Murderville - Audrey Jensen

Chapter 46 - Carnival

(Warnings : threat of violence, mentions of blood

Word Count : 1646

Song : Dollar Bill, Hippo Campus)

"Happy Centennial birthday, Lakewood. It's that time again...time for Lakewood's annual carnival. What could be more twisted? Look, there's no denying Lakewood is opening the beaches with a man-eating shark in the waters, but it's what the people want. We've done it since we were kids. When it comes to Murderville, traditions die hard. So start the cotton candy spinning...set the Tilt-A-Whirl at full tilt. The show must go on. The Lady of the Lake must be crowned. Who can fault Lakewood for needing a little folksy distraction from it's harsh, blood-stained reality?"

Vicki walked into the boys room, chuckling slightly as she caught the last few sentences of his podcast.

"Come on, nerd" she shook her head "Stop being ominous and get ready. You said you'd give Audrey a ride to school"

***

"No one will ever forgive you?" Noah frowned.

"Written in blood on my mirror" Audrey nodded.

As soon as she had jumped into the car, Vicki had felt the tension from Audrey's morning enter with her. She had refused to speak until they had park outside the school, clearly very traumatised by the event. Even when the car had finally stopped moving she was reluctant to say anything, not until she was sure no one was spying on them.

Audrey had woken to find two messages left for her by the killer whilst she had slept, written in blood.

12 dead.

No one will ever forgive you.

The mere idea that the psycho had been anywhere near her whilst she was unaware made her skin crawl.

"And 12 dead?" Noah continued.

"Tyler, Nina, Rachel, Riley, Will-"

"The guard at Branson's cell, Grayson, Sheriff Hudson, Jake, Eddie and..."

"Piper. But that's still one short of twelve"

"Which probably means we'll be finding a body sometime soon" Vicki shivered.

"He's try to get into your head" Noah reassured them both, but his words had minimal impact.

"Trying?" Audrey deadpanned "Noah, he's in there"

"You gotta take your power back!" the boy rallied "You know? I mean, as long as you have this secret, the killer owns you"

"You're right, okay? You're right. I'm trapped" Audrey huffed "But if Emma finds out what I did, I might as well be dead"

"Tell Emma the truth and you'll be free"

"The nerd has a point" Vicki agreed, grabbing her school bag from the car floor "The longer you leave it, the worse it'll be. And the more chances that someone else will expose you"

"Fine" Audrey sighed, getting out the car and opening the back door for Vicki.

"So chivalrous" she whispered, Noah too busy adjusting his hair in the driver mirror to notice the little smiles they gave each other.