The Crimson Chariot

02 | Fools of Red

September 2, 2012
Sunday
11:23 p.m.

Dear Janet,

ETHAN COVINGTON IS A FUCKING MONSTER.

I just came back from the bonfire that I wish I hadn't gone to in the first place. There was no one present in the backyard except for the four of them. And then there was me, the one they chose this evening to be their target.

We played a game of Never Have I Ever. More so I was forced to play.

"Never have I ever had a shameless slut of a sister," Ethan had said and I balled my fists at his fucking audacity. It was then that Thomas brought a flask of alcohol and made me chug on the drink. I tried to fight him off but Archie and Paul held me down. Ethan laughed as he saw me struggle, delighted at how much I reminded him of you.

The same happened four times. He demeaned you every single time and I was forced to drink every single time until Ethan felt 'pity' for me. He wanted me to initiate this time, and I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Never have I ever been the reason behind someone's death." My words made him snap. His eyes turned bloodshot. The grin on his face was gone. His jaw twitched and he made his way over to me. He was expecting me to be terrified, but I stared him in the eye with a rage that was far greater than his.

"You imbecile!" He grabbed my jaw with a greater force than Thomas'. The adrenaline gushing in my veins numbed the pain. "Back off now before you lose more than just your sister. Janet was a crazy whore who killed herself for attention, you get that?"

I didn't nod. He didn't get a single reaction from me and let go of my face before ordering his friends to leave with him.

I can't imagine what horrible things they did to you if this was how they treated me for one evening. They will pay, I promise Janet, for everything they did to you I'll take back every scream, every scar, every suffering you had to go through. And for that, I will have to set the traps in place. They will be buried in graves they dug out for you. They'll fall to their deaths too.

The Domino effect they started will get back to them. I promise. They'll see it for themselves. Just be on my side, ok?

I love you.

Your brother, Jeremy.

***

TIME IS FASCINATING, RIGHT? One moment I'm with my best friend, roaming the halls of our boarding school without a care in the world and a moment later, ten years have flown by; she's now the prime suspect in a case I'm investigating.

Diana and Ethan were engaged for almost a year now. Gossip forums say they were supposed to get married in January of next year. I still remember how much she spited Ethan, especially after a student took her life by jumping off our school rooftop. Diana avoided any conversation with Ethan or his friends from that day. She felt that he was behind the death and somewhere in my mind, I believed it too.

"Coffee?" A hand popped up from nowhere, holding a mug of steaming coffee. I jumped a little in my seat and turned around to find a pair of bright green eyes staring at me.

"Oh my go—" I bite down on my tongue. "Ray!"

"Whoa, am I scarier than a dead body?" he says, placing the mug of coffee on my desk and peeking at my tablet with a hundred tabs open on it. "Diana Park, huh? You said she was your friend from high school?"

"Yeah," I say, taking the coffee mug in my hands. "We were attached at the hip. She was my best friend."

"So, what? She stabbed you in the back or did you stab her in the back?" I turn to my left to see Detective Jackson doing his paperwork. He doesn't lift an eye even as he asks me the question.