This couldn't be happening.
It wasn't real. It was just a dream. Any minute now, he would wake up, and everything would be as it should be.
"This isn't a dream, Justin." Trystans voice called out to him. His eyes flew open, landing on her as a small smile came to her face. "I know you. I know exactly what your thinking."
Still smiling, slowly Trystan took a few steps towards him.
"Don't you see?" she continued. "We're meant to be. We were meant to meet that night. It was fate. I know you're scared. Its hard to leave something you've known for so long. But you have to just do it, Justin. You have to get it over with. The sooner you end things with her, the sooner we can move on with our life together."
Justin didn't know what to do. How was he going to stop this?
He had to get Erin down from there. Looking up, he saw the fear in her eyes as she looked down on him. Her eyes red from tears. Her face pale with fright.
She was just as scared as he was.
Looking back to Trystan, Justin noticed she was much closer to him now.
"You know what this is, Justin?" she said, holding up the remote in her hand. "It controls the rigging up there. With a push of a button, I can move that platform down. Up. Anywhere. I can even tilt it. Wanna see?"
Before he had the chance to protest, Trystan pushed a button. Within seconds, the platform high above them slowly began to tilt one edge downwards.
"NO!" Justin screamed as he rushed below, his hands immediately above his head as if he would be able to catch Erin if she fell.
High above him, he could hear Erins muffled screams. She scooted back on the platform, trying her best not to slide.
"Stop!" Justin screamed. "Trystan, please stop."
"Why?" she asked, her voice surprisingly genuine. As if she really couldn't understand why he would want her to stop.
"Please!"
Surprisingly, the movement on the platform stopped. Slowly, it began to raise again, returning to its original position.
Justins breathing was ragged and uncontrolled. His frantic eyes turned back to Trystan, as she smiled at him.
"It would be so easy, wouldn't it?" she asked. "She is the only thing standing between us, Justin. All we have to do it get rid of her."
"Trystan, please." Justin pleaded, taking a few cautious steps towards her. "Please, don't do this."
"YOU DID THIS!" she screamed. Her outburst stopped Justin in his tracks, his hands raising in front of him. "You started all this. You are the one, Justin. You are the one who did all this. If you had just admitted it a long time ago, none of this would be happening it. It never had to come to this."
Trystans eyes were wide with anger now. She walked towards him, stopping only a few feet from him.
"What do you want from me?" Justin asked, his eyes pleading with her. "What do you want me to say?"
"Tell her." Trystan said plainly. "Tell her the truth."
"I did!" he yelled. "I told her everything. I told her what happened. She knows, Trystan! She knows!"
"That's not what I mean, Justin!" she spat. "I don't care if she knows about what happened in New York. I want you to tell her the truth about how you feel!"
When Justins eyes turned to a look of confusion, Trystan sighed loudly. "Tell her that you love me!"
Justin couldn't believe what he was hearing. What was he supposed to do? He knew damn well that saying those words would not satisfy Trystan. They wouldn't make a difference at all.
His eyes fell to the small remote in her hand. He had to get to it. He had to somehow get that remote. It was his only chance.
Taking a shaky step towards her, Justin lowered his voice. "I'm scared, Trystan." he said. "Ive hurt so many people already. I don't want to hurt anyone, anymore."
Trystans eyes were wary, but her face was soft. Justin could tell she was trying to figure him out, but he knew she was weak when it came to him. He was her weakness, and he was going to use that against her.
"I know you're scared, Justin." she said, her voice soothing. "Its okay to be scared. But it needs to be done. You need to tell her the truth. Its the only way she'll believe."
Stepping up to her, Justin looked down at her. He fought with everything in him not to attack her. But he knew he had to do this right. There was only one shot at this. If he screwed it up, it would be over.
"Help me." he said quietly. His eyes pleaded with her for guidance. For some sort of support.
Smiling up at him, Trystan closed the small gap between their bodies. "Ill always be here for you, Justin."
Before he had the chance to second guess himself, Justin leaned down and did what he never thought he would ever do.
He kissed her.
His stomach turned at the contact, his lips pursed tightly together.
The action surprised Trystan, but she wasn't about to pull away. Slowly, her arms rose to circle his neck, pulling him closer. Tilting his head, Justin reaching his hands up to rest on her arms gently.
With one quick movement, he pulled her left arm down. Grasping her wrist, he reached out and grabbed the small remote with his left hand, pulling it away from her.
But she wouldn't let go. She recovered from the shock quicker than he thought, and she fought against him hard.
"Justin!" she screamed, as she pulled against him. "What are you doing!?"
He didn't respond. He pulled, twisting the remote in an attempt to free it from her hands.
Her hand tightened around it, and suddenly from behind them, the sound of gears moving broke Justins concentration.
The platform was moving. Slowly, it was moving downwards. It wasn't tilting, thankfully. It was simple lowering to the ground at a slow pace.
All he had to go was keep it moving down, and get Erin off of it.
