Oh God. Oh God. Do something! Help them!
Aaron dropped to his knees. His arms hovered over Josh as if he wanted to touch him but was too scared. "Shit," he spat. "Someone do something! Call an ambulance!"
It looked too late for that. Courtney's once-red lips were a pale pink, and her skin was dull and gray. A stream of dried blood stretched from her ear to the floor.
My pulse drilled.
They're dead. They're dead! No, no, no, no!
I dropped to my knees, ignoring the bickering over what to do going on behind me.
This isn't happening.
Courtney's eyes were closed, just like she was sleeping. Maybe she wasn't dead. Maybe my best friend had a chance. If I could get her to open her eyes, she would be OK. Everything will be OK, I repeated in my head on a loop.
"Court, wake up." I reached out and brushed her red hair from her face. She hated when her bangs fell in her face like that. Where was help? "We need an ambulance right now. Someone call for help. We need help," I rambled. Someone had to wake her up. "She needs help. Someone help her! Please! Oh my God, help her!"
I heard someone drop beside me. "Kenzie?" It was Megan. "She's gone, Kenz. We need to... I don't know." She pulled my arm. I thought my legs would collapse, but somehow I had the strength to stand.
"Who did this?" I sobbed, pressing my hand to my mouth, gagging. Stop looking! I didn't want to see this terror, so why couldn't I stop looking?
Kyle spun around. "She's right. Where is he? Or they?"
Dread settled heavy in my stomach. Were their killers still in the house?
Blake gulped, staring at his brother's face. Josh's eyes were still open but had rolled back slightly. He looked how I always imagined a dead body would look. "Where's who?" he whispered.
"The bastard who just murdered our friends!" Aaron spat in reply.
They wouldn't still be here, surely? No one was stupid enough to do something this horrible and hang around. They couldn't be. But what if they are?
"We need to go," Megan said, tugging on my arm. Yeah, we do. "Come on. It's not safe. Someone was here. We need go. Now."
"No one is going anywhere!" Aaron shouted. "Kyle, call the police. Megan and Kenz, get the fuck out of this room, and, Blake...don't leave this house."
I watched Blake straighten. His face hardened and his eyes narrowed. "Why did you say that? Why single me out? 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 out what?" Blake spat.
Megan gripped my hand and squeezed until I felt my bones grind against each other. I knew where Aaron was going with this. He thought the killer was Blake.
"The delinquent crashes our trip, and then we wake up with two dead bodies on the bloody floor! What else am I supposed to think?" Aaron snapped.
No. Blake wouldn't.
I wasn't sure why Blake had suddenly become a delinquent in Aaron's eyes. We had no reason to suspect Blake would do something like this. He wasn't Josh's greatest fan, but then neither were we. Loner didn't equal criminal.
Blake strode forward and stopped chest to chest with Aaron. He cocked his head to the side. "That's my brother lying down there. Watch your damn mouth."
"Stop it!" I shouted, shoving between them. I'd had enough of them arguing. My best friend was dead. How could they even think enough to pick a fight with each other? I swiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "What the hell is wrong with you, Aaron? This isn't helping, so both of you stop." I turned to Kyle and said, "Call an ambulance!"
Kyle nodded and pointed to the phone that was glued to his ear. He was so calm.
I dropped back to my knees. "We should do something! How long do you think it's been? Aaron, you know CPR. Try. Please," I begged. In my gut, I knew it was pointless, but we could at least try.
"I can't. Mackenzie, I can't bring her back."
Try!
Logically. 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 to help? Courtney's and Josh's blood stained the knees of my jeans, seeping into the denim and turning the blue dark red. Horror movies have always been a favorite of mine and I'd always thought they went over the top with blood, but there seemed to be so much blood here that I felt like I was starring in one.
"There's so, so much blood," I whispered and stroked Courtney's hair as tears blurred my vision. Her face was still perfect, apart from the red trickle by her ear. Most of the blood was below her chest and had spread toward her legs. I could just about make out inch-long wounds over the bottom half of her abdomen. "Do you think they died before? They did, didn't they?" I asked. My voice hitched as I sobbed. Had she been in a lot of pain?
Aaron knelt down and rubbed my back in slow circles. "Before what?" he asked, speaking to me like he would a baby. He was surprisingly comforting. Aaron was usually more protective rather than empathetic.
"Before they..." I took a breath. "B-bled out."
"No more of this," he said gently. "Get up, Mackenzie." He tugged me to my feet and pulled me into a hug that was to console himself as well as me. Whether she died quickly or not didn't change the fact that Courtney had died an awful death. They both had.
They were dead. Gone. My heart shattered that I would never get to talk to my best friend again. I pressed my fist to my mouth and started to heave. Aaron hauled me off to the bathroom.
His fingers dug into my arm as I flopped to the floor. Aaron lifted the toilet seat just in time for me to empty the contents of my stomach into it. Again. Gripping the side of the toilet, I threw up until nothing was left.
When I finished, I sobbed and collapsed against the wall. My lungs burned. It hurt so bad I felt like someone had stabbed me too, right through the center of my heart. My best friend was gone, and I was terrified. This was all so unbelievable and so surreal.
