The Test

Chapter Twenty-Two

Layna

"What happened with Greene, Derek?" I asked the next morning. Today was the day of Derek's dad's funeral, and we woke early to get ready. We had to pick up my parents from the airport on our way to the church since they had just landed at the airport.

Derek had been unusually quiet all morning, and I couldn't help but feel that it had to do with something he and Allan talked about after I went to sleep.

He looked up at me from across the bedroom where he was adjusting his tie, and his eyes met mine. Sighing he let go of his tie and ran his hand over his face, scrubbing it roughly.

My stomach clenched as I waited in a tense silence for him to speak. "Greene called the prison yesterday to find out how he could have escaped...but he was being watched all night. He was on suicide watch because of what happened with you, and that basically means he's in solitary confinement with a camera that's monitored 24/7."

"How is that possible?" I whispered.

"Layna," he said in a soft voice, "Are you sure that you were awake when it happened? Maybe you were just so tired that you didn't realize you were asleep?"

"Of course I was awake!" I said, my voice louder than I had anticipated.

"There was no one in the room, Layna. The window was locked, and Timothy had a person watching him all night. He wasn't here."

"Derek, I know what I saw," I said, my voice cracking. "He was here, I know he was."

"Layna, he wasn't. I need you to trust me on this, okay? I would never lie to you. There was no one in this house except for us last night."

I could feel my eyes fill with tears, but I didn't let them escape. It had felt so real to me last night, and I could have sworn that he was there. But maybe my mind was just crazier than I thought I was.

"I thought I was getting better," I whispered, more to myself then to Derek, but his faced softened and he pulled me into his arms.

"You are, Layna, it just takes time. We will get through this, you don't have to worry about that."

***

The day passed quickly after that. We picked up my parents from the airport and went straight to the church for the funeral service. Before I knew it we were at the cemetery, watching as the casket was being slowly lowered into the ground.

Derek was staring blankly ahead as he held his mother, who was silently crying against his chest. I took his free hand holding it tightly while resting my head on his shoulder. He snapped out his daze, looking down at me and I gave him a small smile.

We stood there for a while as everyone slowly left until it was just us and my parents left.

Adelia pulled away from Derek, taking a deep breath and wiping her face. Tom put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Everybody should be on their way to the restaurant, so we should probably get going," Adelia said.

"I think I'm just going to go home, if that's okay mom, it's been a rough couple of days," Derek said, "but we can drop you off there on our way."

"We can take her," Tom said and Adelia agreed. We said our goodbyes and I hugged both of my parents before we went our separate ways.

"Hey," I said to Derek when we got to our car. I pulled him so that he was facing me cupping his face in my hands, "It's just me now, okay? There's no one else here."

He nodded his head a little before slipping his arms around my waist and pulling me close. He rested his face in the curve of my shoulder, and I hugged him back, running my hand up and down his spine for comfort. I could feel the wetness on my shoulder, but Derek made no sound as we held each other.

After a while he pulled away and I smoothed down his hair as I looked up at him. "I love you," I said, resting my hand on his reddened cheek.

He gave me a small smile, before leaning forward to kiss me. "I love you, too, Layna."

We stopped to grab a quick bite to eat before driving back to Adelia's house. When we arrived, all the lights were still off, so I assumed that everyone was still out.

Derek went to the kitchen to set up our food as I made my way upstairs to change. When I got to the hallway I could smell a sharp metallic scent that made me wrinkle my nose in disgust. Following the smell, it led to the spare bedroom, where the door was slightly ajar. Pushing it open, the smell intensified.

The bed closest to the window was covered in blood, as was almost all of the walls. It looked as if someone had taken a bucket filled with red paint and had just tossed it around. As I stepped inside the room, I could see that there was someone lying face down on the bed.

"Derek!" I yelled, my heart thundering loudly in my chest. I heard his footsteps as he ran up the stairs, but I didn't wait as I made my way closer to the bed.

The body was naked and covered in blood, with deep gashes along its arms, legs, and torso. There was a knife stabbed deep into the victims back, holding a note in place.

"What the fuck?" Derek swore as he skidded into the room.

The note had two words written on it in the blood of the victim.

You're mine.

A bad feeling had started twisting in the bottom of my stomach and put a shaking hand on the person's shoulder, twisting them so I could see their face.

"Layna, don't touch the body we need to call the—" Derek stopped what he was saying when he saw who was on the bed.

With his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling above him and his face contorted into one of horror, lay my father, Steve.