"Will you take me to Nirvana?" -Sam Smith, Nirvana

JAMES' FACE IS COLD AND EXPRESSIONLESS AS HIS DARK EYES skim Ford and I. We're both frozen and stiff, eyes focused on one place: the gun in his hand. I want to run, and grab Ford's hand to take a step back to do so, but before I can get anywhere, James shakes his head.

"Stay," he demands, his voice so cold and so unforgiving that it sends shivers down my back. "All my dad needs is one text from me before he goes breaking into your home," he tells Ford.

"Leave my dad out of this," Ford snaps at James, any fear that was on his face before suddenly morphing into anger. "My family has no part in whatever hatred you have for me-"

"You're kidding me, right?" James laughs, though it comes out sounding strangled.  "This is all about your family."

"It's true, isn't it?" I whisper. "About Ford's mom?"

Ford's face pales significantly, and I'm surprised to see that James' does, too. My eyes quickly flicker to the gun in his hands, as it shines from the moonlight raining down from the windows above. His knuckles are clenched so tightly around the gun, I'm genuinely worried that'll snap in half if he adds anymore pressure. Either that, or James' fingers will break. I'd prefer the latter.

"Your mom broke my dad's heart," James spits at James. "She goes and sleeps with him for Christ knows how many times, takes his money, and then when my dad asks what they are, she says an affair. She wouldn't leave her husband, who all she talked about was how much she hated him for my dad, who actually loved her." James takes a step closer, and I instinctively take one back, but Ford doesn't. He stands there, frozen, barely breathing.

Finally, he snaps out of it, shaking his head. "You're lying. My mom loved my dad. She wouldn't- she couldn't-"

"Try to remember, Ford," James growls, and my eyes widen at the fire burning in his eyes. A killer fire. "Those nights your mom would go out for errands and come back with one can of soup? That soup was from my cabinet, from my house."

"What about your mom?" Ford snaps back.

James rolls his eyes. "As if you can even call her that. She's not a mom, she's a lying, cheating bitch that just keeps coming back for the money..." His voice fades into angered grumbles, his grip on his gun tightening even more. I can't help it- my eyes won't stay off the gun.

"James," I say his name softly, as if he were a ticking time bomb, and anything can set him off. It sort of feels like it. "Put the gun down. We can talk about this."

"I don't want to talk about this!" James exclaims. The temperature in the room seems to drop even more. I feel like the cold walls are closing in on us. James' eyes are trained on Ford, and I can't help but feel a surge of fear for Ford. "I can't look at you! You look just like her, damn it! I thought I actually could have a mom, but no, all your mom did was throw my dad into a drinking spiral and got him back into smoking and it's all your fault, all your fucking fault-"

There are tears streaming down James' face. They're not tears of sadness, though. They're tears of anger and desperation, and I have to say, the sight of someone like that is almost hellish. It tears at my heart, even if right now I'm beyond livid with James, to see someone so broken up about something.

I try interfering again. "James, I get why you're angry. I do. But this has nothing to do with Ford."

James just shakes his head, as if denying it enough would mean what I'm telling him isn't real. "No. No, I need all the Wilson's gone."

James reaches for his phone.

"No!" Ford suddenly exclaims, catching our attentions. His bold voice echoes off the walls of the big room. "No, leave the rest of my family out of this. Look, my mom's already gone, so what she did is-"

"Don't you get it?" James snarls. "My dad killed your mom. And now he's going to kill the other person who stood in the way of his happiness- your dad."

"Stay away from my family," Ford snarls back, taking a step towards James. His hands shake, but this time, I know they're not from fair- they're from anger. Ford has snapped, just like I know I would. The inevitable has happened. "They had nothing to do with this. You're insane."

"I'm insane?"

"Yes! You're insane because your dad murdered my mom just because he was upset that he wasn't good enough for her to leave my dad, and now you're bitter because you know that you're just as much of a low-life piece of shit as your father. And guess what? It scares you, James. It terrifies you. That's why you want to get rid of me, because it's not the fact that every time you look at me if reminds you of my mom. No- every time you look at me, it reminds you just how thoroughly screwed you are, James!"

