meaningful. Like he was trying to tell me something.

Like I had done something really bad to him. His eyes were sad. Accusing. And above all, eyes shot hatred towards me. i could see the people sitting in front of me were whispering and giggling, probably discussing this exact exchange of eye contact. I was getting embarrassed and really hoping Devon would stop staring at me like a total (handsome) lunatic.

I got up from my seat, feeling a bit confused. Devon continued staring. 'What the freak?' I thought weakly to myself. Benjie looked up and asked where I was going. I told him I needed to get some air.

I quickly made my way through the crowd and into a clearing, and looked back at the stage. Devon was still glued on me, his eyes stern and unforgiving. I backed up a bit. And kept backing up until I reached the exit of the basketball court.

I turned and ran outside and leaned against the wall. I was breathing heavily. Sweat lined my forehead, and I could feel my matted bangs clinging to my head.

In the morning, I was at the bookshop, which was deserted except for me and Benjie. I was checking out some books about general knowledge. Benjie stood before one of the book shelves, surfing through the books.

I pulled out a science book from the Science section and began reading it. A few minutes had gone by when I felt that someone was staring at me, which made me look over the top of the short bookshelves. I was taken aback when I saw a guy, wearing a black mask along with a black hood and black overalls standing very quietly against one of the bookshelves that stood in my line of sight.

Feeling totally creeped out, I slowly turned around and leaned against the book shelf, trying to shake away the ominous feeling and I continued to read. I was seriously glad Benjie was with me. A few minutes later I felt someone walk and stand in the aisle I was in. There was the same guy in black overalls, facing me fully. I immediately felt the danger and desperately looked around for Benjie.

Benjie had drifted far away from me.

I then looked back at the guy, he had pulled out a knife from his pocket. My eyes widened with terror. I gulped and forced myself to ask him what he wanted. The guy stayed silent. He moved down towards other aisles, knife still in his hand. I stood completely frozen with fear.

'He is leaving me alone?' I thought to myself. Then I remembered.

Benjie!

I then walked quietly towards the aisle of book shelves where he was headed and saw him take on Benjie with such swiftness that I could not do anything but shout in terror. "Benjie, look out!"

Too late!

The guy had grabbed Benjie's back of the neck, his hand covering his mouth tight so he wouldn't scream. Benjie's eyes were buldged out in extreme terror. The guy quickly dragged him to a room which was probably the store room.

"Mmmhhhh!!!" Benjie tried to scream.

"No! Stop!!! Stop!!!" I screamed and ran towards the room to save Benjie but saw blood on the side of the door which forced me to stop in horror.

"NOOOO....!!!!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs in horror and utter disbelief. I saw the masked guy emerge out of the room. I could see the front of his shirt completely soaked with blood. He was holding his bloody knife and began walking towards me.

I turned and ran towards the entrance door as fast as I could. I pulled on the door handle and found it closed. The guy was slowly drawing close to me.

I looked around and found the shopkeeper's hard wooden chair beside me. I grabbed and heaved it at the guy. It was a bulls eye. The chair hit him hard right on his face. He yelled gruffly. "Aaaaarrghhh!!!"

But then he quickly recovered, and got up and continued to chase me.

Unluckily, I tripped and fell hard on the ground. I had twisted my ankle and excruciating pain shot up through my leg. I yelped in pain. I began dragging myself to somewhere safe but I knew he had got to me. He grabbed my hair and stabbed me in the back. A shrill cry of pain escaped my throat. I could not breathe. He let go of my hair and I slumped to the floor. I woke up screaming. I sat up in bed, panting like I had run a marathon, hot perspiration covered all of my face. I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. And a sudden fragment of my dream popped into my head. I closed my eyes and tried to remember that detail. I knew the guy who had killed me. But before I had completely lost consciousness, the guy stood there facing me, he moved his hand towards his face, grabbed his face mask and pulled it down. It was Devon.

It was P. E unit. Everyone was playing basketball. I was not. I was pathetic at it. I did not have enough strength in my spindly arms to get the ball going up.

The coach whistled loudly."Everybody stop playing! Get in a line." All the players stopped playing and did as they were told. The coach then approached towards me and barked. "You missy are extremely nil at playing this game! You are a disgrace to our team, and to this game!" He shouted at me which turned me crimson. Everyone was looking at me. I looked at Devon and he was too. I gulped.

"Sorry Sir, I'll try harder," I said, whimpered rather.

"You try hard first!" The Coach spat at me. I flinched. My heart thudded in my chest. I wanted to shrink small and just disappear forever. Gosh, it was embarrassing!

