Burning Fury

XXIII

"My plan was to frame Clover for everything. I didn't realize she wasn't at Emily's party, but the police are in my mom and dad's pocket so I didn't really think it would matter. But those idiots wouldn't know their own assholes from a hole in the ground."

"Why did you want to frame me?"

"Uh uh, we'll get to that." She ran the gun over my face and I couldn't hide the shiver that took over my body.

"I drugged your drinks that first night but you guys are a bunch of water buffalos or something. The only person it seriously affected was Gavin. So he ended up being my target instead of Clover. After that, it was easy. I slipped some more sleeping pills in your drinks at Clover's brother's grad party, but again, it did nothing. I threw the receipt in Emily's trash, knowing it wouldn't come back to me.

"I planted the wallets and called in the anonymous tip. It didn't do as I planned, so here we are."

"But...why?" Callum asked.

"I've always hated Clover. From the moment I came to high school and saw her walking through the halls."

"But I was nothing," I whispered. "I had nothing, no one. You have a whole family, money, friends. How could you be envious of me?"

"Because everyone loved you despite your nothingness. You didn't have to flaunt anything to get everyone to love you."

"I didn't see it like that, Alice. I was very lonely. I was so alone."

She smacked me with the butt of the pistol. Blood welled in my mouth, where I'd bitten my cheek, and I spit it on the floor.

"Oh, spare me your sob story."

"You're giving me whiplash, Alice."

She hit me with the pistol again.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. Please, Alice," Niko said.

"Coming to her aid again? You never have gotten over her, have you, Niko?"

"What are you talking about?" I said, spitting out more blood, letting it drip down my chin because I couldn't wipe it away.

"Niko could never shut up about you, following your Instagram like it was the news. It was sick, really."

Niko's cheeks were red and he couldn't meet my eyes.

"Niko?" I whispered. "Is that true?"

"I've always liked you, Clover. But so did Ryder, and I wasn't going to stand in the way of that. But he knew that I did too, so in turn, we both kept quiet about it, allowing whatever would happen to happen. We never imagined you'd move halfway across the country."

"And I was just his rebound," Alice said.

"I just wanted to see you thriving, Clover," Niko said, ignoring Alice completely. "I wanted to see you happy and living out your dreams. Your Instagram proved that you were."

"You don't need to explain anything to me, Niko. It's okay. You chose me over Alice."

She spun on me, taking her attention, and hatred, off of Niko.

"You have the guts to say something like that when I'm standing here with a gun?"

I smiled, making sure my bloody teeth showed to her. "Maybe I want to die."

"Well your wish may just come true yet. But first, I have to go do damage control. The town is freaking out because the murderers have disappeared."

She tied the others up again, using the same rope for lack of chains she explained. She took Ryder's keys from his pockets and twirled them on her finger as she left, locking the cabin from the outside. There was silence for a long time as we sat, waiting to hear his truck start. We heard nothing.

"Listen, Clover, I wasn't trying to be creepy."

"Niko, that is literally the least of my worries right now, okay? I've done my fair share of Insta stalking, I get it. Right now, we need to focus on living to tell this tale, okay?" I spit more blood out of my mouth.

We worked together again, trying to get any two chairs together to help untie each other. This time, it was Niko and Callum that ended up close enough to help each other. My wrists were starting to ache from the chains that were pulled taut against my skin. Once Callum's ropes fell, he was up and untying the others.

"She must be stupid," he mumbled.

"Okay, Emily, underneath my ponytail I've got a bobby pin, please take it out."

She moved behind me and felt in my hair until she caught a bobby pin. She gently pulled it out.

"Now what?"

"Either you try to pick the lock on these chains, or put it in my hand and guide me to it."

She put the bobby pin in my hand and helped me locate the lock. I bit my lip in concentration, wiggling the bobby pin in every way I could. The desperation was evident and soon I dropped the pin.

"Damn it."

"It's okay, we have time. She just left and made it seem like she wasn't coming back. Just take your time, Clover. Breathe."

I took a deep breath and tried again when Emily put the bobby pin in my hand. I dropped it three more times before I heard the click and the chains loosened slightly.

"Oh my God, Clover, you did it. How do you know how to do that?"

"Procrastinated studying for finals a lot."

Emily quickly unwrapped the chains and they fell to the floor. I brought my wrists in front of me and looked at the damage. Dark discoloration and deep cuts stared back at me.

"Hey, Clove, it's okay. We'll get you to the doctor. Do you think you can pick the lock on the front door?" Ryder asked, crouching down beside me.

"Yeah...Yeah, I think so."