This Is Where It Ends

by Marieke Nijkamp

He may be a maggot, but he’s the smartest kind: a harmless one.

So we run. Not just in circles around the track. We run toward all that is waiting for us. We run together while we still can. •

Not now. Not today. Not yet. No, please.

This is it.

We both know the sound of gunshots. But it can’t be. It can’t happen. Not here.

There’s death, there’s dying, and there’s blood everywhere. Tyler is back.

Two words that taste sour and foreign. My brother.

The only things that give us purpose are the stories that tie us together.

Terror is our strongest force because we’re only afraid when we have something to lose—our lives, our loves…our dignity.

He’s comfortable with our fear. He’s feeding off of it. This—this is calculation: the gun, the locks, the date, the deaths. He has a carefully structured plan. My brother has always had a flair for the dramatic.

flair for the dramatic

Together we could be so strong, but the gun has made us individuals.

Chris’s fingers brush mine. “I never thought you needed to win to be perfect.”

“Lesson one: don’t get attached and you won’t get hurt.”

“Lesson two: follow the instructions.” Tyler crouches and aims carefully. Then he pulls the trigger. “Bang, bang, you’re dead.”

“You can’t… Please don’t leave me too.”

While I spent long summer evenings with Sylv, Matt and Claire were the family Ty never had. If Matt isn’t safe, none of us are.

Tyler’s plan is revenge, which he’ll get—not by killing us but by killing everyone we hold dear.

He may look like Tyler and sound like Tyler, but this is not the same person. It can’t be. “Move or I will shoot the boy.” He’s a stranger.

“I love you,” I whisper. And then he smiles. His eyes twinkle, and he is the Ty I knew. And it breaks me.

The auditorium isn’t a hunting ground; it’s a shooting range. It’s a morgue.

What happened to us, Ty?” His eyes darken. “I lost everything.” “You never lost me,” I whisper.

This is how I shape our future.

me—the boy who broke me and the girl who put me back together. I will not let him take her away from me again.

If she dies, I will never be able to tell her that she is the one who keeps me standing. That her lips taste like a promise. That she makes me want to be a better version of myself. If she dies, I will believe every ugly word Dad ever said about me.

there were two types of people in this world:

those who belong to the soil and the good, rich earth, planting their seeds to blossom, and those who belong to the road and the endless horizons, carrying their home on their shoulders wherever they go. Life turned Autumn into one of the wandering, and she was becoming restless.

“Autumn?” “Yes?” “I’m so tired.”

I need him home so I can be the sister he thinks I am.

I look up and touch my lips to Chris’s. He stills. Then he follows my lead and kisses me back. It’s as if I don’t know where he ends and I start.

“Don’t ever leave me,” I whisper. “Not in a thousand years.” His words are warm on my skin. He leans in and kisses me again as if the world were ending. And actually, it has.

Chris and Claire 🔛🔝

I don’t want him to know Tyler raped me for the same reason

oh sylvia

Tyler shot him. My ex-boyfriend shot my brother. And Matt still tries to protect him—like I tried to protect him.

They need time—and time is what I can give them.

On the other side of the door, gunshots echo through the hallway. One. Two. Three. Tyler’s unmistakable voice. “I win.”

Tomás’s prone body lies at Tyler’s feet.

A current passes through the crowd with the news of each survivor. Relief and sorrow follow each other rapidly, because with the names of those who live comes the void of those who have not. Death brings life; life brings death. There are no words in that fleeting moment between hope and the knowledge. There is no way to express how a heart can burst and break at the same time, how the sun can cut through the darkness but will cast shadows everywhere.

You can’t always keep your loved ones with you. You can’t always settle your life in one place. The world was made to change. But as long as you cherish the memories and make new ones along on the way, no matter where you are, you’ll always be at home.”

“Far?” I sit up, although I don’t meet his eyes. “How do I explain to Mamá that Tomás isn’t coming home?” He doesn’t have an answer to that. Neither do I.

“The world is against us. You need to understand that before it kills you.” It’s rich, coming from the kid with the gun.

“I just don’t want to be alone anymore.” Then he blows his brains out.

Then he blows his brains out

“My sister was in your brother’s class. They got along well.” She spits out the words. “Your boyfriend killed her. He shot your brother too.”

But when Ty pointed the gun at me, he broke me. I’ll never mend again.

Ty made good on his promise. I didn’t need to die for him to kill me. He simply lowered his gun and pulled the trigger. And his bullet tore my knee to shreds.

literally destroyed her goals of being a dancer

Claire smiles politely. Her eyes are haunted by the loss of a brother too. It’s a new kinship between us.

NO MATT 💔

The lantern gently tugs upward. It’s warm enough, ready to be released. I hold on for one more moment. Then, around me, other lanterns are released. They float over our heads into the darkness, toward the promise of a new day. I take a deep breath and caress the rice paper between thumb and finger. And I let go.

“Far,” I hiccup after a couple of minutes, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

awwww

We’ll make sure we’re remembered.

I smile, hesitantly. Maybe I’ll ask him to prom today.