Blake stilled and looked over his shoulder. "You're making a fire in the middle of the forest?"
"A small bonfire, we're not setting trees alight."
"Purposefully," he muttered. "I'm overseeing that."
"Oversee away. I'm sure Aaron would love the help."
"So you'll be down at the river all day?" he asked, pulling his t-shirt over his head. His muscular back was just as painfully perfect as the front. He must work out because there was no way that body just happened.
"Yeah. You'll come, too, right?"
I knew he wasn't exactly one of us but there was an opportunity for us all to be friends if he'd give us the chance. The thought of him spending the day alone bothered me much more than it should.
"I'll come. I was thinking more of sneaking off for a while."
I buttoned my jeans up and folded my arms. "You're insatiable."
Blake slowly stalked towards me. I held my ground, determined not to show him how on fire I was at that longing in his eyes.
His gaze rode over every inch of my face. "Can you blame me?"
As I was about to say screw the food a wave of nausea flowed through me. I needed to eat soon and soak up the alcohol. I also needed a large glass of water and a couple painkillers. Blake wasn't going anywhere and neither was I, so we had plenty of time to explore each other's bodies later.
"We can find many opportunities to sneak off, but right now I need to eat some greasy food or I'm gonna feel like shit all day."
Straightening his back, he gripped my arms. "Well, that definitely sounds like a plan and I definitely don't want you feeling like shit all day so..." He dropped one arm completely and let the other slide down my skin until he reached my hand. With a little tug, he towed me out of the room and downstairs.
We stopped at the bottom of the stairs to assess the damage. Bottles, shot glasses and packets of all kinds of snacks littered the coffee table and floor around it. There were more empty bottles of alcohol than I remembered. No wonder we felt rough.
Blake stood behind me, his chest pressed right against my back and one hand on my hip. I liked the contact a lot.
"Well, this explains the drilling in my head," he murmured, leaning down to nip my neck. Spinning around, I slapped his arm, laughing. His boyish grin made my heart swell. It was good to see him act his age.
A door upstairs opened and closed. I stepped around Blake to watch Megan hobble down. She looked as good as I felt. Lightweight!
"Kenzie?" she whispered. "I think I'm dying."
Laughing quietly, I replied, "You too, huh?"
"Jesus! How much did we drink?" she muttered, leaning heavily against the bannister as she made the final steps downstairs. She hadn't drunk much, but it was still more than she usually did.
"We're getting old," I joked. "We can't handle it anymore."
Kyle was sprawled out on the floor with his mouth wide open, breathing deeply, his jet-black hair stuck out in all directions like a bird nest. Aaron was curled up beside him, sleeping in the fetal position. They couldn't handle it either.
Blake watched us with curiosity I didn't quite understand. I had a feeling he didn't have many close friends, which was a shame because beyond that I don't care attitude he was a great guy. From what I'd seen anyway.
"Where's Josh and Courtney?" Megan asked.
I shrugged and replied, "Must be up already. God, Megan, I need pills."
Kyle's eyes flicked open and widened as he saw how close Aaron was to him. I felt so rough I couldn't even laugh when he shoved him away, making Aaron wake with a gasp.
Aaron looked up, dazed. "What?" He rubbed his eyes and winced. "Christ!"
"I'm making tea. Everyone in?" I said, receiving grunts in replace of a yes and a look of disgust from Blake. I smiled, remembering he'd mentioned what drink he needed to function. "Coffee for you."
I walked into the kitchen; my head was swimming, everything looked a little fuzzy. A sea of red flashed in front of my eyes, and I blinked hard.
I'm really losing it.
Opening my eyes again, I stared at the floor and slowly registered what I was seeing. Bright, thick blood stretched from behind the island to almost the middle of the kitchen.
I stopped and gasped. There was so much blood. My heart raced and the ends of my fingertips tingled. The metallic smell hit me in the face, filling my lungs and making me gag. I started to shake, and I got that out of body experience people claimed to have when something was too unreal to be real.
"Courtney?" I whispered, not even hearing my own voice over the ringing in my ears.
Someone's chest pressed into my back. "What the..." Kyle whispered, stepping around me. "Stay back, Kenz."
