Traitor

Day 4 (2:03 a.m.)

Kiara's POV

My eyes snapped open and I saw a bloody wooden floor in front of me.

I pushed myself up quickly and looked around. Aiden and Eliza were both groaning as they pushed themselves into a sitting position.

Sophia's body was still in front me me, bleeding from the forehead.

I swallowed the lump in the throat and got to my feet, running up the stairs as fast as I could.

"Kiara, where are you going?!" Eliza shouted after me, but I ignored her and kept running.

I ran past the bathroom where Jacob's dead body was. I ran up the second set of stairs and almost tripped on the last step. I ran into the library and started climbing up a shelf.

I picked a book before boosting myself up onto the top of the shelf, and opening the book.

The contents of the book made me want to throw up. The book was about past criminals and their techniques on killing and kidnapping people. There were scribbles in messy pencil writing marking the best ones. The ones that were marked were ones that were slow and painful or quick and silent. I assumed that the kidnapper was the one who put scribbles.

But still I kept reading with a new motive that wasn't just to clear my mind.

"Maybe I can learn something about the kidnapper if I read this and look into their favorite killers and therefore learn about what the kidnapper is like. After I've collected all that I need, I can show Eliza and Aiden. Yeah. That sounds good."

So I read the entire book throughly, trying my best to remember everything I found that was marked.

I climbed back down the bookcase and started looking around. Only when I was searching for books did I realize that all of these books had something to do with murder, kidnapping, and crafty criminals.

"It would be so easy to go crazy in this house. Maybe we already have but haven't noticed because we've all gone insane." I shivered at the thought as I drew out the last book I needed.

I struggled to hold all of the books as I slowly walked out of the room.

While I was in a rather terrifying situation, holding books was comforting. It doesn't matter where I am. If you give me a book and I get invested in it, I'll act like I'm in my own house.

I dropped off of the last step and peeked around my books.

"Guys I think I found somethi-"

My sentence was cut off as I dropped the books and ducked as a dagger flew at me.

I looked back up at Eliza who was standing there with a scared but fierce look on her face.

"Eliza, what's wrong? It's just me!" I held my hands up in surrender but she still reached for another dagger.

I shrieked and lifted a book in front of my face. The book made a thud sound as a dagger lodged itself into the cover and pages of the book.

I picked up a second book and got to my feet.

"What is wrong with you? Have you gone crazy?" I asked as I looked Eliza up and down.

She was standing slightly crouched over with her hands poised over the open dagger bag.

I crouched slightly as well as she started circling. We circled around the coffee table, never taking our eyes off of each other.

Eliza lunged first, drawing out a dagger and stabbing it toward my gut.