James lets out slow, strained breaths. His shoulders move up and down as his chest expands. Slowly. Calmly, but not a reassuring calm, more like a calm before the storm. James' voice is deadly soft as he hisses, "Shut up."

Ford doesn't relent. "You know it's true."

"I said, shut up."

"I'd swear at you some, maybe insult you for a little more and prove you wrong. But I don't have to. You already know how fucked up you are, James. You know."

"Shut up!"

In a fit of anger, James lets out a strangled scream and shoots his gun at the floor, the bullet impaling itself in the wooden flooring. Ford and I both jump, a gasp escaping my throat. Oh my God, oh my God.

James is breathing heavily, eyes focused on the place he shot. Taking the advantage of having him distracted, I grab Ford's cold hand and drag him out of the room, pulling him down the hallway from me. I don't hear James following us yet, but I know it's just a matter of time.

My heart is pounding against my chest. I try to catch my breath once we finally make it back to the front doors of the school, scooting to a stop, Ford doing the same. I heave in air- it's not even the sprint that has left me breathless, but the sound of the gunshot ringing over and over in my ears.

"He'll call his dad," Ford tells me, going back to his panicked state. "I can't lose my dad, Ava, I can't."

"I know, I know," I say, my shaking hands reaching for my phone. "I'm calling the police."

Opening my phone, I notice that I have missed texts from Jas, but I ignore them to call 911. Once I manage to summarize the situation (I only stutter and look over my shoulder ten thousand times) I tell Ford that we need to get out of the building.

"You're not going anywhere," James snarls, suddenly appearing from the dark halls again. I grip onto Ford's arm, and am just about to begin to run again, when James holds up his gun and points it right at me. I freeze.

I can't breathe.

"This is all your fault," he repeats it, almost like a mantra, as if it's something that has been taught to him his whole life. The gun is pointed at me, but James' eyes are focused on Ford. I suddenly realize- this isn't James. His dad has taught him all of it. "I'm going to kill you."

It terrifies me to speak, knowing that any minute the gun can go off and I'll be gone, but I suck it up. "James." He slowly turns his head to me. "Think of Jas. You think she'll want you to do this? She was helping Ford, she doesn't want him to die."

"Jas will forgive me," he says. "She loves me. I know she'll understand."

"No, she won't. This is murder, James. She won't love you anymore if you do this."

"Yes she will!" James' grip on his gun begins to shake. I'm so used to the cold, cool James, but seeing him so undone has me shaking, too.

"James, don't do this," I practically plead, dropping my voice to a whisper. "This isn't you. I know you're just trying to protect your dad, but I know that you don't want to kill anyone. You don't want that guilt. You may feel better for a second, but it's all going to come crashing down on you. Stop this."

James is just shaking his head. "No, you don't understand. I need this." He turns his head to Ford. "My dad barely talked to me after he killed your mom. He wouldn't say hi to me, wouldn't ask me how my day was- in fact, he would barely acknowledge me. He stopped eating, only drank alcohol, went back to smoking. I lost him. And now you're going to feel what it's like to lose someone you love."

He goes to pull the trigger.

I barely register the body pushing me aside as the gunshot goes off, echoing hauntingly in the walls of the school. I wait for the explosion of pain to come, for the end of me, for me to just die, but it doesn't happen. My eyes snap open, adjusting to the darkness, before my body finally realizes I'm not in pain. I didn't get shot.

James drops the gun, one hand shooting over his mouth. "No," he whispers. "No, no, no, no, no."

Ford's body drops to the floor.

WHEN KELLY UPDATES FOR THE THIRD DAY IN A ROW LMAO LOVE ME

hahahahaha omfg i'm going to get killed for this :') oh wellll i've been waiting for this since literally EVER. anyway, this pretty much answers everything c: any other questions will prolly be answered in the upcoming chapters. oh my god this story is close to finishing and i honestly don't even know how i'll deal with saying goodbye to this story tbh D:

anyway, i would say if you enjoyed this you sould comment and vote, but i don't think this was enjoyable xD so just comment and vote mmk pLEASE I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH <3 AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE COMMENTS ON LAST CHAPTER IN A MATTER OF TWENTY FOUR HOURS LIKE WHAT EVEN

i love you all! :) xoxo