Blake was right behind Kyle. "What's going on?" he asked.
Against Kyle's orders, I stepped around the kitchen island and my stomach lurched. "No," I cried, pressing my hand over my mouth as bile rose in my throat. Courtney and Josh lay on the floor in a pool of crimson blood.
Chapter Four
I closed my eyes and then very slowly opened them again, expecting and hoping what I had just seen was a figment of my imagination. But the image didn't change; Courtney and Josh were still there, lying motionless on the floor.
Megan let out a high-pitched scream that didn't sound like it belonged to a human. This isn't real. I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming.
"Courtney," I whispered again, my voice drowning in a sea of Megan's continuous sobs and screams. "Josh!"
They didn't answer. Of course. My mind reeled. How? Who? Why? My body trembled violently from the shock. My fingers gripped the counter, nails digging into the wood. I couldn't move. I was frozen in place and completely unable to look away.
Aaron dropped to his knees; his arms hovered over Josh as if he wanted to touch him but was too scared to. "Shit," he spat. "Do something someone! Call an ambulance!"
It looked too late for that. Courtney's once almost red lips were a pale off-pink colour, and her skin was dull and grey. A stream of dried-on blood stretched from her ear to the floor.
"Who did this?" I sobbed, wishing I could close my eyes. Why couldn't I look away?
Kyle spun around. "Shit, she's right. Where is he? Or they?"
No, no, no. Are they still in the house? Fear gripped my throat.
Blake gulped; he stared at his brother, never looking away from his face. Josh's eyes were still open but had rolled back. He looked how I always imagined a dead body would look like. "Where's who?"
"The bastard who's just murdered our friends!" Kyle spat. They wouldn't still be here; no one was stupid enough to hang around.
I dropped to my knees, ignoring the bickering going on behind me. My heart was flying in my chest. This isn't happening. Courtney didn't look like Josh; her eyes were closed. She wasn't dead. I just had to get her to open her eyes and everything would be okay.
"Court, wake up." I reached out and brushed her faded red hair from her face. She hated when her fringe fell in her face like that. "We need an ambulance," I said. "She needs help. Someone help her! Please!"
Tears welled in my eyes, impairing my vision until Courtney was just a blur. I heard someone drop beside me. "Kenzie?" It was Megan. "She's gone, Kenz. We need to... I don't know. We need to do something. Get up," she said, tugging on my arm. "Come on. Someone is out there. We need to get out of here now."
"No one is going anywhere!" Aaron shouted. "Kyle, call the police. Megan and Kenz, get the fuck out of this room and, Blake... just don't leave this house."
I watched Blake straighten up, grateful of the distraction from Courtney's lifeless body. His face hardened, eyes narrowed. "Why did you say that? Why can't I leave?"
Aaron arched his eyebrow as if to say, well duh. "Come on, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out."
"To figure what out?" Blake spat. Megan stood up, pulling me with her. She gripped my hand and squeezed until I felt my bones grind against each other. I already knew where Aaron was going with this. He thought it
was Blake.
"The delinquent crashes the trip and we wake up with two dead bodies on the fucking floor!" I wasn't sure why he had suddenly become a delinquent in Aaron's eyes. Loner didn't equal criminal.
Blake took two short steps forward and stopped chest to chest with Aaron. He cocked his head to the side. "That's my brother laying down there. Watch your fucking mouth."
"Stop it!" I shouted, shoving between them, finally finding something inside to snap me back. Tears poured down my face too fast for me to be bothered to wipe them. Our friends were dead - murdered - and they were arguing like kids. "What the hell is wrong with you, Aaron? This isn't helping so both of you stop." I turned to Kyle and said, "Call 999!" He already had his phone glued to his ear. I dropped back to my knees. "Should we do something? How long do you think it's been? Aaron, you know CPR. Try. Please."
"Mackenzie, I can't bring her back."
Try!
I knew that. I knew he couldn't. Of course he couldn't. She was stone cold and white as a ghost. It wasn't as if she had just collapsed. Courtney was dead, but what did it say about us if we didn't at least try?
