Wished

8. Stains

"We should go in groups." Newal suggests, getting up from his chair. "That way we'll be safer."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Toby says, nodding. There's seven of us, so if we split it in half, the groups will be uneven, but that's okay.

We create our groups, one being Newal, Jordan, Maria and I and the other one being Zara, Toby and Ruth.

We walk outside and I instantly feel the heat of summer. I tie my hair back and walk beside Newal, looking at our surroundings. Our group goes left and the other goes right. We walk into the woods, branches and leaves crunching beneath my feet. I wrap my arms around myself, shivering despite the heat.

The four of is walk until we stop at at a house that looks a bit like ours, though this one is in much worse shape.

"Jordan, Maria, you take the left side of the house, Arabella, you and I can take the right." Newal says and we walk into the rundown house.

Some of the floorboards are completely ripped out and windows completely missing.

"Woah." I breath out. "This place is a mess."

Newal nods and I step over floorboards and shattered glass. I look around, trying to calm my racing heart by taking deep breaths of the musty air. Newal and I search every room, behind every object, unsure if we're looking for a who or what, maybe both. We stick together, side by side, examining every corner and shelve we come across. Newal, Jordan, Maria and I meet back in the middle after we're sure everything's been searched.

"Nothing." Maria says, shaking her head.

"Same here." I say.

"We should continue looking for other houses. Just because this one's empty doesn't mean all of them are." Newal says.

We walk out of the house, down the creaky front steps and onto the dirt ground. We walk through the woods, looking. I'm scared even though nothing's happened and my fear must reflect in my eyes because Newal looks at me and grabs my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. I smile slightly and hold on to his hand.

                                 . . .

We look through two more abandoned houses before deciding to meet back up with the other group. We found nothing and are all tired.  We're standing by a big maple tree, looking around when Jordan shouts sonething.

"Guys! I found another house! We should search it, see if we can find anything!"

We run over to him, looking. The house is a bit bigger than ours, with missing windows and falling shingles. We step inside, the door creaking. The inside is a mess, covered in dirt and dust. Deep red stains cover some of the tiles and it looks almost like...blood. I turn away, looking at the other side of the house.

Newal and I look around the room, then go onto the next. It's the kitchen, you can tell by the island. The marble is chipping and covered in dust. We look around and then I see it.

The scarred body, laying behind the island. The tiles are bloodstained like the ones in the other room. I try to scream but nothing comes out. I'm hyperventilating by the time Newal comes over.

"Arabella, what's wrong?" He asks, worry lacing his voice. He looks down at the body and gasps.

"Bloody hell!" He exclaims.

"Bloody hell indeed." I force out between my rapid breaths.

"Calm down Arabella." He says, looking me in the eye. I look at the body, thinking that maybe there's a chance the woman could still be alive. I kneel down, putting my fingers to her wrist, looking for a radial pulse. Nothing.

"She's dead." I gasp out. Newal kneels next to me, putting his arms around me, rubbing my back, trying to get me to calm down. Cuts cover her arms and wrists. They look self inflicted and I start to wonder if the woman committed suicide. But, why here? The cuts look fresh and there's no way that this person was the last owner of the house. Then, I see the note.

As much as this looks like suicide, it's not. Surprise! This wasn't her choice. It was ours. She was in our way. I'm sure you know who we are.

"They did this." Newal says, shaking his blonde hair out of his eyes. "Maria! Jordan!"

They come into the room, looking at Newal and his face of dread, anger and fear then at me, gasping for breath and scared. Then, they round the corner of the island, looking at the scarred body. Newal hands them the note and their eyes scan it quickly, then look back at the body.

"We have to get them. We can't let them do things like this!" Maria exclaims.

"We have to get the others. This...this is horrible." Jordan says, backing to the door and Maria runs after him, saying she'll come with him.

I stay on the floor, not trusting my legs and Newal keeps rubbing my back as I lean against him, trying to keep myself from screaming or crying or vomiting.

"Why? What is the point of this?" I say, my voice breaking, and bury my head in his shoulder.

                             . . .

A/N: Thanks for reading and enjoy!