Love & Carnage✗Noah Foster [2]

Chapter Thirty-Five// Pig's Heart

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"That killer will always be a coward."

--Arielle Collins

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"No, there's nothing wrong with her. She's stressed out. A classmate of hers just died and you acting like she's crazy isn't helping anything." My mother told my father over the phone... talking about Haley. Obviously. They had found her hanging from the banner at the rave. I felt bad... because I was so mean to her. But... she should've known what she was getting into with her "Special Friend".

I mean, I'm only I'm guessing that she was talking to Dad last night. Because I don't know anybody else who liked to talk about how crazy I was...

He was leaving today. As Katherine had woke up, he decided it was time. And I was so grateful. That Kat had woken up and that my father was going home. I could love him if he was very far away. I didn't doubt that it would work. I didn't want to go to school today, it was going to be rough. Noah and Zoe were going to be all lovey-dovey, and I'd be beating myself up because I was the one who let him go. And because I should have went with him last night. If I had, I wouldn't have had to see Piper's dead body, I wouldn't be worried about Noah's life, and... Audrey wouldn't have kissed me and made our friendship fucking awkward.

But in her defense, the kiss helped. Must've stopped my panic attack. It was just that. She was just trying to help me. I told myself.

She didn't think of me like that. I knew she didn't. Well... I didn't exactly know...

"Arielle." Maggie snapped my out of my thoughts. I looked up at her and Sheriff Acosta. "Did you hear me?" She asked. "No--I--sorry." I muttered, standing from the chair. "It's alright, honey. I asked if you could record for me." She handed me her digital recorder. I nodded. "Maggie, should... should she be here for this?" Acosta whispered to her. Maggie looked from him to me. "Arielle's a toughie. Plus, she works here. She'll be fine." Maggie smiled at me. I smiled back and pressed the button on the recorder.

Maggie nodded at me, turning to the table, that had Piper Shaw's dead body on it. We were in the morgue. I walked forward and put the recorder near Maggie. Sheriff Acosta watched me closely. I knew he was waiting for me to crack as Maggie unzipped the bag Piper was in. "Piper Shaw. White female. In her mid-20's. Five foot nine. Approximately 140 pounds. Initial cause of death, gunshot to the head, as stated in previous autopsy. There's decay present, but inconsistent with time of death." Maggie finally revealed Piper's whole body, and I tried to stay strong and not throw up. "Subject was removed from her grave and preserved through refridgeration." Maggie pointed at me. I nodded and pressed the button, stopping the recording. Maggie reached for the weird looking scissors on the metal table. "Ma--Maggie, what are you doing?" I whispered. "Sh, it's okay." Maggie told me. She began to cut Piper's shirt open. I nearly threw up right there. She pointed at me again, and I pressed the button. "There's a, um... a fresh incision along the sternum. These are... These are new stitches." I saw as tears welled up in Maggie's eyes. Maggie grabbed a knife-looking thingy. Oh, no...

"You don't have to do this. She's your daughter." Acosta assured her. "Yes, I do." Maggie argued. Maggie began cutting along the fresh incision. Once she was done, she pulled it open. "Oh..." Sheriff Acosta held his breath. "That's strange." I stood on my tiptoes to see what she was doing. Maggie reached her gloved hand inside Piper, making me grab my stomach. She pulled it back out, this time holding something. "It's a heart." I whispered. "It's a pig's heart."

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Audrey:

Can you come over? We need to talk.