Their blood stained the bottom of my jeans, creeping up and turning the blue denim dark red. I watched as it very slowly rose. My friend's blood was over me. My body shook to the point where my muscles ached. I wanted to wake up.
I always thought movies went over the top with blood shed, and they did, but there seemed to be so much I felt as if I were in a horror film. If we were in a horror film though, there would be blood up the walls and over every surface. I looked around and saw it was only on the ground, surrounding their lower bodies.
"There's so, so much blood," I whispered and stroked Courtney's hair. Her face was still perfect - apart from the trickle by her ear - most of the blood was below her chest and had spread towards her legs. "Do you think they died before? They did, didn't they?" I asked. My voice hitched as I sobbed.
Aaron knelt down, rubbing my back. "Before what?" he asked, speaking to me like he would a baby.
"Before they... bled out." Died.
"Yes," he replied, pulling me up.
He didn't mean that yes. That yes was to console me. Whether she died quickly or not didn't change the fact that she died an awful and painful death. I heaved; the metallic smell and gory site was too much. They were dead. Gone. My heart shattered at the knowledge that I would never see my best friend again. I pressed my fist to my mouth and heaved again. Aaron understood; he yanked me into his arms and hauled me off to the bathroom.
I flopped to the floor and Aaron lifted the toilet seat up just in time for me to empty the contents of my stomach into it. Gripping the side of the toilet, I threw up until nothing was left.
When I finished, I sobbed hysterically and collapsed against the wall. I felt as if someone had stabbed me, too, right through the centre of my heart. I was terrified. It was all so unbelievable, surreal. It was something that happened to other people.
"Do you want to stay here?" Aaron asked.
Fear gripped me. I looked up and grabbed his hand. "I don't want to be on my own."
"Okay, it's okay. Come on." He helped me stand up. I turned the tap on and rinsed my mouth out, the after taste of bile and alcohol made me want to throw up again.
"I need to go back in there, but you can stay in the living room."
"No, I want to be with everyone." I held onto his hand as if it was my only lifeline. Aaron walked back slowly. Just don't look.
My stomach clenched as we walked into the kitchen. I let go of Aaron when we reached the island. From where I was I couldn't see them, and I wanted to keep it that way.
"The police are on their way," Kyle said. He was still on the phone with emergency services. "I don't know!" he growled into the phone "We woke up and... they're dead." His face paled.
None of us really knew what to do. I had never felt so helpless before. We had called 999 but should we do something else? Was there even anything else? We should have tried CPR. Even though I knew they were dead and nothing could bring them back. I wanted to be able to say to their families and to ourselves that we at least tried.
If I could turn back the clock, I would have gone on that CPR course with Aaron. I should have, but I never thought I would need to. No one ever thinks they would need to. Courtney laughed at it, said it's a waste of time spending the day learning something you would never use. 'The most Aaron will ever do,' she had said, 'is put a plaster on someone's finger. I don't need a course to teach me how to apply a plaster'. She was so wrong.
I refused to look back at them laying there. The image was already burnt into my memory, and I knew it would creep up on me when I least expected it. Haunt me years and years down the line right when I thought I had dealt with it and moved on.
My body was weak, dizzy, and I felt like I was going to collapse. I needed to eat. I felt like I was hungry, but food definitely wasn't an option. I was aware that I was crying, but I couldn't feel it. I couldn't really feel anything. Numb, that was what I was.
"Why would someone do this?" Megan wailed, coughing as she tried to catch her breath. Her reaction was the exact opposite of mine. She was hysterical - the way I should be - but I wasn't. I was empty and detached.
"Mackenzie," Aaron whispered, bending his knees so he was level with me.
I shook my head. "I...I don't, Aaron." I was aware that I wasn't making sense, but I couldn't think clearly.
"Shh, I know." He pulled on my arm, and I let him lead me to the sofa in the lounge.
The door handle rattled just as I sat down, making me jump. It was only then that I heard the sirens and saw the flashing blue lights.
Someone bashed the door from outside and Blake jumped up to unlock it. I couldn't remember anyone locking it last night. Police officers burst through the door and Aaron, Blake, and Kyle wasted no time in explaining. They all spoke at once; their voices muddled together, creating a buzzing noise that couldn't be understood.
