Always There

Summary: Just something I wrote based on the shooting. I may add more to it.

1. Chapter One

Everything Changes

The two gun shots echoed around her head. She was numb in shock, she couldn't do anything. She couldn't speak, she couldn't move – she couldn't hear anyone. She knew someone was calling her name, but who she couldn't work out.

The last thing she remembered was screaming out a long and painful no. A no that made everything seem so real. The only word she hadn't wanted to have yelled out – it meant the worst had happened.

She placed her head in her hands and fell to her knees onto the wet, cold bitumen road beneath her. She sobbed hysterically, the tears cascaded freely from her eyes and down her cheeks. The salty taste seeming too normal in her mouth. Her eyes were already beginning to sting.

Though why was she sitting her worrying about herself? Two of her best friends could be dead? More tears escaped her eyes and she was no longer crying silently. Or Scott ... what if it was Scott? She couldn't bear to loose him. It was bad enough thinking she had lost him when she (she couldn't bear to say her name) told her he had died.

What if it was Hayley? Her best friend that supported her through everything? She could talk to Hayley about everything. Or Noah? Just as good a friend. Hayley and Noah had just got married it shouldn't be one of them.

Or Kirsty? Her sister? Who she had so many times told her she hated for ruining her life. She wished she realized sooner that she was ruining her life just as much as she was ruining hers. Or Kane? A year ago she wouldn't have cared, but now they (her Scott and Kane) had gone through this trauma together – she couldn't imagine Kirsty's grief if he were to die.

Or Flynn and Sally? She didn't talk to them as often, but would still be heartbroken if it were one of them. Two innocent people who had nothing to do with her. They didn't deserve to die.

Leah and Jesse even. Jesse had already endeared pain from her after he was shot. He didn't deserve this. Nor did Leah, or just as Flynn and Sally, had nothing to do with this. Another innocent bystander.

This is all your fault a voice entered her head that she could just make out over her hysterical crying, that's right, your entire fault. She stopped crying for a moment, no she thought, it's her fault! She's the one in there! The voice entered her head stronger than ever, no it's not. It's your fault. If you hadn't have wrote that article all those months ago about him she wouldn't have come after you! Or if you didn't write that letter to the Gov – he wouldn't have died.

Dani shakily stood up and watched the events occurred before her and realized what had happened, realized whose life had been taken. She didn't even notice when her dad walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. A shocked expression was on her face, as the tears stopped, that voice was right. It was all her fault. Whoever's life had been taken was her fault – not hers (she still couldn't say her name), but hers!

Though she may have been in numb shock and hysterical tears she had no idea how intense things were inside...

FLASHBACK

LEAH'S HOUSE

"I'm not an unreasonable person," her cold voice sent shivers down all their spines, "I'll give you –" she gazed at the ticking clock, "– ten seconds for someone to confess who killed Felix. If you don't well then you know." She smirked at them all like she was enjoying, who knew maybe she was so twisted she actually was.

Those ten seconds had been the longest yet quickest time in all their lives. They wished it would last longer, but it seemed too long for comfort.

Tick, tock.

Hayley felt Noah push her roughly behind him. Tears welled up in her eyes; she had never been so scared in her entire life. This shouldn't be happening to her or Noah. They had only just got married. They were supposed to be going to Paris.

She wouldn't be able to handle it if Noah had died – not so close to their wedding. Not so close for them going to Paris.

She remembered their wedding day as if it had just happened. Her father being their in spirit, her stumbling over the vowels and getting them wrong and mixed up. Noah standing looking handsome in his black suit. There first kiss as husband and wife – she'd never forget it.

Or what if she was the one to die? How would Noah deal with it? Would this be the last time she ever saw her friends and loved one again? Why did this have to happen? This shouldn't have been happening.

More tears fell down her face as she clung Noah, burying her head into his shoulder trying desperately to think back to a happier place. A blurred vision of her wedding day entered her mind.

Tick, tock.

Kirsty clung to Kane as Sarah reached the number nine. How could this be happening to them? What had they done wrong to deserve this? Nothing, nothing at all. They didn't do anything to her, so why was she targeting them. None of them had killed Felix.

