"Damien!" Kyle yelled, his voice echoing in the empty room “Damien!” he yelled once more, he could hear footsteps approaching closer, he looked and saw Damien finally emerge.
Appearing on the small stage, a glass of punch in his hand "You kept me waiting I was starting think something had happened to you" Damien said stepping off the stage "Punch?" he asked holding up a cup of punch.
Kyle knocked it from his hand, sending the glass across the room.
"You know a simple 'no' would have sufficed" Damien said to him.
"What do you want? " Kyle asked "Why are you here? For all anyone knew you were dead, all you had to do was leave town and not come back."
"And miss prom? Are you kidding me?" Damien asked.
"What happened? How are you standing here right now?” Kyle asked.
"Oh you mean after the explosion on Halloween?" Damien asked.
“You’re the one who had the building wired to blow” Kyle said to him.
"Right, well after the fire department pulled us out of the wreckage my brother had my father and I sent to a private facility in Oregon with only the top medical professionals in the country" Damien said to him. "I was put into a medically induced coma, and I guess it was what you would call a Christmas miracle."
"You woke up on Christmas, there's got be some irony in there somewhere" Kyle said.
"Close, I woke up on the stroke of midnight exactly on New Years' Day...so did my father."
"Course he did" Kyle said.
"My brother then moved us from the clinic to a private retreat in Montana, we've been there since about...March". "Trust me, the plan for us was to get through physical therapy to be well enough for my brother to send us off to Europe and never look back but I could not let that happen without one more visit to my old buddy Kyle". "So I was just lurking about on the internet one day, came upon the school website and to my surprise...you were nominated for prom king so I thought hey...no time like the present huh?" Damien asked.
The elevator reached the basement of the hotel.
“Come on we got to go back up” Adam said as he went towards the stairs.
"Kyle told us to leave!" Harry said going to for the emergency exit.
"And since when do we listen to him? We're not letting him do this alone" Adam said to him.
"Let's go" Harry said as they ran up the stairs.
"Where is he?" Kyle asked Damien.
"The old man?" Damien asked “Oh I’m sure he’s around here somewhere” Damien said “Although I do recall him saying he had a debt to collect…had something to do with your two goofy blonde friends I know that much…not like he can move very fast these days” Damien said. “It would be easy for anyone to get the jump on him…even someone as simple as those two idiots…ah well, I’m sure they’re fine” Damien said to him, smiling.
Kyle glared at him for a few seconds before turning around walking towards the doors.
“Where you going? The party’s just getting started” Damien said.
“I’m doing what I should’ve done in the first place…I’m walking away, I’m walking away from you and this whole crazy feud you’ve made up in your head, it’s not worth it, YOU are not worth it!” Kyle said to him.
“Sure you want to do that?” Damien asked pulling a gun from his coat pocket.
Kyle stopped in his tracks, he turned to see Damien smiling sinisterly at him, his finger on the gun’s trigger.
“So I guess we’re back to where we started” Damien said to him as Kyle turned around.
Harry and Adam continued to run up the stairs, trying to get back to the hotel's lobby.
"God how many floors until the lobby?" Harry asked panting.
"Just one more, come on we can't stop" Adam said.
“It didn’t have to be this way you know” Kyle said “You could’ve accepted your loss like a human being and moved on but no you had to make everyone as miserable as you were and it’s only destroyed us both in the end” he said to Damien. “And you want to know the sickest saddest part?” Kyle asked.
“Well I’m sure you’re going to tell me as you usually do” Damien said still aiming the gun at Kyle.
“This whole thing, this whole ordeal…the shooting, the kidnapping, the explosion… was just because of a trophy, a plaque...an insignificant piece of high school memorabilia isn't going to mean anything in five years"
“It means NOTHING, YOU mean nothing!" Kyle yelled at Damien.
“Well of course it meant nothing to you! like everything else it was just handed to you...you didn't even have to try...they just make it so easy for you, well you know what? it wasn't nothing to me” Damien said.
“Course it wasn’t, because winning that award would finally get you what you always wanted…daddy's attention" Kyle said.
Damien pulled the trigger, firing off a shot, Kyle ducked and dove out of the way, Damien kept firing as Kyle dodged the bullets.
Harry and Adam made it back to the lobby, they ran to the ballroom and pulled on the doors.
"Locked" Adam said "Kyle!" Adam said banging on the door "Kyle!" he yelled.
They heard the shots being fired and looked at each other fearfully “Gunshots” Adam said.
They pulled on the doors once again, shaking them "Stage doors" Harry said as they ran across the lobby.
Damien turned over the refreshment table "Come on Richardson! come on out and face me!" he yelled searching the ballroom.
"Locked" Adam said as he and Harry jiggled the handles to the stage doors.
"Can't you pick it like you did with the elevator" Harry asked.
"You got another paper clip hidden on you somewhere?" Adam asked.
"No" Harry said "The reception desk" Harry said as they scurried over to the desk.
Kyle ducked behind the DJ booth, he snuck backstage and cut the lights.
Damien looked around bewildered "I'm not really a fan of hide and seek Kyle!" Damien yelled "I always hated this game!" he said.
Kyle crawled over the DJ booth once more and turned on the strobe lights and the music, once Damien’s back was turned Kyle pounced. He tackled Damien to the floor, the gun fell out of Damien’s hand and slid across the floor.
“You know WHY I won? Do you?!” Kyle asked Damien as they struggled together on the floor “Because I’m BETTER THAN YOU!!!” Kyle yelled at him.
Punches were being thrown left and right, landing with high impact, blood began to trail down Damien’s nose.
“God that feels good to say!” Kyle said “You were so focused on being the rich popular jock that you forgot you would actually have to play the damn game, which you SUCK at!” he said as he pinned Damien to the floor.
Damien heaved his head into Kyle’s, Kyle fell next to him in agony, the room began to spin. Damien reached for the gun when he tackled him once more, getting a few more blows to his face in. Damien kneed him in the groin, throwing Kyle off of him, he managed to get to his feet and grab the gun. Kyle lied on the floor still in pain as Damien stood over him, the gun pointed at him
“My my, how the tables have turned” Damien said.
Kyle then kicked him in the shin, pushing him back down to the floor, he got up and kicked the gun clear across the room. Damien got up and they grabbed ahold of each other, they struggled against each other, Damien then pushed Kyle into the balcony doors. They opened and Kyle stood up near the balcony railing, Damien charged towards him, pushing him against the railing.
Kyle looked down to the sidewalk below, Damien was still pushing him hard, he smiled at Kyle almost maniacally.
“Long live the king” he said wickedly.
Kyle slid over the railing, holding on for dear life with one hand, he pulled at Damien bringing him over the railing and into a freefall. He could hear Damien screamed as he to the ground and suddenly it was quiet, he looked down to see Damien splayed out on the concrete below.
The doors to the ballroom opened, Harry and Adam looked around.
“Kyle?” Harry asked.
“Kyle!” Adam yelled out.
“Help! Guys I’m out here!” Kyle screamed, still dangling from the balcony.
“Kyle?!” Adam asked as they raced to the balcony “Oh my god” Adam said as they looked over and saw Kyle hanging onto the railing, they reached over and grabbed onto him.
“What the hell” Bradley said as he and Neilson passed by the ballroom, they ran inside and out to the balcony, helping Adam pull Kyle over.
Harry looked over the railing “Oh my god” he said seeing Damien dead on the sidewalk, they all looked down.
Kyle sat on the ground, trying to regain his breathing “It’s over” he said standing up and walking through the ballroom.
