Hope Lives: Part 2

HOPE LIVES: PART 2 

The ending to Hope Lives: Part 1-

 Steven lived with the pain and guilt for two years. Yet here she was now walking towards him. There was no mistaking it.  It was her. He would never forget her face. His heart started to pound as she got closer. He wanted to run. He was surely hallucinating. This couldn't be real. 

 "Hey, there!" she said.  

 Oh shit. It was her. It was even her voice. 

........

Part 2 of Hope Lives: 

She looked him right in the eyes as he stood there dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. There is no way Hope could be standing in front of him. She's dead. He saw her die. 

"So are you going to pretend you don't know me?" she said softly. 

"I...how...this can't be real.." he trailed off. 

She laughed, "Of course it's real, silly!" 

He looked at her. She was laughing, but her eyes held nothing but pure, seething anger. 

Steven looked around in a panic, wondering if anyone saw him standing there talking to himself. Everyone was gone. It was just him and this hallucination standing before him.  

"I'm losing my mind. That's it! I'm imagining this!" he said in a rush. 

Hope put her hand on his shoulder. Steven could feel the heat from her hand seeping through his shirt. It couldn't be his mind messing with him, he was positive. She was alive. Hope was alive. 

He still couldn't understand how. He honestly thought he was losing his mind. 

"What do you want?" he asked her quickly. 

"Well, well, well... First, I would like that kiss we were in the middle of before you lost your temper on me." 

"You're out of your fucking mind!" he yelled and began to walk away. 

"Haha! Am I? I'm not ashamed to admit, I probably am," she replied as she blocked his way. 

"I wouldn't leave if I were you. Wouldn't it be a shame if the cops found out how badly you hurt me way back then?" she said with an evil grin. 

"I honestly don't give a shit. You're alive, what can they do?" 

"But you severely injured me. They would love to know that." 

"I don't have time for this! Get out of my way, you fuckin' nut job!" 

Steven shoved her aside and stormed away. 

Faith watched him walk away and smiled to herself. She knew pretending to be her identical twin would be easy. They acted the same and sounded the same. Steven would pay for what he did to her dear sister. 

 

Faith didn't even know until two months ago that she had a twin. Her adoptive family finally told her after she'd suffered horrible nightmares for over a year. 

She kept seeing herself dying in a dark yard. She could see the outline of a tall male in the dream, but his face was always blurry. After a few months, his face became clear and she recalled hearing herself call out his name in her dream. 

After confiding in her parents, they admitted that she did in fact have a twin and they'd been separated at birth. She knew right then she was witnessing her twin's death in her dream. 

She spent the next year tracking down her twin only to discover what she knew in her heart already. Hope was dead. 

She found out the school Hope had attended and went there. She saw Steven on campus only after a few days. She recognized him instantly. She knew she had to make him pay for killing her sister. And she intended on doing just that. 

Hope had learned a lot about Steven from asking other students. She knew his routine. She knew he went to the library in the evenings to study.  She walked off and waited for nightfall. 

Steven left his dorm and headed out across the lawn towards the library. His mind was still on Hope. He couldn't understand what was happening. His mind was assuring him she was dead, but his eyes had seen her. 

Faith watched from behind a tree  as Steven walked towards her. She waited until he was close and leapt out. 

"Hope.." Steven said, shocked. 

"It's time to pay," she said with an eerie calmness. 

Before Steven could react, Faith pulled out the rock she was holding behind her back. She jumped up and bashed him on the head with it. Steven fell to the ground with a thud. 

She pounced on him the instant he was down. She pounded his skull over and over until she was covered in his blood. She didn't let up for a second. Once she was sure he was dead, she got up and walked away. 

"No one hurts Hope and gets to live.." Faith muttered as she faded into the darkness.