"Do you want to stay in here?" Aaron asked.
Fear gripped me. I grabbed his hand. "I-I don't want to be on my own. Please don't leave me."
"OK, it's OK," he reassured me. "Come on." He helped me to stand up because my legs were made of sponges. I turned the tap on and rinsed my mouth out. The aftertaste of bile and alcohol made me want to be sick again. "Let me help you to the living room," Aaron said.
"No, I want to be with everyone." We had to stick together. We had to. I grabbed his hand again and held on to it as if it were my only lifeline. Aaron nodded and we slowly walked back.
Just don't look.
My stomach rolled as we walked into the kitchen. I let go of Aaron and leaned on a counter. From where I was standing, I couldn't see them and I wanted to keep it that way. The image would forever be burned into my memory; I didn't need to see it again.
"The police and ambulance are on their way," Kyle said, still holding the phone to his ear as he relayed information. "I don't know," he growled into the phone "Neither are breathing... They're cold. They're dead. I'm sure of it!" he snapped. His face paled and he closed his eyes.
None of us knew what to do. We were out of our depth. I had never felt so helpless before in my life.
If I could have turned back the clock, I would have gone to that CPR course with Aaron. Hell, if I could have turned back the clock, I wouldn't have drank last night. I would have protected them. How did we all sleep through this? One of us should have stayed sober. We're so stupid.
Aaron stood beside Megan and wrapped his strong arm around her shoulder. Kyle stared at Courtney with wide, shock-filled eyes. I refused to look. I'd already seen enough to haunt me for years.
My body was weak, dizzy, and I felt like I was going to collapse again. I knew I needed to eat, but there was no way I'd be able to keep anything down. I focused on breathing slowly.
"Why would someone do this?" Megan wailed loudly, coughing as she tried to catch her breath. She was hysterical--the way I
should have been but wasn't.
I was empty, numb. Was it denial? They were gone. I knew that, but how? Why? This couldn't have happened right under our noses.
"Mackenzie," Aaron whispered, turning from Megan and gesturing with his head for me to follow them.
I shook my head. "I...I..." What was there to say? Nothing could make this better. Nothing.
"Shh, I know." He pulled on my arm, and I let him lead me and Megan to the sofa in the living room.
The door handle rattled just as I sat down, making me jump. It was only then that I saw the flashing blue lights. Oh, thank God. Help was here.
Someone pounded on the front door. "Police! Open up!"
Blake dashed to open the door. I couldn't remember anyone locking it last night.
Police officers burst in, and Aaron, Blake, and Kyle wasted no time in explaining what had happened.
They rattled off the story all at once; their voices muddled together, mouths moving at a hundred miles an hour, creating a buzzing sound that couldn't be understood.
One of the officers, a tall man with shaved black stubble for hair and a jet-black suit, held up his hand. "Calm down. Please. Where are they?" he asked, his voice thick with authority, similar to my old high school headmaster.
"Kitchen," Blake replied, taking a breath. "I'll lead the way."
"Stay here, girls," Kyle said, looking between Megan and me before following the guys to Courtney and Josh.
I did what he said because I couldn't face seeing them like that again. Leaning to the side, I huddled into Megan for comfort. Really, I just wanted my mum.
"What do you think they're doing?" I asked.
She shook her head, and her hands trembled in her lap. "I don't know. Where will they take them? To the hospital?"
To the morgue. I squeezed my eyes closed at the thought. "I don't know. Probably," I replied. The protocol for situations like this was not something I was familiar with.
As a distraction, I fixed my eyes on the fireplace and watched the last of the flames struggle to flicker. It'd gotten cooler last night, so the boys had lit the fire. The pale-orange glow was almost out, leaving the room marginally cooler.
A female officer with her hair pulled back tight against her head 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. How were we supposed to answer that question?
Megan's reply was a strangled sob that sounded like it hurt.
"I need to ask you a few questions." Neither of us replied. I tried to, but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. She continued. "Can you tell me your names?"
"Mackenzie Keaton," I answered. "That's Megan Haydock." Megan was in no state to talk. She buried her head in her knees and her body shook as she silently cried. "Is there someone else in the house? I didn't hear anyone break in. I would have heard someone, wouldn't I? We didn't look. We were too..." Preoccupied with our dead friends. I closed my eyes as a tidal wave of nausea almost took me out.
She smiled, placing her hand over mine. "Mackenzie, slow down."
"Why didn't we hear them? Courtney had a loud voice and her scream--"
"I'm sorry," Julie said, giving my hand a squeeze. "We can do this a little later. You've had a terrible shock. Take some time."
"You will find who did it, won't you?"
She squeezed my hand. "We will do our very best."
That wasn't the answer I was looking for. My friends were lying on the floor with deep gashes all over their bodies and she would do her best?
Blake strolled back into the room and stood beside the fireplace. Leaning his elbows on his knees, he tugged his messy hair with his fingers. From the little I'd seen of him, 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 wanted to get up, go over, and help console him, but I didn't have anything left to give. Every muscle felt like it was made of lead.
