Whodunnit?

Chapter 16

"Is there any reason why you two ran in here," Tana started, "because I'd like to know."

"Yes, there's a good reason-" 

"No, Sasha!" I pleaded for her to stop.

"Because-"

"Sasha-"

"We know it's you."

"It's a five part keyboard.  Emily's name can fit in there too." Tana confessed.  Her face shriveled in disgust.

"That's why I kept saying tales.  It's a five letter word.  It'll fit in the keyboard. "

"That doesn't explain anything." I whispered through my locked teeth at Deena.

"It's Tana.  T- a - l - e - s, for Tana." Deena whispered.  I dug my fingernails into my reddened skin.  The air turned hot and still.

"All against one, Tana.  It's you."

"I suggest we better get moving," I glanced at my watch.  My arm didn't want to move.  I was tired.  I've been tired for so long.

"We have to enter it into the keypad to free Christian."

"Oh, no you don't." Tana gritted.  Her eyes turned red- furious, burning with betrayal and heartbreak.

"Oh yes we do.  We're tired of seeing you kill our own friends!" Deen shouted.

"We have to get up there, quick.  Leave, Tana!" 

My legs started up the stair quicker than they have ever gone.  My heart was beating so dramatically fast that it was about to fall out of my chest.  My head was swirling, but my mind was blank.  I was totally relying on impulse- go here, go there.  Impulse, impulse, reaction.

The basement was nearing, and we found Christian tied up.  I heard footsteps behind me, and Deena immeadiately started freaking out.  We were about to become Tana Missem's next victims if we couldn' do this.

"TALES!" I shouted to Christian.  My heart was beating so fast that the initial adrenalin was gone.  Just a quiet hum of heartbeats.

"The answer is tales!"

Christian lay there, unresponsive.  The worst possible was happening.

"Tana!  It's Tana!"

The countdown clock sloppily strapped onto Christian's hand was ticking.  1 minute left.

"Wake up, Christian!"

His eyes were shut closed.  Something in me made me want to pull them open.

"Christian!" I slapped his face.  His eyes fluttered open, revealing an icy blue pool of mystery.

"Good heaven's child, what is it?"  His British accent could be the most unappealing thing right now.  He started circling his head around, as if his surroundings were unfamiliar.

"Tales!  For Tana!" Screamed Sasha, her head twitching from the staircase to him at each nearing footstep.

I took a glance at the clock- almost 30 seconds.

"Put tales into the keyboard!" Ordered Sasha without formality.

"Oh!" Realized Christian.  The unnamed footsteps creeping up the staircase made my heart trip.  Despite the insane amount of blood being rushed trhough my body right now, I still felt out of breath and my fingertips were cold.

Chritian shook his head twice, and straightened his pointer finger.

"T.."

"A.."

"L.."

"E.."

"Not so fast!" Tana interrupted.  The named footsteps.

"I am not the one you want.  Trust me when I say that."  

"It's Maxine."

"Get Maxine down here then!" Christian explained.

That was it for me.  

Impulse, impulse, impulse.

I ripped up the stairs, nearly tearing the carpet with the quickness of my feet.  If anyone was going to ask Maxine to confess, it was going to be me. I wanted to know what was going on between me and her.  I never moved on even though I should have.

I was doing this for more than Christian- I was doing this for me.  FInally doing myself a favor.

"Maxine!"

I called her out.  I entered her room and found her reclined on a chair.  Her face lit with excitement in spite of fear.

"Well, look whose crawling back." She dropped an open bottle of nail polish onto the ground.  It left behind nauseating fumes and memories.

"I'm sorry."

She spit the words out of her mouth.  My fingertips tingled, lighting up at my sides.  She didn't understand what was going on.

"Are you the one?  Yes or no?  Because i'm about to find out in about 10 seconds."

"No.  But there is someone else who is who I have been pleading for you to not trust."

"And who would that be?" I asked.  If I was going to make a stupid choice, I might as well fully committ to it.  There was a long time when we were just standing there.  I poked my swelling red fingertips and waited for the next move.

"You."

"I tried protecting you.  I was hoping after I was mean to you, you'd realize sooner or later that I was trying to protect.  Tana was in the room with me.  I didn't leave the room when you were calling for help in the cage because I started to realize that it was Tana."

She paused.

"And then when I finally came to help you out of the cage, I was thinking about why and how she was the killer.  That's when I realized."

"That's when I realized." She ducked her head but not with sadness.

"It was Tana all along, wasn't it.  Trying to sneak me into that basement the one time we were looking for that chemical... Trying to make me trust her.  Then trying to defend me against Charles at the dinner table.."

"Exactly.  Exactly.  Do you understand, understand that it was such a stupid reason why we stopped.. everything?  Because I was trying to protect you?"