Every day for the rest of the week has been going too fast. I don't wanna go to University – especially not with Michael; I don't wanna spend a year trying to avoid that jerk. Anyway ... I suppose I should forget about him for now. I'm gonna spend the rest of my day – my final day as a free girl – with my best friend Emma.

Grabbing my car keys, I decide that I might as well drive today. Once I'm in my car, I start the ignition and drive to town. Emma and I agreed to meet at the toy shop in the centre of town.

Arriving in town, I get out my car and walk towards the toy shop. I eventually get there and I stand by the opening.

Emma, c'mon! Ugh, why does she always have to be late for everything?

It's then that I see a figure running towards me. Emma, finally.

"Cozzy!" I hear her shout.

As soon as she's near enough, we embrace each other. After all ... this is the last day we're gonna see each other for.

"Last day ... " I say sadly.

She frowns, but then tries to lighten the mood again. "Yeah, but, c'mon, we gotta make the most of it. Let's go," she replies.

With that decided, we head out further into town. We visit a few clothes shops; the coffee shop; a few jewellery places. Unfortunately, time seems to go quicker than we wished it to, meaning we have just an hour left together.

"What you wanna do now?" Emma asks.

I take a moment to think. What do I wanna do? We've been to all the shops; all the places in town we wanna go ...

"Let's go to the park," I say.

Emma smiles at this, knowing that it's kind of our little "Escape from real life" place. "Good choice," she replies, then she takes my hand, and starts dragging me there.

"Emma, I can walk for myself!" I giggle.

We get to the park and Emma opens the gate. When I realise it's empty, a smile forms on my face. It's good; there's no other people. We walk inside and sit down on the swings, swinging them ever-so-gently whilst we talk.

"I'm gonna miss you, y'know ... " I say.

Emma looks at me. "I'm gonna miss you too ... " she replies sadly.

Sadness filling my heart, I look down at the floor and sigh. "Ugh, I wish I'd never signed up for it. I don't wanna go, whether Michael Jackson goes or not!" I frown.

Emma reaches over and pats my arm, in attempt to cheer me up. She then changes the subject a little. "Call me every single day, okay?" she asks.

Obviously, I nod my head at this question. "Of course – multiple times a day," I vow.

We smile at each other, but our little moment is ruined by the sudden shout of voices. "Hey! If it isn't the one and only Cozzy!"

Oh damn. It's Daniel ... and Kieran ... and Michael.

Without even thinking, I bury my head in my hands; I really don't want this a day early. "Here goes," I say to Emma, who is obviously worried for me.

To try and keep up whatever charade I'm going along with, with my own self, I stand up, showing I'm not scared. As soon as I do so, they come running.

Shoot.

"You realise now you're gonna die!" Daniel shouts as he runs.

Damn, isn't he scary? ...

"Nah, pal. I think you'll find you are," I say, before running towards them with a look of anger on my face.

Daniel stops in his tracks ... but I don't think it's because he's scared though. Eventually, we stand just meters away from each other.

"Look, I don't wanna make trouble on the last day I have of freedom. Save it for tomorrow, right?" I ask.

Daniel laughs mockingly. "Hmm ... nah, I don't think I will. I'll get you today; Michael can get you tomorrow, and every day for a year. I think that's fair," he replies.

A chill runs down my spine. The worst Michael has done to me is attack me, and that's bad enough; what could he do that's worse than that?

"Look, just leave me alone. In fact, leave everyone alone!" I say angrily.

Daniel advances on me, a sly expression slowly becoming clearer. "After what you did yesterday? Ha, no! I don't think I will leave you alone!" he says as he gets closer.

My heart rate starts to pick up speed, and my breathing starts to get a little heavy. What's he going to do to me?

Soon he is just inches away from my face, and his angry face is real intimidating. I'm trying not to let that show, though. I take a step back and stare into his eyes. They're so shallow it's unreal. That just isn't good.

"Look: it isn't right what you do to people, okay? It isn't right! Just because you think it's big, or clever, it isn't! You're just ruining people's lives, and scarring them emotionally and physically. It's not nice ... don't do it ... " I plead calmly.

He walks a step closer, his face now calm. He takes a hold of my arm gently. "I guess you could be right," he says.

At this, a smile can't help but make its way onto my face. "See? It's not so—" My speech gets interrupted by Daniel squeezing my arm tighter.

"Or I could just ignore you and carry on doing what I do best!" he growls.

The grip he has on me causes me to wince in pain. Damnit, it hurts!

"Let go of me! Let go of me now!" I cry.

Emma comes running. "Becky!" she cries, trying to prise Daniel's grip off of me.

Of course, it fails. Daniel's grip just gets tighter and tighter. The feeling results in me wincing in pain once more; he can really freaking grip!

I look over at Kieran, who is standing with a huge smile on his face. Jerk.

Then I look at Michael. The eyes are the first thing I see ... the eyes ... the eyes! ... His face is expressionless; he's just standing and watching. He's wearing black leather and buckles, which makes a change from all that grey tracksuit business. I can see his hair fully; it's long – down to his shoulders – and curled perfectly. He has a couple of smaller strands of hair draped down his face, covering his eyes a little. I've never seen this appearance of him before.

"I said, let go of me!" I scream.

My scream echoes throughout the empty park, the sound waves rolling up and down the fields. But even after that, he still remains tight in his grip. I feel like I'm starting to lose circulation in my arm. Emma is still here trying to prise Daniel off me.

That is, until Daniel gets in Emma's face. "Get out of my way!" he yells, making Emma jump. She jerks back in surprise, and Daniel pulls his head back away from her and looks back at me. "You know what? I'll let Michael hurt you tomorrow. Just remember he'll give you Hell compared to what you've already had. Hell," he promises me.

Choosing just to accept this inevitable piece of information, I gulp a little and frown. He finally lets go of my arm, and I fall to the floor. The grass is muddy and it stains my clothes. My whole tough character seems to vanish as I immediately start to cry; Emma comes to me and kneels down by my side. I watch Michael as he looks at me with those deep eyes one last time, before following the rest of The Jax out of the park. Crying out, I bury my head in Emma's lap.

This was meant to be a good day, but it's turned out the be the worst.

~~

-Edited July 24, 2016-