Say You're Sorry!

[Perry]

Story Title: Say You're Sorry!

Type of story: Short/Medium fiction

Main Characters: Charlie, Tara, Kim.

Rating: A (V/D)

Genre: Romance/Thriller

Warnings: Violence.

Is Story being proof read: No

Summary: Told from both Points of View, "Say You're Sorry" is about two patients at a Reyfton Lakes who fall in love... But both have been in love before... To the same person... Kim Hyde.

Red is from Tara's POV and Blue is Charlie's.

Say You’re Sorry!

“If you let me go… Tara I promise I won’t tell anyone” Kit said in sheer desperation.

But she has a great reason to worry, as her baby will be due any day… Tara who had once felt attracted to Kit’s Ex Kim. And told a story that got him into trouble… A story so bad the whole town turned against him… Tara is unstable, she had spent her last few weeks at Reyfton Lakes Psychiatric Institution, a mental hospital. She has now held Kit hostage in Kim’s home awaiting his return, she’s armed with a gun, stolen from her father. Kim has ruined her life for the last time and now she will ruin his by murdering his unborn baby and taking the life of Kit as well. Now she won’t stop until Kim is miserable…

“Why are you doing this to me?” Kit cries.

Tara knows the real reason but she isn’t about to share it with Kit. It’s too upsetting. But still, it is a story that needs to be told. Otherwise you wouldn’t know how Kim ruined Tara’s life…

APRIL 10th 2007

Today was a good day, had two slices of toast with Jam for breakfast, I was going to have a hash brown as well but that would have been bad for my diet… I didn’t want to let my body go… I wanted my body to be perfect for when he sees me again. I had a group therapy session with Dr. Mixter and a few of the other patients. Dr. Mixter wanted to see me afterwards… we had a talk and he was telling me how impressed he was with me… I knew he would be… I haven’t spoken about him for almost 7 months… well not out loud anyway… I also met someone else… someone different. She’s a patient that just came in, she talked to me too… No one talks to me but she did. We talked about a place I use to visit with him… A place called the “Beachside Diner” it was the place I went to with his friends. They are telling me to go to bed and I don’t want to upset them so I better go.

I was in the art room when she walked in… I was painting… And I looked up at her… She was beautiful… She looked at me and I guess she saw me looking at her… She walked over to me… The room was empty apart from us… she wanted to look at my painting.

“You can’t see it…” I told her, “I haven’t finished it”…

She smiled…

“I’m Tara,” she said… “What’s your name?”

I didn’t want to answer her. People here don’t talk to me… They like to keep their distance…

“If you don’t want to talk to me that’s fine… I’m use to not have anyone talk to me”.

It was when she said that… I realised I had to answer. She started to walk out the door and I couldn’t let her go…

“I’m Charlie”. I told her. “You can see my painting if you want”.

I walked over to see his painting… I didn’t know what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting what I saw…

“Kim Hyde”.

She said his name… my heart skipped a beat… I haven’t heard anybody say his name in a long time…

“How did you know Kim?” she asked me…

“I don’t want to talk about it”. I replied.

He seemed upset… my curiosity wanted to find out more but I wanted a friend and I didn’t want to upset him.

“We don’t have to talk about it… We can talk about anything… What’s your favourite TV show?” I asked.

“ I don’t watch television… I like to paint… My Gran taught me.”

He had a soft voice, it was sweet and he had a look to him… He was someone that you could take home to your mother and she will love him…

“My grandmother likes to paint too, she isn’t good at it, not like you are”.

He modestly replied, “I’m not good”.

APRIL 24TH 2007

Not since Kim, have I felt this way about anyone, Tara is fun, she breaks the rules and she tells me everything… She’s in the room next to mine and she comes to visit me at night… They do checks every half an hour so we don’t have long. But we can talk about anything with each other… well almost everything. I haven’t told her the full story with Kim; I don’t want her to not like me anymore… I didn’t mean what I did I was just confused about my feelings… No one befriended me like Kim did and I now know what I did was wrong… Being with Tara has helped me realise this.

At Reyfton Lakes there is a rule; the last one up is the one who has to make everyone in their sections beds… It’s to encourage an early start. Usually I’m first one up but for some reason today, I am a little slow… I have been here 2 weeks and I never want to leave… this place feels like home… My name is Tara… I am sixteen years old I am here because I tried to kill myself… but that was before I came here… that was before I fell in love.

There are 4 sections at Reyfton Lakes, My section there is 3 rooms and 6 beds one room is the girls room and the other two are boys rooms… we are in section one… I share a room with Kellie. If she said one word that would actually made sense I think the earth would open up and swallow us whole.

