"Ray? Hey! Ray!!" Wes called me continuously, but I had turned deaf for the sake of fear. My limbs were weakened by the shock my heart had sustained.

"This isn't real. This has to be one of my nightmares. A new one perhaps. It's time to wake up Ramona. It's only a dream." I thought as kept trying to reassure myself of the unreality I lived in.

I stood face to face with the Crucifier that had chased me all my life and the trigger I pulled a while ago seemed far away, since I had dropped my gun on the ground with no intention to pick it up.

"Ray I know this is really hard to take in but you've got to pull yourself together. If she's truly the Crucifier, she can attack us at any time. Don't let your guard down. Okay? So please try to stand. Come on!" Wes said.

He pulled me up in his strong arms. The safety I used to feel whenever he held me close had disappeared. The true identity of the Crucifier swept me from the domes of safety unto the cold grounds of betrayal and hate.

Wesley picked up my gun and handed it to me. I could tell from his eyes that he was shocked too. Still he remained tough. He was either brave or felt nothing. Although, it was an undeniable fact that I had a closer relationship with the murderer in our midst.

"Take the gun Ray."

"No!! Even if she does something stupid right now I don't think...I can't...She's..." I stuttered and threw the weapon to the floor.

"I know who she is Ray! A killer! That's who she is and that's why you need the gun!" Wes yelled.

"Wait a moment. I have to confirm...I...I..." I stuttered continuously. 

I took a few steps towards the Crucifier to be a hundred per cent sure of her identity. If she was truly the reason for the miserable life I had lived, I needed to hear it from her mouth. I was sure it would not bring back the dead, but something in me wanted an assurance of some sort.

Maybe it was the fear in me or a sudden thirst for instant death from a hit by distrust. Whatever it was, I had to get close enough. I had to take a good look at her face.

"Ray! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?! Ray she's..."

"I know who she is Wes. That's why I need to hear it from her mouth. That's why I need to hear her confess."

In that moment like a fool, I ignored the purpose of my gun and stared at the blue eyes in front of me.

For the sake of insanity I smiled

"You know, you don't look so old right know. What happened to your bent back Mrs Beckley?" 

Mrs Beckley my once most admired person in the world had taken a different shape.

She wasn't the Mrs Beckley I knew. She stood straight. Her pale sunken eyes seemed brighter, she was taller and though I was too hulled by fear to pick out all the facts, the Mrs Beckley which stood before me was different. Too different.

Though the changes were clear, her blue eyes and smile were still the same.

Those blue eyes that made me feel close to Nathan. That smile that made me feel close to my mother. How could she be the Crucifier? How could she kill my father?

I saw her hair clearly for I had taken risky steps to get close to her.

Her silver hair shone under the 100 watt light bulb in the middle of the room. She dropped her arms and smiled at me like she always did.

"The name's Catherine. That's Catherine Beckley to you and this is the reason you were never able to catch me. You're too stupid honey. Yes. Yes. You're absolutely carefree. You think the world is a beautiful place without evil or hate. You could've asked me anything but instead you're more concerned about my posture? You're just like your mother. Foolish!" she said.

At that moment fear began to turn into something else and my heart hurt. I cried but the tears were just a few. My eyelids hurt and my throat was more than sore.

"My mother? You knew my mother?" I asked.

"Well since you've caught me already. I must reward your bravery. After all these years I think you deserve to know the truth about your mother's death dearie." Catherine Beckley said.

"Yes I knew your mother. A beautiful, kind-hearted soul she was. She was admirable for a human being but she took what wasn't hers and I hate people who take things that don't belong to them. It bothers me doll. It does." Mrs Beckley said while she clenched her fist and bit her lips.

Her eyes looked different. While, she talked about my mother her eyes expressed something that looked like hate. No. It was not hate. It seemed worse that just hatred.

