"Derrek!" I screamed as I dropped to my knees beside him. "No Derrek, no no no!" I grabbed his head, pulling it into my lap. His face is already covered in a thick layer of sweat as his whole body shakes. "Derrek, please be ok. Please!" I screamed, holding onto him.

I look up in time to see Garret running full speed towards Dalton. "You want to challenge me, boy?" He taunted holding the gun up again. "Come on then!"

Another vicious gunshot rings out, but Garrett keeps running. Dalton tries to fire again as Garrett is closing in, but his gun jams, and Garrett tackles Dalton to the ground with ferocious precision, both of them hitting the ground roughly.

Derrek coughed in my arms, sending little drops of blood flying from his mouth. "Looks...looks like all that...all that football training finally did golden boy some good." He joked.

I couldn't help but to laugh through my tears. "Derrek, what were you thinking?" I cry to him.

"You know I couldn't just sit back and watch you die." He forced out through his strained breaths. The rise and fall of his chest was starting to slow, and he couldn't keep his eyes open.

"You think I want to watch you die?" I shouted at him.

"It's...it's alright, Cade. I'm good...I'm..." He didn't finish speaking. His head got heavier in my lap and tears began pouring from my eyes like open faucets.

Carrianne and Charles were sitting on either side of me looking down at Derrek with hollowed expressions. "Cade, I'm so sorry." Carrianne whispered as she put her hand on my back rubbing circles.

"He was a good man." Charles hardly mumbles, eyes cast down.

"Both of you shut up!" I scream. "He's not dead! He can't be dead!" I yell over and over.

I look away from Derrek's empty expression to see Garrett and Dalton are still grappling on the floor. I could end that in a second, but I know Garrett needs this. He needs a chance to stand up to his father and prove something to himself, so I let them continue to fight.

"Cadence, love, he isn't breathing." Gretchen said gently from behind me. "You need to take care of that man." She says talking about Dalton.

"No!" I sobbed loudly. "He's fine. Derrek is fine." I didn't even realize I had been rocking his body back and forth in my arms until he slumps over to one side. "This can't be happening." I whispered, staring at his pale face. I can feel everyone's sympathetic expressions burning into me and it only makes me angrier. "Stop them." I say barely above a whisper. "Bring him to me."

Charles, Taylor, and Ron walk over to the fighting men and separate them. It takes all three of them to hold him, but they drag him over to stop in front of me. My eyes meet with Garrett's and I silently ask him with my eyes if he is ok with what I'm about to do, although I'm pretty sure I would do it with or without his consent, but it doesn't matter since Garrett gave me a quick nod of his head.

"What are you doing?" Dalton screamed and bucked against the people restraining him. "Don't! Please, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Please, don't! Garrett, help me!" He yells trying to look back to his son.

"You'll never hurt another person again. Never." I say evenly.

I know everyone is watching to see what I will do, so I am going to give them the show they all want. I peek down at Derrek's lifeless body one more time before looking Dalton square in the eyes. I stare through his soul and watch as his skin begins to turn red and his blood begins to boil beneath the surface, making this skin ripple all over his body. He lets out blood curdling screams, but I don't even care. I focus on him. Watching as his eye balls melt right out of the sockets. The men holding him drop his body to the ground and step far away from him, looking on in horror.

"That's enough!" Charles yells at my side. "He's dead, stop now." He urges me, but I can't force myself to do it. This evil creature is the one who killed Derrek. He's the one who enjoyed all the times he beat Garrett and his mother. He deserves every bit of what he's getting. "Cadence!" Charles yells again. Finally, now that Dalton's body is not much more than bones covered in a goopy mess of melted flesh and blood, I stop.

Once the rage ran out of me, and I looked to what I had just done, I did feel disgusted with myself. Justified or not, I took things too far. It was clear in all of the eyes staring at me.

