I walk up to a pounding on the door. I stumble to the door, dazed. I instantly wake up when I open the door. There, on the other side, is five police officers. I back up. "Wh...what's g...going on?" The first one puts his hands up and walks toward me saying "It's alright Miss Adams, we just need to talk to you." "W...Why?" I ask, hand shaking. "Please come with us, Miss Adams." He grabs my arm and lightly pulls me outside. We walk to the edge of campus. "Why do you need to talk to me?" I calmly asks. "We're sorry to inform you that..." I can hear my heartbeat at this point. "...Amelia Airheart was murdered last night." At first I stand there in disbelief. Then I fall to my knees, crying. She was one of my only friends here.
I can barely hear the police officers over my own breathing as they try to help me up and tell me to calm down. I glance over and see Cherry, at the other end of campus. She did this. She killed Amelia. "I have to go." I mumble, standing up. "We need to ask you some questions." "Not now, I can't now." I say walking away. One police officer looks at another. "Let her go, we'll come back later." I walk over to Cherry, almost tripping over my own feet every step. "YOU DID THIS!" I yell, approaching her. "Yo calm the fuck down would you. I didn't know she was your friend until after I killed her. " "I TOLD YOU NOT TO KILL ANYONE, AND YOU DID THIS TO ME!" "Chill out, Phoebe. There's people everywhere." "I don't care. Never go in my dorm again, never speak to me again, never even look at me again. You're lucky I don't tell the police about you right now. But the next time I see you...I will. No hesitation."
I walk into the woods and head to the cult site. When I get a few yards away, I see someone standing there, just looking at the ground. I sneak closer and see that it's Jack. I walk up to him. He doesn't move, almost like he can't hear me. "You need to stay away from me." That's the first thing he's said to me. I don't respond. "I'm not safe. I'm a killer, you shouldn't think of me as safety. The rest of them..." He pauses and sighs. "They keep telling my to stay away from you. They say if I don't, they'll have to take care of you. We're not supposed to have interactions with normal people. But it's hard. To stay away. And you just make it harder every time you're in trouble. Every time I see you looking for me."
He turns around to face me. He's shocked by the tears in my eyes. And the dry ones on my cheeks that indicate I was crying before I came here. He puts his hand on my cheek. "Amelia...I trusted a killing thief...and now Amelia's dead because of it." "I'm a killer, Phoebe. A much worse one." I look down. "Why can't you understand that?" he raises his voice. Then he rips his mask off. I continue to look down. "Look at me!" he yells, pulling my face up. Normally I would be scared, or at least surprised, by his appearance but i'm too sad to care. There's two gaping holes where his eyes were, filled with the tar that's dripping down his face. His teeth are sharp as knives. And his skin is a greyish colour. I shrug, lacking care.
"What's wrong with you?!" I look away and shrug again. He puts his hands on my arms. "Look Phoebe, just stay away from me. Get on with your life. Finish college and get a good job. Find..." he stops and sighs. "Find someone." I shake my head and walk away. "Wait." I stop walking and stand still. He walks in front of me and makes me look at him again. "I love you, Phoebe. Thinking of you is what gets me through this. Remember that." Then he leans forward and kisses me. It lasts awhile and then he disappears. I take a deep breath and start the walk home.
