by Adan Ramie
She opened the door and held it for them, and they walked through into the hallway that smelled like rotting death. Jolie’s blood had permeated the still air like sewer, but Riley barely noticed. All she could think about was who would be hunting them, and why.
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now,” he said.
“We have to try to find a way out.”
She didn’t know what to think anymore. With Veronica’s body missing and Sara knocked out but not dead, she needed Nick’s help to get anywhere she wanted to go.
She didn’t know if she could trust him. She wanted to. She wanted to let him lead her somewhere safe and help Sara to wake up.
He could be the killer. Or maybe the killer was someone else. She had no idea anymore.
“You know what I’m thinking? I wonder where your mystery saviors across the road are,” Nick said.
She looked at him with Sara in his arms. She didn’t know if she was making a huge mistake or not, but she didn’t have any other options. The smartest thing, she decided, was to keep him within her sights. Then maybe if he was planning something dire, she could catch him in the act before it was too late.
“Let’s find out.”
She followed him as he carried Sara through the room over to the window. They stood and watched the rain smash down from the sky onto everything the faintest light of day touched for a long, thoughtful moment, then a light shone outside the building.
It wasn’t in the building across the street but was somehow in the middle of the river that the street had become, and it wasn’t strobing, flashing, or pulsing, but shining clearly at them.
Riley stepped forward, put both her hands on the glass, and pressed. It came out all at once and she stumbled against the window frame. Then she leaned out and screamed, “Help!”
She waited for the light to shine back at her, then waved her arms back and forth out the window in hopes that the person who had decided to brave the storm would see her. The light danced over her then fell away.
She stopped, pulled herself back in the window, and looked for the source of the light again. When she saw it, she did the same thing as before. She screamed and she waved.
She did the same thing two more times before the light disappeared out of her view. Then she got back inside, closed the window, and turned around to check on Sara and get eyes on Nick.
Veronica stared back at her. Nick was on the floor with Sara beside him, both of them lying still with their eyes closed and their limbs spread akimbo, and Veronica was standing over them with a Cheshire cat smile on her face. Her once dull, heavily lidded eyes were wide open.
“How-” Riley asked.
Veronica rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. You know better than to believe everything you see. You didn’t think I was going to let a little twit like Sara take me out, did you?”
“I know Sara. She wouldn’t have done that on purpose,” Riley said. She took a step toward Sara, but Veronica blocked her path with one step to her side. “It was an accident.”
“I can’t believe you think you can trust her,” Veronica said.
She stepped over Nick’s still form and stood directly over Sara. She glanced down at her, then back at Riley. “She tried to push me down the stairs. Honestly, it was a lucky break that she knocked me out. It took everyone’s mind off me.”
“Nick said you were dead.”
Veronica reached a hand in her pocket and pulled out the baggy of pills. She shook it to show Riley how many there were, then she pocked it again.
“These pills are supposed to suppress what my doctor calls ‘unnatural urges’, but they don’t. What they actually do when I take them the way they’re prescribed is make me tired. If I take the right combination, though, I get nice and high, though they do lower my heart rate and blood pressure.”
“He couldn’t feel your pulse,” Riley said, more to herself than to Veronica, then looked back at the woman who she had thought was dead. “I would have done something if I thought there was anything to do for you.”
Veronica smiled. “I know. You’re a do-gooder, one of those girls who went from ditzy but beloved cheerleader to victim to motivational speaker. Someone who helps old ladies to cross streets and returns lost dogs without collecting the reward.”
She smirked. “It’s no wonder these two have such hard-ons for you. You’re who she thinks she is, and you’re who he thinks he wants. The perfect survivor. The Final Girl to beat all Final Girls.”
“You’re wrong. I’m not any of those things,” Riley said.
“Yeah, blah blah, humility. Cut the crap.” Veronica stepped over Sara and Nick and walked up to Riley. She got right into her face so that Riley could smell the blood rotting on her dark-colored jacket. “They worship you, and you won’t even let them.”
“I don’t deserve that. I only survived something awful. I’m not anything special.”
Veronica reached one hand forward and Riley flinched. Veronica caressed her cheek with the back of one finger. “You have pretty skin, too. The pictures don’t do you justice. Even with the scars, you’re a knockout, like one of those girl next door types everyone wants to bang.
You’re the kind of girl who gets to have sex and no one calls her a slut, except for maybe the people she won’t sleep with, and even them she’s nice to. You’re the girl who breaks the mold. Hell, you even turn out to be a pretty decent leader, considering the circumstances.”
She opened her hand and gave Riley a light slap on the face. “You’re the perfect final victim of the deranged Sara Parrish.”
“What?” Riley whispered.
She watched as Sara slowly stood up behind Veronica, her face contorted with rage and her small hands balled into fists. Riley backed up a step toward the window she hadn’t closed all the way, and Veronica followed her.
“You aren’t Sara. You’re Veronica Shine.”