"Everyone get back to it!" The Coach whistled and the game began. I tried my best. At the end of the game, I still hadn't come up to the mark. I could see coach completely unimpressed with me as each one of us made our way out of the ground.

I looked at Devon and he had a little... Was that a smirk? I blinked. He had enjoyed the whole thing. The jerk!

I was boiling with fury as I left for our locker rooms to freshen up and hurry for my Biology class.

-----------

Devon was trying to concentrate hard on his maths homework. He was feeling frustrated for some reason. His flashbacks kept nagging at his brain. He slammed his hands on the table in exasperation that a pencil fell from the table, grabbed his homework copies on the table and roughly threw them off on the floor. He clenched his hair and pulled at it, tightly closing his eyes as if to block all the flashbacks making him go crazy.

His bullying days had never left him. It felt like the more he tried to resist those flashbacks the more they kept coming. He couldn't help it. It was too painful for him to bear. He suddenly got up, grabbed the nearest thing he had (a pretty sea green coloured vase) and threw it on the floor. The vase shattered into a million pieces. He kicked at his chair.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He sighed. And sat down, suddenly feeling exhausted. He could feel sudden sadness come over him and tears filling up his eyes and overflowing them. He put his hand down on the table and cried. He cried and cried.

Minutes went by. He then got up slowly and walked towards the washroom. He splashed water on his face several times. He pulled up the elbow handle of the tap to turn it off.

Devon looked up and gazed at his sad reflection in the mirror for a long time. He began to think something.

Mr. Jason, our chemistry teacher had not come yet so students were busy chit chatting. I was doing my leftover chemistry homework. I got stuck in one of the questions. I grew frustrated pretty quickly considering I had only just started. Organic Chemistry was never my very strong suite. I was so engrossed in figuring out that question that I did not notice someone had come up behind me and was leaning over, trying to take a glance at my work.

"Do you need any help?" Devon asked, staring at me. I looked stupidly at him. Then I found my voice and said, "um, no, thanks." I turned and stared at the question in front of me again.

"Give me your pencil." He said politely and almost matter of factly.

Confused, and thinking what I should say or do, before I could do any of those things, Devon plucked my pencil out of my hand and began explaining to me the question that I was wrecking my brains over. He explained everything so expertly that I was left with no doubt. He was pretty amazing, to be honest.

"Done!," Devon said.

"Wow, you're good," I said, full of admiration and respect for him.

He just shrugged, shot a small smile towards me and went back to his seat.

The next day, Mary had finally decided to tell Devon everything when she saw Devon and Cameron playing around in the basketball court like they were the best of friends in the world.

She stopped in her tracks, utterly confused.

She saw that he seemed to be teaching Cameron how to make perfect baskets, and he kept encouraging her and motivating her. And Cameron was huffing and puffing and red in the face, her face glowing, probably because of the sweat, but she seemed happy and uplifted too.

Mary found herself smiling. She crossed her arms and felt relieved that Devon had clearly forgiven Cameron and had patched up with her. She then walked away.

------------

Cameron

On Thursday at school Devon and I decided to go to play snooker. The snooker hall was almost empty. Devon told me that he'd teach me how to play. I did not ask Ashley or Benjie to come with me because duh.

We began playing. It was my turn first so Devon came behind me, leaned over me, held my hand and showed me how to hold the cue.

"Okay?" He asked if I had understood. I nodded that I had.

"Alright then," He jutted his face forward, "Go ahead and try it out."

I did all the things like he had told me to and yelped when the red ball went into the hole.

"YESSS!' I exclaimed.

"Good! You're a quick learner, Cam," Devon said and clapped twice in appreciation. He shot a big smile towards me and I blushed like a tomato.

While I played, I was elated that Devon seemed to have forgiven me. He was being so good to me. He seemed to have forgotten the past.

When the game ended, Devon high-fived me. "Good game!" He said to me. As the days went by, Devon perfected me in all the subjects I was lacking in. Two things grew in me. Confidence. And my love for him.

At cafeteria Devon and I were talking, few seconds later we sat in silence for some time until Devon broke the silence.

"Do you do any part time job?"

"Yeah, I used to give tuition to a child daily, he is my cousin " I told him. "His father Mr Fuljjon is a vet."

"Mr Fuljjon? I know him," said Devon. "I used to take appointment from him. He is a very famous vet."

Monday.

I sat at my place and suddenly Devon hopped up and sat on top of my desk, legs dangling.

"Hey," he said.

I smiled up at him, "hey."

We stared at each other for a long time until I burst out laughing. "What are you looking at?" I knew I was blushing tomato red.

"Hmm," He said, still looking at me, seeming almost enchanted. And then his hand was on my cheek, caressing it briefly but quickly moving it away because we were in class and some people were looking at us. "You are beautiful when you laugh, did you know that?" He said in a low voice.