One of the officers, a tall man with shaved black stubble for hair, held his hand up. "Calm down. Where are they?" he asked, his voice thick with authority, similar to my old high school head master.
"Kitchen," Blake replied, leading the way.
"Stay here," Kyle said, looking between me and Megan before following the guys to Courtney and Josh.
I did what he said because I couldn't face seeing them both like that again. Courtney was always so warm with a glowing tan. Seeing her pale and cold was heartbreaking.
"What do you think they're doing?" I asked Megan.
She shook her head; her hands trembled on top of her lap. "I don't know. Where will they take them? To the hospital?"
To the morgue. I squeezed my eyes closed as soon as that thought entered my mind. "I don't know. Probably," I replied.
As a distraction, I fixed my eyes on the fireplace and watched the last of the flames struggle to flicker. I was afraid to look around in case the blood had spread. That was ridiculous though. It was impossible, but I still feared it.
A female officer knelt down in front of us. "I'm Detective Inspector Julienne Hale, but you can call me Julie. How are you both doing?"
I shook my head. "I don't know." Megan's reply was a strangled sob.
"I need to ask you a few questions if that's okay." Neither of us replied, so she continued, "Can you tell me your names?"
"Mackenzie Keaton," I replied. "That's Megan Haydock." She was in no state to talk; her head was buried in her knees, and her body shook as she cried. "Is there someone in the house? I didn't hear anyone. I would have heard, wouldn't I?"
"Okay, Mackenzie, just slow down."
"Why didn't we hear them? Courtney had a loud voice and her scream--"
"Alright," Julie said, placing her hand over mine. "We can do this another time; you've had a terrible shock."
"You will find who did it, won't you?"
She squeezed my hand. "We will."
Blake walked back into the room and sat on the side of the
fireplace. Leaning his elbows on his knees, he tugged his hair with his fingers. He didn't show emotion, unless it was a cocky smirk, so I had no idea how deeply Josh's death had affected him. I imagined deeper than he would ever let on.
"Blake," I said softly. In my own head, I sounded ridiculous, treating him like a child. He didn't look up but cocked his head to the side, acknowledging me. "You okay?" He didn't move or reply. I suspected he didn't know himself.
"We have to wait in here," Kyle said as he and Aaron walked through the door. He shook his head and sat down beside me. Julie walked into the kitchen, leaving us with a uniformed officer that I had a feeling was assigned to watch us.
For the longest time, no one said a word. We were frozen with shock. Paramedics and even more police officers - about five or so more - came streaming past us, but we stayed still. I felt as if I were in a nightmare and needed to wake up. I couldn't think straight. Nothing made sense. Who would want to hurt them? Why just them? And why hadn't we heard anything?
"We slept through the whole thing," I said. Hearing it aloud made it even more unbelievable. "Do you think they shouted for us?"
"Don't," Kyle said, wrapping his arm around me. I fell against his side, giving in to my body's need to shut down. He stroked my hair, and I was done for. I burst into tears, shamelessly gripping his shirt.
I could feel my body shaking, and I was freezing. It was warm inside, and the fire was still lightly burning from last night, but I felt as if I had slept out in the cold.
We sat in the lounge in silence, waiting for the police to do whatever it was they did. The door to the kitchen had been closed so we could no longer see anything, and we were told not to go back in there. The room was a crime scene now. Upstairs was off limits, too, so we couldn't get our things, but we were told the police were taking that anyway. I didn't know why. Why were they looking for something in our stuff?
"I want to leave," Megan whispered, clenching her fists over and over and shaking her head. "I want to leave."
So did I, but we weren't allowed to. "Why didn't we hear anything?" I repeated. Surely we would have heard someone breaking in and stabbing two of our friends! "Do any of you remember?" No one answered me, so I assumed they hadn't, or they just weren't listening to me. I barely remembered anything after Josh and Aaron's argument - the one where Aaron told Josh he would kill him if he mentioned Tilly's name again. I already knew I wasn't going to tell the police that. I didn't want to get him into trouble.
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