“Duh,” Veronica said. “I’m not crazy.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
Veronica matched her step for step, and so did Sara behind her. Riley tried not to look at her ally moving so quietly on the damp carpet and kept her eyes squarely on the woman who would do her harm.
Veronica smirked. “You know, Cindy was the perfect catalyst for all of this. I didn’t even lay a finger on her. That moron must have fallen and hit her head while she was getting ready to try to sleep her way up to the top of Nick’s next convention list.”
“What about the others?” Riley asked.
She could feel the cool air as it slipped through the opening around the window and hoped Veronica’s coat would shield her from it. If she figured out what was happening, it wouldn’t work, this plan she and Sara had concocted without uttering a word.
“You killed them all, didn’t you?”
“I actually kind of liked Jolie but killing her was a good way to help set up the twit she hated so much. I never really put much stock into the idea that Sara killed her family until I heard Jolie tell it so convincingly, and then I figured it was convenient. She would be easy to pin it all on. But then the bitch pushed me down the stairs, and I knew she had done it. She killed her family, she tried to kill me, and she’s about to kill you.”
“What about Bethany?” Riley asked. The sill of the window was cold and wet on her hands. She clamped her teeth shut to keep them from clacking and plead with her eyes at Veronica.
Veronica stopped to consider the question, leaving her a few feet from Riley and only a foot from where Sara was sneaking up behind her.
“You know, I was glad to see her die. Aside from that shameless tramp Cindy, Bethany was my least favorite of everyone here. Even Sara was interesting! Bethany, though, she wasn’t even Final Girl material. The people she was with died from a bombing. Bombing doesn’t qualify. And besides, she was such a wimp.”
She stepped forward again and Riley locked eyes with Sara. Veronica sucked in a breath as Sara launched herself against her and Riley ducked out of the way.
Despite her height and weight advantage, Veronica couldn’t fight off Sara’s small, claw-like hands as they swiped at her while Sara bared her teeth, growled, and hissed.
They struggled for a moment at the window when it didn’t immediately push through, so Riley didn’t stop to think. She pushed Sara but grabbed the back of her shirt. Veronica fell through and Riley pulled Sara back into the building, both panting and soaked to the skin from the rain.
Riley jumped up and looked out the window. She thought she could see a shape floating by in the water, but with all the debris around, she couldn’t tell. She hoped it was Veronica, and that she had died on impact. Anything else was too horrendous to consider.
Nick groaned from his spot on the floor and Riley turned around to face the other two survivors. Sara was watching her with a calculating, appraising look. Nick sat up, swore, and put a hand on his head.
“What happened?” he asked without opening his eyes. “My head is killing me.”
Riley walked over and crouched down. She inspected the back of his head. The wound was small and freely leaked blood, but it would heal. “You’re fine. Veronica hit you, but it doesn’t look too bad.”
She stood up and went to Sara. She helped the petite woman off the floor and onto her feet, then pulled her into a hug that she was sure was crushing, but she didn’t care. She buried her face in Sara’s hair and started to cry.
The killer was gone. They were the last ones left and all she wanted to do was go home.
CHAPTER
21
February 26, 2018
The convention, the storm, and the murders had all boiled down to a recurring bad dream to Riley. She had the dream over and over, and every time, she sat up with a gasp in bed as Veronica’s body slammed through the window and she pulled Sara back inside. She considered it a small miracle that she never had to see the look Sara had given her – that cold, angry stare – again.
Riley turned off her phone and shoved it into her glove compartment along with everything else she wasn’t allowed to bring inside the hospital. That left her with her keys, her driver’s license, and the book she had been asked to bring. It didn’t feel like enough to her, but every time she had one of these visits, it left Sara in such a good mood, she knew she might never stop.
“Good morning, Miss David,” the orderly at the front desk said as she pulled open the heavy door and walked inside. She smiled and walked up to him. Her driver’s license went on the desk, a sign-in sheet was pushed toward her, and the man leaned his elbows on the dull, scuffed surface. “How are you today?”
“I’m well, Jason. How are the kids?”
He grinned and pulled back. “Can’t complain. The twins are walking, and Jake has himself a girlfriend.”
“Already? He’s only four!”
“Five next month.”
Riley pocketed her driver’s license and handed over her keys. He stowed them on a peg board and handed her a slip of laminated paper marked with a number that she slipped into her pocket with her ID.
“I can’t believe it. Seems like only yesterday you were telling me about him for the first time, and still having to potty train.”
“I’m so glad we’re done with that,” he said, and slipped the sign-in sheet onto his desk. “You brought her something?”
“A book,” she said, and pushed it forward. She watched as he leafed through it, then took it when he handed it back. “She said she doesn’t have anything else.”
“She’s read every book in the place.”
“How’s she doing?” Riley asked like always.
“She isn’t much different than the last time you were here.” They weren’t the same words, but they were the same sentiment as the last time she was there a little over a month before. “She was agitated you weren’t able to make it last week.”