The room next to ours is Charlie’s; he’s a dream… the quiet… shy kind... But he’s so cute and sweet too. We both come from the Northern Beaches… but he had a hard life… he grew up in a house raised by his grandparents… he never got to go out because he was too busy looking after them when they got sick… he had no friends and he isn’t real good with people. We have something in common too… well I should say someone… Kim Hyde.

“Hey did you want to play some pool?” I asked…

But Tara wasn’t listening.

“Hey Tara, Did you want to play something?”

Tara stood up and walked off. She’s has been acting strange since last night… I can’t blame her though, I have days like that all the time… but it is strange for her. She usually tells me everything. I walked over to her, she is sitting curled up on the lounge. She is upset, but not crying… I sat down next to her.

“You know you can talk to me…? You do know that?” I told her. “If I did something that upset you…”

“It’s not you…” she interrupted “Dr. Mixter told me that I may be able to go home”.

“That’s great,” I said,

but she shrugged it off.

She told me “If I go home, I won’t be here with you”.

“But you can come and visit me… whenever you want… Just because you get to go home, it doesn’t mean we… that we won’t get to see each other anymore… I really like you…”.

It was at that moment that she kissed me and it was the first kiss I received. It was good and I never stopped it… I didn’t want too… But Dr. Mixter could and he did…

That night before I went to bed I looked through my diary… Usually I write in my diary but tonight I wanted to read it. I wanted to know how much has changed since I first came here, I read my first entry:

JUNE 7th 2006

I can’t believe they put me in here; Kim needs to know how much I care for him. They can’t keep me from him. I’m so scared… they said I would be in here a long time… I want Kim… I wish he were here with me now. Kim Hyde and I are meant to be together.

That night I went to bed but I never fell asleep. I waited for them to do the checks, before I made my move… Tonight might be my last night at Reyfton Lakes… It might be my last chance with Charlie… Maybe Dad won’t approve or he might move away… he may stop me from coming back and I don’t want to miss my chance... Charlie has no roommate at the moment too… I snuck up out of bed and out of my room… I had half an hour… I looked around and no one was coming so I just walked in the room… He was asleep and he looked so peaceful…

I was asleep and I was having a wonderful dream… I woke up to find someone else in the bed… They started to kiss me…

I hopped into his bed and his eyes opened. I kissed him passionately… I was nervous… but excited at the same time. He put his arms around me and I kissed his neck… I started lifting up his shirt…

I knew it was Tara and at the same time I wanted it to continue… I always dreamt of this moment but it wasn’t with Tara it was with Kim… But I didn’t like Kim as much as I thought I did… It was his friendship I wanted and I was just confused with my feelings… No one showed me that kind of admiration before that… and no one had showed it to me since until now… But if my feeling for Kim were not real… Are my feelings for Tara the same?

I took his shirt off and started kissing his chest… I started to go lower… As she got lower… I couldn’t go through with it… not until I knew I had genuine feelings for her. I pulled back.

“I can’t Tara,” I cried out. .

“But I love you and I may never see you again” I explained to him “It’s what I want”

I kissed him again but he never kissed me back.

“I don’t want to hurt you but I can’t do it… Not here… Not now!”

If I just told her what I was thinking maybe she will understand.

“Don’t you love me?” I asked him but I already knew the answer.

Because if he felt the same way he would have made love to me. It was then I saw an open book on his bedside table… I knew it was his diary and I knew it would give me the answer I wanted. I reached out for it.

I noticed my diary… It was left open on my bedside table… I had to make sure she didn’t see it but she was already grabbing at it.

“No don’t” I told her but it wasn’t going to stop her.

I had a look on the page, it was left on I could see the name KIM HYDE.

“KIM HYDE and I are mean to be together!”

I turned to other pages where there were drawings of him. There was even a little scribble on the first page: “Charlie & Kim 4 Eva!”

Like he was a schoolgirl or something! There were drawings of him in the book, a photograph of Kim. I was seeing red.

“I thought you really cared about me!” I threw the book at him. “I should have known you didn’t really care about me… Nobody cares for me”

I was screaming it loud enough for the whole world to hear it but I didn’t care because I wanted him to know how much it hurt… Not only that but it was KIM HYDE! I cared for him as well but he didn’t want to be with me and now he is the reason I can’t be with the one person I care most about.

To be Continued...

[Perry]

The story continues... This part contains some Violence:

The next day… The day I was allowed to go home… I didn’t say goodbye but I left a note for him in his diary… I couldn’t even look at him… it made me sick. I went home with dad. The two of us live in a small house at Mangrove River, not far from the bay. The police station dad works at is not far from here too.

