Known ✓

38📚| Run bird Run

After the incident, the goose fell into an unnerving silence. I knew the chaos that ensued outside and the turmoil that marred within—in my heart and in this house. Yet, I lay in that terrible silence, watching TV.

The flashes of Pretty woman projected off this screen, casting a soft neon glow on across my face. The light drown out everything around me, even my perripueral was blinded.

The scene where she was cursing him out in the hotel was playing and it reminded me of what Kyle and I had. The passion, the ferver, then the ruthlessnes.

It was a web of love. Tied together by secrets, lust, lies, and dangerous confessions. Nothing will ever be the same between us. Nothing. As much as I love him, I also hate him in equal measure.

RNK made my life hell and Kyle was the puppet master. I have to leave. I have to find a way out. But how?

The movie suddenly seemed distasteful and without thinking I switched the channel, landing on the ten o clock news. I don't know what propelled me to stay. Maybe it was that nagging voice in the back of my head, telling me that something was off. That some truths were left unspoken.

That I needed to seek it for myself. At firsg my thoughts drownd out the news anchor but then I heard it. I sat up and pressed thr volume button so that I could hear properly.

Alaina Ramirez, Sarah Colonel, and Cillian Murphy. All found dead in front of Rochester University.

The city is still reeling from this tragic loss and is in a state of fear. They don't know if its the work of the famous Rochester Night Killer, who is still at large. Our hearts are with the families.

Keep your loved ones close and your doors locked people. Stay safe.

Was this real? Was my mind playing tricks on me?

No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!

I scrambled to the TV, collapsing on the floor as their faces popped on the screen.

"NO!" I screamed, rubbing my hands up and down Alaina's face. "Please, God no! No!"

Why me? Why does this keep happening to me? What did I ever do wrong? Don't I deserve to be happy?

Searing tears soaked the collar of my shirt as I screamed for them to come back. Pleading for it not to be real. I scraped at the glass of the TV screen, hoping I could claw them and bring them back.

Was this Kyle's doing? Did he do this?

I need to run. I need to get out of here.

I sprinted off the floor with one thing in my mind. Leave and don't look back. Barefoot and all, I bolted for the door. But before I could make it, hands reached out and yanked me back.

I screamed, clawed, and thrashed against the figure. It must be Kyle. I began pinching him, hoping that I could knock him out to make an escape. He groaned and I thrashed harder.

"Let me go!" I screamed, but his hold on me only tightened.

"Celine, calm down!"

I shook my head and kicked in all directions. One foot landed in his face and he hissed, loosening his hold on me. I used that as an opportunity to run but he grabbed my ankle.

"Wait! Celine!"

I kicked at his hand, which seemed to piss him off. He yanked me back. Hard. My body scraping against the cold floor.

"No!" I bellowed. "You murderer! You killed them! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

He climbed on top of me and pinned my hands above my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to look at him. Refusing to let him get to me.

"Celine, listen to me!" he said, his voice rough. I was still shaking my head no.

"I didn't kill them. Please, you have to believe me. I didn't kill them." His voice cracked and it made me still.

I slowly opened my eyes but he wasn't staring at me. No, his head was hung, and tears streamed down his face.

He looked as if he was genuinely crying. "Y-you didn't?" I asked. I wanted to believe I really did but I was so scared and everyone, except Alaina, had turned out to be against me.

He shook his head and released me. Curling up in a ball on the floor, and crying his heart out. He wept and wept and wept, and I wept with him.

I've never seen Kyle like this before.

I hesitantly reached out and touched him, yelping when he pulled me into his arms ans cried in the crook of my neck.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's all my fault. You're hurt because of me. Now I've lost my baby brother."

"Who did it?" I asked. I had to be sure. If he couldn't come up with an answer then he was still my main suspect.

"Gianni," he mumbled, releasing me to fetch something from his pocket.

He gave it to me—a piece of paper, folded up in a tiny square.

When I unfolded it, my heart dropped. It was a collage with all of our pictures and explanations underneath.

Alaina: She's a beauty but she's your lover's best friend.

Cillian: Well isn't it obvious?

Sarah: for good measure.

Celine: Even more obvious.

Run bird Run, or you'll lose everything.

I looked up at him, at the devastation in his eyes. They are sunken in, darker, stained with tears. I didn't look any different.

"We need to leave," he said, his voice hoarse.

Something leapt in my chest. Something unfamiliar but there.

I nodded. "Yeah."

Nothing was left here anyway. We headed upstairs and packed a small bag and enough to get across the country by train. Something was still nagging.

"Why did they say it was RNK?" I asked. "Why is this Gianni person even doing this?"

He stiffened then released a sigh. "Someone's trying to mimic me but I don't kill innocent people. I kill people like Gianni, I should have gotten rid of him sooner. He's doing this because I tried to kill him. He wants payback and you all are paying..." his voice trailed off before he could finish, tears welling up in his eyes.

I sighed and reached over to hug him. He sighed against my hold, holding me tight, and whispered in my ear. "I'm glad it's you."