When 17-year old Scarlett Adair is found dead, having been brutally attacked with an axe, at a house party, the local police find themselves in over their heads. Now, nearly a year has passed and no new leads have been discovered and they have no su...
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Song of the Chapter-chaotic by Tate McRae
NIGHT OF THE MURDER...
Sounds of laughter filled the air. Music blared through the car speakers. "Hey...thanks for driving me tonight," Carly whispered. Sage nodded and continued keeping a watchful eye on the road. "No problem. I'm glad you're actually coming tonight." "Yeah, me too," Carly replied. The rest of the drive was quiet, except for the loud music. Neither of them said a word. Even Morgan, who was stuck in the back seat, was silent.
Carly held her breath. There was a high chance that this night would turn into a disaster before she even had a chance to react. Returning to Harborough was not at all the warm welcome she expected. When she arrived, she was met with cold and confused stares. No "are you okay"s or "I missed you"s. For the most part, everyone was silent. Even her parents. A few people asked what had happened, which Carly brushed off, but aside from that no one seemed to really care. She had gone from a prominent high schooler to no one overnight.
In a way it was oddly comforting. No longer having everyone's eyes glued to her and carefully inspecting every move she made. It wouldn't last, though. Soon enough she was more popular than Winter. Though no one dared to bring up the fact that had disappeared for a few months. But at the moment, her life was quiet.
The November air was bitter as Carly stepped out of the sedan. She flinched. It was hot-too hot. Luckily the night was cooling the air down and soon it would bearable enough. There was a slight breeze that rustled through her long wavy hair as she walked up the long driveway. Collin's house was very nice. It sat on a huge piece of property on the edge of Harborough on top of a large hill with an equally large cliff face.
Inside, the entire house was alive. It reminded Carly why she used to love partying so much. It didn't take long before Carly's bad habits were kicking in once again. With a plastic cup of beer in one hand and a 2010s pop song blaring, Carly felt unstoppable. Every ounce of anxiety exited her body and she started acting like her old self again.
Morgan and Sage had run off, leaving Carly by herself. Minutes turned into hours as she danced, drank, and even flirted with Ray, a guy she had known through Sage. She was actually enjoying herself and having fun.
She didn't really know Ray that well but he seemed sweet enough. They had been talking for hours about almost everything. He had a part time job at the local convenience store and she had offered to visit him during his breaks one day. She had something to actually look forward to. Ray wasn't like the other guys in Harborough. He actually liked her and didn't just want to use her. Talking with him felt different, like talking to an old friend.
As time went on, she began to grow more restless. When Ray had gotten up to go to the bathroom, she took this as an opportunity to go for a short walk. Little did Carly know that this very walk would change the course of her entire life.
The air had cooled down substantially since she had first arrived. Instead of the unbearable heat from before, the cool breeze had become more evident. Her hair flowed behind her in the wind as she walked down the back porch steps. As her feet collided with the ground, she gazed up at the stars. In her drunken state, the stars seemed to be shining brighter than the sun in the early morning hours. Almost as if it were dawn and not nearing 1 AM.
She held her cup of beer in her right hand and her mobile phone in her left as she paced the grounds. She was only around 100 feet from the edge of the cliff but tried her hardest to stay clear of it. Even though she was incredibly drunk, she still knew better than to walk over there.
However, she could see a figure sitting on a wooden log fairly close to the edge. She recognized the figure as Scarlett Adair. Scarlett was completely alone. It seemed that Winter and Pierce had abandoned her. Carly felt the urge to go sit with her but ignored it. She didn't know Scarlett well and was afraid it would only cause trouble.
She was just walking away when she heard footsteps approaching Scarlett. She watched as Everly sat down next to Scarlett. She couldn't make out what they were saying but something seemed off about this whole interaction. She didn't think Scarlett and Everly knew each other but apparently they did.
She stumbled trying to make it back towards the house but collapsed on the stairs. How bad could it possibly be if she were to just fall asleep there? Scarlett and Everly were right there after all and if Ray suspected anything were wrong he'd search for her. So she did. She closed her eyes and fell asleep right there on the porch steps.
She had dreamt of many things: Ray, the rehab center, her parents. One dream stuck out to her. In the dream she had fallen off the edge of the cliff but couldn't stop falling. It had felt like hours just falling. She looked down but there wasn't any ground to fall on. Nothing. Just a bottomless pit. She screamed and screamed out for help. For Ray or Sage or Morgan to find her and catch her. She hoped she would be okay as she continued falling.
Eventually she was able to make out something below her :a bed. A soft, cozy bed. It reminded her of the bed she had when she was a child. It had pink and beige sheets and blankets with stuffed animals scattered about and big fluffy pillows.
She allowed herself to collide with the bed. There, she lay still surrounded by warmth and comforting items. Comfort and warmth. All she had wanted at the moment. Some sense of familiarity. But as she lay in the bed she realised nothing was as it seemed. There were dark, oozing pools of blood at the top of the bed. It didn't take her long to realise the blood was coming from her head. It had spread as the bleeding got worse. She tried screaming but no sound came out. This was Hell. There was no escaping it.
Loud, uncomfortable noises started destroying her eardrums as she tried to get up from the bed. She felt as though something was holding her down in an effort to prevent her from leaving the bed. She was unable to fight it off and ultimately decided it was no longer worth it. She sunk into the sheets.
A loud noise caused her to jolt awake. She scanned her surroundings looking for any sign of what made the noise. To her surprise, neither Scarlett nor Everly were sitting on the log anymore. In fact, they were nowhere to be found.
Carly pulled herself to her feet in order to look for Scarlett. Something about the whole thing just seemed really weird and was beginning to concern Carly. She briefly checked over by the firepit where the log was but found no trace of either of the two girls.
Just in case, Carly looked over the edge of the cliff. She couldn't really make out much in the dark but something told her she needed to get down there. She dashed over the unpaved road that led down the hill and directly under the cliff face.
As she reached the bottom she was greeted with a horrific sight: Scarlett's body was lying face down in a pool of blood in front of her.
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