I forced the thought away because the only eyes I wanted to see right now are the ones staring blankly at the ceiling above us. I grab up his body again, rocking him in my arms, my tears splattering across his light blue t-shirt. "Derrek." I whispered his name. "I'm so sorry, Derrek."

Garrett knelt at my side and put his hand on my shoulder. "It's not your fault, Cadence."

"Of course it is!" I fired back.

"Cade, you know he would do this all over again if he had the chance. He would be willing to die for you a thousand times. Please don't blame yourself."

"Why should anyone have to die for me?" I demand. "I didn't want anyone to die because of me." I cry. "I told him not to come with me." I whispered. I looked down at Derrek's face again. "I told you not to come." I said to him.

"Cadence, come here." Garrett said as he tried to pull me away from Derrek's body and hold me, but I pulled back.

"No." I told him. "I'm not leaving him."

"Cadence, he's gone." Charles whispered to me.

"You think I don't know that?" I yelled at him. "Do you think I am blind? I see that he's gone. There has to be something I can do though! Something!"

"Cadence, you can't bring people back from the dead." Carrianne told me softly.

"You don't know what I can and cannot do!" I shouted to everyone. I closed my eyes and leaned my head down to rest against Derrek's. "I won't let you die for me." I whispered.

"Cade?" Stephen's voice came to me.

"Stephen, help me! We have to do something!"

"Cade, I don't think it's possible. Even if it were, who knows what would happen to you."

"I don't care what happens to me!" I scream.

"What about Garrett, and Charles and Carrianne? You think they don't care what happens to you? I know you're upset, but please, think about what you're doing."

"Stephen, I can't let him die. I have to do something."

"Ok." He said gently. "You know I've always got your back."

"I love you so much." I told him. "Is there a chance?"

"Yes." My mother's voice whispers. "It comes at a great cost."

"I don't care the cost, I want to save him!"

"Very well." She said simply. "I know this is what you truly want. You are such a beautiful person and I am so proud of you my sweet girl. I love you so much."

"I love you too." Stephen added. "Be careful, always be careful. I'm proud of you, too."

"I love you both so much!" I smiled. "Tell me what to do."

"You already know." My mother whispered.

I closed my eyes even more tightly, and I focused my mind with everything I had in me. "I love all of you." I said slowly. I could feel my power. It was flowing wildly within me. I felt it as I pressed my head against Derrek's. I forced it through me, using every bit of it I could muster.

"Cadence, What are you doing?" Garrett asked me with a worried voice.

"I love you." I answered him, not stopping my mission.

The more and more drained out of me, the more I began to feel weak. My whole body was tingling and my heart began to thud in my ears loudly and painfully. I couldn't stop myself though. Flashes of light stabbed at my eyes, making me flinch ever so slightly away.

"Cade, you're bleeding." I heard Carrianne say in shock.

I could feel it now. The blood running from my nose.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish. My whole body was quivering and I felt like I was being drained of my life, and maybe I am. Maybe that's the cost. A life for a life. If it is, I'm ok with that. I have had the best life I could have hoped for over the last few months. I've experienced what real love is. Both the love of family, and the love of another person who just connects so deeply to your soul that it's like finally finding the light when you've been living in eternal darkness. I've made friendships with people that I never would have thought possible, and I was given the chance to save so many people. If I have to give my life to make the best friend I've ever had, the best person I've ever known, live, then that's what I will do.

"Goodbye my sweet girl." My mother whispers.

"Goodbye?" I ask confused. "What do you mean?"

"Bye, sis. I love you so much, you little badass." Stephen chuckled.

"I love you both too, but what are you talking about?"

My energy was gone, I felt it. I wasn't going to make it. I wasn't strong enough.

My whole body felt like it was weighted down with sandbags, and my mind was having trouble remembering what I was doing.

"Just sleep." Stephen whispered.

Right before I passed out and everything went silent and black, I heard a loud raspy gasp come from in front of me, followed by breathless coughs.

I did it.