"No. But now I know," I said in an equally low voice. "Do you know what Devon?"

"What?" He said.

"Ever since you came in my life, my night has become a beautiful dawn because of you." I said, and a small smile played on his face as he looked down. I think he was blushing.

"Well I feel the same for you. I feel happy when I am with you." He said.

And then we both laughed.

Just then Ashley walked up to the front of the class and demanded attention. "Listen up, everyone, I have an announcement to make." She said.

But everyone was busy talking and chattering.

"Hey! You guys! Listen up!!" She said again. Still, no one listened. When she called everyone third time and quite embarrassingly no one paid attention, I got up from my desk. Devon looked up in surprise and followed me with his curious eyes. I took a vase made of glass which was kept on the table in a corner. Actually I had bought that vase from a shop so I took it and threw it on the floor. This abruptly grabbed students attention. "My best friend Ashley wants to announce something." I said.

I could see Devon smirk and nod in approval. I grinned.

Ashley looked at me and then grinned and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," I said and winked and went back to my desk.

Ashley cleared her throat and began rather formally, "All of my wonderful classmates are cordially invited to my dear cousin, Eloise's wedding ceremony at the Ethereal Gardens, after which there will be singing and dancing and games."

"Games?!" Sheetal said, "On a wedding?"

"I knew someone would ask that." Ashley nodded, smiling knowingly. "Let's just say my cousin is very free-spirited.

All of you will get individual invitation cards. Make sure you guys are on time. Since Eloise is our senior, and you all know how great a teacher's assistant she had been for us, she is looking forward to meet you all. Thank you for your attention." She said and went to her place. Some girls gathered around Ashley asking her all the details about the wedding. Who was the lucky man? Was there any dress code? What kind of dress Eloise was wearing?

.................

Friday.

Came lazily. I couldn't wait for the wedding. Probably because I was excited Devon would be there too. Just thinking about him made me blush like crazy and smile like an idiot. I wore a white, sparkly gown with satin white coloured stiletto heels. I made my hair into a loose bun with curls framing my face. I tucked a tiny, white flowered hair-band on the crown of my head. I had to admit, I looked stunning.

...........

Wedding.

I had reached early to help out with anything. Ashley was already there. She swooned as soon as she saw me, and whispered, "Are you planning to give men today heart attacks with your beauty. Man, you look ravishing!" She gushed.

"Me? Look at YOU, Ash!" I said, genuinely meaning it. Ashley wore a beautiful yellow embroidered gown. Her hair streakings were accentuated by the colour and she looked equally beautiful.

People started trickling into the garden. Cute little appetizers were handed out. I looked around for him. And there he was, walking through the entrance in black suit and a black tie. I think I was going to faint.

I walked towards him. As soon as he saw me, he seemed to be caught guard. We both walked towards each other. He looked at me and took a sharp breath in. "Wow," He said.

"How do I look?" I asked.

He nodded in admiration, then cleared his throat, then nodded and said, "Absolutely stunning. Like an angel." I blushed hard like an apple would.

He presented me his arm so I could hold onto it. We both walked into the crowd. Everyone's gaze seemed to be following us.

It was announced for everyone to take seats. We sat side by side together. Everything was beautiful. Eloise and her prince charming said their oaths.

After that, people started to slow dance with each other, moving with the beat of light music. Devon got up and presented his hand to me for dancing, which I accepted graciously. I put my arms around his neck and he put his hands around my waist and we swayed side to side, lost in one another's eyes.

All of a sudden, Devon stepped hard on my foot. I yelped I pain.

Devon did not apologise. Instead, he seemed to have a lost look in his eyes. My foot still pained but I asked him if he was okay.

He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. He had dropped his hands to his side. He seemed to come to after a few seconds. "Yea, Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I felt dizzy all of a sudden. I don't know."

"Do you want to sit down for a while?" I asked.

"No, not at all," he said. "I feel fine now." He then really looked at me. I was wincing a bit in pain. "Oh my God, I am really sorry. Come here, sit."

I limped a bit and sat down on a chair.

"Let me see," Devon said. He crouched down, took off my shoe and held my bruised foot in his hand. He examined it and then called for the waiter to bring ice.

He then gently iced as I held the hem of my dress up. We chatted while he iced. He made me laugh and that took the pain away instantly. After a while, I was able to get up and walk arm in arm with Devon. We strolled around the garden, meeting with a few new people, drinks in our hands. We seemed like a couple from heaven.

Saturday night, Devon and I were having dinner, we were all smiley at each other. Anyone could see we were in love. All of a sudden, Devon stopped eating.

I looked up at him. "You okay?" I asked.