"Justin!" Trystan screamed as she pushed at his chest. Leaning forward, she bit his hand hard.
Pain shot through his hand and up his arm, but he didn't loosen his grip.
Looking over from the corner of his eye, he noticed that the platform was low now. If he could just get the remote from Trystan, he would be able to reach Erin.
Suddenly, with a surprising burst of strength, Trystan pulled back against Justin. His hand slipped from the remote, his grip loosening. Trystan fell backwards, her arms falling behind her as she fell.
Her impact was hard on the ground, her hands coming behind her to break her fall.
The sound of her hitting the ground was hard, but more importantly, Justin heard the sound of the remote hitting the concrete floor. It was still in Trystans hand, only now, it was in pieces.
Trystan looked over at her hand, noticing the broken remote.
Justin didn't have time to react. Suddenly, he turned to find the platform still moving. Only this time, it was moving back up.
As she fell, Trystan must have switched the platform to move back up. Now that it was broken, there was no stopping it. The only was to stop it, was to get on the platform. There would be a control on there somewhere. Erin couldn't get to it because of her confines. All he had to do was get on that platform.
Justin took off running, his legs moving quickly beneath him.
It only took Trystan a second to stand and give chase. She raced close behind, screaming his name.
"Justin!"
But he didn't listen. The platform was rising faster, and he only had a few seconds to reach it.
Finally, he was beneath it. Reaching up, he grabbed the edge and began to pull himself up. The gears began to grind under the added pressure, the platform shifting only slightly. Quickly, he pulled himself up and onto the surface.
On his hands and knees, Justin crawled towards Erin. She was watching with wide eyes as he approached.
"Its okay," he told her. "You're going to be fine."
Suddenly, a hand grasped his ankle, stopping his movement. Looking behind him, Justin found Trystan behind him. She had followed his lead, and pulled herself up and onto the platform.
"Justin!" she screamed as she pulled on his leg. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Justin turned over onto his back, twisting from her grasp and pulling himself back and out of her reach.
Erin moved back on the platform, still unable to stand or do anything other than watch what was going on in front of her.
Justin stood quickly, steadying himself on the wobbly surface.
Trystan followed, grabbing hold of one of the cables at her side. Her eyes blazed with anger as she screamed.
"Justin!" she yelled as she took a cautious step towards her. "Tell her! Tell her!"
"No!" he screamed back. "Stop this, Trystan!"
"But I love you!" she yelled, still taking steps towards him.
"I don't love you!" he spat.
"YOU LOVE ME, I KNOW IT!"
In one quick movement, she was across the platform. Her body tackled his, both of them falling to the platform surface in a loud thud.
Trystans small fist pounded against Justin as he fought to control her, and to keep himself from falling. They were dangerously close to the edge and one wrong move would send them both over.
"Tell her!" she continued to scream. "Tell her! You love me! I know you do!"
Justin didn't respond. All his attention and strength was focused on defending himself.
Suddenly, her fighting paused. Only for a short second, before her arm shot above him and grabbed Erin by the ankle.
Erins muffled scream sounded around him, as Justin reached up to try and remove Trystans hand.
"Its your fault!" Trystan screamed. "You are the reason he's not with me! You bitch! Its all your fault!"
Erin pulled hard against Trystans hand, as Justin pulled back. Both of them pulling in opposite directions threw Trystans hand from Erins leg, Justin pushing her back in the process.
The momentum from the movement threw Trystan off balance, her body falling from the edge of the platform.
Her hands grabbed the side quickly as she dangled now three hundred feet above the concrete floor of the arena.
"Justin!" she screamed, terror in her voice. "Help me!"
Sliding across the platform, Justin sprawled his body across the surface. Reaching over the edge, he grabbed her arm.
"Hold on!" he yelled, as he tried desperately to pull her up.
Trystan screamed as her free hand fell from the side. She dangled helplessly from the ground, her eyes falling below her at the height.
Justin groaned, his teeth clenched as he tried to pull.
Slowly, his hand began to slip. Trystan reached up and grabbed his hand, but she still continued to slip.
"Trystan," Justin said. "Grab my other hand!" Reaching down, Justin held his hand out for her.
Trystan yelled as she let go of Justins hand, to reach for the other. But the moment she let go, her one hand slid from his grasp.
It happened so quick, there was no way to stop it. She slid from his hand, falling to the ground.
Her scream echoed around them, as Justin screamed in disbelief.
"NO!"
A loud thud sounded, as Justin pulled back and onto the platform quickly. His eyes closed tight with horror.
He didn't move for a few moments, finally opening his eyes to look at Erin.
Her eyes were wide with terror, her entire body shaking. Pulling himself up, Justin crossed the short distance to her, and began to untie her.
When she was finally free from her confines, Justin sat beside her on the platform. Wrapping his arms around her, Erin held onto him for her life.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."
Erin only cried in response.
Opening his eyes, Justin look over the edge of the platform one last time.
Now, everything was silent.