She knew herself that she wouldn't be able to handle it if Kane died. She couldn't handle the time he was away from her and he was still alive them. How would she cope? She'd go completely down hill.

Everything was finally turning out right for them. Their forbidden relationship had finally been accepted by everyone, she had got over her kidney failure and miscarrying her baby nothing else was supposed to go wrong. Their recommitment ceremony was supposed to signify that everything was going to be alright – nothing would go wrong.

How wrong was she?

She looked around at everyone, before silent tears cascaded down her cheeks. Why was this happening? After all she'd been through – after all they've been through. She couldn't handle this!

Why did everything go always go wrong?

Tick, Tock

"Eight," said Sarah breezily.

Leah looked down at the unconscious Peter, not now! She couldn't die not now – not with what Peter had just said. She had waited two years to hear this piece of information, but not like this.

"Vinnie's alive. He's alive."

The words were so clear in her head, as though Peter kept repeating them over and over again. She knew he had hit his head pretty bad, but even though Flynn thought that was the reason behind his announcement she knew there was truth to it.

She had wondered what he had been hiding from her ever since he lied about going to high-school with her. Now she had finally found out, she couldn't die! Not now that Vinnie was alive. Peter couldn't die either – he needed to tell her more about this.

That may have sounded selfish, but that wasn't the main reason why she wanted him too, but she really needed to know more about this.

"Vinnie's alive."

He's alive; it bought some comfort to her in such a horrible situation. Though she felt for everyone else. This should not be happening.

Tick, Tock.

Scott leaned against the back of the room and folded his arms; he knew that everyone else was scarred and extremely worried. In a way he wasn't. He was worried about everyone else, but not himself.

This was all his fault, whoever died, was his fault. He made it happen. He brought her here. Why couldn't he have yelled out to the cops or something? She probably would have shot him, but no-one else would have had to go through all this. No-one would have to worry about whether they'd live again.

Would he ever see Dani again? He didn't know the answer to that question, but if he did die why would it matter? It was his fault. That's all there was to hit. He knew how much Dani would be upset. He was upset just thinking about the fact that he might never see her again. He might never have got the chance to propose to her.

He managed a quick glance at everyone. Seeing their scarred looks urged another ounce of guilt through him. Seeing them all so scarred, so worried, so frightened. It wasn't fair on any of them.

Why hadn't he had said something? If only he could go back and do it all over again. If only he had have said something! There were too many if onlys to think about. He started to wonder if he'd even get to see Dani's face again.

Tick, Tock

Jesse looked straight at Sarah. He was scarred, there was no doubt about that, but he wanted to know how the hell she could just stand and there look so calm – so happy about the situation. She was crazier than he thought.

He had already got shot because she pointed a gun at his head because he wouldn't tell her who killed Felix. He tried reasoning with her that she was the one who killed him and that she didn't know what she was doing that she was just trying to help him, but obviously that did not work.

Now here she was, escaped from a mental institution, pointing a gun at them all. Giving them ten seconds for one of them to confess something they didn't even do. He saw her face twist into a grin as she looked at them all. He managed to get a look at Leah. She was leaning over Peter, demanding that he wake-up he wondered what could have happened.

Leah, he was so worried about her. Sure they hadn't ended their relationship one the best of terms, but he still cared about her more than anything. If anything happened to her he'd have to live with knowing that he never told her that he didn't want them to hate each other for the rest of their lives.

He didn't want anything to happen to anyone else either. Maybe he could try reasoning with Sarah again, maybe it would work. He went to open his mouth, but Sarah seemed to sense it.

She looked at him with her cold, hard steel-blue eyes. "I wouldn't say anything if I were you. Unless you want to confess that you killed Felix, is that it?" She leered down on him.

Jesse was about to fire something back, but decided it was better if he didn't. He shook his head and glanced back at the ground.

Sarah looked at him before continuing to walk back and forwards across the room.

Tick, Tock

Sally looked up at Sarah nervously, Flynn had already pushed her behind him. She couldn't believe that this was happening in Summer Bay, she couldn't help but let the tears roll down her cheeks.