Devon stayed silent and then calmly resumed to chew on his food, his mind clearly elsewhere. He then looked up at me, a menacing look on his face. His expression was so full of hate that I stopped eating. The morsel of food in my mouth refused to go down my throat.

Devon then cleared his throat, put his fork down, sat back comfortably in his seat and crossed his arms.

"Did you watch the news, yesterday?" he asked. "On CTV?"

Confused, I replied that I hadn't.

"It's... it's bad news for us students," He said.

"Bad news?" I asked.

"Yesterday night, the president passed a law that anyone who is caught bullying either inside of or outside the school grounds will be jailed for ten years." He leaned forward and his eyes bore into mine. "Ten. Years. Do you believe that?" He sounded surprised, but I could see something made him almost happy.

I swallowed my food. "Oh. Isn't that a good thing? No more bullying. How cool is that? I mean, they finally decided to take some action against the bullies, which was much needed. I think it's great!" I said, and smiled at him.

"Oh I think it's perfect!" Devon grinned at me. But he kept staring at me. "Bullies should be given the harshest punishments. Because, they destroy a lot of students' lives. The worst part is that they don't even realize how horrible those students' lives become after being bullied." As Devon said this, his knuckles had tightened around his fork until they were white. I looked at them and then at him, not sure what to say.

"He also said that people who have bullied or given hard time to anyone in school life or in university life in the past, he or she is going to be arrested and sentenced with imprisonment for 10 years."

Listening to this I got goosebumps.

As I sat there, my mind pulled up a remnant of memory, my time with a gang that bullied students.

I was still staring at him horrified. I was completely frozen.

My heart was throbbing a million times per second. As I stopped drinking pina colada. He was also staring at me.

Then, I heard laughing. I looked up and saw Devon shaking with laughter. "Your face!" He pressed his fist to his mouth, his eyes shut, trying to suppress his laughter. People around us started peering at us. My face flushed hot in embarrassment.

"I was just kidding!" He said mirthfully as he continued to laugh."You-you should have seen your face when you freaked out!"

I tried to smile but I could not bring myself to. Instead, I began to eat my food slowly. Devon had stopped laughing and gotten in control of himself. I risked a glance at him and there he was again, a stern, frightening look on his face. I stopped eating again. He then slowly moved, and with his right hand, pushed away the side of his black suit and my eyes caught something gleaming at his belt.

A gun. It was a gun tucked at the side of his belt. My eyes became affixed at it as he slowly curled his fingers round the barrel of the gun and kept it discreetly at one corner of the table. All the time his eyes were on me, tracking my emotions and enjoying the disbelief and surprise coming over my face.

"What is this?" I whispered in a voice that trembled.

"It's called a gun," he said in a quiet voice meant only for my ears. "And it can put people to death when it's aimed at and shot in the head, or heart. You pick. Or I pick." He grinned, menacingly.

"Is this some kind of a sick joke?" I asked. I looked around to catch anyone's attention.

"You know, I can see what you are trying to do. Don't you dare act smart with me, Cameron Jasper." Devon said, anger lining his voice.

I felt faint. What is Devon doing? And why?

"Remember how you and your gang used to bully a skinny little boy who was new at your school, who helped you through tough spots in your studies, who was a great friend to you in all of your most difficult times. Do you remember, huh Cameron? Do you?" Devon said all this in one breath. He leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table till I could not look anywhere except his eyes. His sad eyes. But eyes that were full of revenge and loathing for me.

"Do you remember what you did to him?" he asked. "You destroyed everything that he had ever known. You almost destroyed his future."

My heart throbbed.

"So dear Cameron," he continued. "You were the one who snatched my happiness of childhood in the fifth grade, right?" He then paused as he took a bite of his now cold food.

"You were the one who made my school life a horrendous living hell?

You were the one who used to give your gang all kinds of different sick ideas about how to bully that boy every day? You were the one who hit me with that rod."

Hot perspiration went broke out all over my face.

Devon did not stop. "And you bullied me every day just because you were jealous of my academic performance. And you were the one who told your filthy bully rats to hit me with an iron rod on the back of my head in order to kill me. Just so you could take my position?!"

I could see Devon trembling with rage. He had angry tears in his eyes. And if no one were around at that time, I was sure that Devon would have killed me with that gun he had placed at the table.

"No, you have got it all wrong, it was not me," I protested. "There was another boy who did..."

"And it was from your group?" He interrupted.

"Trust me I didn't do it," Cameron protested. "There was another guy from our group who was very audacious..."

"And from his audaciousness, you had the best way to worsen my life. Right?"

"Devon, why are you not believing me? Why are you not ready to listen to the truth?"

