Fever Dream Red

53

"I got...annoyed. I knew Zack hadn't just left and I didn't know what else to do. I also thought Aggie, Fae and Lily were far too comfortable. So I decided to confront them."
"And?" I prompted them to continue.
"They denied it. Said it was bull. Said that I was delusional with grief." They scrunched up their face in disdane. "I'm many things, but I'm not an idiot."
"How did you know they were actually spies."
"Walked in on them. Sharing information, not, you know." Skye cleared their throat."It was about Danny escaping. I thought it was weird, because I'd just seen Danny in the gardens. It was Fae. They all shut up once I walked in, but I know what I heard. You do believe me, don't you?"
"Yes." I told them resolutely. "Just about. But there's a long way between that and killing someone, Skye."
"I told you! I was annoyed." Skye argued, as if I was the one being unreasonable.
"You killed someone Skye!" I nearly yelled at them, hoping it would sink into their skull and burrow away there forever, making a home in the guilt.
"Don't say it so loud! What if someone was to hear?"
"Are you kidding me? All this and all you care about it being found out?"
"We know." Eli stood behind us, looking over us on the next floor of the gardens.

Skye slowly looked up with a look of sheer horror on their face.

"How long have you been there?" They asked innocently.
"Long enough to hear you admit to killing someone."

Skye sighed.

"I knew anyway. That's why I shot your leg." Eli and Skye tried to stare each other down. "You're a pretty bad murderer."
"I try my best."

Eli and Skye continued to stare each other down.

"So when's Nick coming to kill me?" Skye asked with a look of bored bemusement on their face.
"He's not." Eli shrugged. "For now, anyway."
"You haven't told him?" Skye asked, amazed by what they were hearing.
"Nope. Wasn't planning on it."
"Why?"
Eli shrugged. "Can't be bothered."
"Cool. Okay. Thanks."

Eli gave a thumbs up in response.

I walked away from the situation feeling extremely strange.

I would never look at Skye in the same way again. They had just killed someone for no real reason at all.

How could I ever forgive them?

I decided to tell someone instead of letting it fester inside of me.

This felt wrong on so many levels. I had no choice.

Danny and Inez were right where I had left them, playing around with their dirty fork and plate like little kids.

I landed on the white chair with a sigh, and Inez and Danny looked up to see what it was about.

"I know who killed Aggie." I said unceremoniously.

Danny's eyebrows tightened together and Inez's expression screwed up in a way.

"It's Skye."

Their expressions distorted even more.

"How. How did they.."

I realised then that I never asked them how they had done it. It was a bullet wound, so I'm guessing they simply shot her. But where did they get the gun.

"I don't know where they got the gun from." I painfully admitted. "I didn't ask."
"Why ever not?" Inez practically yelled at me, cursing my stupidity. "Why then? Why did they do it?"
"Annoyed about Zack not being found."
"That seems like a pretty lame excuse for killing someone."
"People have killed for worse." Danny chimed in with what was supposed to be some wise words. They just seemed patronising.

"What should we do then?" I asked them, worry no doubt written into my face.

Inez and Danny looked st each other wity similiar expressions.

"Does anyone else know?"
"Eli."
"Oh yeah. And is he telling anyone?"
"He told Skye he wouldn't."
"That's not like him."
"I think he feels guilty for shooting Skye."
"That doesn't equal the covering up of a murder."
"It's not like they'll get put in prison or anything." I muttered, in a way annoyed at the lack of consequence for them.
"Should we just leave it?" Danny wondered, dropping the solution out there knowing it would cause a stir.
"We can't just do nothing!" Inez called Danny out, establishing that we could not just call the whole thing over with.
"Why don't we tell Doug and Alfie?" Danny suggested.
"We might as well just tell everyone." I answered bitterly. "While you sort that out, I'm off to the beach."

I wondered down in the late afternoon breeze, the forest trees waving around in it. The shade cast from them left a chill in the air which left a shiver on my spine. I couldn't wait to see the beach again and be in its warm gaze.

I took my shoes off and let them bask in the sand, relief from the evergrowing strain of living.

I ran up to the sea and felt it on my bare skin, a horrible joy. I recoiled and then I ran back again, the eagerness of a child every time.

I laughed and screamed to myself heartily, not afraid who else would hear.

This was my idea of paradise.

I sat on the beach watching the waves soar and dive when I heard someone ungracefully scaling across the sand.

I turned around.

It was Fae.

A feeling of unbridled irritation soared through me. How dare she come to my place after what she did! How dare she betray me trust to Nick, of all people!

She sat next to me, almost copying me with her pose. I wanted to make her sit on another beach altogether whilst insisting that this one was mine.

Sadly, I couldn't move her. She had already sat down and I wasn't strong enough to pull a whole person to their feet. I was hardly strong enough to pull myself along sometimes.

I looked at her and sniggered.

"I know what you did Fae."
"What did I do?"