He had to get back to work soon so I had to make my move before he did. I looked over at the trophy cabinet and saw my hockey trophies. There were 7 trophies for the 7 years I played hockey for and behind it was the hockey stick I won the winning goal in the Under 15 Northern district Girls Comp Grand Final… I went to grab it but dad came over…

“I remember that day, well…” He told me… “It was the first game I came and saw you in”.

He took it out of the cabinet and held it.

“You know I was so proud of you that day…” he handed it to me. “That’s why I put it in there so I can remember how proud of you I am and how much I love you…” he continued “and if I was working too much or not seeing you enough, all I had to do was look at this and it would remind me to spend time with you”.

I didn’t want to hurt him but there was no other way for me to get his gun… there was no way he was going to remove it from his belt, willingly so I had to take it from him…

“Well, I’m off to work” he said.

And as he started to walk out I hit him over the back of the head with the hockey stick. I didn’t want to hit him too hard but I should have hit him harder… he fell down but it wasn’t enough to knock him out… he looked at me…

“Tara put it down,” he cried out…

I couldn’t look him in the eye… I had to hit him again but I didn’t want to… but there was no going back and I had to finish what I started. To help me I needed to think about all the times he was working and wasn’t there for me… How I felt… How miserable I was… I was hurting and he was too busy working… I kept thinking about how he hardly came to visit me… and that he didn’t know about my relationship with Charlie… I hit him again but this time I think I hit him a little to hard… he was bleeding… But there was no time… I will call an ambulance after I do what I need to do.

He was lying on the floor, I didn’t even know if he was breathing… I had to take the gun away from his belt. I grabbed it and pulled it out… it was a lot heavier then I thought it would be. I had held of it and ran to the front door. The key hook where dad usually keeps his car keys was empty, which meant that the keys were on dad. I walked back over to dad and slowly reached into his pocket… but that pocket only held his wallet. I had to reach into his other pocket but to do so I needed to turn him. I pulled him towards me and reached into his pocket. My heart was pounding. I was terrified he was going to wake up. I grabbed the car keys and was out the door quick fast.

I ran to the car and my hand was shaking as I put the key in the lock to unlock it. I opened the car door and started the car up… but I jumped in fright as dad was banging on the window… I reversed back and tried to drive forward but Dad came in front of me to stop me and I hit him. He fell off the bonnet of the car and rolled underneath it. I stopped the car and checked him… I put my hand against his neck to feel for a pulse that wasn’t there… I KILLED HIM! I looked around and thank god nobody was around… I had no idea where I got the strength from but before I knew it I had managed to pick him up and put him in the trunk. I couldn’t leave him there… I kept driving towards Summer Bay.

I decided to write down in my diary early tonight as I had a lot to write about, I opened it up to today’s page and Tara had left me a message…

“Charlie, by the time you’ve read this… It’ll be too late… But don’t worry; Kim will never hurt either one of us again… I still Love you and we’ll be together soon… I’m sorry I had too! Xx Tara.

I threw the diary down… I had to do something but I had no idea of what to do… Do I let someone know? What could I do when I’m locked up?

Outside Reyfton Lakes Psych ward a large security guard puffs down on a cigarette when he hears a loud scream. He looks through the window when Charlie appears

“Quickly someone needs you’re help.” The Guard pulls out his key chain and quickly searches for the right key he opens the door and runs inside without closing it… Luckily for Charlie he can make his escape and he does…

Tara got out of the car; she is now outside Kim’s house. She walks up to the door. She knocks. Kit answers…

“Hi, I’m a friend of Kim’s, is he home?” Tara asked.

Kit answered, “He’s actually out with Rachel… I can tell him you stopped by…”

“I actually want to tell him myself… You don’t mind if I wait around… Do you?”

She pushes the door open.

“Excuse me”… Kit tells her “Yes I do mind!”

She pulls the gun out on her…

“Would this change your mind?”

Kit takes a step back.

“I thought it might… You wouldn’t happen to have any rope would you?”

I walked up to the train station, and looked up at the board and the only train going to Summer Bay was about to leave… I ran up to the platform and managed to get through the doors before they closed. I had to catch my breath… I was really going back to Summer Bay… I was going to see Kim again… Do I look good enough? I had to look at my reflection in the trains’ window… What am I saying? Focus Charlie… You have to stop Tara… She may kill him… And I can’t be with him if she kills him… Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to leave before taking my medication.