"Huh... Well some culprits lie and hide the fact so frequently as if they are speaking the truth, or they can easily convince people that we are not what you are thinking about us. So its very common for culprits to hide the true fact so that they can get saved from brutal punishment."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"And yes, by the way, you were the main leader of that group so you would have given that idea of whacking my head. Right?"

I looked at his hard face, no sign of softness there. He had changed into a completely different person. The complete opposite of the Devon I knew.

I could see some people were leaning back in their chairs to look at us.

I could sense a headache coming. I was sweating and there was no one I could call for help. May be if I could call that waiter dozing off in the corner... I had to be careful. Fear had gripped me like a snake would its victim.

"How can I convince you how terribly sorry I am?" I said, and let out a sob.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," said Devon. "Although there is something that you could do for me to convince me?" His eyes flashed revenge. Cold, cold revenge.

I didn't say anything.

"You have to kill all those bullies, especially that person who whacked my head," He said.

My eyes bulged out with horror.

"Can you do that for me?" He paused for a moment. "Just to satisfy me that you are sorry, or I will think that you are not sorry and it was your plan all along to kill me."

I stared at him with horror, my heart throbbing like a hammer in my chest. A tear streamed down my face.

He then pointed his gun towards me, "Or else it would just be a matter of time before you find yourself staring in the pitch dark blackness of the grave of Cameron Grace Jasper."

My chin quivered, my heart thudded and I was shaking with fear.

"So can you do that for me? Kill all those who wanted to kill me and I will spare your pathetic little, perfect life." He slowly spun the gun until the barrel faced me.

"I looked at it and then at him, suddenly angry. "You're a monster." I whispered.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you say something?" Devon cocked his head in my direction, and then looked me. "You made me who I am today. You are going to pay for this," Devon spat. He got up suddenly, swiftly kept the gun hiding under the napkin back onto his belt, threw the bill on the table.

"Oh and one more thing, I have got my men everywhere who know what you do, what you look like. The moment I or any of my men know that you are going to call the police," Devon paused ominously, he put his index and middle finger to his right temple, and pulled down his thumb miming a gun firing into the head.

Before he left, he winked at me and sent a flying kiss towards me. He made his way out of the restaurant, a charming smile on his face, complimenting the waiters on their service and whispering that I would be footing the bill.

And then he was gone.

Cameron quietly stood up from the table, tears filled up her eyes. She made her way out of the restaurant and hailed a taxi.

She sobbed all her way home in the taxi.

...............................

The next day we were attending chemistry class. "Class, I want you all to open chapter27, page135, paragraph 3." And we all opened the book. But when I opened the book I was flabbergasted when I saw a gun kept inside. I looked at Devon and I was horrified. He jutted his chin at me asking me to pick up the gun. But I didn't pick it up and closed the book and started to concentrate on the lecture.

But it didn't help.

On Saturday it was prom held in Flare Hotel. I was talking to Benjie and Ashley.

Devon entered the hall and gave a high five to a friend.   His friend then gave him a drink. While drinking his drink and staring at me  along with three boys. Zedd  was standing beside Devon. Devon then whispered something into his ear.

"Guys, I have to go to the washroom. I will come in a second." Ashley said. She then went away and then I got into chit chat with Benjie.

Jack, from Devon's group walked towards Benjie and he started talking to him. Benjie got engrossed in talking with him.

While he was talking with him. Devon's arm locked around my neck, and when I began to shout, he covered my mouth and took me outside. He took out a gun and brought it to the side of my head until Benjie's arm locked around Devon's neck. "Run!" He shouted as Devon released me as he was getting choked by Benjie.

Devon shot his left elbow around him, reached up and grabbed his one leg up making him fall. Benjie got up and was about to punch him but Devon stopped his punch by forearm and then used snake hand and hit on the side of his neck to shake his brain.

Then Benjie staggered to catch his balance, he was about to punch him but Devon held his arm with left hand and he hit his ribs with elbow and chopped off his ribs by hand.  

Devon was about to give him a punch but Benjie blocked his punch with the side of his eagle claw around the fist. He bought his other wrist and hit the side of his neck and pushed him. He folded his left leg behind Devon's causing him to fall.

Devon again got up and staggered to catch his balance and he pushed Benjie towards the car. Benjie hit his back on the car as Devon gave two punches on his face while holding his collar.

As Devon was about to gave another punch, Benjie blocked the punch with his right hand and attacked his left hand to his head and hit with his right hand on his waist. Then Benjie was about to punch him but Devon took side step as he hit on his body between thighs and then hit on his chin as he fell down.