"Blake," I murmured softly.
He didn't look up but cocked his head to the side, acknowledging me.
"You OK?"
He didn't move his position or attempt to reply. How was one supposed to answer a question like that anyway?
"We have to wait in here," Kyle said as he and Aaron entered the living room. He shook his head and sat down beside me. Julie walked into the kitchen, leaving us with another uniformed officer who I had a feeling was assigned to watch us.
For the longest time, no one said a word. We were stunned. Paramedics and more police officers--about five or so--streamed 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 attack just them? Why not the rest of us too? 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.
Kyle stroked my hair and sniffled. We held each other tight. "OK. We're OK," he repeated in my ear over and over. But it wasn't OK and neither were we.
I pulled back and offered him the feeblest smile. "I've got you too," I whispered. He was being strong, but he was a sensitive soul and needed support just as much as the rest of us.
We sat in silence while the police did whatever it was they had to do. The door to the kitchen was closed, so we could no longer see down the hall, and we were told not to go back there. The room was a crime scene now. Upstairs was off limits too, so we couldn't get our things. The police didn't want us going anywhere. Were they looking for something in our stuff?
"I want to go home," Megan whispered, clenching her fists over and over and shaking her head. "I want to go home. I need to leave this cabin."
So did I, but we weren't allowed to. "Why didn't we hear anything?" I repeated. Drunk or not, surely we would have heard someone break in and stab two of our friends. "Do any of you remember?" No one answered, too caught up in their own thoughts. I racked my brain but 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. He didn't mean it, but the police wouldn't take it like that.
Blake stood up and everyone stared at him. The burly police officer, our guard, turned his body to Blake, letting him know he was still watching. "We couldn't have been that drunk. None of us drank enough to be that out of it during a bloody murder. It's not possible," he said.
"Well, no one heard anything!" Kyle snapped.
Blake spun around. "I'm aware of that, Kyle. What I don't get is why. Or how."
The kitchen door opened and the short-haired detective in the expensive suit raised his eyebrows. He walked into the room, carrying himself as if he owned the place. "We need to have a little chat."
One by one, we all shared a quick glance.
He walked to the fireplace and stood in front of it. He had our attention. Clicking his tongue, he said, "I'll get the pleasantries out of the way first. I'm Detective Inspector Wright. Now, the door. You had to unlock it for us this morning, correct?"
"Yes," Aaron replied, frowning.
Wright clicked his tongue again. "Hmm. The door in the kitchen is locked too. When was it locked?"
"Last night," I said, remembering. "Courtney locked it before we started drinking. Why?"
"Thank you. Mr. Harper," Wright said, turning his attention directly to Blake. "The only doors into the house are that one," he said, nodding to the front door, "and the kitchen, correct?"
"Yeah," Blake replied.
"There is no evidence of forced entry, and since both doors were locked, either the murderer had a key or we're left with another possibility."
I frowned. "What's that?"
"One or more of you stabbed your friends to death." He swung his arms behind his back. "So...who wants to confess?"
My heart stopped, and my mouth fell open.
Chapter Five
"No," Megan said, shaking her head at the bomb Wright had just dropped.
I couldn't believe it and I wouldn't. None of my friends were murderers. We all had our issues with Josh, sure, but none of us wanted him to die. And Courtney--she was sweet, funny, and loyal. She was the best friend anyone could ask for. No one hated her. This was a random attack. It had to be. It had to have been someone else.
"No. You need to keep looking. There must be some way the attacker got in," I said, shaking my head. "Blake, you know this place better than anyone--"
Blake shook his head and took a deep breath. His eyes were wide, scared. "They've checked the doors, Mackenzie. There is no other way in from the outside."
"That can't be true!" I insisted and turned to the hostile-looking officers. "The windows!"
"Are all locked and cannot be accessed from the outside," Wright replied. "No one could get into the property without breaking in, and there are no signs of that being the case."
"No," I repeated. "Please keep looking."
"The police don't need to keep looking, Mackenzie. We know who did it," Aaron said and stared at Blake.
"Don't be an arsehole, Aaron," I said. Josh was Blake's brother. He had more to lose than any of us. It couldn't have been him.
Kyle stepped next to Aaron, backing him up. "Who was it then, Kenz? Come on. You know all of us. Was it one of your friends or the creepy stranger?"
Blake folded his arms over his chest, saying nothing. Aaron had thrown a huge accusation at him, and if it were me, I'd be defending myself and setting everyone straight.
"The police come up with one theory, and you start turning on each other?" I threw my hands up in exasperation. I thought I knew my friends better than that. I thought our friendship was stronger than that. "Will you all please stop pointing fingers at each other so we can figure out what happened to Josh and Courtney? The way you're all acting is disgusting. We need to stick together, not rip each other apart."
"She's right," Megan said. "I don't believe any of you could do this."
I felt Blake's eyes burning into the side of my head, but I didn't meet his gaze. I refused to believe I'd slept beside a murderer. I wasn't intimate with a killer. I couldn't have been.