Tape 3, Side A

Every time I think about you, I think this:

Fake things stay fake.

Don't you agree, Magnificent?

"Welcome to your tape, Magnificent Leffler"

~
Deathbringer didn't even go to school. He just walked and walked and walked. Listening to the tapes like his life depended on it. Pushing Play like it was the only thing he knew how to do.

Magnificent— you loved attention. Not attention on yourself— attention, bad attention, at other people.

And you loved knowing you caused it.

Now, the world was merciless. I thought about talking to someone but I knew I couldn't. Living my life was more scary than ending it.

Then you came along.

I didn't go to cafeteria for lunch, not anymore. It was like I forgot to socialize. I usually went to the library and didn't eat.

I met you there— in the library.

The school library was a paradise for me. Just silence. People minding their own business. No bullying. Just calmly reading, a safe zone from the bullies and the popular.

I was actually surprised to find you there, actually. You were the giggly, almost-pretty girl that everyone tried to be on your good side. Outside, you seemed pretty harmless. Inside, you were deadly.

You were Scarlet Burn's sidekick. Nobody trusted you, and you didn't trust anyone. You spread rumors, and you controlled everything in the school. Heard some news about someone? You already knew it.

You made sure you did.

You weren't the kind of girl that spent their lunch time in the library. You didn't read at all. You probably had stopped reading when you were in first grade.

At least, that's what I thought then— you came to the library for your own pleasure, whatever it was.

I was stupid.

Very, very stupid.

We didn't have a good history. You were always mad at me for being the Queen of the Forest in a stupid kindergarten musical. You wanted that part, and so did I.

I won.

Just like that— I beat you, and you didn't like that. Hated that, in fact. You swore revenge, and turns out you never forgot it.

So, after all those years, you remembered.

It seems, Magnificent, you remember everything. You didn't forget, and you made sure nobody else did, either.

Somehow, in the library, we became friends. We started having small conversations. Then big ones. I even leaned on you for support. I thought you had matured. I thought you had changed after all. I had small, wishful hope in my heart.

You didn't.

I was just stupid enough to think you did.

Then she stopped talking. Deathbringer thought he might have pushed Pause, but it turned out that it was Glory.

Glory was crying.

He heard her silently crying, then going out of control. She was crying like a small child, crying like someone who had a broken soul.

Did I deserve all of this?

More pause. He felt his eyes stinging, and he quickly entered a random store. Maybe getting a fresh drink.

Starbucks.

He ordered an ice coffee and sat down, running his face with his hands.

Nobody asked him why he wasn't in school. Nobody asked him, and nobody noticed him. His phone rang a couple times but he ignored it, sighing.

Magnificent....Did you know what I told myself? I told myself you were my friend. That you won't betray me like the others. That you were real, and you cared for me, and that you weren't acting.

You were, though.

He took a sip. He couldn't even taste it. But he took small sips, comforting himself, telling himself everything was going to turn out fine.

After a few weeks, you asked me about Riptide. At first I thought you were trying to get to know me better, but you kept asking me about him and Hailstorm. It was our normal conversation. You asked me about it everyday.

"How far did you guys get?" You asked one day. I squirmed uncomfortably.

Not far, I replied.

You looked disappointed. Then you quickly changed the subject to cover your mistake. You had it all planned out. I was just too dumb, too stupid, to realize it.

At lunch, we giggled and talked in the back room of the library. You told me things about other people.

Never about yourself.

Who did this and who did that. That was what you were all about. Knowing things others didn't. It made you proud, didn't it?

It had been only a few minutes, and he had drained the cup. He needed more. His mind was blank, and numb.

Then you stopped coming for a couple of days. I wondered: what did I do wrong?

I decided I would wait. Hope that you would come back and we can be friends again.

A day passed. Then two.

Then three.

At the third day, when I came to school, everyone seemed to be staring at me. They looked disgusted. And interested.

People tripped me in the hallways. People called me things. Boys whistled when I passed them. Girls have me disgusted looks. There were things scribbled on my locker, and a popular one was SLUT. I was called things. Things I didn't deserve to be called on. Can you guess?

You probably know by now. The rumor was pretty popular, or so I hear. You probably believe it.

I didn't even know what it was about.

But I got a hint, though. From a conversation from Peril Goldenburg and Scarlet Burn. It was at lunch. I was passing their table, but I heard my name mentioned. In fact, the entire table was buzzing about me. It went something like this:

"...Poor Hailstorm. He said he was drunk and she used him..."

"I didn't know she was capable of doing that..."

A giggle or two. "She's disgusting. I mean, only a psycho would ever do that."

"Hailstorm was disgusted..."

I had no idea what they were talking about. I didn't think much about it. Surely nobody would believe such an unlikely story like that?

Oh, I was wrong. So, so wrong.

You started avoiding me. I noticed that. Started to act like I didn't exist. I was tired of it, though.

When I finally confronted you, you sneered at me.

Your pretty face twisted, your amber eyes caught on fire. It had a wolfish look to it— wild, uncontrolled, pleased.

"Didn't you see?" You whispered lowly, looking at me straight in the eye. I felt like your prey.

"What?" I was scared, but I was angry. I just wanted to ask you why you were avoiding me. Why we weren't friends anymore.

But you explained everything. You just gave me a sly smirk and showed me a picture on your phone.

It was me. And Hailstorm.

Kissing...

I snatched the phone out of your hand, and you let me. I swiped and saw the other pictures— my nightmares.

It was me and Hailstorm, me and Riptide, ever picture, every moment, captured in this phone.

Pictures where I seemed like I controlled everything. Pictures that told the wrong story. Pictures where I seemed desperate. Wrong angle, wrong story.

You knew that.

"I-I—" I was gasping. I couldn't even breathe right. I stared at the pictures, tears falling from my eyes, my hand grasping my chest.

That's when I realized— you had taken those photos. You had spied on me and Hailstorm and Riptide. Taking pictures. Spreading rumors. You hated me, have always hated me.

Just for a stupid kindergarten musical.

But you don't like getting beaten, do you, dear Magnificent?

Scarlet asked you to, and you said yes. you had only acted like you were my friend to get information.

Betrayal.

Again.

You snatched your phone back, laughing. You pushed me to the wall, staring at me with bloodthirsty eyes. Then you gave me a wolfish grin that ruined your features entirely. "I don't like it when people stand in my way."

Then you walked out of the hallway, your hair swishing.

I was just one of your thousand victims. I stood in your way, and now I was removed.

That was your way of playing this game.

So you left me, left the girl you had removed, to crawl and die. You enjoyed hurting me. But now you had other people to remove.

You watched me for a long time, didn't you?

I just stood there, for a long time. Not going to class. Just thinking. Thinking about what you said. My mind slowly pushing everything together, like a puzzle.

And that night, I bought pills.

Pills that would end my life.

~