Suddenly I heard gunfire. When I turned back to look. It was Devon who had shot Benjie on his stomach as he fell down. I gasped and covered my mouth. Then Devon looked at me as he glared at me. He began to walk slowly towards me.

I began to run as fast as I could. I ran inside the mall nearby and ran towards the grocery store and entered the vast storage area which was deserted. I pushed and threw all the stuff on Devon as I rushed around the wall. 

But Devon caught me as he shot me before I escaped. Two bullets hit my arm and I fell down. I then got up and rushed out of the exit door. People began to rush in after hearing the gunshots.

In haste, I sat in someone's car and I turned on the engine, slammed on the accelerator and moved the gear forward into fifth gear. Devon also sat in someone's car and began to chase me.

I was driving the car at full speed by giving dodges so that he was finding it difficult to chase me. I raced down my car by pressing an accelerator hard. The speedometer read 190m/s.

I then turned the car left where cars were going in the opposite direction. Due to this, Devon's car was hit by another car. His car spun around and hit the brick wall of a school.

I then turned my car right and took it to Flare hotel and saw a huge crowd converging around Benjie. I applied the brakes but nothing happened. I kept on applying the brakes hoping that it will work but found that they had failed. Many people started to run as they were standing on the sidewalk.

I turned the car left just as I saw that it was about to hit the tree. But the car hit the wall, the air bag luckily flew open. I sat there, panting.

I immediately opened the door and rushed towards Benjie but saw six EMT coming out from the ambulance as they made him lie down on the gurney and rushed towards the hospital.

On Sunday I was working on my laptop when my mobile beeped. "Hello."

"Hello, Miss Cameron, this is Oliver's father Mr Fuljon talking."

"Oh hi, Mr Fuljon, what happened?"

"Actually on Monday, my son had to give an admission test for new school."

"Aren't you supposed to be in London?" I said.

"Actually on that day my flight has been cancelled due to some private reason. And second reason is Oliver's admission test.

"Oh... So at when I should come?"

"Now, at 8:00pm."

"Now? Its 8:00pm, its too late, you could have told me before so that I could have made him prepare for test earlier."

"Actually I helped Oliver in some admission test questions. But later on some question came up which we were unable to solve. I would be very pleased if you could be here to help him out."

"Uh-well okay."

"Thank you so much."

And then the call ended.

I closed the laptop and went towards the wardrobe. I adorned a hoody shrug over my shirt and went outside.

I took a lift from a taxi. The taxi stopped at the platform of a book store. My student's house was beside the book store but still a few blocks away. I started to walk towards his house.

My mobile beeped. I took my mobile out from the pocket of my hoody shrug. It was Benjie. I slid right to receive the call.

"Hello Benjie."

"Hello Cam, how are you?"

"I am good, you?"

"I am fine too. So are you in the mood to watch a horror movie at the Cinema?

"Uh-sorry Benjie, I am not gonna make it today as I am going for important work."

"What is it?"

"I am going to give tuition to a child for his admission test." Benjie then looked at the clock which showed exactly 8 o' clock.

"Isn't your timing 5:00pm?"

"Yeah, but what can I do."

Then a thought came in his mind that he was sitting alone at Starbucks. Devon along with his group of boys came chit chatting. "So whats the plan?" Skyler said.

"So, at 8:00pm I will call Cameron and I will pretend to be Oliver's father."

"But Devon, there is one problem." Zedd said.

"What is it?"

"If you do something harsh towards her she might yell for help. And her student's house is near so anytime his father will come."

"Hmm... point." Devon thought loudly, there was complete silence at the table. "Ahaa!" Devon said. "I have an idea. Mr Fuljon on 27th of October will leave for London with his son. So I will call Cameron and say that the flight has cancelled due to some private reason and his son Oliver's admission test which will be held on coming Monday."

"Does Cameron know about his flight?" Skyler said. "Yes he was talking to Cameron about this matter in front of me." Devon said

"Now that is what you call best before since sliced bread." Devon said and then they all clinked their glasses of drink by saying, "Cheers!"

After passing through flashbacks his eyes bulged out in horror. "Cameron! Don't go over there!" He warned her loudly as he was terrified.

"Why whats wrong?"

"Go back to your house immediately!"

"But Benjie what happen-", as Devon covered my mouth by putting a piece of cloth and arm-lock, my mobile dropped on the ground.

"Hello! Hello! Cameron!" Benjie then looked at the screen. Horrified, he ended the call and got up abruptly from the table. Sprinted towards the side table and opened the drawer. He grabbed the gun and loaded the bullet in haste and rushed towards the door to sit inside his car.

Meanwhile Devon brought her to the book store with some boys. He and his friends started to fire randomly, shouting. "Everybody get out from here!" Devon shouted while firing it. People rushed towards the entrance by screaming. Some people got shot including the librarian.

