Fever Dream Red

52

"Hm?" I wondered, not really comprehending what he meant.
"You escaped with a load of others. Wouldn't it make sense for one of them to murder Aggie and then make off and escape?"
"No." I blankly refused to believe any of the people I had spent so long with could have the capacity to kill someone.

Even though Doug had had the heart to kill the corpses, he didn't have it in him to kill a human. That was for sure. I saw the way he teared up every time he had to pull a trigger. Killing wasn't well suited to him.

Alfie I could see doing it. He was smart enough, and although he was weak I could see him being pushed to the limits. I just wondered why he would kill Aggie.

Sunny could never kill Aggie. It wasn't just because I liked her, it was because of how kind she constantly was. She didn't have a bad temper and she wasn't the type to elaborately plan a murder.

And that left Skye. I could completely see Skye murdering Aggie, but for what I didn't know. I just knew that Skye had the smarts, probably had the opportunity and definitely had the heart.

But I still refused to believe it was one of them.

"Surely running off straight afterwards would just bring more attention to themselves." I argued.
"Yes but no one is associating you guys with the murder. You missed the fallout of it and now you have coincidentally come back when everything has cooled down. It makes sense." Inez told me.

She made a compelling case, and I knew then what I had to do.

Once I had finished my caesar salad, I got up quietly and calmly and resolved to find them.

I started walking out of the cafeteria.

"Hey. What are you doing?"
"I'm just going to the beach to think for a while."

Me and Inez locked eyes for a moment, her's pooled with distrust whilst I hoped mine were more innocent.

I don't think they were.

"Okay. " Inez let me go and I was off.

I just didn't know where to look first.

I knew they wouldn't be in the swimming pool because of their injury.

I thought about where else they could be, and I went to the first place I thought of: the garden.

Walking through the sparse hallways void of people, I was reminded just how strange and regal the place felt. It felt like you were intruding on some unknown event you weren't aware of. You felt as if you would be towed out of the place because you didn't belong there.

I seached the tiers of the garden and found them seeking shade in one of the caves of the garden walls.

They were sat reading a book which didn't even have the title on the front. It was a dusty big old bound one which seemed like it weighed a tonne.

I walked up to them nervously, holding my hands behind my back.

I waddled over in front of them.

"Did you murder Aggie?" I asked wholeheartedly.

Skye stared at me a while, perhaps trying to size me up.

"Maybe. Why? Who's asking?"
"I am."

Skye sighed and waved their bob about a bit.

"If I did I only did it because. Well I did it because Aggie deserved it."
"Why? What did Aggie ever do to you?"
"I can't say."
"No. Tell me." I ordered them.

They shook their head.

"Fine. I'll tell Nick what you've done." I threatened back.
"You wouldn't dare." Skye told me, getting up.
"Maybe I would."
"What would he do anyway? He has no control."
"He'd kill you."
"He seems to be getting quite relaxed lately."
"Maybe he's gonna snap."

Skye finds themselves stood up from all the comotion and angrily places themselves down again.

"Why are you acting as if I'm the bad guy?" They ask me.
"I'm not. I just want to know what's going on."

Skye sighed, as if running me up to speed was some kind of chore. I simply hated to inconvenience them.

"Lily, Fae and Aggie have been feeding Nick information." They told me with such a layer of certainty that I couldn't help but be convinced.

I didn't want to be, though. I wanted them to be wrong.

I had trusted Fae a whole lot. It hurt to know that all this time, she was just playing me.

And then I realised.

I had let it slip out. I had told Fae about Danny escaping.

It was all my fault. If I hadn't opened my mouth then Danny wouldn't have had to spend days in a prison.

This was all my fault.

I couldn't tell anyone this, though. How would I admit this to Danny. Him and Inez would never trust me again.

Those kind of things stained relationships. You could pretend it was all over. You could pretend things were better. It didn't make it better though. There was always something simmering underneath that remained unsaid but was evidently clear.

I could and would never tell them. I'd have to live with the guilt on my own.

"Oh." I said simply.
"They were in on this whole thing even before we came here."
"Whilst we were in the apartment?"
"Whilst we were in the apartment."
"How?"
"They must've met him beforehand or something. But they must've arrived at the apartment and agreed to bring us all here too. It would've been easy for one of them to contact Nick to let them know we had set off."
"How did you even figure this out?" I asked with increduality.
"Have you ever noticed they never changed. They always wore the same clothes. Lily has never changed out of her dresses. Fae still wears the stuffy librarian clothes and Aggie wore. Well Aggie wore her clothes too. That's what first tipped me off."
"Okay...so how does this lead to you murdering Aggie then?"