I hear a gasp, and cries, and then footsteps rush over to me.
In an instant, my blindfold is being pulled from my face and when I open my eyes, harsh, bright lighting greets me and I have to blink several times to adjust to the light.
“Olivia?” Her voice greets me once more and as I turn my head to look at her, I cry.
Alli.
She’s crouched in front of me, eyes wide and red and blotchy. She’s breathing heavily and then I hear a strangled groan.
I twist my head to the side and see two bodies littering the floor laying in a puddle of blood. One seems motionless, his body a mangled mess of gashes and abrasions; Broden. And the other is squirming against restraints similar to mine, his blue hair giving him away; Sage.
Sage writhes in panic and my pulse drops to my stomach. My eyes go wide when I turn my head slowly back to the girl in front of me, red hair caked to her face in sweat.
My heart races, danger twisting in the air when she looks at me.
“I’m sorry. He was going to kill me,” she starts, dread filling her tone. “I had to do it.” My mind races.
Is she talking about Sage? I look back and forth between them, confusion muddling with fear and something akin to foreboding tangling in the mix.
Did she . . .do all this?
I freeze, my brows arching and sheer trepidation consumes me. No. It can’t be her. But then, then I remember the notes, the memory, her words. She looks at me then back to Sage and the look on her face seems just as horrified as mine and…
“I hate you. I hate you so fucking much, I wonder why we ever became friends.”
A female voice filters through the air, likely pouring from hidden speakers in the cabin. Both Alli and I flinch at the sound, looking up and around trying to figure out where it’s coming from.
My arms still bound, mouth still taped and as I watch Alli’s head dip and her eyes brim with tears, that’s when I realize that the voice belongs to her. It’s angry and harsh and sour and it makes my stomach spin listening to it.
“You knew I wanted him. You know I’ve wanted him for years but you just couldn’t let me have anything for myself, could you? You just had to sneak in and take something that didn’t belong to you. Well, guess what Seren, he’s going to realize that you’re nothing but cold and jealous and that you’re forcing yourself to fit in because you don’t feel like you’re good enough. And I hope you’re happy. I hope you get everything you want so that you can just disappear and never come back. I’m done living in your fucking shadow. I’m done being your friend."
The message ends and every bone in my body turns to ice, my heart pumping fiercely in my chest.
Alli sniffles before she looks up at me. “I was just angry, I didn’t mean anything I said,” she cries, sorrow and regret dripping from her voice. “He told me thatif I didn’t do what he said, he’d kill me because my words killed her.”
So maybe being mourned wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Maybe I really should just disappear.
Tears fall from my eyes as I try to come to terms with all of this. But still, I don’t know who is doing what. Who is behind all of this?
Suddenly, the memory of them in the forest makes a little bit more sense now, this must have been what they were arguing about. She stands up and walks away, giving me her back.
“I didn’t know that my stupid crush on a boy would cause this much chaos. But I really liked him, so I asked Seren for advice, asked her what she thought you would think if I went for it. That’s what friends are for, right?” Alli turns to me and I can see the sadness destroy her.”Welp, she said that we don’t date each other’s brothers, that you would be mad at me if I did. That’s when she told me that she suspected you of fucking Trace. I didn’t say anything though, because I just felt like she blew me off.
Alli sighs as she drops her shoulders. “But then literally, and I kid you not, Olivia, the next weekend at party during Spring Break, I overheard Declan talking to his friends and they just kept going on and on, trying to get him to tell them how great of a fuck Seren was. I felt sick, but of course, Deck was a gentleman and told them to keep their mouths shut, to mind their own business. It made sense then why she told me to drop it, because she had already been sleeping with him. So, I confronted her about it and she just laughed at me. Told me that next time, I should just make the move and deal with the consequences later…” she trails off. I can sense her pain. I can see it embedded in her eyes when she looks up at me.
My heart hurts, not sure what to make of it all. Both of my best friends, falling and fighting over my brother. How the hell did I not see this happening back then? How did I not know any of this was going on? Was I too caught up in my own life back then to have seen anyone else going through their own problems?
“I was so pissed and I held onto it for so long. When I found out that she might have been leaving the town the weekend after Halloween, I decided to let it all out. I wrote her a note and snuck it into her mailbox and then she texted me that night, told me to meet her in the Pines.” She pauses to let loose a sob. “I just took it, ya know? I just let her hit me and I just let her be all fucking mad at me because I knew she was leaving and I none of it would have mattered anymore but, like, you have to believe me, Olivia. I never imagined she would actually disappear,” she cries, her body shaking as she dips her head. “That she’d be dead. I regret it all, Liv, you have to believe-”
The front door swings open, both Alli and I flinching. My heart leaps as my eyes look up at the person at the door. A soft look on his face as he looks from me to Alli, to Sage then Broden.
I watch him as he closes the door, the booming of my heart echoing in my ears when I realize that we might be saved from all of this. But when I force my breathing to calm and tame the way my heart thunders, I hear it.
The familiar thud of boots hitting the floor.
Alli seems to react, her lips quivering as she looks up at him. “I did everything you asked me to,” she says asshe motions to the two boys laying behind her. Sage is still struggling, but not as much and I wonder if he’s been injured at all, not sure if the blood on the floor comes from him too, or just Broden.
I look from Alli to the man in front of me, my stomach twisting with a sour feeling, everything I’ve ever known about him incinerating me and swallowing me up in the flames. His soft eyes and his eager attitude, this was allhisdoing? The man that I trusted for years, the person I allowed into my life and he…