Few minutes later, I opened my eyes and saw Devon sitting very far in front of me with his crossed leg, holding a gun. The walls of the room were peeled off and were dull green. One dim light was lit on the ceiling. It was giving a dingy look.

I found myself on a chair tied with rope from chest to feet. "Hello sweet heart." At this I was flabbergasted. "How are you?" He then stood up and began to walk towards me. I put all my might to untie myself but couldn't.

"Its been a long time without you, my love." I was panting really hard as a tear rolled down my cheeks.

"So you didn't bother to fulfill my deal right? Can I think that you are not sorry, can i think you were the one to hit rod on my head in order to kill me," perspiration went all over my face.

He then brought his face closer to mine and began to glare at me with extreme vehemence as I moved my face away from him.

He then held my mouth "Why did you do this to me? May I know that?"

He then clenched my mouth more tightly as he gave a tight slap on my face that blood came out from the side of my lips.

He then gently stroked my face from up to down. "By the way you look beautiful while crying." And then he pulled my hair tightly. "Aaaaah!" I cried in pain.

"You are such a cunning witch you know that! First you became friends with me and then you planned to kill me! You made my school life a living hell!" He gave me another slap.

Benjie and Ashley arrived at that place. As they dashed towards the bookstore two boys arm-locked Ashley and Benjie. Benjie shot his left elbow around that guy reaching up and grabbed his one leg up making him fall. And then he shot him, and that guy who was trying to choke Ashley. Five more boys came to fight but Benjie shot them all.

Devon then loaded the gun while he kept it on my head. He then laughed."Good bye Cameron." As he triggered the gun but luckily I was not hit by the bullet as his gun was empty with bullets.

Suddenly Benjie pushed him hard as he fell far on the ground. He then picked him up grabbing his collar with both hands and pushed him right side of the wall as he bumped his head on the wall.

During their fight Ashley was untying me and we both rushed upstairs and out of the room. That room was the basement of the book store. Devon rushed towards Benjie but Benjie turned around and gave hard kick on his stomach as he fell far on the ground.

Benjie rushed towards the door and came out of the room locking him inside. When we were rushing towards the car, four boys attacked Benjie and Ashley. Three other boys held me and began to take me away. I twisted my arms, struggling hard to free myself but they were stronger.

Ashley freed herself by applying her karate steps and rushed towards the boys who held me but one boy kicked her making her fall far towards the car so she bumped the back of her head on it.

Benjie shot at those boys but another boy started to beat him so hard that his gun fell down. And then Benjie lay injured.

Ashley ran towards me and began to apply karate steps on those boys, some boys left me as I began to run but other boys held me and dragged me away. I turned back and saw Ashley applying karate steps which made me recall my own training I had had in grade 8. The boxing teacher's words came into my mind that never lose your true spirit as it will help you deal with tragic, hard problems.

Devon was trying hard to kick the door open using his whole might. Then he looked around the room and saw a large hammer lying far on the floor. He then walked towards it, picked it up and ran towards the door aiming at the lock. It broke open.

I look at Benjie who was lying injured. After killing those boys Ashley ran towards me to free me but I stopped her, "Ashley stop!" Ashley stopped running and looked at me. "I can save myself. You take Benjie to the hospital."

"But Cam!"

"Do what I am saying Ashley! Take him to the hospital. He is badly injured." I pressurized her as I was being dragged by boys. "Go!" I yelled at her as I struggled to free myself from the boys. I saw Ashley quickly help Benjie stand up and both of them half stumbled and half ran to a taxi whose driver had seen them coming and had stopped for them.

I then shifted into my full applied karate mode and successfully kicked and lashed out at the boys until all of them lay injured, yelping and moaning in pain. I then ran back but tripped on something. I then heard footsteps getting closer. I turned back to see that it was three bulky boys which my karate had not affected, and were approaching towards me.

I grabbed the gun which had dropped from Benjie's hand on the ground and shot at them. Relieved I tucked the gun inside my shirt and started to walk. Suddenly a car rushed from behind and hit the walking path. The car turned towards me. I was horrified when I saw Devon sitting inside the car giving a wicked smile.

He revved up the engine making the head lights glow brighter. I took out the gun and pointed towards him. He was shocked but when I pulled the trigger, the gun did not fire. There were no bullets left. He smiled wickedly then and slammed on the accelerator rushing his car to charge at me. I dropped the gun and began to run as fast as I could. I quickly sat in librarians car, started the engine in haste and pushed the car down into fifth gear. Slammed on an accelerator I began driving, trying to give dodges too.

