Merged By Murders

Chapter Four

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Chapter Four

It was still snowing outside, each unique snowflake drifting to the ground, silently and softly. As I watched, I thought about whether Samantha liked the snow, she didn't express much of an opinion about anything last night; only that Jesse's shoulder was extremely comfortable. Would she be playing in the snow right now, if she were still alive? Maybe she would be with Jesse, they'd be holding hands and snowball fighting. I wonder how Jesse was coping. I sighed, stretching out my legs and tucking them under my duvet, watching the snow swirl around. It had been over two hours since Derek left, after he was out of sight, I realised how cold I was. When I got back home my nose was bright red and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably. My whole body had been shaking, as if there were strings attached to me and my puppet master was jiggling me about all over the stage. I heated up some tomato soup and had taken it to my room, but it was still left untouched and abandoned, now on my windowsill.

My phone lay idly in my hand, fully charged. I had been contemplating the idea of calling Brian to check up on the details of yesterday, but a flash back of Derek's angry face stopped me every time. I don't even know why, I'd know him less than a day! There had to be something wrong with me, why did I care so strongly about a guy who was still practically a stranger to me? Maybe it was because this was the first time a guy had actually seemed to like me – who wasn't my dad. Then again, Brian did too, and on that note, I got some new found confidence and flipped open my phone. His name came up, and pressing the green call button, I sat expectantly with bated breath.

“Denise,” came Brian's voice, “I've been wanting to call you all day!”

“Well why didn't you?” I asked, confused.

“You hung up on me earlier on, so I presumed you didn't want talk, but after something as tragic as.. this … you should because bottling up how you feel will only make things worse in the long run. I know from experience, not personal experience mind, but my neighbour's grandfather died last August and you should have seen him, he -”

“Brian, calm down,” I interrupted, a smile gracing my face. “I'm not bottling up my feelings, don't worry.”

“Well, have you talked to anybody about this?” He sounded generally concerned.

“Yeah, um, Derek.” I responded slowly. Why did I feel a stab of guilt about confessing that I was with Derek before?

“Okay, well good. Are you still with him?”

“Not any more, no.” Just after I said that, I could have sworn I heard Brian sigh with relief, but maybe he was outside and that was the wind rustling past.

“I need to talk to you about yesterday, after I left. Is that okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, but how about we meet up somewhere instead. I wanted to see you anyway. How about yours?”

“No! Not here!” I immediately responded. “My Mum's really busy, we'll just get in the way. We should meet somewhere else.” I wasn't lying per se, Mum was busy – busy watching t.v.

“That's fine. What about Heather Park?” Crap. I was hoping he wasn't going to say that, right after something -possibly – strange had gone on. Was there really murders lurking about listening to groups of teens conversations, then using that new knowledge to murder them in their most fearful way? That sounded absurd, but suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Also, it was my almost death scene; the huge gaping hole in the icy lake was probably still there.

“Sure, I'll meet you there in about fifteen/twenty minutes?” I asked, forcing my voice to out in a way that didn't show how much I now dreaded that place.