What if she never saw her daughter or her husband again? Sarah had already threatened to shoot Flynn after he explained that he could help her because he was a doctor. She couldn't cope if anything happened to either of them.

She saw Scott and automatically sensed that he was blaming himself. She looked back up at Sarah. "Please," she said quietly surprising herself. "We have babies in there." She couldn't even imagine the pain if something happened to Pippa or VJ for that matter.

"I'm not going to hurt them," said Sarah coldly. "The only person I'm going to hurt is the person who killed Felix. It's only fair."

Sally held on to Flynn tighter as the thought of never seeing him again drifted through her mind, why was this happening?

Tick, Tock

"Four," said Sarah quietly her voice just above a whisper.

She continued her parade backwards and forwards across the room. She looked down on them. To see them crying, the scared looks on their faces and wondering if they'd ever live again made everything worthwhile. Why shouldn't they suffer? One of them had killed Felix he had suffered.

"Do you think I want to do this?" she asked looking at them. "Well I don't."

It was true she didn't want to be doing this, she just wanted one of them – the one who had killed Felix – to die. It was justice, it was fair she decided. Why should the live when he was dead?

She remembered one of them saying she had killed Felix well she hadn't. She was helping him, it didn't kill him. Someone here bashed him to death. How dare they accuse her of killing someone? It was them – not her.

If someone didn't step forward soon she'd have to shoot someone randomly. It might not be Felix's killer, but it would frighten them to step forward. Maybe she could just close her eyes, point the gun and shoot. It would get everything over with. She didn't care if she got caught all she cared about was killing Felix's killer.

She looked at the clock on the table then back at everyone else. It was getting closer, she couldn't help but smile an evil smile this was great, it was justice.

Tick, Tock

"Three ..."

All the girls in the room, couldn't help but let out worried cries and sobs. Hayley held tighter onto Noah, Kirsty hugged Kane, Sally held onto Flynn and Leah was still leaning over Peter her tears falling onto his face.

"Two..."

The men were ready to protect their loved ones. They would jump in front of any of them to save their lives they loved them too much to let anything happen to them. Noah held onto Hayley tighter, Kane held onto Kirsty's hands as did Flynn to Sally's Jesse and Scott were ready to jump up aswell. Scott more than anyone.

"One..."

This was it. None of them had stepped forward she'd have to close her eyes and point. That's what she did. She pulled her finger back on the trigger she heard everyone screaming and shouting, but what did that matter? She was finally going to get justice for Felix's death. Finally, it was all over. She released the trigger and heard the gun shot echo in the distance and then she felt someone tackle her to the ground.

She pushed Kane away roughly and stood up. She pointed the gun at him this time, so what if more than one life was lost? It wouldn't matter? Felix wouldn't have minded. Just as she released another shot she felt some else push her away.

"NO! NOAH!" screamed Hayley, her eyes full of tears. She went to stand up, but someone grabbed hold of her and held her down. "NO!"

Sarah pointed the gun at Noah, but then quickly turned on her heels. She opened the doors and saw the flashing lights of police cars and then someone standing in front of her. She recognized at her – she was the one who had caused all this trouble. Maybe she had killed Felix?

Trembling she pointed the gun at Dani. She saw her shake her head and mouth a silent 'no, please'. She saw her crying, begging.

"Sarah! No!"

She spun around and saw him again. Maybe he did it, Sarah thought, maybe that's why he didn't want her to kill Dani. She pointed the gun at him. She saw his expression change to scared. She pulled back the trigger and then released it and then another one. She saw him fall lifelessly to the ground

"NO!" screamed Hayley.

Sarah saw her shake uncontrollably with sobs and fell down beside him, sobbing even louder screaming. She had done, she had got justice once and for all. Now all she had to do was be with Felix forever. She looked around the surroundings, the blaring police silence seemed way off in the distance. Everyone's screams seemed far, far away. She pointed the gun at herself and then there was nothing...

Nothing ...

Nothing, but darkness, sirens and sobs ...

Nothing would ever be the same ...

There was no reversing it ...

Everything had changed ...

Author's Note: How was that? I hope you enjoyed. Temporarily this was supposed to be one shot, but who knows I might add more to it. Let me know if you like it.

Love and Light Lozzyxx