“If you let me go… Tara I promise I won’t tell anyone” Kit said in sheer desperation.

But she has a great reason to worry, as her baby will be due any day… Tara who had once felt attracted to Kit’s Ex Kim. And told a story that got him into trouble… A story so bad the whole town turned against him… Tara is unstable; she had spent her last few weeks at Reyfton Lakes Mental Hospital, a psychiatric institution. She has now held Kit hostage in Kim’s home awaiting his return, she’s armed with a gun, stolen from her father. Kim has ruined her life for the last time and now she will ruin his by murdering his unborn baby and taking the life of Kit as well. Now she won’t stop until Kim is miserable…

“Why are you doing this to me?” Kit cries.

“Why?” Tara replies… “Because he ruined my life… He ruined any chance of happiness… Not just once but twice… So by killing his unborn child… Oh and by the way thanks for giving me that little bit of information… I would have only just tied you up and killed Kim instead but this works out so much better… Watching his face when I shoot you, that will be perfect!”

“You are crazy”. Kit told her.

“I think I may have to gag you.” Tara said. “Where are the tea-towels kept?”

Rachel and Kim walk out of Noah’s when someone comes running towards them, and puts his arms around Kim… It’s Charlie.

“Kim you’re OK. I thought she would have killed you”, he said

Kim pushes him off and backs off.

“Whoa, Charlie… What are you doing here?”

“I’m not going to hurt you… I wanted to save you from Tara…” Charlie explains.

“Charlie, you need to get back to the hospital”. Rachel tells him.

“Charlie, I appreciate your concern buddy, but nobody’s going to hurt me.” Kim explained.

“She said she was going to hurt you. Why won’t you believe me?” Charlie tells them… “She’s my friend from Reyfton Lakes she knew you last year… She lied and said you hurt her.”

“Where is she now?” asked Rachel

“I don’t know… I came here because you worked here.”

“Rachel, Kit’s at home…” Kim says

Kit is still tied up and is now gagged… Tara sits on the lounge watching her… The phone rings… Kit starts screaming through her gag… Tara gets up…

“Now be quiet, I think I know who this is”.

She picks up the phone.

“Hello?”

Kit starts screaming again.

“Tara is Kit there? Is she alright?” Kim asks frantically.

“I’m sorry, Kit can’t come to the phone right now.” Tara says.

“If you hurt her… Tara… I swear I’ll make you…”

“Kim, I got a gun to your ex-girlfriend’s head… I wouldn’t be making threats if I were you”.

To be Continued:

[Perry]

The Conclusion:

Rachel drives as Kim continues the conversation

“Listen here Tara, Kit has done nothing to you… You’re crazy… You need help…” Kim yells.

“Kim stop it!” Charlie says.

Kim throws the phone down in frustration…

“She hung up… Can’t you drive faster?”

“I’m sorry Kim this is my fault” Charlie tells him.

Kim explains, ”Charlie, this isn’t your fault… You did nothing wrong”

“Well not this time”. Rachel interrupts.

“Rachel don’t” Kim tells his wife.

“Why not Kim? Have you forgotten what he did to me? I don’t like that he’s in the car with me.” Rachel replies.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, both of you… If I could take it back I would… I know what I did was wrong…” Charlie says.

“It’s not enough to just say you’re sorry” Rachel said.

“Let’s just forget about this for now… We’ll concentrate on stopping Tara”. Kim explains.

They arrive at the house. They jump out the car and run inside. Kit is tied gagged. Kim ungags her.

“Where’d she go?”

“I don’t know she just took off… a few minutes ago” Kit tells him.

“Great, she could be anywhere.” Kim says. “Are you ok?” he asks Kit.

Kit nods. Kim unties her.

“Oh”. Rachel says remembering something.

“I think I might know where she is,” Rachel tells them. “The lookout, that’s where she went after all the trouble she caused last year, she was going to kill herself”.

“We have to get there now”. Charlie tells them.

“Charlie, let’s just wait for the police, they’ll be here soon”. Kim tells him.

“But it be too late by then… You don’t know her… You don’t know what she can do…” Charlie explains. I may be the only person who can stop her.”

“Ok, I’ll take you…” Says Kim. “Rachel, wait here with Kit”.

“Kim you’re not going with him” Rachel orders her husband.

“Charlie’s right, we don’t what she’s capable of”. Kim explains.

“You don’t know what he’s capable of…” says a concerned Rachel, “He’s dangerous”.

“You’re wrong… I’ll never hurt Kim, we have no time we have to help Tara.” Charlie explains.

“I’ll have to take him…” Kim tells them.