That was different. Riley dropped her head and her unbound hair fell into her eyes. “I hated to have to push my visit back, but I was working on a project, and my last interview had to be scheduled on the day I normally come. This my only day off work.”
He glanced at the book in her hand, then back at her. “Next time, you might want to bring something better. The doctor had to sedate her.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she stayed quiet.
He smiled and pressed a button. “Go on ahead, Miss David. She should be out of her room in a minute if she’s not waiting already. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
The common room bustled with activity. One woman rocked furiously in her chair with a baby doll at the breast of her dress and mumbled obscenities. Another stood in front of the television and grunted answers at a rerun of a game show from the 70s.
Some danced, others cried, and in the center of it all, Sara sat still and quiet. She smiled when Riley noticed her and stood up until Riley took a chair across from her. Then they both sat.
“Sara, how are you feeling?” Riley asked.
“Better than last week,” Sara said, then reached a hand across the table. Riley knew exactly what she wanted. She reached her own hand across and laced their fingers together. Sara gave them a squeeze. “I missed you. What happened?”
“I met with Nick again.”
Sara’s grip squeezed tighter, and Riley made a face. Sara relaxed her hand and winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Riley smiled. “It was our last interview about the book.”
Sara pursed her lips. “The Veronica book?”
“You know I don’t like to think of it like that,” Riley answered. She leaned forward. “It’s our book, Sara. It’s the book that makes us more than Final Girls. We’re two-time survivors. We faced Veronica and worked together to get away. We don’t have to live under the shadows of what happened to us before ever again.”
Sara let go of Riley’s hand. “I feel like I’m still living under that shadow.”
“Under the circumstances, I think we should both be thankful you even lived. Veronica might have killed you in that stairwell.”
“Yet here I am,” Sara said. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “I am in a cage and even you think I’m a dangerous psychopath.”
“I never said that,” Riley said. She pushed the book across the table. “I brought you this. I think you’re going to love it.”
Sara kept her eyes on Riley. “Why are you working with that sadist?”
“He deserves the story after all he went through.”
“What about what we went through for his rise to fame? He’s the reason we were all there!” Sara said, and slapped her hands down on the table between them.
A guard on a nearby wall grabbed at his belt and Sara raised her hands in defeat.
“Sorry, it won’t happen again,” she called out to him. He settled back in and Sara glowered at Riley. “He doesn’t care at all about us. All he cares about are his stupid book sales.”
“This book, our book, could sway public opinion about you,” Riley said. She reached out for Sara’s hand, and after a moment, Sara gave in. “I have a petition started and this book will help point people in the direction of signing it. He’s already been promoting the book and sending people to the petition online. Don’t you want to get out of here?”
“More than anything.”
Riley squeezed her hand. “You could come stay with me if you wanted. I could help you get back on your feet.”
Sara stroked the back of Riley’s hand with her fingers. “I would like that very much.”
Riley leaned forward. “Then help me, Sara. Agree to meet with him. Tell him your part of the story.”
“If I do this, will you promise to come and see me more often?”
“I can only get so many days off of work,” Riley said. She raised Sara’s hand to her mouth and brushed her lips across the dry skin. “But I promise to try.”
Sara studied her for a long moment, then broke into a grin. She let go of Riley’s hands and grabb
ed the book. It was a new paperback, barely worn. “What’s it about?”
CHAPTER
22
Riley checked the back seat of the car before she got in. She was almost surprised to find it empty. She turned on her phone when she got back to the car, then called Nick. He answered on the second ring.
“Riley, it’s good to hear from you. I hate to ask, but… what’s the verdict?” he asked.
“She said she would speak to you. She wasn’t too happy about me working with you, though.”
He sighed. “I knew she wouldn’t be. She never did like me even before all this happened. How does she seem?”
“Understandably annoyed at being locked up. Are you sure this is going to help her?” She waited a long time for him to answer. “Nick, answer me.”
“I’m not a lawyer or a doctor. I can’t ever be one hundred percent.”
“Nick.”
He groaned. “Listen, if it doesn’t, I promise to donate a portion of the proceeds to her legal fees.”
“Nick!”
“What about twenty percent?”
“Fifty.”
“Fifty? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I can go right back in and tell her not to speak to you. Is that what you want?”
He grunted and she could hear keys clacking in the background. “Thirty-five, and that’s breaking into your profit.”
“I don’t need any profits. What I need is to know I’m doing everything I can to help Sara out of the place she’s being held.”
He sighed loudly. “Are you sure she needs to be out?”
“Nick, don’t start this again.”
“Hear me out. I’m saying that a judge believed she needed to be in there. Who are we to question the professional opinions of a psychologist and a judge?”
Riley knew his motivations weren’t entirely pure. Even with her commitment to Sara, he had asked her out and put on all the charm in his wheelhouse. Hearing him tell her Sara deserved to be locked up wasn’t anything convincing.