Later, I saw in the rear view mirror there was no car. I wondered if he had given up chasing me. I relaxed a little as I continued driving. Suddenly his car came into view from the right side and hit my car. My car hit the wall of a deserted bookstore and screeched to a stop.

I then moved towards the other side of the car door, Devon walked towards the car taking out the syringe from his jeans pocket, and opened the door, grabbed the back of my neck, pulled me out and pushed me towards the brick wall and my head bumped against it.

He held both of my hands and made me lean against the wall and tried to inject syringe, but in that horrible condition, a self defense idea struck into my mind. I stepped hard on his shoes. "Arghh!" He screamed and as he looked down, I gave him a hard punch to his cheeks.

He stumbled backward, moaning in pain. But he quickly regained his balance but I spinned around and kicked him hard on his stomach as he fell down.

Then he tried to grab at me again by hooking his arms around my neck. He grabbed me from waist and I pushed him back with my pelvis, bent down and grabbed his leg from behind and pulled it as he fell down. I ran as fast as I could and hid behind the wall.

Looking for him, I couldn't see him as I turned back. I screamed in surprise as I felt Devon grab my neck, and pushed me so that I fell on the ground, I was writhing and groaning in pain. He tried to inject the syringe but I gave him a hard punch. He also gave me hard punch.

His punch was so hard that it made me slightly unconscious. I felt a sharp prick as I realised he had injected the syringe into my wrist. I felt him gently stroking my hair as I drifted into unconsciousness.

When I slowly regained consciousness I found myself on a chair in front of the librarian desk and chair where Devon was sitting eating slices of apple. He had a heavy sturdy mallet in his other hand which he used to keep hitting the floor vertically.

My mind felt fogged up and I was unable to bring those karate steps and other memories back. "What did you think, that if my gun did not work I will not take revenge from you? I am not going to let you win this game my dear." He said as he took bite off a slice of apple. "What did you think? That we were friends? That I made you perfect in everything because I had forgiven you and fallen in love with you? No, I just befriended you in order to take cold revenge from you. In order to make you realize how it felt to me when you made me your best friend and then left me and then made plans to hit me to death."

I got up abruptly and ran and grabbed a fire extinguisher. But before I could hit him, he held the fire extinguisher and gave me a hard kick to my stomach. I fell far away and hit my head on a bookshelf. I groaned in pain.

Devon slowly approached towards me as I began to drag myself back. He then fell on his knees and started to strangle me. I coughed and sputtered, trying to breathe.

I put my hand over his arms as I brought my hip up and down bringing his arm down. As I brought my leg to his hip and pulled back and then I grabbed his wrist and kicked hard to his chin with my right foot and then I ran away.

I took a right turn towards the entrance but before I could grab the door handle that led to the entrance, Devon dashed towards me and pushed me making me fall down hard and hitting my head on the librarian's desk which shook violently, and a knife fell down.

I moaned in pain. Devon took the mallet and walked towards me. He then knelt down and grabbed hold of my collar. He raised the mallet high above his head, preparing to hit me.

Before he could hit, he froze and let out a blood-curdling scream. I saw a patch of blood start to form on his shirt.

"Stop it!" A hand came into my view that grabbed the mallet. It was Mary who had saved my life. "Are you crazy!?" She cried as she threw the mallet on the floor. "What the hell are you doing to her!!??"

"Do not force me to stop taking revenge!" He shouted as he picked up the mallet again.

"Wait!" Mary said, and held his hand. "You are wrong. It was not her idea to harm you."

"I can't believe it, you are favouring your cousin's culprit?! What has happened to you! Why are you being biased Mary?!"

"I am not being biased, Devon!" Mary shouted. I was lying in shock, panting hard. "You have got to trust me," she said and took out her mobile from her jeans pocket. "This is the fact," she said and turned on the recorder.

To my relief it was my voice on recording, disclosing the truth behind who tried to kill him. After making him listen to the recording Devon felt extremely guilty and stood frozen. His eyes bulged out, and mouth dropped open. He looked at me, his face was pale with fear and shock at what he had done. Mary then walked towards me and pulled me into a sitting position against a table. "It was not your fault, and neither her fault. It was all a huge misunderstanding between two people."

Few days later I was drinking coffee in the morning, writing in my diary.

I rued for making Devon's past miserable. If I had not done wrong by him, I would not be facing all the trouble that he gave me.

But one thing I learned from this harsh experience: you realize your mistake when karma does the same thing to you and that is what you call, what goes around comes around.

Later I got to know that Mary had taken Devon to a psychotherapist. And that he is getting much better. Few months later, Devon and I were sitting on the bench trying to forget the past. I apologised to him and he did too. Before leaving, we embraced each other and then I left.

The End.