Rachel and Kit look at him with concern.

Kim and I arrived at the lookout we looked around but we couldn’t see her anywhere.

“Tara”, I called out to her…

“Tara”, Kim called out too…

He was sweet. I looked over the edge out to the ocean below…

“She could have jumped”, Kim told me.

“No”. I said shaking my head but I thought it myself.

“I’ll look up here” Kim said and walked over.

Kim walked over through some bush when he heard some rustle.

“Hello Tara?” he said.

He walked further into the bush… When he was struck from behind…

I looked out at the ocean… I hadn’t seen for a long time… I forgotten how beautiful it was… was I ever going to see it again? Was I going to spend the rest of my life at Reyfton lakes?

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

I heard a voice from behind me, I turned around and I saw…

“Tara” I said.

“I wasn’t expecting you here.” She said.

“I had to come. I was concerned,” I told her.

“Is that because you were concerned for me? Or were you concerned for Kim? She asked.

“Both…” I told her.

I saw the gun in her hand.

“You know Kim doesn’t like you”. She said, “He hates you”.

“It’s not true, he doesn’t hat me”. I said.

“He does… I’m the only one that cares for you Charlie…” She explained… “And if I can’t have you nobody will”.

She pointed the gun right at me, I was scared for her but mostly I was scared for me.

“It doesn’t have to be like this”. I told her. “You don’t have to kill me”.

“I don’t want to kill you… There is another way…” she said.

She came towards me, the gun pointing down… I thought of taking it from her, but if I weren’t fast enough she would shoot me.

“…And we can be together forever”… she continued.

She stood up on the edge.

“Come with me Charlie,” she said. “We could fly”.

She held her hand out for me to grab it.

“I never loved anyone like you… it’s the only way we can be together,” she told me.

I grabbed her hand and wanted to go with her.

“Charlie no!” I heard a voice shout out.

It was Kim. When he said that I had to let her go.

“Tara get off the edge”. Kim said.

“It’s too late.” She said. “I already killed my father”.

She pointed the gun right at Kim.

“Tara just put the gun down” Kim told her.

I stood in front of Kim.

“Tara please put the gun down”. I said.

“I will if you come with me”. She replied.

I stepped forward.

“Charlie, no…” Kim said, “Stay with me mate”.

“It’s me or Kim? Charlie you decide”. Tara said.

I didn’t know what to do. Tara loves me and Kim doesn’t, so do I choose Tara?

I stepped backwards.

“I can’t go with you Tara, I’m sorry,” I told her.

“I’m sorry too,” Tara said now in tears.

And she pointed the gun towards me and she was about to squeeze the trigger.

“I love you,” She said

Now I was in tears the gun still pointing at me and Tara’s finger was about to move when…

…Kim grabbed her arms and pulled the gun away and she dropped it into the sea below. I was relieved but it only lasted a second as Tara fell dragging Kim with her… I raced to the edge and reached out for them…

I had Kim on one hand and Tara on the other and below them was death. I wish I was strong then I could pull them both up but I only have the strength to pull one up and I had to choose which one, Kim? Or Tara?

“Charlie, I love you, pull me up and we can be together” Tara told me.

“Charlie, mate I forgive you” Kim said. “I trust you”.

“Don’t listen to him Charlie he will always hate you,” She said.

“Kim, I’m sorry,” I told Kim.

And I opened my palm up and grabbed Kim’s arms. Tara was looking into my eyes as she fell to her death. I will never forget her eyes. I pulled Kim up and I hugged him. And I cried in his arms, I was sorry to lose Tara but in my mind I made the right choice and at that moment I had Kim in my arms and I was in his…

“I’m so sorry Kim”. I told him again.

“You’re right mate, you did good.” He told me.

I knew it wasn’t for long and that he would go back to Rachel. But at that moment I didn’t care he trusts me and he forgives me. I guess that’s what I needed… That’s what I always needed. I said I was sorry and he forgave me.

It was lunchtime back at Reyfton Lakes we were having sausages… for some reason I have always loved sausages. I made a new friend that day- my new roommate.

“Do you mind if I sit down here?” He asked.

“Go ahead” I told him “We’re having sausages, I love sausages,” I said.

“I love them too”. He replied.

“I’m sorry what was your name?” I asked.

He looked at me with his dark eyes, grinning; he answered “Corey Watkins”.

“Well, nice to meet you Corey Watkins” I said shaking his hand. “I’m Charlie McKinnon”.

“Well, Charlie McKinnon you and I have a lot in common”. He said still grinning.

I know Corey and I will be friends for a long time.

The End

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