Suicide Tree || ✓

17. "I'm sorry"

My eyes were blurry either with tears or the pouring rain, I couldn't be sure. My head was pounding and I was drenched, shivering from head to toe. My fingers were numb as I tried to move them but they remained glued behind my back. Only when a burning sensation came across my wrists did I realise that they were tied behind my back with a fraying rope. I sucked a ragged breath when I felt that my bare feet were bound as well, and I was sitting in a crumpled position on a shaky crate. My surprised screams were muffled by the wet rag around my mouth and as I began to recognise the increasingly familiar face in front of me, the most brutal feeling of betrayal seized me. I had been so damn wrong this entire time. I desperately tried moving away but was immediately halted by a tugging sensation by my neck and the risk of me falling off, what I now realised was, a short tower of crates.

A noose, was tied tightly around my neck.

"I'm sorry."

–EARLIER THAT DAY–

"How has training been going?" my dad asked when I came back from school. I shrugged, giving a noncommittal sound. It had been relatively quiet for the past week, save for my dad and his department working night and day to solve the murders. They've had little luck so far – the only clue that they had was a number plate written by the dead paramedic but it turned out to be nonexistent. Adri and I had been sneaking out into the forest near the tree for target practice because Jasper has been too busy searching for Kyle – in fact I haven't seen him since the last time we went to Abbadon. It's for the better anyway, he's turning out to be a very unexpected distraction.

"Lily is coming over soon to study just so you know," I called out while walking upstairs before pausing midway. "How's it going with the case?" I asked cautiously. My dad sighed loudly and I made my way to his office.

"Well remember the number plate we said was nonexistent? Well it turns out it did exist but was just a SUV in a dumpster, not the blue volksvagen that the late paramedic saw. But the strangest thing is, you know Officer Jamison? He swears on his aunt's grave that the number that was given by the dead paramedic was not the same number that he wrote down. Obviously he didn't have time to give us the plate number straight away and for some reason he told us the wrong number at the end of the day," my dad rubbed his eyes with fingers while I frowned with annoyance. Maybe he was threatened.

"What about the paper?" I asked.

"Well, we have to search through his house for that notepad, and his office as well, which could take a while. I am not liking the amount of time that has been spent on this case, far too many people have died because of our inefficiency."

"You're doing the best you can Dad," I said with a sad smile.

"Mr. and Mrs. Woods? Scarlett?" I heard Lily's voice call out, breaking the silence.

"Come in Lily, I'm afraid Mara is at work so you'll be getting microwavable dinner tonight," my dad said with a chuckle.

"That's alright Mr. Woods," Lily said with a smile. She lifted the plastic bag that she was carrying, "my mom sent some lasagne for us so we're all good."

"That's nice of her," I said with a surprised smile. Lily's parents hardly ever had time to cook because they were so busy working as lawyers.

"Yeah she thought that we needed the extra energy for studying," she said with a small giggle.

"Well then, please tell her how grateful we are," my dad replied with a warm smile.

Lily placed the food on the dining table before we made our way up to my room. While I usually did everything together with Adri, the one thing she hated was studying, so that became a regular thing for Lily and I instead.

"Did you get the answer for B?" Lily asked. We had been deep into our books for the past five hours and it was nearing one or two in the morning. I couldn't really tell because my eyes were blurry from having been forced open to read the chemistry gibberish on her notebooks. I say gibberish not because I don't understand chemistry, but because I have had to rely on Lily's notes that were extremely messy since I had completely missed out on chemistry the past weeks.

"No," I said with a deep sigh, rubbing my eyes. I fell back against my bed and Lily rested her head against the back of my chair. My stomach cramped and I realised we hadn't eaten anything since we started studying. "Fucking hell this is driving me insane, let's take a break," I said, getting up again. Lily nodded and turned the chair to face me.

"Oh by the way, how's the case going?" she asked softly. Her large eyes were genuinely curious and showed concern.

"Well remember that number plate? Apparently Officer Jamison swears that the number the dead paramedic told the police wasn't the same number he wrote down at the time. So now they're searching through the guy's apartment," I told her, lying down on the bed again.

"Oh so the plate number before didn't lead to that blue Volkswagen?"

"Nope, just some random SUV at the dump. It's only a matter of time before they find the real plate number."

"Huh, I guess that's good," Lily's voice sounded faint and I hummed noncommittally. I felt drowsy but my hunger was stopping me from sleeping. "Hey why don't we go down to eat?" Lily said abruptly.

"I was just about to say the same thing, I'm starving," I replied forcing myself out of the bed. As we made our way down a thought popped up in my head. "Oh how did it go with the car? Did you finally get the colour you wanted?"

"Mhm, oh you should check on your dad while I go warm the food," she reminded me. How could I forget? He must be dead tired.

I nodded my head and turned the corner to go towards my dad's officer while Lily went to the kitchen. In the darkness of the hall, I could barely make out a large bundle of clothes right outside the office door. As I neared the bundle my foot suddenly touched something slimy. What the hell? I quickly reached for the switch near the office door and turned out the lights.

"Dad!?" I exclaimed. I was suddenly wide awake seeing my dad collapsed outside the door. The disgusting substance that my foot had touched was food spilled over from the fallen plate. I turned him over so that he was on his side and tried shaking him. "Dad, wake up!" He was still warm to touch which brought slight relief to racing heart but he was still out cold. If he was a heavy sleeper I wouldn't have been so worried but years of conditioning in the army had made him into a light sleeper that woke by the slightest noise. Why did he collapse? Why is there food spilled over? Where's my fucking phone so that I can call the ambulance or Jasper?

"Scarlett?" It didn't even register to me that I hit speed dial instead of calling the ambulance.

"J-Jasper?" I breathed. "I-I don't know what's wrong my dad, he collapsed, I don't know what to do or why I'm calling you I should be calling the ambulance fuck he's a light sleeper why is he out cold there's no one here either I – " I began talking frantically, still trying to shake my dad awake.

"Letty I need you to calm down, take deep breathes okay? Adri is calling the ambulance but for now I you need to –," suddenly a blinding pain erupted at the back of my head and my grip on my phone loosened resulting in it crashing down to the marble floor. My eyesight went blurry as I fell to my knees and then my side.

"Scarlett? What's happening? Did you drop the phone? Scarlett God damn it answer me!" I vaguely heard Jasper shouting through the phone.

With hooded eyes I saw a pair of bare feet nearing me and a pale hand picking up my phone, before finally I was out cold too.