My Little Murder

Chapter 11 - Let's Get Serious

(Rye's P.O.V)

It was 9 o'clock, I hadn't seen Liv since the incident on the docks, and I was officially scared. I wasn't qualified to deal with something like this; when Pax told me to look out for her, I wasn't expecting it to be this big of a job. I'd spent the past two hours trying to recite what I was going to say to her brother, and I was still stuck for words. Max was out by the campfire, turning out to be of no use to me, and I was really struggling.

Finally, I decided that if I just dialled the number, I would have to say something, so that's what I did. I called Pax and waited anxiously for him to pick up.

"Rye, why are you calling this late?" came a croaky question when the phone was picked up. "Couldn't you wait until morning to tell me you missed me?" I hesitated, but swallowed the lump in my throat and breathed in deeply.

"It's not about me," I admitted finally, my voice thick and my throat dry. There was a pause on the other side of the line, and I could feel the panic before I heard it.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, and his tone made me flinch.

"I didn't do anything, I swear," I tried, "she just-"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

I sighed in defeat, sweating like crazy. "I didn't think it was this serious, Pax," I warned. "You didn't tell me how big a deal it was to her!"

"Quit the shit and tell me what happened!" Pax snapped, so I took a few quick, short breaths and let it all out in one deep sigh.

"We were standing on the dock by the lake," I began, and I could already hear Pax take a sharp breath. But I continued before he assumed the worst. "She told me that she was sick of my attitude, which was fair enough. But I told her that it had nothing to do with her; that it was all to do with my mum and Charlie's dad. Then- then she said something, and I had never heard her mention it before, so I asked her to repeat herself, and then everything happened so fast-"

"What did she say?" Pax demanded. I breathed in shakily, trying to recall.

"Something about how I wasn't the only one with a rough childhood?" I managed finally. I could feel Pax freeze on the other side, and my skin rippled with goose-bumps at the sudden cold.

"What did she do?" Pax's voice was barely audible, and that scared me even more. I swallowed again, before telling the last part of the story.

"She turned around," I whispered, "and she jumped off the dock."

The line went dead.

*

I dreamt that someone was screaming in my dream. It was so weird; apparently there were aliens, and they wanted to take back Earth because it was 'theirs' originally or something like that. And then everyone started screaming, and it got so loud that it woke me up with a start, which was when I realised someone was nudging me.

"Rye, get up," they started whispering, their tone low and humming. Instead of listening, I groaned and rolled over.

"It's too early," I mumbled into my pillow, pushing myself further into my sheets. It was cold.

Max said something else, something about 'outside', but I ignored him once more. Within seconds, I was sleeping again.

*

When I woke up, Max was already dressed and in the dining hall. I was late, sure, but to be fair, Mrs. Jones didn't come and make sure everyone was up by 6:00 like she did the day before. So I just decided to go with it. Pulling a jumper over my head before glancing through the bathroom door to catch a look at the way my hair was standing up at every possible angle, I left the cabin and trudged up to the dining hall. I was nervous, I'll admit that. What was I going to say to Liv when I saw her? Was I supposed to apologise? Was I supposed to act like it never happened? Or was I supposed to talk her through it, and make sure she knew exactly what happened?

You could lie to her, a voice in my head encouraged me. I considered it for a moment, then scolded it.

Lying isn't going to get me anywhere, was my excuse. I mean, what if she found out I was lying because Pax decided to tell her the truth? I'd never be trusted again, that's for sure.

I made it to the dining hall and trudged in, raking my hair back out of my face. Upon entering, however, heads turned and watched me. I slowed down, blinking as I looked around. I spotted Max across the room, though, so I made my way over to him, trying to ignore the stares I was getting.

"Do I have blue skin," I asked quietly as I moved to sit down, "or did I do something stupid?"

"The latter," Max replied firmly. I frowned at the coldness in his tone, glancing at him.

"What did I do this time?" I demanded. Max turned his head towards me, exhaustion clearly portrayed in his expression.

"I didn't sleep last night," he replied, his tone quieter than mine. Everyone else had looked down and were murmuring among themselves. I was starting to get the impression that they all knew something I didn't. My frown deepened as I searched the room, before I turned back to Max, confusion dancing in my eyes.

"Where's Liv?" I asked, and Max looked up, as if I'd hit a sensitive subject.

"She left last night," he replied tightly, and my eyes widened. "Apparently, she wasn't in the cabin when Mara went to bed. Mara thought she went for a walk and went to sleep anyway, but she woke around 1 in the morning and Liv still wasn't there. She went to Mrs. Jones, and they went looking for her."

"Where did she go?" I demanded quietly, alarms blaring in my head. Max nodded, pursing his lips.

"If Pax hadn't rocked up a few minutes later, we wouldn't have found her. He said you called him last night, told him about the accident, and said it was no accident. It only took him a minute to find her; she was on the dock, just standing there."

My heart clenched in my chest, but I shoved the feeling down, letting the panic rise up instead.

"Pax took her home?" I asked weakly. Max, not sensing the shift in my tone, nodded solemnly.

"He was right when he said he had good reason for her not to come on the camp," he added gruffly. "We might've made things worse. He told me to tell you that he wants to speak to you, by the way. When we get back."

I stiffened. That wasn't something I was looking forward to, at all.

"But, is she okay?" I pressed. Max shrugged.

"I tried to wake you," he reasoned. "But you weren't having it. Not my fault."

"Well, you should've dumped a bucket of water on my head," I snapped back. "Pax needs to know that I didn't do anything!"

"This isn't about you, Rye," Max shot back, glaring at me. "This is about her. Stop making yourself the victim for once and face your own bloody problems with at least a little bit of honesty, okay?"

I hesitated, then sighed, nodding. "Fine," I murmured. "I'll speak to him when we get back."

"Good," Max muttered, turning back to his breakfast. Annoyed, I got up and left the mess hall, hands shoved in my pockets.

What have I done?