is glued to the large metallic machine—the insignificant piece of metal, which has the ability to take my life from me. To splatter my past, present, and now my lost future all over the place.
The horn sounds repeatedly, but it’s useless, no horn is going to stop a madman. I lose it. I’m like a feral cat, extending my claws and scratching him wherever my hands can reach. I put all my body weight on his arm trying to bend forward to tip Rex over, and when that doesn’t work I kick my legs out, striking him harshly over and over again.
Rexs’ grunts of pain prove I’m hurting him, but I’m still not moving him or lessening his resolve. My heart is close to exploding; each breath is harder to take. My vision begins to blur, but I can still see. I’m watching as death comes straight for me.
“I beg you, Rex, beg you!” My voice becomes hysterical. “Don’t do this. Death is forever, there’s no coming back from this.”
His hold does not falter at my words; he stays strong like a cement wall.
“You don’t see it now, but I do. Trust me this is for the best.”
He’s fucking crazy.
I scream. It’s high-pitched, long and unwavering, praying for anyone nearby who might help me, knowing that hope is impossible. I’m breathless, I can’t catch my breath fast enough to keep shouting for help.
The train’s brakes activate and the squeal causes my eyes to clench closed for a brief second from the pain in my ears. Unexpectedly, a shriek, laced with so much agony and desperation fills the air. I look to the right and find my family and Brett running down from my car, toward me. Lana stays frozen.
Rex twists his head toward her. “Fuck. I didn’t want Lana to see this. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Rex grates into my hair.
Seeing my family gives me renewed strength, I throw my head back hoping to strike his face or nose. Rex’s fingers dig into my skin firmer than I ever thought humanly possible and I whimper still fighting through the pain.
The train is upon us, mere meters away, I glance quickly to my right and watch my family running toward me, my heart shattering that the last thing I’ll see on their faces when I leave this earth is fear and pain.
My gaze darts to Brett as he’s sprinting toward me, and I see the shock and desperation as he realizes he’s not going to get to me in time. I mouth I love you. His eyes widen and even though it should be impossible, I see him move faster, pumping his arms harder and breathing quicker.
My heart squeezes and twists. This isn’t what I wanted for him or for me. I wanted my end to be different from my beginning. Less violent, more love.
I hear an anguished moan come from Rex. Wetness hits my shoulder.
“My head hurts, Dell. I’ve done a lot of bad, but hurting you was never something I wanted to do. I’m sorry I dragged you down with me.”
Rex’s sincere tone and sudden honest words come too late. The heat burns my skin, so much so that my eyes widen from the pain and screams rip from my dry throat.
Rex twists my shoulders to brace for the hit. The first crack of pain I feel from the impact is in my wrist as it shatters, along with my life.
Chapter One
Mackson King and Lana Scavello
A map of their beginning and disastrous end.
Year 2003
Mackson - Sixteen Years Old
Lana - Fifteen Years Old
Lana
Embarrassed. Mortified.
I race out of my house, my father’s yells echo through the back door, his words spear my back like sharp arrows. Racing through my side gate and out onto the road, I look left and right, desperate for a way out. I hate this place.
My dad isn’t what you’d ever describe as father of the year, he’s not even close. I’m pretty sure he hates me. He always says I look too much like my mother. I have her white blonde hair and dark brown eyes. My father stares into them sometimes, lost, more adrift than his usual absent glare.
My father has never looked upon me before and actually seen his daughter. My mother is all he sees and he doesn’t bother to think past her or the fact that she left him, us. I’m the one who’s paid the penance for her not sticking around.
I peer up the dead-end street and into a field, it’s filled