Suicide Tree || ✓

5. "Golden Boy"

w a r n i n g : town name will be changed in the near foreseeable future because it is absolutely terrible.

"Wow," Adri said with wide eyes. Only a week had passed since I was in her room yet it felt like everything looked different. A lot had happened in the week that Adri was in London. "Just...holy fuck!"

"Tell me about it," I murmured, hugging myself from the cold that had been following me around for a while. I had refrained from telling her about the notes. Adri shook her head with disbelief.

"I go to London for two weeks, and three people commit suicide, completely out of the blue mind you – this is like the Suicide Horror all over again! Isn't the anniversary coming in a few weeks? And you and Lily, shit, and they, wow, and Hailey, dear lord," she began stumbling over her words and talking incoherently. I had never seen her so at loss for words. Then again, I had never seen three corpses, not counting the one from last year.

"So how was London?" I asked, indiscreetly changing the subject. I didn't tell her about the notes and I didn't ask about her supposed suicide. In fact, I only told her what the town knew, nothing more, save for the gory details. For all I knew I could be risking her life if I told her. Sam couldn't be helped because I didn't know what I was getting myself into but I could at least protect Adri.

"It was okay, the people were great and the accents were irritating," she said vaguely. I arched an eyebrow, expecting her to be more jovial.

"You never did tell me why you went," I questioned curiously, carefully watching her face.

"I didn't, did I?" she gave me a mysterious smile with a hidden undertone. I furrowed my eyebrows with confusion.

"What are you playing at?"

"Don't get your panties in a twist; I was just visiting my uncle. The idiot's in the hospital – lung cancer from smoking and all – and, well it has been a while since I've seen him. It was a last minute decision that I had absolutely no part of – you know how my parents are," I nodded unsurely, staring long and hard at her face.

"Oh don't do that psychoanalysis thing that you always do," she said with a roll of her eyes. I didn't respond, waiting for her to make a mistake. "I'm not lying," her eyes fluttered with exasperation, "I really did visit my uncle."

"Okay," I said, giving her an easy smile. "I believe you," we left it at that and moved on to more immaterial topics.

Call it a gift or a curse; I've always been able to tell when someone lied. Their heads would make the slightest movement before they lied, they might shuffle their feet or most commonly they would tense their muscles or their eyes would flutter or quickly glance up to the left or the right depending on if they were right or left handed. Or they would simply do something that was uncharacteristic of them.

Adri's eyes fluttered.

"I need to use the toilet, I'll be right back," I interrupted Adri as she talked about an upcoming party. She shrugged and fiddled with her sleeves, attempting to look nonchalant.

"Use the bathroom downstairs," she said, avoiding my eyes. I shrugged but didn't reply.

42 minutes to go.

I did need to go to the bathroom, the bathroom where she supposedly attempted to commit suicide. I slowly made my way down the hall. It wasn't that hard sneaking past Adri – she was enthralled with the TV the moment I stepped out of the door – it was her brother that was the problem.

Let me tell you a little something about Jasper Harley Thompson. Jasper used to be the star lacrosse player and captain of our school team. He used to be an A-student through and through and he was an actor – he played many leading roles during the short time that he was in drama. A simple term for him would be Golden Boy, his golden hair and skin as well as his grades and extra-curricular activities echoed that name perfectly. But if there was one thing I've learned from my time in this quirky little town called Willow Hills, it is that looks can be deceiving. See, I'm a natural sceptic, and this Golden Boy Jasper just didn't bode well with me at first but over the weeks that I had gotten to know him, he seemed to fit that name perfectly. However my initial suspicions proved to be correct when I saw him kill somebody. Well not on purpose, but he killed somebody just the same. I guess nobody is truly perfect.