"I hated it! I hated it! I still hate it. Tina Willie. I hated her so much. She was one of the prettiest girls when I was in high school. She was a transfer student who had gained popularity and she became a cheerleader in just three weeks! Three weeks! All she ever did was hop and prance around the school building in her skimpy skirt showing off her dark skin that no one wanted to see. She was kind hearted and nice but I hated the feeling I got whenever she was nearby."

Beckley paused for a moment. Perhaps to catch her breath or rid herself of the anger that grew with the folded skin waves on her forehead.

" I was a quiet mouse you see. I hated trouble. I was not part of the 'cool' kids. My appearance was not comely and I was taunted for my look. I looked unimaginably awful in my braces and my hair always looked like that of an old nanny since it was styled into weird pig tails by one of the elderly nuns in the orphanage home I used to live in..."

"Orphanage home? Is that the reason you chased me? You wanted me to be an orphan like you were?" I foolishly asked.

"No. No. No. That would be a silly reason now wouldn't it dearie?" she asked.

Mrs Beckley smiled as she took me through her past. It was strange but a part of me was grateful for the answers I was about to receive.

"Well, I hated my life and I hated the fact that Tina, your mother had the perfect life. I didn't have a mother or father and though my mother was dead she had quite a reputation. In a summary she was a stripper who had killed herself, because she was unsatisfied with her life. Tina's friends loved to make fond of my dead mother's past. They were once my friends, but they left me for Tina, since she was cooler and they liked her more. They wanted to be like her so much, they also became cheer leaders, but they were worse than Tina Willie. No. No. No. They were awful! There was a time they almost forced me to strip in class in the name of 'my mother's gene'. They tore my clothes apart. Piece by piece. " She paused for a while and continued again.

"They called me names- Child of a whore, Nameless, Abomination and many others. They always hurt me and sent me on stupid errands. I lost my friends because your mother stole them from me. Soon my 'friends' became starved wolves. Whenever they got the chance they pulled at my pig tails and bruised my cheeks for no reason. Sometimes it was my head in the toilet, while one of them flushed. Other times they dared me to hurt myself. Your mother wasn't part of them, but she never stood up for me either. I wanted her to tell them to stop even if it was once. I truly hated Tina Willie but I wanted her to fight for me. She didn't. I guess she was too scared to lose the friends she had made."

In that moment brightness of a kind crept into the blue of her eyes.

"There was one person that stood up for me though. I can never forget the lad. He caught Tina's friends on one of the days they had decided to make me a punching bag. He stood up for me and after that day I was never taunted by anyone in school. He was a tall blonde piece of pretty and a handful of charming. That young man became my closest friend. He often told me not to worry about a thing. He always said I was going to be better than my mother ever was. He was my hope in the midst of the dark. His name was Johnson Taylor, your father."

I got shocked at that moment. My Father? It made no sense but I had no choice. I could not argue. True or false, the only answers at that moment, were Beckley's tales. The puzzles were about to end and I had decided to wait for the finish.

"I liked him a lot. After he saved me I became his personal tutor. He had good grades in good looks and sports but school work and textbooks weren't meant for him. I was his tutor and he exceled till we were in the last phase of high school. I also helped prep him for college exams. While I taught him, we got closer. I really, really liked him. No. I loved him. We always joked about anything and everything. Sometimes he would tell me how amazing his life would be if I were his wife. He always said he was going to marry me. It might have been a joke to him but I took those things seriously. I never wanted to leave his side and getting married to him was the perfect idea. It was so perfect. I do remember this one valentine when things got a bit crazy in my heart. I wanted to get Johnson a gift but I couldn't. I was shy I suppose. I didn't expect your father to get me anything. After all, I was his tutor and nothing else. On that day I got a gift from your father. I got this!" Beckley said while she lifted a rose which she took out of her jacket.

Her blue eyes shone as she sniffed the red flower slowly. Her eyes were bright and pretty, but something about them sent a shiver down my spine.