Naya was in a dark room. But perhaps it wasn't a room. She couldn't see any of the four walls, but that wasn't saying much in the pitch black void. Maybe this was hell?
Images began to circle around her like drive-in movie projections. One where she was sharing a mint chocolate ice cream cone with Zach. The next of Benji burying his head in her shoulder, looking away from the gruesome stabbings in the movie theater. Dante wrapping his coat over Naya's shivering body, pulling her closer to him. Naya felt a piercing pain in her chest. She had loved two men in her life, one who took everything from her, and one who was taken from her. The last man, Dante, she didn't love him yet. Or maybe she did. But it didn't matter. She couldn't drag him into her mess. He had everything she had ever wanted. A family who loved him. Friends who he could never get rid of. A community to carry him in his low places and celebrate his successes. It would be selfish of her to take that away from him. He didn't deserve it.
But why did she deserve it?
Naya had never asked herself that question. Why didn't she deserve to be happy? Why did she deserve to be alone?
The images began to shift, as if reminding her. The bullet hole in Zach's head. The distant sight of Benji in a stretcher slowly rolled to an ambulance, as if the paramedics had known there was nothing that could save him. The whispers that followed her the following months. The accusing glares. Her dad shipping her to another state when the counselors got too nosy, questioning her about her home life. The feeling of her name being called in role, how the teacher had almost recognized the name, forcing Nandita to have everyone call her Naya, as to not accidentally trigger someone's memory.
If they had known that someone had killed in her name, because she dared to move on, they'd hate her too. It was better this way, for everyone.
Naya heard the distant scraping of hollow metal against the concrete floors, something she had not noticed before. She whipped her head around and recognized her greatest fear. Zach stood in front of her, exactly as he appeared on that fateful day. She could even see where his bullet wound had soaked his black hair mat. His black T-shirt looked like someone had sprayed him with a water gun, but Naya knew better. The part that disturbed her the most, was that she could feel her heart ache. She still cared about him. She still loved him. He did unthinkable things, but he was still Naya's first love.
Naya looked down and noticed the source of the scraping came from the gun he loosely held in his hand. Zach followed her gaze and chuckled, "Ya know? I'm kinda glad you were a bitch because this was fun to use."
Naya instinctively took a step back as Zach moved closer to her. "I had more fun killing that pregnant teach than I did killing that bitch Nora though. She just kept screaming, 'No, please! Leave the children alone! I'm pregnant!'" Zach screeched in a falsetto, mocking the woman's final defenses. He cackled, "Yeah, that was fun to shut her up. Nora on the other hand, she stared me down and said 'F-' well you get the jist of it."
Zach smirked and loosely gripped at her neck, "Well of course I had to pull the trigger. I had to get through the list." He leaned in and whispered huskily in her ear, "How does it feel, knowing those people are dead because of you?"
Naya could feel the fear coursing through her body. He had killed eight people in cold blood. Even still, Naya had caught a whiff of his intoxicating cologne. She closed her eyes and took in the scent. It had the same effect on her, to bring her closer to the source, but for different reasons this time.
The cologne reminded her of a time she was so much happier not knowing how complicated things could get. Back when the worst thing about having feelings for someone was them rejecting you. Not potentially breeding murderers and losing the person you loved. She wanted to grab onto the simpler past and never look back. Naya's fingers itched at her sides.
Zach watched gleefully at her squirming, his hand still loosely wrapped around her neck. Zach closed the distance and slowly ran his thumb across Naya's lips.
She almost gave in, except she saw a figure illuminated in the dark, like someone had flipped a spotlight on. As her eyes adjusted, she saw it was Dante. Naya felt a wave of relief rush over her. She would have run to him, except Zach, who paid no attention to the newcomer, was in her way.
Naya was still frozen in place as Zach watched her hungrily, almost as if she was playing dead and hoping he would lose interest and leave. Dante noticed her hesitance, and slowly shook his head, as if begging her to not go with Zach.
Naya closed her eyes and finally grimaced at her options. The answer was obvious, but did she have the courage to walk away from it all?
Finally, she pushed Zach away with all her strength. "I love you, but I can't do this anymore. I am not responsible for your actions. I need to move on," she stated firmly. She said it calmly and confidently, but she couldn't hide her knees knocking together.
Zach sneered, "Really, you're gonna 'move on'? Who's going to want you if you leave? Nobody, that's who. They'll all hate you."
Naya's voice was shaking, "No, they won't. I'll find my family in other people. I don't need you. I won't be defined by your mistakes anymore." She looked past Zach's shoulder and saw Dante smiling at her, as if cheering her on. The tension in her shoulders seemed to fade away.
Zach circled around her like a vulture. "What happens when… I kill them too?" Zach aimed his gun at Dante and clicked the trigger, just as Naya, who figured out what Zach was going to do, tackled him to the ground, sending the bullet about eight feet higher than where Dante was standing.
"You will not take anymore away from me!" she screamed as she pinned Zach down. He cackled demonically, grabbed his gun, and shot it into his head, in the exact spot he had shot himself the day of the shooting.
Naya shot up in her bed, waking up in a cold sweat. She could almost feel the blood splatter on her face.
Dante was by her side in seconds.
"What happened? Do you need something? I can get you some water or-"
Then, for the second time in his life, he was attacked with a surprise kiss. This was different from the first time though. It felt like the world was spinning around them. Like she would never let him go. Still, the kiss lasted much less longer than their first one, even if it felt like the opposite. Naya clasped his cheeks in her hands and looked intently into his emerald green eyes. "You won't ever leave me, right?" she asked.
Dante looked back at her and he knew the answer in his heart.
"Never."