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Your heart stopped the second you learned about the Shadyside Mall massacre from your older brother Nick. He was the sheriff so he knew everything about those types of things, and he would occasionally tell you about them.
But this case was different. In this one, your friend died.
Heather.
You remembered your last moments with her. You were the last person to see her alive that night.
You regretted not accompanying her out of the mall. You regretted leaving her.
"Why?" you sobbed to your brother. "Why her? Why her, Nick? Why?"
You heard him sigh as you sobbed into your arms. "I'm sorry Y/n," he said. "I know you were close to her."
You sniffled shakily. "She's gone. Because of me."
He raised an eyebrow at you as you looked at him. "I- I went to visit her that night," you said. "I wanted to see how she was doing, a- and she was fine."
"What do you mean you went to visit her?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "You know you're not supposed to be there, right?"
You nodded, "I know, I know!" You laughed humorlessly. "She actually told me that," you smiled, remembering her exact words. "'What are you doing here?' she asked me. 'I thought you were banned from this store.'"
Nick sighed, putting his hand on your arm, slightly comforting you, "Don't worry, Y/n. The killer's dead."
"Yeah, and the killer was also her freaking friend Ryan!" you cried, raising your voice slightly at him. You quickly changed your tone. "I- I never knew him, but I would meet him there and there, you know? Heather would tell me a lot about him. She was friends with him. Why... why would he kill her? It doesn't make sense. He didn't want to hurt her. Why did he kill her and those other people? I don't understand-"
"You need to rest, Y/n," Nick interrupted you calmly. You scoffed, shaking your head, "It's literally morning! Shouldn't you be at work?"
Nick sighed, "I should, but I want to be here with my little sister."
You rolled your eyes at his words, "Like you ever gave a damn about me." You muttered that sentence as low as you could, hoping he didn't hear you.
But he did.
Nick raised his eyebrow, "What are you talking about, Y/n?"
"You never cared about me," you repeated yourself. "You only started caring when I was older."
Nick shook his head. "Don't say that," he said. "I've always cared about you. In fact, I barely talk to Will because I'm always with you."
You sighed, standing up from your seat. "Just stop," you said, putting on your backpack. "Drive me to school, or else I'll walk."
Your brother had no choice but to obey.
He drove you to school that morning. You put some flowers, Heather's favorite, on her locker where multiple other flowers and things were also put in memory of her.
You blamed yourself for her death, and you were not going to rest until you found out why Ryan Torres snapped and killed his best friend and a couple other mall workers.
